PhD in Health Services Research and Policy

Program Description

The Department of Community and Preventive Medicine at the University of Rochester offers a Ph.D. program in Health Services Research and Policy that trains students to teach and conduct independent research into the organization and delivery of health care. The program is designed to prepare students for careers in academia, government or the private sector. The program is a four-year sequence of interdisciplinary courses, research and teaching activities. Coursework includes statistics, economics, epidemiology, public policy, and research methods. Students select from courses offered at the School of Medicine and Dentistry, Simon School of Business Administration, and the College of Arts and Sciences.

The academic experience is enriched by our diverse student body who have experience and expertise in many health related fields including medicine, public health, law, health insurance, and public and private health policy. Our doctoral students have the opportunity to use the Department's unique data laboratory, which provides access to local, state, and national data, for a wide variety of research projects.

Interactions among students in the Department's various educational programs, through participation in joint courses, seminars, and other departmental activities, contributes to the unique training environment. The PhD can be combined with other degrees such as the MPH or MD.

Students gain teaching experience by acting as teaching assistants for several of the department's graduate and undergraduate courses such as: Management and Evaluation of Health Services Organizations, Medical Decision and Cost Effectiveness Analysis, Principles of Epidemiology.

Students with relevant Masters degrees will receive course credit towards the PhD.Students may choose to follow one of two tracks: Clinical Decision and Evaluation Science or Health Systems Research and Policy.

The program is funded by a training grant from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), one of 24 training programs in the country. Stipends, tuition grants, training and travel expenses are provided for doctoral study from a variety of sources: AHRQ training grant, the University of Rochester Medical Center, and sponsorship by departmental faculty.