Doctor of Public Health

A Doctor of Public Health (abbr. DrPH, Dr.PH. or D.P.H.; Latin doctor publica sanitas) is a doctoral degree awarded in the field of Public Health. DrPH is an advanced and terminal degree that prepares its recipients for a career in advancing public health practice, leadership, research, teaching, or administration.^[1] The first DrPH degree was awarded by Harvard Medical School in 1911.^[2]

According to the United Nations, the world face unprecedented challenges such as climate change, noncommunicable diseases, aging populations, health crises, wealth gap, and the overreliance on the internet.^[3] DrPH graduates, who received trainings in evidence-based public health practice and research, are expected to have the competences to convene diverse stakeholders, communicate across a range of sectors, and settings, synthesize findings, and generate practice-based evidence.^[4]

Given the core competencies developed during the program, DrPH graduates often occupy executive leadership roles in private and public sectors along with non-profits, universities and multilateral entities such as WHO and the World Bank. In addition, some DrPH graduates pursue academia including teaching and research.

Core competency model

Doctor of Public Health (DrPH) Core Competency Model

The common elements addressed in all DrPH degrees are: 1) a professionally oriented and competency-based curriculum and 2) core competency domains.^[4] The DrPH core competency model highlights the transformative leadership role that DrPH graduates play in advancing the field of research and practice in public health. According to The Association of Schools of Public Health (ASPH), the DrPH competency model has seven domains of skills that every DrPH program should aim to develop:

• Advocacy: Ability to influence decision-making processes related to public health policies and practices.
• Communication: Ability to assess and to use communication strategies across different audiences and stakeholders.
• Community/Cultural orientation: Ability to communicate and interact with people from diverse communities, nationalities, and cultures.
• Critical Analysis: Ability to synthesize and apply evidence-based research and theory from different fields to solve public health challenges.
• Leadership: Ability to create and communicate a shared vision, inspire trust, and motivate others to achieve higher goals or an enlightened purpose.
• Management: Ability to provide responsible strategic and operational guidance within public and private organizations to achieve individual and community health and wellbeing.
• Professionalism and Ethics: Ability to identify, discuss, and analyze an ethical issue, and balance the claims of personal liberty with the responsibility to protect the health of a population.^[1]

Combined, these skills allows DrPH graduates to create linkages and synergies between research and practice. Often, rather than serving as technical experts, DrPH graduates are more likely to supervise or collaborate with technical experts to solve multifaceted 21st century problems. For instance, their roles require breadth across many areas of public health rather than depth of technical skills in a single one.^[1] By having these competencies the ASPH considers the DrPH a professional degree offered for advanced education and training in public health leadership.^[5] An entire list of domains and skills can be found here.

Comparison with a Ph.D.

A DrPH degree is categorized as a terminal degree on a par with the degree of Ph.D., Doctor of Medicine, Doctor of Education, Doctor of Social Work, or Doctor of Psychology.^[6][7] Awarding of a such degree signifies recognition of distinguished scholarly accomplishment in the professional field.^[8] However, a DrPH is primarily designed for those who plan careers involving professional practice, teaching, or research, and often emphasizes interdisciplinary studies.^[8] In comparison, a PhD is primarily a research-based degree focusing on mastering one specific topic within a certain public health field. Nevertheless, some PhD holders would become scholar-practitioners in their later careers.

Difference in admission requirements

Traditionally, admission into a DrPH program requires a master of public health degree as a prerequisite; however, this is changing and more schools now are accepting students without any masters or other degrees (i.e., MD, DO). Generally, DrPH programs require several years of public health leadership and practice experience (usually 5 years or more) for an admission. In contrast, one may enter a Ph.D. or ScD program after completing a bachelor (undergrad) degree with no experience or advanced academic training.

The number of DrPH awarded annually is quite low compared with the number of PhD awarded. For example, in 2010, there were only 126 DrPH awarded, in contrast to the 776 PhD awarded from 26 of the 46 accredited schools of public health in the United States.^[9]

Career outcomes training difference

DrPH: Leadership and public health practice, applied research, implementation research, public health policy, politics, and academia to a lesser extent.

Ph.D: Research and academia.

Typical program structure

Advanced integrative coursework

A typical accredited DrPH program requires roughly a two-year long intensive multidisciplinary coursework in advanced research methodology - similar to a Ph.D. Additionally, as a distinction and addition to a Ph.D., DrPH students also take advanced courses to gain analytical skills in leadership, management, systems thinking, enabling change, communications, and health policy.

Public health leadership practice experience

DrPH students are also required to complete a public health practice experience as a critical part of their DrPH program. Students apply the skills learned in public health practice to gain leadership experience and hone their skills through hands-on and a field-based culminating public health experience.

Most universities require a rigorous comprehensive exam at the end of first two-years of coursework and a public health practical experience before a candidate may be advanced to the dissertation phase. For example, the DrPH programs at Tufts and Harvard require a Qualifying Exam taken at the end of the first year.

Dissertation

DrPH students are required to complete and defend an applied public health practice-related dissertation during their candidacy phase, usually after the comprehensive and qualifying exams.

DrPH Completion Time

The typical time to complete a DrPH is 4–7 years, depending on the curriculum, previous experience and education.

Universities offering DrPH degrees

United States

Some of the universities offering DrPH in the USA are listed below.

• Jackson State University School of Public Health
• Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences
• Tufts University School of Medicine (Tufts Public Health)
• Boston University School of Public Health
• Drexel University School of Public Health
• Florida A & M University Institute of Public Health
• The George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services
• University of Arizona Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health
• City University of New York (CUNY) Graduate Center
• Claremont Graduate University School of Community & Global Health
• Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health
• Harvard School of Public Health
• University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center School of Public Health
• Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
• Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine
• University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Public Health
• University of California, Berkeley
• University of California, Los Angeles School of Public Health
• University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey School of Public Health
• New York Medical College School of Public Health
• Colorado School of Public Health
• University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Gillings School of Global Public Health
• University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth, School of Public Health
• University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston School of Public Health
• University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health
• University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health
• University of Georgia College of Public Health
• University of South Florida College of Public Health
• Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences
• University at Albany, SUNY School of Public Health
• Loma Linda University School of Public Health
• Oakwood University
• University of Kentucky's College of Public Health
• University of Iowa College of Public Health
• East Tennessee State University College of Public Health
• University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Fay W. Boozman College of Public Health
• Texas A&M Health Science Center School of Rural Public Health
• SUNY Downstate Medical Center
• Morgan State University School of Community Health and Policy
• Georgia Southern University Jiann-Ping Hsu College of Public Health
• Georgia State University School of Public Health^[10]
• Capella University^[11]

United Kingdom

• Brunel University of West London
• Imperial College London School of Public Health
• London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
• Chester University
• Teesside University

Asia

• Department of Community Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia
• Department of Community Health, Faculty of Medicine, National University of Malaysia
• Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya
• School of Public Health, Peking University Health Science Center
• College of Public Health, University of the Philippines Manila
• Department of Public Health Nursing, Faculty of Public health, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand
• Department of Public Health, Faculty of Public health, Naresuan University, Phitsanulok, Thailand

Australia

• James Cook University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine.
• LaTrobe University School of Public Health.
• University of Wollongong School of Health Science.
• University of New South Wales School of Public Health and Medicine (Future Health Leaders Program).
• Monash University School of Public Health.
• Flinders University School of Public Health.
• Curtin University.

France

• University of Paris-Saclay
• Paris Descartes University
• University of Bordeaux
• University of Lorraine

Germany

• University of Bremen

Notable Holders of the DrPH Degree

• Sara Josephine Baker - American physician notable for making contributions to public health, especially in the immigrant communities of New York City.
• Sandro Galea - Dean of the Boston University School of Public Health.
• Cheryl Healton - Dean of the College of Global Public Health at New York University.
• Vicenç Navarro - Spanish sociologist and political scientist currently holding a chair in Social Sciences at the Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona.
• Mary Pittman - President and chief executive officer of the Public Health Institute in Oakland, California.
• Barbara Rimer - Dean of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Gillings School of Global Public Health.
• Henry F. Vaughan - Founder and former Dean of the University of Michigan School of Public Health. Past president of the American Public Health Association.

See also

• Doctor of Public Administration
• Doctor of Health Administration
• Professional degrees of public health

References

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