Program Overview

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Doctor of Public Health (DrPH)

The Doctor of Public Health (DrPH) degree is a professional doctoral degree for early to mid-career public health professionals with an MPH or health-related master's degree. It is well-suited to professionals seeking leadership roles in domestic or international public health agencies and organizations.

Program Overview

The DrPH program is built around a set of required courses that offer the opportunity to achieve foundational competencies in health policy, public health practice, professional skills, data analysis, education, and workforce development. Students develop specialized expertise through the completion of coursework for their chosen concentration or track. In addition to coursework, the program requires applied practice experience and a dissertation.

Concentrations (Tracks)

• Customized Program of Study
• Environmental Health (Environmental Health; Health Security)
• Global Health: Policy & Evaluation
• Health Equity and Social Justice
• Health Policy and Management (Healthcare Management & Leadership; Public Health Informatics; Health Policy; Quality & Patient Safety)
• Implementation Science
• Women's and Reproductive Health

Program Requirements

The program includes core requirements, foundational coursework, concentration coursework, an applied practice experience, a comprehensive written examination, and a dissertation. Students will be required to successfully complete a minimum of 64 term credits.

Foundational Course Requirements

Foundational course requirements are designed to ensure students achieve DrPH Foundational Competencies established by the Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH). Students earn credits from DrPH Seminars, problem-solving courses, professional skills courses, and data analysis courses.

Customized Program of Study

The Customized Program of Study (Custom) allows students the flexibility to tailor the DrPH program to their academic and professional goals. Students may choose to specialize in a cross-cutting topical area, a public health field, or another applied area.

Environmental Health Concentration

The goal of the Environmental Health concentration is to train professionals to provide leadership and management in a wide variety of environmental health issues. Graduates should be able to analyze and assess complex environmental risks, emergencies, and problems.

Global Health: Policy & Evaluation Concentration

The concentration focuses on evidence-based interventions in public health to improve population health and health access globally. Students will learn methodologies related to policy and evaluation in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).

Health Equity & Social Justice Concentration

This concentration is focused on understanding and addressing the multiple determinants of health, particularly among disadvantaged and marginalized groups. Students learn about innovative epidemiological, social, and behavioral tools to assess population health and influences upon it.

Health Policy & Management Concentration

This concentration trains students to analyze policies that impact population health, evaluate health services, healthcare delivery, and information systems, and identify strategies for enhancing the quality, effectiveness, and efficiency of systems of care.

Implementation Science Concentration

This concentration is focused on developing and sharing evidence to support the formulation, implementation, and scale-up of new health policies and programs through the application of interdisciplinary tools and approaches to study processes in complex health systems.

Womens and Reproductive Health Concentration

This concentration focuses on the general and reproductive health status of women, the determinants of their health status, the disparities therein, the application of relevant gender equity frameworks, and preventive strategies and programs to address womens health and the health of their newborns and young children.

DrPH Program Policies

For a full list of program policies, please visit the DrPH Program page for the handbook.

DrPH Program Objectives

The DrPH program objectives include:

1. Identifying, synthesizing, and applying evidence-based public health research and theory from a broad range of disciplines and health-related data sources for problem-solving and to advance programs, policies, and systems promoting population health.
2. Identifying and analyzing ethical issues including balancing the claims of personal liberty with the responsibility to protect and improve the health of the population and act on the ethical concepts of social justice and human rights in public health research and practice.
3. Influencing decision-making regarding policies and practices that advance public health using scientific knowledge, analysis, communication, and consensus building.
4. Assessing and using communication strategies across diverse audiences to inform and influence individual, organization, community, and policy actions to promote the health of the public.
5. Enabling organizations and communities to create, communicate and apply shared visions, missions and values; inspire trust and motivate others; build capacity; improve performance, and enhance the quality of the working environment; and use evidence-based strategies to enhance public health.
6. Providing fiscally responsible, strategic, and operational guidance within both public and private health organizations for achieving individual and community health and wellness.
7. Designing and evaluating system-level and programmatic initiatives in multidisciplinary teams so as to promote public health outcomes and health equity.
8. Assessing adult learning needs and designing and delivering training or educational experiences that respond to these needs using the best pedagogical practices available.

CEPH Learning Objectives & Foundational Competencies

According to the Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH) requirements, all BSPH degree students must be grounded in foundational public health knowledge.

Concentration & Track Competencies

Each concentration and track has specific competencies that students are expected to achieve. These competencies are designed to ensure that students have the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to succeed in their chosen field.