Maternal and Child Health Program

Our Maternal and Child Health Program is grounded in a life course perspective as an organizing framework that acknowledges distinct periods in human development and presents both risks and opportunities for interventions. Faculty and students work together to learn and make the world a healthier place for women and families across their lifespans.

Recently, our program has evolved into offering online courses in the new Women, Child, and Youth concentration as part of the fully online MPH@GW program.

Our Program Philosophy

The GW Center of Excellence in Maternal and Child Health is committed to improving the health and well-being of women, children, adolescents and families.

Since its inception in 1997, our MCH Program has defined health to include physical, psychosocial, cultural, political, and economic factors. To further advance our mission, our Center of Excellence integrates and strengthens the program’s current education, research, practice and policy activities, and develops strategic technical assistance projects to meaningfully support MCH efforts in the DC metropolitan area.

Core Values and Principles

Our Center of Excellence is firmly rooted in the following values and principles:

Integrating ‘learning by doing’ into our student education and training.
Promoting a culture of service that respects the contributions of all members of our MCH community.
Embracing social justice and diversity in our MCH mission.
Creating innovation in ethical evidence-based MCH policy, research, practice, and pedagogy.

Facilitating Goals

Facilitating goals encompass those activities that support the achievement of our program’s goals and objectives:

Maximize diversity and inclusion.
Improve the student experience.
Deepen support of MCH education, research, practice and policy.
Develop and strengthen ties to communities and MCH agencies and organizations locally and nationally.
Support faculty and students.
Strengthen our financing for education, research, and applied public health activities.
Develop and strengthen graduates’ relationships.

Diversity and Inclusion

GW’s Milken Institute School of Public Health is committed to addressing Diversity and Inclusion (D&I). Our school understands that Diversity and Inclusion is critical to public health because we are a discipline that advocates for the promotion and protection of health by convening, and understanding people’s lives and their communities. Learn how we’re building an inclusive community and take a look at resources available to students, faculty and staff.

Our Student Population

Here are some facts about the makeup of the student population in the Maternal and Child Health Program (as of December 2022):

Most students (76%) are between the ages of 21-30

of our students identify in the following racial/ethnic groups:

34% as Black or African American;
12% as two or more races or ethnicities;
8% as Hispanic or Latino;
1% as Asian;

39% of students identify as White

have classified themselves as full-time students, which means they are pursuing 9-12+ credits per fall and spring residential semester and generally are on a path to complete their degrees in five residential semesters

Center Research

The GW Center of Excellence in Maternal and Child Health is a hub of research activity, conducted by both faculty and students. Learn more on our Student and Faculty Research and iMCH Learning Lab pages.