2025-26 Epidemiology PhD Handbook

One of the degree programs offered by Public Health Sciences at Penn State College of Medicine is the Epidemiology PhD degree. The objectives of the Epidemiology PhD program are to train students to be able to:

• identify and explain key components of the critical and analytical review process for epidemiological research.

• design and apply epidemiological methods to their independent research.

• communicate through writing substantive knowledge in their topic area as required for successful proposal development.

• develop research questions and complete a research study relevant to their area of substantive knowledge.

• use primary or secondary research data to demonstrate appropriate epidemiological analytical methods and interpretation including but not limited to multiple regression analyses, time-to-event analyses, case-control, meta-analyses, clinical trials analyses, etc.

• present critique of the literature, and/or their research orally at student-led seminars and answer questions appropriately.

Career opportunities are available in universities, academic medical centers, research organizations, government and private industry.

The mission of the Department of Public Health Sciences at Penn State College of Medicine is to advance health science through:

• the design, conduct and analysis of population-based biomedical research;

• the support of basic science and clinical research; and

• the education of future generations of health professionals.

The mission of the Epidemiology PhD Program in Public Health Sciences is to fulfill the third arm of the departmental mission. Completion of the degree indicates that the student will have:

• mastered current quantitative methods in epidemiological research to perform in a professional, academic or corporate setting;

• demonstrated the ability to master current knowledge of major public health concerns and demonstrated ability to develop and conduct epidemiological research in a specific topic of major public health relevance; and

• demonstrated a work ethic that supports scholarship and promotes the highest standards of academic integrity.

Each student in the Epidemiology PhD program is expected to acquire breadth of knowledge in the discipline of Epidemiology. Each student must complete:

• 20 credits of core required courses;

• 6 credits of elective substantive epidemiology

• 3 credits of additional substantive epidemiology or other noted elective courses as described in the coursework section, or other elective courses as recommended by the student's primary advisor. May take more than 3 credits if preferred or deemed necessary by mentor.

• Milestone examinations- Qualifying and Comprehensive exams

• Fulfill other requirements in this handbook; and

• An original dissertation that involves a specific research topic in an epidemiological area that is worthy of publication of at least two original research manuscripts in peer-reviewed scientific journals.

• Exceptions to any required courses will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis by the program director(s).

Required Core Methodology courses (20 credits)

• PHS 500: Research Ethics (1 credit)

• PHS 510: Grant Writing Methods (3 credits)

• PHS 518: Scientific Communications (3 credits)

• PHS 554: Statistical Methods in Public Health I (3 credits)

• PHS 555: Statistical Methods in Public Health II (3 credits)

• PHS 560: Epidemiological Research Methods (3 credits)

• PHS 564: Causal Inference (3 credits)

• EPID 590: Epi Seminar (1 credit) or 0.5 credit per semester over fall/spring

Required / Elective Substantive Epidemiology courses

(Required / Elective designation depending on research area, minimum of 6 credits)

• PHS/NUTR 503: Nutritional epidemiology (3 credits)

• PHS 516: Statistical Genetics (3 credits)

• PHS 552: Molecular & genetic epidemiology (3 credits)

• PHS 556: Cancer epidemiology (3 credits)

• PHS 558: CVD epidemiology (3 credits)

• PHS 562: Environmental epidemiology (3 credits)

• PHS 563: Infectious disease epidemiology (3 credits)

Elective Courses

(Discuss with mentor and course director first)

• PHS 507: Public Health Surveillance (3 Credits)

• PHS 523: Multivariate Analysis (3 credits)

• PHS 524: Longitudinal Data Analysis (3 credits)

• PHS 526: Categorical Data Analysis (3 credits)

• PHS 527: Survival Analysis (3 credits)

• PHS 536: Health Survey Research Methods (3 Credits)

• PHS 577: Integrative Seminar in Social and Behavioral Determinants of Health (3 Credits)

• PHS 580: Clinical Trials: Design and Analysis (3 credits)

• PHS 596: Individual Studies (3 credits)

• Or those approved by your mentor or course director

In extenuating circumstances, core courses may be substituted at the discretion of the program director(s).

In order to fulfill the requirements of the PhD in Epidemiology, students are required to successfully pass the following milestone examinations:

1. Qualifying examination: This exam is taken after completion of the first year of course work (earned 18 credits), typically between May and June, after students completed their first full academic year. Part-time students may be on a different timeline but will take the exam once they complete 18 credits. The qualifying examination takes the form of critical review and appraisal of primary literature on a topic of the student’s choice, often in a student’s dissertation research area. Students are required to choose two recent publications of primary research from the topic of their choice and write a critique of each them. Full details of the qualifying exam instructions can be found in the PhD EPI hub. The expectation from this exam is that students will demonstrate the understanding of limitations of published studies and be able to adequately critique and improve the study if not confined by similar constraints.

The qualifying exam should be about 10 pages double-spaced. Students will have 14 days to complete the qualifying exam please notify program directors if extensions are necessary due to disability requirements or other needs. A favorable vote of at least two-thirds of the qualifying exam evaluation committee members is required for passing the qualifying examination. See Milestone Examination Evaluations and Rubrics located in the PhD EPI hub.

Students should complete their program tracker with current completed courses, and plan for future courses and submit that with the qualifying exam. This can be completed prior to the qualifying exam.

If a student fails the qualifying exam in the first attempt, the student may be allowed to retake it once if the failure is not due to the violation of the qualifying exam rules specified above and the qualifying committee recommends a retake. The retake of a qualifying exam must be completed and passed by the end of the 2nd fall semester. The evaluation committee members who reviewed the first submission will serve as the reviewers for the second attempt. If a student fails the second attempt, of if the committee recommends that no retake be offered, he/she will be terminated from the program.

Graduate school requirements for the qualifying exam:

• Earned at least 18 credits

• GPA of 3.00 or greater for graduate studies

• Have no incomplete or deferred grades

• Be in good academic standing (registered as full or part-time student, excluding summer) in the semester the qualifying exam is taken

2. Comprehensive exam: This will be a defense of the dissertation research plan, administered by the student’s doctoral committee. The comprehensive examination must be completed within 1 year of completing all required coursework, typically the spring or summer of the second year in the program.

The Comprehensive Exam is administered by the dissertation committee (4-5 graduate faculty members), and since this is a defense of the dissertation research plan, it is recommended to meet with the committee a significant amount of time prior to the defense to review the proposal and adjust based on committee feedback.

In planning for the comprehensive exam, students must prepare a written document (at least 30 pages double-spaced) and submit it to the members of the dissertation committee two weeks in advance of the comprehensive exam. The written portion can be completed as one of two options. 1. A formal written research grant submission that will be submitted to NIH or another funding agency, or 2. A write-up of chapter 1 (background/introduction) of the final dissertation with additional material to describe the proposed methodology for each individual aim.

The comprehensive exam should be scheduled for 2 hours and has four parts:

• Part One: A 45-minute public presentation of the dissertation research proposal followed by 15 minutes of public questions.

• Part Two: A 30- to 45 min closed-door meeting with the dissertation committee members.

• Part Three: A 10- to 15- minute discussion among committee members without the student present

• Part Four: Submission of the updated program tracker with current completed courses and future potential courses

The Epidemiology Comprehensive Rubric is used to evaluate the comprehensive exam by the dissertation research committee members. This should be considered as a student prepares their Comprehensive Exam. A favorable vote of at least two-thirds of the committee members is required for passing the Comprehensive Examination. See Milestone Examination Evaluations and Rubrics in the PhD Hub.

If a student fails the first attempt of the comprehensive exam, the student may be allowed to retake the comprehensive exam once, if at least two-thirds of the committee members voted in favor of retaking the Comprehensive Examination. If the vote is to not retake the comprehensive exam, the student will be terminated from the program. If a student is allowed a retake of a comprehensive exam, this must be completed at the latest, within 6 months (typically 1-2 months).

If a student failed the second attempt, they will be terminated from the program.

Requirements for Comprehensive exam:

• This exam may not be taken until all coursework required by the program and PhD committee is completed (further coursework may be recommended beyond the exam)

• English competency requirement has been fulfilled.

• The formation of the dissertation committee with approval from the graduate school

• Minimum GPA 3.00

3. PhD Dissertation

Course Registration (EPID 601 or 611) credits. Register for EPID 601 or 611 only after passing the Comprehensive Examination. Full-time students should register for EPID 601, Part-time students should reach out to program directors for more direction.

The written dissertation defense expectations include 4-5 chapters on the dissertation topic. The usual format includes at least the following, although may be adjusted based on mentor requirements:

1. Background/Introduction

   1. This requires significant context to describe the problem and provide a gap that leads to the selected manuscripts. The format will be a short background/introduction of the problem followed by a narrative literature review, with a description of the aims and brief analysis, and typically is about 15-20 pages, but may be longer.

2. Manuscript 1

   1. This should be in the format of your targeted journal, including word count, abstract, references, etc

3. Manuscript 2

   1. This should be in the format of your targeted journal, including word count, abstract, references, etc

4. Manuscript 3 (highly recommended, but not required)^*

   1. This should be in the format of your targeted journal, including word count, abstract, references, etc

5. Conclusion

   1. This should be a short description of the conclusion of the overall research, public health implications, and future directions. This is typically 3-5 pages but may be longer.

Additional chapters may be needed for any additional results upon discretion of the student mentor.

*Please reach out to PhD Program directors if you will have less than 3 manuscripts, this is required to be approved prior to submitting for your final defense. If you do not submit approval prior to your final defense, you risk having to retake the final defense, or delaying graduation for completion of a third manuscript.

4. Successful Final Oral Dissertation Defense: This is administered by the entire doctoral committee when the committee feels the student is ready. There are no deadlines for the completion of the final dissertation defense other than that imposed by Graduate Studies that all students must complete their program within 7 years. However, graduate assistantships are only given for 4 years and the expectation is that all students will be able to complete their dissertation within 4 years.

This final defense takes the same format as the Comprehensive Exam. At this defense, students should be expected to display competencies equivalent to someone having a doctoral degree in epidemiology and should be able to answer all questions related to their project satisfactorily. The Epidemiology Final Dissertation Defense Rubric is used to evaluate the final defense by the dissertation committee members. A favorable vote of at least two-thirds of the members of the Ph.D. committee is required for passing the final defense. If the student does not pass the defense, the committee shall vote to determine if the student gets to retake the final defense. A two-thirds vote is required to retake the exam. If the vote is less than two-thirds the student will be terminated from the program. If the student retakes the exam and fails, they will be terminated from the program. See Milestone Examination Evaluations and Rubrics in the PhD Epi Hub

Requirements for Final Defense:

• Must have a 3.00 GPA

• Must not have any incomplete or deferred grades

• Must be at least 3 months after the comprehensive exam

• The scheduled date must be submitted to the graduate school at least 2 weeks prior to the exam

In order to fulfil the requirements of the PhD in Epidemiology, students are required to fulfill the following requirements:

1. Attendance and participation in the epidemiology seminar series:

   Learning from each other and guest speakers is an integral part of the work of all scientists. Further, scientific communication and public speaking is an important competency for all graduate students. Students are required to attend. In the event you have to miss a seminar due to illness or unforeseen circumstances, you must notify the program director as soon as possible.

2. Attendance and participation in the epidemiology journal club:

   First year students will be expected to present a journal article with an informal critique and lead the discussion with their peers on a topic of interest. Attendance is required for all years in the program and students will volunteer to fill in for presenting after their first year in the PhD program.

3. TA/RA requirement:

   1. All students on a graduate assistantship are required to serve as TA for at least two consecutive years, with the expectation to lecture 1-2 sessions in the 2^nd year. Students that are not on a graduate assistantship are not required to TA, but strongly encouraged to TA for at least one semester to gain teaching experience.

   2. TAs will be assigned to a class/instructor by the program director no later than the new student orientation. Individual TA duties are up to the Instructor of record. All first year TAs are expected to attend all lectures and labs. Attendance at lectures and labs for second and third year TAs is at the discretion of the instructor and may vary. Typically, first year students will perform the grading for the course. Second year students would develop and deliver 1-2 sessions and third year students will take on 2-3 lectures. Second and third year students may also help with other aspects of the course as well. Most TAs will need to commit an average of 10 hours/week over the semester. Some weeks may be less than 10 hours/week but some weeks may be more. TAs who are not on a graduate assistantship will have a more flexible role and consideration will be made to complete an independent study using this teaching experience.

   3. All students on Penn State Graduate Assistantships are required to serve as RAs in all years, with the first 2 year working with their academic mentor and the last 2-3 years on their dissertation research with their academic mentor. The condition of your assistantship is to work 20 hours/week. During the semester a student is TAing, the expectation is to work on your research project in your RA assignment and average of approximately 10 hours/week during that semester, adjusting as variations with TA responsibilities happen. During all time not serving a TA, students on the assistantship should be working 20 hours a week to fulfill the requirements.

Further information on RAs can be found in the signed contract received at the beginning of each year, or in the graduate student policies available on the Penn State Website.

4. Residency requirement (PSU GCAC-601):

• Over a twelve-month period the Ph.D. student must spend at least two consecutive semesters, exclusive of summer sessions, as a registered full-time student engaged in academic work at the Penn State campus(es) offering the Ph.D. degree in the student’s graduate major program.

  • EPID 601 and EPID 611 cannot be used to meet this requirement.

• Full-time University employees enrolled in a Ph.D. program must be registered for 6 credits or more in each semester in which residency is declared and must be certified as full-time employees by their unit leader. In exceptional cases, the Head of the graduate program may certify to Graduate Enrollment Services that the student is devoting half time or more to graduate studies in lieu of registered credits.

• This requirement must be satisfied at a Penn State campus offering the Ph.D. degree in the student’s graduate major program.

• This requirement must be satisfied prior to the semester in which the final oral examination is administered.

Academic Integrity at Penn State is defined in Faculty Senate Policy 49-20 as "the pursuit of scholarly activity in an open, honest and responsible manner." The University's Code of Conduct states that “all students should act with personal integrity, respect other students' dignity, rights and property, and help create and maintain an environment in which all can succeed through the fruits of their efforts. Academic integrity includes a commitment not to engage in or tolerate acts of falsification, misrepresentation or deception. Such acts of dishonesty violate the fundamental ethical principles of the University community and compromise the worth of work completed by others”. Academic dishonesty (including, but not limited to cheating, plagiarism, or falsification of information) will not be tolerated and can result in academic or disciplinary sanctions such as a failing (F) grade in the course.