Global Health

The doctor of public health in the field of global health (Dr.PH.) degree program is the terminal degree in the professional discipline of public health. Consistent with this advanced professional orientation, the Dr.PH. program prepares future public health leaders to apply critical thinking skills and rigorous research methods to the complex practical problems facing practitioners and policy-makers in public health practice. The  program is designed to both follow and promote the principles of academic public health practice. As noted in a recent ASPH publication, public health practice is the strategic, organized, and interdisciplinary application of knowledge, skills, and competencies necessary to perform essential public health services and other activities to improve the populations’ health. Academic public health practice is the applied, interdisciplinary pursuit of scholarship in the field of public health. Recent events sharply illustrate the need for public health professionals who can provide the leadership to expand and strengthen the US and global public health systems. The Dr.P.H program is designed to prepare professionals with skills to provide this leadership.

From the combination of course work and the implementation of the knowledge in the context of a thesis project in outstanding international placements, the Dr.P.H. degree  program in Global Health will enable professionals to develop innovative approaches and ability to negotiate the complex interrelationship between health and political, economic, and human development. 

Goals

The Dr.P.H. graduate will be prepared to assume an advanced level of leadership in global health, in the context of health research as well as implementation programs in an international setting.

Graduation Requirements

1. Graduate credit requirement: 48 graduate credits are required.
2. Course requirements: successful completion of the foundational and research methods courses. The program-specific specialty field courses and the professional leadership credits are required.
3. Comprehensive exam: Once the course of study is completed, students are required to pass the comprehensive exam to be officially admitted to the candidacy phase.
4. Dissertation: PUBH 8422 Advanced Health Care and Public Health Research Design plus 6-9 dissertation research credits are required. Once the proposal has been successfully defended and dissertation research credits have been met, the oral defense may be scheduled.
5. Grade point requirement: A 3.0 (B average) overall grade-point average is required.
6. Time limit requirement: The degree must be completed within seven (7) years.
7. No transfer credits are accepted.

• The SOPHAS online application form
• Official transcripts from all academic institutions from which you earned credit
• Official and current GRE test scores (GW Institution Code: 5268)
• Two letters of recommendation (Note: A third letter is required of doctoral applicants)
• Applicants who hold a master’s degree are exempt from the GRE requirement (faculty have the option of requesting a GRE). However, international applicants are not eligible for this waiver. International applicants should review the Milken Institute School of Public Health Language Proficiency and International Testing Requirement.
• Applicants to graduate certificate programs with at least four years of relevant work experience may be eligible for a waiver of the standardized exam requirement.
• Statement of purpose
• Official TOEFL or IELTS score

Scholarships

• Assistantships
• Merit scholarships