PhD in MCH or MCH Epidemiology

The Center of Excellence’s doctoral programs in Maternal and Child Health (MCH) and MCH Epidemiology are designed for those that are passionate about improving the health and well being of women, children and families.

Overall the MCH program helps students enhance their skills in community assessment; program planning, development, and evaluation; program management, advocacy, and policy development; health promotion; and research.

The MCH Epidemiology program is one of only a few programs in the nation specifically dedicated to the area of Maternal and Child Health Epidemiology. The program was developed in response to a national call to increase the number of individuals who can assist state and local public health agencies in strengthening their data and analytic capacity related to the health of women, children and families. Graduates of the MCHEPI Program will have the analytic skills to enable them to perform many of the activities at a very high level: surveillance, assessment, planning, implementation, monitoring, evaluation, and policy development.

MATERNAL AND CHILD HEALTH DOCTORAL CURRICULUM

  • Standard Community Health Science (CHS) Divisional prerequisites if no Masters of Public Health, standard CHS core theory, advanced methods and analytic requirements. Using MCH courses in these areas can meet some of these requirements.
  • Two of the MCH core courses
  • One MCH analytic course
  • One MCH-related elective
  • MCH-oriented dissertation
  • Students in the program advance to candidacy after completing required coursework and passing a written qualifying examination. After advancement to candidacy, students complete a dissertation proposal and oral defense.

To view Ph.D. Maternal and Child Health Curriculum: Fall 2024 Ph.D. Maternal and Child Health Curriculum

MATERNAL AND CHILD HEALTH EPIDEMIOLOGY DOCTORAL CURRICULUM

  • A minimum of 96 semester hours of credit, including up to 32 credits transferred from a Master’s degree and 32 credits for dissertation research. Students who waive courses must still accumulate 96 credits to graduate, but the total may be reached with additional research hours or methods courses.
  • A written and oral preliminary exam. This exam is administered through the EPID-BSTT division, regardless of the student’s home division.
  • A dissertation which must be conducted in conjunction with a state or local public health agency or deemed relevant to the work of such agencies.
  • Leadership coaching offered by the MCH Training Program and other professional development.

To view Ph.D. Maternal and Child Health Epidemiology Curriculum: Fall 2024 Ph.D. Maternal and Child Health Epidemiology Curriculum