Degree Requirements - PhD in Social and Behavioral Sciences
2022-23 Matriculation
The PhD degree requires a total of 15-course units. Course substitutions must be identified, and approved by the student’s advisor and DGS.
PhD Required Courses (5 course units)
- EPH 508 Foundations of Epidemiology and Public Health - 1 unit
- EPH 600 Research Ethics and Responsibilities - 0 units
- EPH 608 Frontiers in Public Health* - 1 unit
- SBS 574 Developing a Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Intervention - 1 unit
- SBS 541 Community Health Program Evaluation - 1 unit
- SBS 593 Community-Based Participatory Research in Public Health - 1 unit
- SBS 580 Qualitative Research Methods in Public Health - 1 unit
- SBS 610 Applied Area Readings for Qualifying Examinations - 1 unit
- SBS 699 Advanced Topics in Social and Behavioral Sciences - 1 unit
- One of the following (1 Unit:)
CDE 617 Developing a Research Proposal or EMD 625 How to Develop, Write, and Evaluate an NIH Proposal
Electives
- PhD Electives in Methods or Statistics** – 3 course units
- PhD Electives (5 course units)
*Students entering the program with an MPH or relevant graduate degree may be exempt from this requirement
** Courses should be at 500 level or above and can be taken at other departments; Some examples include S&DS 563, Multivariate Statistical Methods for the Social Sciences, CDE 516 Epi II, SBS 676 Questionnaire Development
rev. 09.08.22
Research
Students are strongly encouraged to get involved in research by working with faculty members on ongoing research studies throughout their doctoral work. Further, students will gain research experience during their coursework by working on real data. It is expected that students publish 1-2 papers a year during the doctoral program to develop their research portfolio and to be competitive for academic positions after completion of their doctoral degree.
Recent Dissertation Projects
- Role of Ageism in Elder Abuse - A Socioecological Approach
- Developing E-Covery: An App-Based Intervention to Support Recovery From Co-Occuring Alcohol Use and Opioid Use
- Developing, Implementing, and Pilot Testing an Informed Decision Aid for Opioid Agonist Therapies for Prisoners in Ukraine
- Gentrification, Displacement and Health: Moving from Risks to Solutions
- Intervention to Overcome Mental Health Disparities in Criminal Justice-Involved Transgender Women
- Elucidating Pathways Between Structural Stigma and Adverse Birth Outcomes
- The Impact of Intimate Partner Violence on Women's Engagement in the PrEP Care Continuum
Apply
Applications to the PhD or MS programs are received through the GSAS website. For further information follow the instructions in the Academics section.