Doctoral Programs: PhD in Epidemiology and DrPH in Health Promotion
The University of Texas School of Public Health Austin Regional Campus (ARC) is now offering a Doctor in Public Health (DrPH) and a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Epidemiology!
The DrPH and PhD are fully accredited by the Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH) and approved by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board.
The DrPH and PhD programs are the same as the programs offered at UTSPH Houston.
The DrPH is affiliated with the Health Promotion and Behavioral Sciences discipline and provides a major in Health Promotion. The degree also includes a minor in Management and Leadership OR Policy and Leadership with breadth in Quantitative Research Methods.
The degree program is managed through the UTSPH Division of Health Promotion and Behavioral Sciences, which seeks to improve the public’s health through the application of social and behavioral sciences by solving the problems of human disease and disability. Lifestyle behaviors and aspects of the social environment offer important opportunities to modify the incidence, prevalence, and mortality from many diseases. The Division’s academic and research programs focus on identifying the modifiable determinants of health and disease and on intervening to change or eliminate those determinants. Division faculty members conduct research and teach in the areas of health promotion, health education, and/or social and behavioral aspects of population health.
The PhD at the ARC is affiliated with the Epidemiology discipline and provides a major in Epidemiology. The degree also includes a minor in Biostatistics and breadth in the Behavioral Sciences.
The degree program is managed through the UTSPH Division of Epidemiology. Epidemiology is a fundamental science of public health and preventive medicine with a major focus on research on the causes and prevention of disease. The methods of investigation employed by epidemiologists are applicable to a broad range of problems of human health and disease, and afford a rich variety of experiences from which to approach the substantive issues of population and community health. Environmental, genetic, and social determinants of health and disease are equally emphasized.
The public health areas of concentration of the ARC have been selected based on faculty expertise. Special areas of interest include research in child and adolescent health promotion, obesity prevention with children, tobacco and alcohol use prevention, and community‐based policy and programs to support children’s health. Collaboration is ongoing with faculty at UT Austin (kinesiology, health education, nursing, nutrition, communications, psychology, social work), UT Medical Branch- Austin, the Texas Department of State Health Services, and many local, state and national community organizations.
Admissions requirements for the doctoral programs at ARC are the same as for the programs on the Houston campus. School of Public Health degree programs. All doctoral student applicants will be reviewed by both the division that offers the program and by the regional campus.
For all doctoral students at UTSPH, the advisor can be a faculty member from any campus and is chosen based on a match with the student’s academic interests and needs. Although, there is a preference among faculty members and students for the advisor to be on the student’s campus, any member of the student’s committee (including the advisor) can be recruited from another UTSPH campus.
The ARC faculty will be supported in their teaching by faculty from the five divisions at the UTSPH Houston campus as well as other regional campuses. The regional doctoral programs will be delivered via the same combination of face-to-face and distance modalities with which they are delivered on the Houston campus. Courses can and do originate at all campuses and faculty teach to any other campus where there are students interested in enrolling in the course.
For more information, please visit the Office of Student Affairs/ Degree Programs website
