History
Marmara University, School of Medicine, Department of Public Health was founded in 1988. The department pursues public health education for graduate medical students and provides postgraduate Master of Science and doctoral degrees. In addition, some of the faculty members give lectures on various subjects of public health in the schools of Nursing, Pharmacy, Dentistry, and Health Services Vocational High School.

Aims and goals

Our aim is to provide Public Health education for future health professionals, to help them gain a Public Health perspective, and to be well aware of the needs and expectations of the community they provide health care. In this respect, we aim to improve their skills in making good quality research, identifying health problems and developing proper solutions for them.

Graduate Education: Public Health courses begin with the module of Social Determinants of Health in Phase 1; Introduction to Clinical Practice (ICP) in Phase 2; and various other lectures throughout the year. Phase 3 continues with lectures in class and field work. In the first three years, public health is a component of multiple modules. For instance, infection prevention course package (2 full work days theoretical and one day practical education) takes place in the 2nd phase. Environmental Health Module is based on Problem Based Learning (PBL) technique. Since 2001, Marmara University, School of Medicine has been providing students the opportunity to do scientific studies within the framework of the ICP Program. Our department participates in workshops for 6 weeks with student groups. Within the framework of the ICP Program, the students of the first three phases conduct scientific research in groups, consist of 5 participants. At the end of the year, the groups present their projects in Marmara Student Congress (MaSCo). The Department of Public Health is actively involved in the theoretical and practical courses of the ICP program and academic staff supervise the students during their scientific research.

Evidence Based Medicine (EBM) course is given at phase 5 for fifteen days. In this course, it is aimed to acquire competencies including access to scientific knowledge and management, critical thinking, decision making based on evidence. While assessing the validity of the evidence obtained from different research types, it is aimed to have knowledge about interpretation of the research results, biases in research and inferences from studies. During the course, the medical evidence-based communication skills with the patients are also emphasized. The content of the EBM course contains topics including philosophy of evidence-based medicine and ways to reach evidence, causality, statistical significance, checklists for different research types, validity of evidence for treatment and harm studies and validity and reliability of diagnostic tests. Classes are executed interactively with the active participation of students via pre-determined scientific articles. After a moderator and reporter were selected from the students, they are requested to examine the topic and ask their questions and determine the learning objectives. Besides, we also have courses in the Life Long Health and Reproductive Health internship blocks in the phase 5. Phase 6 students participate in the Public Health Internship in our department for 8 weeks in groups consisting of 20 to 30 students. Within the framework of the protocol, they participate in the activities that take place in community health centers (CHCs) in our research region (Kartal, Pendik and Maltepe). At the end of this practice, it is aimed that the Phase 6 students gain knowledge and skills regarding the duties and responsibilities of CHCs. Occupational Health and Safety course is carried out during this internship period. This course provides the students a preventive perspective on occupational health as well as prepares students for working as an occupational physician. Through full-day family health centers (FHCs) and CHC immunization courses, students observe administration, management and safekeeping of vaccination in FHC and CHC. They do observations and assessments under the supervision of Public Health Resident Doctors via the vaccination practice forms, which are provided in theoretical lecture prior to the practice. Community Oriented Primary Health Care (COPC) course is also provided in the internship period. COPC is a model, in which primary care services are organized according to the needs of a particular community.  According to this model, students who are divided into the groups of 4 to 5 participants, select a community (a province, district or neighborhood, from where they might have information), and they do literature search for determination of the current health status of this community. The factors regarding the current health status and related activities should be found through this research. Possible interventions and expected results are determined according to the literature.  The course ends with monitoring and evaluation sessions. Throughout the course, students make several presentations, and share and discuss the findings with the resident doctors and faculty members. Phase 6 students plan and conduct a scientific research under the guidance of the teaching staff and resident doctors during the internship. They are expected to collect data and present the results of their research. They submit the results of their research as a report at the end of the internship. Thus, they gain thesis writing skills before graduation. 

Postgraduate Education:

Medical doctors are accepted to the specialization training after the Medical Specialty Examination. Applicants must have proficiency in English language. The graduates of medical school are accepted to the master of science and doctoral degree programs after passing the exams of Marmara University Health Sciences Institute and meeting the criteria of ALES (Postgraduate Education Entrance Exam), transcript grade average, and the evaluation of professional knowledge.