Doctor of Public Health (DrPH)
The Doctor of Public Health (DrPH) degree program is an interdepartmental offering intended for experienced public health professionals who seek advanced training for leadership positions in public health. The DrPH is the highest professional degree in public health. This practice-oriented degree program will train public health professionals to develop, implement, and evaluate public health programs and policies nationally and internationally. A full-time DrPH student with a master's degree prior to admission will be allowed a maximum of 5 years from matriculation to graduation to complete the degree program; all part-time students will be allowed a maximum of 7 years. For more information, please contact the Doctoral Education Program Manager, Sebastian T. Bach, at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Program Competencies

Advocacy:

  • Analyze the impact of legislation, judicial opinions, regulations, and policies on population health
  • Develop evidence-based strategies for changing health law and policy
  • Utilize consensus-building, negotiation, and conflict avoidance and resolution techniques

Communication:

  • Develop informational and persuasive communications
  • Employ evidence-based communication program models for disseminating research and evaluation outcomes
  • Explain program proposals and evaluations to lay, professional, and policy audiences

Community/Cultural Orientation:

  • Apply research from anthropology, psychology, history, demography, sociology, and social epidemiology in national and international contexts
  • Develop collaborative partnerships with communities, policy makers, and other relevant groups
  • Assess cultural, environmental, and social justice influences on the health of communities

Critical Analysis:

  • Interpret quantitative and qualitative data following current scientific standards and apply theoretical and evidence-based perspectives from multiple disciplines in the design and implementation of programs, policies, and systems
  • Synthesize information from multiple sources for research and practice and evaluate the performance and impact of health programs, policies, and systems
  • Identify and navigate the secondary data sources available for use at the regional and community levels internationally and in the U.S. and understand and apply meta-analysis to evaluate policies, especially in situations involving inconsistent or limited data

Leadership:

  • Create a shared vision and articulate this vision to diverse groups, stakeholders, and other professional collaborators to achieve high standards of performance and accountability
  • Develop skilled teams and capacity-building strategies at the individual, organizational, and community level
  • Guide organizational decision-making and planning based on internal and external environmental research

Management:

  • Implement strategic planning processes;
  • Evaluate organizational performance in relation to strategic and defined goals;
  • Organize the work environment with defined lines of responsibility, authority, communication and governance and develop financial and business plans for health programs and services;

Professionalism and Ethics:

  • Apply relevant ethical, legal, and human rights principles to difficult and controversial public health policy decisions while demonstrating a commitment to personal and professional values
  • Articulate the major ethical, legal and human rights principles relevant to public health policy making, both in the US and internationally
  • Design strategies for resolving ethical concerns in research, law, and regulations
Coursework

The School's DrPH program requires students to complete at least 40 credits (those having prerequisites to meet will be asked to complete additional coursework). All students must complete the following courses:

PH 851 Needs Assessment
PH 851 Needs Assessment
PH 853 Health Program Development and Management
PH 854 Program and Policy Evaluation
PH 854 Program and Policy Evaluation
PH 856 Law & Ethics for Public Health Leaders
PH 856 Law & Ethics for Public Health Leaders
PH 857 Health Economics and Financial Management for Public Health
PH 857 Health Economics and Financial Management for Public Health
PH 858 Cases in Public Health Management
PH 858 Cases in Public Health Management
PH 866 Public Health Leadership Seminar
PH 866 Public Health Leadership Seminar
PH 986 DrPH Practicum
PH 986 DrPH Practicum

In addition to the core course requirements, students will complete 8 research methods credits, 4 management/policy elective credits, and 8 general elective credits.

Students will also complete:
  • written and oral qualifying examinations;
  • public health practice dissertation; and
  • oral presentations of both the dissertation proposal and the final dissertation.
Dissertation: Each candidate will prepare a dissertation demonstrating his or her ability to analyze and solve complex practice-based problems in public health. The dissertation format will be determined in large part by the nature of the public health problem the student plans to address. The dissertation should reflect the variety of perspectives needed to analyze and ameliorate major public health problems and include explicit population-based policy and practice implications. Appropriate dissertations formats may include:
  • case-studies and policy analyses
  • development of new practice interventions
  • design and implementation of public health programs
  • program or policy evaluations
  • historical program or policy analyses
  • substantial legislative proposals
Click here to download a PDF file of the DrPH Student Guidebook.