نظرة عامة على البرنامج

Program Overview

The Ph.D. program in Health Services Research & Policy at Baylor University aims to train scholars to integrate economics, statistics, and epidemiology to study and improve healthcare delivery and policy. Graduates will be prepared to collaborate with other contributors to enhance the health and healthcare of individuals and populations worldwide.

Program Description

The program is designed to prepare scholars for research-driven careers in academia, healthcare delivery systems, provider entities, insurance and other healthcare companies, policy think tanks and organizations, and government positions. The curriculum is highly quantitative, and successful candidates will be awarded the MS in Economics (thesis track) after satisfying the requirements for that degree. Students will engage in research projects with Baylor University faculty throughout their PhD experience.

Admissions Requirements

Applicants must have a degree from an accredited university or college and meet all general admission requirements of Baylor's Graduate School for admission to Ph.D. level studies. Successful applicants will provide strong evidence of the ability to conduct quantitative research and communicate research findings effectively. Prerequisites for admission include two semesters of calculus (three preferred) and one semester of statistics (more than one preferred). The admission decision is based on a holistic review of an applicant's previous academic record, GRE scores, research experience, two letters of recommendation, and applicant essays.

Curriculum

The PhD in Health Services Research & Policy is a 60-hour degree program designed to be completed in four years. The program is also designed for students to meet the requirements for the Master of Science in Economics by the end of the second year.

• Health Services Research Required Courses:
  • HSR 6315: Health Economics & Policy: Demand (3 hours)
  • HSR 6320: Health Economics & Policy: Supply (3 hours)
  • HSR 6325: Advanced Causal Inference (3 hours)
• Economics Required Courses:
  • ECO 5315: Microeconomic Theory and Business Decisions (3 hours)
  • ECO 5310: Macroeconomic Analysis in the Global Economy (3 hours)
  • ECO 5347: Econometric Theory and Methods (3 hours)
  • ECO 5349: Causal Inference and Research Design (3 hours)
  • ECO 5001: Research Seminar (0 hours)
  • ECO 5002: Research Seminar (0 hours)
• Economics Electives:
  • Selected courses are to be agreed upon by the student and the program Directors. Qualifying electives must be at the 5000 level or above. Recommended electives include:
    • ECO 5351: Data Science I
    • ECO 5352: Data Science II
    • ECO 5317: Contemporary Government and Business Relations
    • ECO 5320: The Economics of Government
    • ECO 5314: Seminar in Behavioral and Experimental Economics
• MS Thesis:
  • ECO 5V99: Thesis (6 hours)
• Additional Elective Courses:
  • Any level courses with program Directors' approval. Recommended subjects include: Health Policy and Administration (HPA), Public Health (PUBH), Sociology (SOC), and Statistics (STA) (9 hours)
• Dissertation:
  • Dissertation Proposal (1-3 hours)
  • Dissertation (9-11 hours)

Program Completion Requirement

A student will be recognized as a candidate for the doctoral degree only after having completed the required and elective Economics coursework as well as the thesis to earn the MS in Economics, completed all residence and departmental requirements except for the dissertation, and received approval by the Dean of the Graduate School for their formal application for admission to candidacy for the degree. Candidates will then undergo the dissertation proposal process. As is customary, after having completed the dissertation research, the candidate must successfully make an oral defense of the dissertation.