The J.D./M.P.H. program is comprised of two individual degrees. A student in this program is expected to complete the required 85 academic credits for the J.D. degree at Georgetown and the 80 units necessary for the M.P.H. degree at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in four years. J.D./M.P.H. students may apply 10 M.P.H. units (equivalent to 6 J.D. credits) to their J.D. academic credit requirement.

Curriculum Outline

• A J.D./M.P.H. student will spend his or her first year at the Law Center, taking the standard curriculum of 30-31 credits for a first-year, full-time J.D. student.
• The student will then spend 11 months in residence at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health completing the M.P.H. component of the joint degree program.
• After completing the M.P.H., the student will return to the Law Center to complete the remaining two years of the J.D. program, including:
  • a course in professional responsibility;
  • the upperclass writing requirement;
  • 6 credits of experiential coursework; and
  • For students matriculating in Fall 2022 or later:  a course that teaches students to think critically about the law’s claim to neutrality and the law’s differential effects on subordinated groups, including those identified by race, gender, indigeneity, and class.
• The student must also maintain a minimum cumulative grade point average of 2.50/4.00 in the M.P.H. program and the required minimum cumulative grade point average for the J.D. program (see the Juris Doctor Program chapter of the Georgetown Law Student Handbook of Academic Policies).
• With permission from the Director of J.D. Programs, J.D./M.P.H. students are eligible to enroll in courses at Georgetown’s Kennedy Institute of Ethics.
• The M.P.H. degree will not be awarded until requirements for the J.D. degree have been completed.

Credit Distribution

The required J.D./M.P.H. academic credits are distributed as follows:

• 30 credits of the required first-year law program;
• 11 months (starting in June) in residence at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. During this period, students complete a series of M.P.H. core courses. While at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, a student’s required courses will include Public Health and the Law and one course devoted to ethics and public health. Students are also directed to suggested elective courses;
• During the final two years at the Law Center, students are strongly urged to take an advanced health law seminar, Administrative Law (not required for students who have completed Government Processes in Curriculum B), Constitutional Law II, and, at least one additional seminar in health law, biomedical ethics, law and science, or a related subject, in addition to their remaining J.D. degree requirements.

Typical Credit Distribution

A typical distribution of the 165 academic credits in the J.D./M.P.H. Program:

• First Year: 31 J.D. credits
• Second Year: 80 M.P.H. units
• Third Year: 27 J.D. credits
• Fourth Year: 27 J.D. credits*
  * Through written petition, students may apply 10 M.P.H. units (equivalent to 6 J.D. credits) to their J.D. academic credit requirement.