Maternal and Child Health Center of Excellence
The Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Center of Excellence provides academic, research, and service-learning opportunities to public health students, researchers, and practitioners whose mission is to improve the lives of mothers, children, and families.
Kresge Building 6th-floor
677 Huntington Ave., Boston MA 02115
MCH Program Evaluation Course (SBS 550)
SBS 550, known as the MCH Program Evaluation Course, is an innovative Harvard Chan School winter session offering. This competitive 3-week course, selecting up to 16 Harvard Chan students, provides didactic instruction in program evaluation during the 1st week and then matches students with a real-world evaluation project for the second week. During the last week of the course, students will continue to develop an evaluation plan to be used by the states to evaluate their active MCH public health programs for the next 2-3 years.
The course is only open to current Harvard graduate students.
Application
Information Sessions
The information will be scheduled for September 2026.
Course Details
To apply and participate, you must be a current graduate student at Harvard University. You do not have to concentrate in Maternal and Child Health (MCH) to engage in this course.
Student travel and lodging costs are covered by Harvard Chan’s MCH Center of Excellence.
The MCH Program Evaluation Course (SBS 550) application opens each fall on our website and requires applicants to complete short essays. Select students are asked to rank program sites (without knowledge of site location) participating in the course and are matched with one of their top choices.
Each program site is assigned two students.
For the 2027 Winter Session, the course will run from Tuesday, January 5 to Friday, January 22.
Week 1: Travel to assigned program site for an intensive, synchronous remote course on program evaluation to be completed with program staff.
Week 2: Remain at program site to engage with program staff and develop program evaluation plan.
Week 3: Write-up and submit program evaluation plan.
- San Antonio Black Doula Collective – Texas
- Help me Grow LA – California
- School-Based Health Centers – Elementary and Middle School PILOT Program: Delaware Department of Health and Social Services, Delaware
- Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System’s Outreach to WIC-enrolled Mothers – Wisconsin
- Best Beginnings Perinatal Home Visiting Program for Wyoming Babies – Wyoming
- Live It! Teen Pregnancy Prevention and Sexual Health Education, Division of Indian Work – Minnesota
- Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program – Massachusetts
- Electronic Health Record Implementation in Title X Family Planning Service Agencies – Michigan