PhD Curriculum

The doctoral program in Health Services Research, Policy and Administration includes core coursework from various disciplines including: statistics, health services research methods, economics, epidemiology, research ethics, and social/psychological theories to health. In addition to the required core coursework, students will select an Area of Emphasis of their choice that will become the theme for their remaining academic work. The Area of Emphasis includes courses specific to a particular field, and provides options for creating a supporting program within the specialty. Each Area of Emphasis is overseen by a team of faculty who are experts in that particular area.

All doctoral students will complete the core courses, additional required Area of Emphasis courses, and supporting program or minor courses. The supporting program or minor is required to contain a minimum of 12 credits. The supporting program will be within the chosen Area of Emphasis. If a student instead chooses to minor, it must be approved in advance by the Area of Emphasis faculty.

Core Courses Required For All Doctoral Students

Course	Title	Offered	Credits
PubH 7401	Fundamentals of Biostatistical Inference	Fall	4
PubH 7402	Biostatistical Modeling and Methods	Spring	4
PubH 8810	Seminar: Research Studies in Healthcare	Fall	3
PubH 8811	Research Studies in Healthcare	Fall	3
PubH 8830	Writing for Research	Fall	2
PubH 8831	Writing for Research	Spring	2
PubH 6832	Economics of the Health Care System	Fall	3
PubH 6341	Epidemiological Methods I	Fall	3
PubH 6855	Medical Sociology	Spring	3
PubH 6742	Ethics in Public Health: Research and Policy	Fall/Spring	1
PubH 6835 OR PubH 8801	Principles of Health Policy (2) OR Health Services Policy Analysis (3) SEE AREA OF EMPHASIS FOR ITS REQUIRED POLICY COURSE	Spring Fall	2 OR 3
Total Core Credits		30 OR 31

Core Courses Yearly Schedule

Areas of Emphasis

Students will select an area of emphasis that includes course options within a particular theme.

• Multidisciplinary Social Sciences
• Sociology of Health and Illness
• Health Decision Science
• Health Organization and Management Science
• Clinical Outcomes Research
• Health Policy
• Health Economics