Students who have obtained a Masters degree but have not previously taken courses equivalent to EPID 571, EPID 606 and BIOS 543 will be required to complete these courses prior to matriculation.
Course work
For a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Epidemiology, a minimum of 41 credit hours of course work will be required. The degree will be a doctorate in epidemiology concentrating on epidemiologic methods with a minor in biostatistics. Students will be required to complete:
- Six core courses and two semesters of journal club as a special topic;
- Five electives chosen from a list, a minimum of two epidemiology and two biostatistics courses with the fifth course selected from either discipline;
- Two courses offered in Departments other than the Department of Epidemiology & Community Health or the Department of Biostatistics.
Other departments that offer possible courses include the Center for Environmental Studies, Pharmacology and Toxicology, Center for Public Policy Nursing, Health Administration, and Genetics.
No course can be used for both MPH and Ph.D. degrees.
Comprehensive exams
Once the majority of the course work has been taken, students will need to successfully complete a written comprehensive exam followed by an oral comprehensive exam that is based on the proposed research project.
The research project must be a hypothesis-based, analytical epidemiology project that has been designed with help from the student advisor and committee members. Once students pass the oral exam, the research project can be started.
Time to degree
The doctoral degree must be obtained within seven years of matriculation. It is expected that full-time students will satisfy all requirements within four to five years. Part-time students may take the full seven years to complete all courses and the research project.