The DrPH in Community Health Practice is a minimum of 54 semester credit hours and offers interdisciplinary training for students who wish to practice at an advanced level in public health. Students are trained to engage in community-driven, grassroots and inter-sectoral applied research with a focus on addressing social inequity and systems-level change through the adoption of a transdisciplinary framework.
Special Entrance Requirements
Applicants to the DrPH program should have a prior MPH degree or its equivalent. Preferred applicants are those with public health work experience and those who have completed coursework in quantitative methods or who can provide evidence of quantitative abilities. All DrPH students are expected to have completed PH 1700L Intermediate Biostatistics or its equivalent. In exceptional cases, applicants without the required academic background in public health may be accepted on the condition of additional coursework in public health. For more information, see the Admissions section.
Course of Study
The following courses are required for a DrPH in Community Health Practice:
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Required for all School of Public Health Students | ||
PH 101 | Foundations of Public Health 1 | |
| Leveling Courses 2 | ||
| Introduction to Biostatistics in Public Health | ||
| Health Promotion and Behavioral Sciences in Public Health | ||
| Epidemiology I | ||
| Management & Policy Concepts in Public Health | ||
| Before Preliminary Exam | ||
| PHD 1120L | Program Evaluation | 3 |
| PH 2615L | Epidemiology II | 3 |
| PHD 3620L | Principles & Practice of Public Health | 4 |
| PHD 3801L | Community Grant Writing | 1 |
| PHD 3631L | Community Engagement/ Community-Based Participatory Research | 3 |
| PHD 3625L | Practice-based Methods and Design | 3 |
| PHD 3800L | Working with Diverse Communities | 3 |
| Major Courses | ||
| PHD 3950 | Applied Leadership Studies in Public Health | 3 |
| PHD 3830 | Ethics and Policy | 3 |
| PHD 1118L | Qualitative Methods | 3 |
| PH 1700L | Intermediate Biostatistics | 3 |
| PHD 5500 | Principles of Adult and Community Education for Public Health | 2 |
| PH 3835 | Public Health Advocacy | 1 |
| Select one of the following: | 3 | |
| Geographic Information Systems Science | ||
| Health Survey Research Design | ||
| Legal Issues in Healthcare | ||
| Minor 3 | 9 | |
| Applied Practice Experience | ||
| PH 9997 | Practicum | 3 |
| Integrative Learning Experience | ||
| PHD 9999 | Dissertation Research | 4 |
| Total Hours | 54 | |
- 1
Online, not-for-credit course
- 2
Academic credits from leveling courses do not count toward the total required number of credits for the degree program.
- 3
Students are required to select a minor outside of their department.
For sample course of study, see the DrPH in Community Health Practice degree planner.