The Master of Health Sciences (MHS) Program is intended for students with a health-related education, business or clinical background.

The program has three areas of coursework:

1) Core courses: A group of basic foundation courses (systems and policy, research methodology, and biostatistics) that each student completes.

2) Concentrations: You’ll select one from the following:

• Health Education: including training and development strategies, theoretical foundations, program design, evaluation of program effectiveness, use of technology in education activities.
• Emergency Medical Care: including medical skill & competency evaluation, ethics, quality management, reimbursement & finance strategies, community & public health response  
• Health Management: including law and ethics, accreditation and compliance, interpersonal and communication skills, supervision and budgeting, customer service and project management
• Nutrition: including advanced nutrition concepts, professional practice/community nutrition, life cycle issues in nutrition practicum in dietetics.

3) Completion options: You’ll select ONE of the following options:

• Research Project: Research study conducted by the student for application purposes, administered through the School of Health Sciences, supervised by a faculty member, and presented to the graduate faculty.
• Thesis: Research study conducted by the student for scholarly purposes, administered through the Graduate School and Research, supervised by a faculty committee, defended before the committee and the graduate faculty, and bound and filed with our school and Hunter Library.

All MHS core courses  are "hybrid" courses: classroom and online.  Classroom portions generally meet in Asheville, NC and online portions are on Blackboard, WCU's course management system.

MHS faculty, students and alumni engage in a variety of research activities in collaboration with the health care delivery and public health organizations. Many of these research activities lead to awards, scholarships, presentations to professional organizations and publication in peer-reviewed journals. Sharing this information helps prospective students see the value of research in the MHS program and serves to communicate program activities to members of the university community.