The Penn State College of Medicine DrPH curriculum is designed to provide advanced public health education and training.
DrPH students must complete a minimum of 45 credits of coursework plus 15 credits of doctoral research and advanced field experience beyond a master’s degree.
27 credits in prescribed, core classroom-based courses
DrPH students must meet Penn State doctoral degree requirements, including candidacy examination and English competencies. DrPH students must also meet the following additional DrPH-specific requirements:
Advanced Field Experience: Advanced Field Experience bridges professional academic preparation and advanced public health practice. It will incorporate higher-level skills (policy development, epidemiologic analyses, etc.) compared with the MPH practicum experiences. Although not required, students will be encouraged to link their advanced field experiences to their integrative doctoral research project.
Comprehensive Examination: Upon completing all core and track elective courses, DrPH students will take their comprehensive exam, which is overseen by faculty in the DrPH program.
Integrative Doctoral Research: Students will complete two major components for their DrPH integrative experience: two publishable-quality manuscripts and a doctoral portfolio. Among other requirements, the doctoral portfolio will include a student’s CV and leadership philosophy.
In addition to these topics, each student in the DrPH program works with a DrPH faculty advisor to develop an individualized area of focus, in areas such as, but not limited to, the following:
Advanced Leadership
Aging Research
Cancer Epidemiology, Prevention & Control
Economics of Public Health Interventions
Evidence-Based Public Health Interventions
Global Health
Public Health Policy & Law
Public Health Preparedness & Emergency Response
Regulatory Science
Social Marketing and Behavior
Women’s Health
DrPH students also complete work in the aforementioned track electives, with 9 credits required within a chosen track.
New students recite an oath during the Graduate Student Oath Ceremony held at the University Conference Center in Hershey.
Example Courses for Each Track
Track Electives: Health Systems Organization and Policy
H ADM 551: Health Care Law
HPA 503: Health Services Organization Behavior
HPA 524: Management of Health Services Organizations
HPA 545: Introduction to Health Economics
P ADM 535: Policy Analysis and Planning
P ADM 550: Policy and Program Evaluation
P ADM 558: Legislative Processes
P ADM 571: Seminar in Organizational Theory
P ADM 573: Research and Theory in Public Policy and Governance
PHS 540: Decision Analysis
PHS 573: Advanced Public Health Policy Analysis
PHS 896: Individual Studies
Track Electives: Community and Behavioral Health
CMPSY 500: Theories and Issues in Community Psychology
CMPSY 510: Change Processes
CN ED 843 (S PSY 843): Prevention Strategies and Programming
HLHED 553: Multicultural Health Issues
HLHED 552: Current Health Education Issues
HLHED 501: World Health Promotion
HPA 526: Health Disparities
PHP 558: Disaster Psychology
PHS 531: Public Health Perspectives of Women’s Health
PHS 574: Advanced Methods in Clinical and Public Health Intervention Design
PHS 578: Advanced Integrative Seminar in Public Health Leadership
PHS 896: Individual Studies
Track Electives: Epidemiology and Biostatistics
HPA 523: Managerial Epidemiology
HPA 528: Health Data Analysis for Research
HPA 540: Epidemiological Applications in Health Services Research
HPA 854: Population Health and Quality Management in Health Services Organization (Managerial Epidemiology)
NURS 808: Perspectives on Population-Based Health
PHS 503: Nutritional Epidemiology
PHS 507: Public Health Surveillance
PHS 524: Longitudinal Data Analysis
PHS 527: Survival Analysis
PHS 535: Quality of Care Measurement
PHS 552: Molecular Epidemiology of Chronic Disease
PHS 553: Infectious Disease Epidemiology
PHS 556: Cancer Epidemiology
PHS 558: Cardiovascular Disease Epidemiology
PHS 562: Environmental Epidemiology
PHS 563: Advanced Infectious Disease Epidemiology
PHS 582: Biostatistical Methods in Clinical Trials
PHS 896: Individual Studies
SOC 575: Statistical Modeling for Nonexperimental Research
