Health Behavior Research, PhD

The PhD program in Public Health Sciences with a concentration in Health Behavior Research emphasizes the scholarship of discovery and integration. PhD students focus on the creation of new knowledge through the testing of hypotheses with the overall objective of improving the health of populations. During the program, students develop skills in generating research questions to advance knowledge, research design, grant proposal development, collection and analysis of data, and communication of scientific findings. Courses focus on theory, research methods, applied statistics, and scientific writing. Employment opportunities include academic public health (research/teaching), state and national government agencies, and private research organizations.

Students in the Health Behavior Research concentration program will complete coursework that provides a broad introduction to public health and display competency in the following public health learning objectives:

1. Explain history, philosophy & values
2. Identify the core functions & 10 essential services
3. Explain the roles of quantitative and qualitative methods in public health sciences to describe and assess a population’s health
4. List major causes and trends of morbidity and mortality in the US or other relevant community
5. Discuss the science of primary, secondary and tertiary prevention in population health
6. Explain the critical importance of evidence in advancing public health knowledge
7. Explain effects of environmental factors on a population’s health
8. Explain biological and genetic factors that affect population health
9. Explain behavioral and psychological factors that affect population health
10. Explain the social, political, and economic determinants of health & how they contribute to population health and health inequity
11. Explain how globalization affects global burdens of disease
12. Explain an ecological perspective on the connections among human health, animal health and ecosystem health (One Health)