Master of Science in Health Science
Earn the Master’s Degree for Healthcare Professionals.Online | Under 2 Years | Earn Your Master’s
%
Online
Concentration Tracks
Top-tier Faculty
Semesters
MSHS Program Highlights
Advance Your Health Science Knowledge
Help improve the quality of life for individuals of all ages. Deepen your knowledge and skills so that your clients or patients get the best care and interaction possible. Delve into rehabilitation, sport performance, wellness coaching, functional nutrition, healthcare leadership, or healthcare education.
Designed for Working Professionals
Earn your Master’s of Health Science while you work. Our program is designed for working professionals. Most of our students are full-time working professionals with very busy schedules.
Advance Your Career
Earning a master’s degree can help you reach your professional and educational aspirations. Advance your career in sports performance, rehabilitation, nutrition, or health and wellness coaching. You can also advance your career in healthcare education or administrative settings.
Become a Certified Health & Wellness Coach
Our Health & Wellness Coaching track prepares you to sit for the National Board Certification Exam, allowing you to become a nationally-recognized Health & Wellness Coach. As a Health & Wellness Coach, you’ll have the knowledge and skills to help people move toward healthier and more fulfilled lives.
Prepare to Earn Your Doctorate
By earning your master’s degree, you are prepared to go on for further education. Continue on and earn your doctorate. Easily transition into our PhD in Health Sciences program, which has concentration tracks in Health Promotion & Wellness, Athletic Training, Orthopedic Sports Science, Integrated Health Sciences, Healthcare Leadership & Administration, Healthcare Professions Education, Human & Sport Performance, Neurologic Rehabilitation, and Pediatrics. Transfer 9 credits directly to the PhD.
CONCENTRATION TRACKS
Functional Nutrition
Functional Nutrition
The MSHS Functional Nutrition track focuses on integrated, holistic nutrition. This track is intended for individuals to learn to better use food as a natural medicine while addressing physical performance and functioning. The curriculum is designed to increase the student’s abilities to identify how nutrients influence the genome and their relationship to health and wellness, while also learning about the changing nutritional needs throughout the lifespan.
This interdisciplinary track is designed for a variety of health professionals including individuals with an undergraduate in dietetics who need to complete their master’s degree alongside their dietetics internship. This track is also extremely valuable as further nutrition training for clinicians and other health professionals.
There are two options to complete the Functional Nutrition track: a capstone project or a master’s thesis. The capstone project is completed and defended during the fifth semester, and the master’s thesis is completed over the fifth and sixth semesters of the program. The oral defense of the capstone can be completed online or onsite. The oral defense of the thesis must be completed onsite.
Health Promotion & Wellness
Become an expert in coaching approaches as a Nationally-Certified Health and Wellness Coach. Prepare for a career as a health and wellness coach in private practice or as part of a team in settings such as physician practice or corporate wellness. Develop an understanding of the rationale and the psychological and physiological mechanisms underlying coaching techniques and client responses. Facilitate positive, sustainable behavior change.
Rocky Mountain University of Health Professions is an approved program by the National Board for Health and Wellness Coaching (NBHWC). After students successfully complete the 3 coaching courses and the required practice sessions students are eligible to sit for the National Board Certified Health and Wellness Coach (NBC-HWC) exam. The prerequisites for the exam are as follows:
- Successfully complete the courses, WE 710, and WE 711 including all synchronous hours.
- Pass the Coaching Practical Examination at the end of WE 711.
- Complete all other requirements set forth by the ICHWC, which currently includes completion and documentation of 50 coaching sessions after passing the practical exam in WE 711 and paying the application/exam fees.
- As ICHWC requirements are subject to change, students should refer to the website, for the most updated information.
Healthcare Leadership Administration
Healthcare Leadership Administration
Prepare to lead teams in modern healthcare organizations. Learn current best practices for healthcare leadership and administration. Delve into healthcare leadership, ethics, and business principles for dynamic healthcare environments. Explore organizational skills, behavior management, group dynamics, and more. Focus on proven methods for improving healthcare delivery in ways that improve outcomes while decreasing costs.
You can choose to complete a capstone project or a master’s thesis.
Healthcare Professions Education
HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONS EDUCATION
Become an evidence-based educator in healthcare education, community healthcare education programs, or clinical healthcare education venues. Design online, blended, and face-to-face learning deliveries. Focus on learner-centered instructional strategies. Learn a holistic, evidence-based approach to course design, instructional delivery, and assessment for both didactic and clinical education. Explore best practices for teaching and education so you can become an engaged and successful instructor.
Rehabilitative Science
REHABILITATIVE SCIENCE
Advance your health science knowledge as you dive deep into biomechanics, movement analysis, preventative measures, and more. Focus on evidence-based approaches to athletic training, physical therapies, injury prevention and recognition, and other areas of healthcare. Prepare to become a researcher, educator, and leader in the area of rehabilitation science and to contribute to the development of rehabilitation practice, research, and policy. Increase your ability to identify best practices built on evidence-based decision-making. Build expertise in sports nutrition, exercise physiology, sports injury prevention, diagnosis, and management.
You can choose to complete a capstone project or a master’s thesis.
Sport Performance
SPORT PERFORMANCE
Increase your exercise science knowledge with a focus on strength and conditioning or sport performance. Dive into sport performance program design. Grow your abilities to identify best practices built on evidence-based decision making. Delve into an interactive environment focused on designing health learning for individuals across the human lifespan.
You can choose to complete a capstone project or a master’s thesis.
Curriculum
Concentration Tracks
Choose to concentrate your studies in your specialty area of choice. Become a content expert within Health & Wellness Coaching, Functional Nutrition, Rehabilitative Science, Sport Performance, Healthcare Professions Education, or, Healthcare Administration.
Thesis
Choose an area in which to become an expert as you incorporate best practice and knowledge.
Health Science Foundation
Build a deeper foundation based on exercise physiology, strength and conditioning, nutrition, injury prevention, recognition, rehabilitation, and performance training. Prepare yourself to move into healthcare administration or education. Dive deeper into health science with a master’s-level education.
Evidence-Based Practice
Dive deep into evidence-based practice and applied clinical reasoning. You’ll learn how to implement evidence-based practice, how to evaluate and apply medical literature, and more. Become an evidence-based professional.
Semester Starts
Summer 2024
Priority Application Deadline
Final Application Deadline
Semester Start
Fall 2024
Priority Application Deadline
Final Application Deadline
Semester Start
ADMISSION REQUIREMENTS
- Bachelor’s degree from an accredited institution
- Resume or curriculum vitae
- Minimum 3.0 cumulative GPA
Clinical Rotation Requirements including required vaccinations: Admitted students to Rocky Mountain University who will be completing a clinical rotation will receive vaccination forms regarding required vaccinations. Not all vaccinations or proof of immunity are required at the beginning of the program but will be prior to the first clinical rotation. The University allows for vaccination exemptions and more information about the University’s position on vaccination can be reviewed at https://rm.edu/vaccination-statement/
RMU requires the following items prior to starting any clinical rotations (these are subject to change depending upon public health concerns and specific clinic requirements):
- MMR
- Varicella
- Hepatitis B
- TB
- Tdap
- Annual Influenza
- COVID 19
- HIPAA certification
- OSHA certification
- CPR certification
Faculty
Darrin Smith
PhD, LAT, ATC, PES
Program Director, Master of Science in Health Science
Denise Pickett-Bernard
PhD, RDN, LDN, IFMCP, IFNCP
Functional Nutrition Concentration Track Director
Manuel Romero
PhD, ATC, CSCS, PES, CES
Faculty, Master of Science in Health Science
Lori Thein Brody
PT, PhD, SCS, LAT
Faculty, Doctor of Philosophy & Master of Science in Health Sciences
Andrew Doyle
PhD, LAT, ATC, CSCS, Astym-Cert.
Faculty, Master of Science in Health Sciences
Jason Edsall
PhD, ATC, CSCS
Faculty, Master of Science in Health Science
Kim Barber Foss
MS, ATC, LAT
Faculty, Master of Science in Health Science
Ed LeCara
PhD, DC, ATC, CSCS, MBA
Faculty, Master of Science in Health Science
Mike T. Nelson
PhD, MSME, CSCS, CISSN
Faculty, Master of Science in Health Science
Evan Osar
DC, CMT, PES, CSCS
Faculty, Master of Science in Health Science
Kimberlee Ann Shibinski
EdD
Faculty, Master of Science in Health Science
UNIVERSITY ACCREDITATION
Rocky Mountain University of Health Professions is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities (8060 165th Avenue NE Ste 100, Redmond, WA 98052-3981), an institutional accrediting body recognized by the Secretary of the US Department of Education.
ASSOCIATION RECOGNITION
The National Strength and Conditioning Association officially recognizes Rocky Mountain University of Health Professions Graduate Studies Program for successfully meeting established criteria.
NBHWC Approval
Rocky Mountain University of Health Professions has achieved “Approval Status” from the National Board for Health and Wellness Coaching (NBHWC), which means that students who complete the 3-course sequence below, are eligible to sit for the exam to become a National Board Certified Health and Wellness Coach.
- Successfully complete the courses, WE 710, and WE 711 including all synchronous hours.
- Pass the Coaching Practical Examination at the end of WE 711
- Complete any other requirements set forth by the NBHWC, which currently includes, completion and documentation of 50 coaching sessions after passing the practical exam in WE 711, and paying the application/exam fees.
- As NBHWC requirements are subject to change, students should refer to the website, https://nbhwc.org/hwc-certifying-examination-application/ for the most updated information.
