Doctoral program in Public Health Executive Leadership (DrPH)

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The doctoral program in Public Health Executive Leadership (DrPH) is designed for mid- to senior-level professionals who seek the skills to assume greater leadership roles in either public or private sector settings at the local, national and international levels. Our program enables students to learn – from anywhere in the world — how to shape public health policy, lead and effect change in a wide range of organizations and institutions, and conduct and capitalize on practice-based research. Our small, diverse cohorts, renowned faculty and innovative teaching and learning environments create a rewarding and stimulating student experience. This three-year distance program, with six five-day on campus sessions over two years, confers a DrPH in Health Executive Leadership.

Program Format

With the exception of three on-site visits/year, students work from home and offices as they complete their degrees. Students are expected to come to campus three times/year during the first two years. One of the six on-site visits over the first two years may be to an international site or to another location in the United States. Students complete their coursework in the first two years, followed by one-to-three years to complete their dissertation.

Students connect to faculty and peers mainly via computer, making substantial use of technology that allows students and faculty to interact productively and which supports live video, audio, and data sharing. Additional details about the curriculum, dissertation, admissions criteria and instructional delivery are available at the links at the top of the page.

Who are we looking for?

We encourage applicants from underrepresented backgrounds as defined by the NIH.

Mid-to-senior career level professionals interested in public health executive leadership

To benefit most from the program and to help establish a robust cohort learning environment, candidates’ work experience should demonstrate a progression of increased job responsibilities and leadership roles over time. This should include at least five years’ relevant experience since first graduate degree, as well as experience supervising others or teams for at least five years (additional consideration will be given for supervising/managing people who supervise others and/or teams). In addition, candidates should be able to demonstrate many of the following attributes and experience:

Significant decision-making authority and leadership responsibility for at least one of the following: policy making, strategic planning, operations management, research/grants management, budgeting, marketing, communications, product development (or directly leading up to/significantly supporting senior leaders in these areas).
Leading or managing innovative projects or complex, “sticky wicket” problems.
Significant cross-systems thinking, planning, engagement, and/or re-engineering.
Generating positive, proven results.
Acknowledgement of “growth experiences,” or situations with unintended outcomes from which the candidate has learned and applied valuable lessons.
Reporting to boards of directors, directly to elected officials, and/or senior/executive leadership.
Success in leading through influence, both inside their organization and across systems.

People in a position, with passion and experience, to drive changes that improve the health of the population

The following are examples of this criteria:

People who have demonstrated experience working beyond their discipline and their teams/organization to affect systems and policy change to improve health access/uptake or address health inequities in their communities.
People who can clearly articulate their career interests in leading teams and organizations or working across systems to tackle practice-based problems and policy that improve the population’s health.
Healthcare leaders who can connect their work to public health and want to have a larger impact on the health of the population.
People in industry/private sector who see the need to partner with government, non-governmental organizations (NGOs)/civil society organizations (CSOs), and/or philanthropies to solve complex, system problems and make sustainable change.
People in government who see the need to work with other sectors to improve population health.

People interested in helping to expand access to public health and health care services and to improving population-based health outcomes

People who can articulate their experience and interest in advancing the field of public health by addressing health equity, vital conditions for health and well-being, and challenges to accessing public health services.
People across the political and geographic spectrum who can bring alternative policy and system solutions forward for debate.

People with the following personal attributes

People who are self-motivated and driven, and who can articulate a plan for success of incorporating at least 16 hours a week to their academic studies and can envision how they will successfully complete a doctoral level culminating experience.
People looking for academic rigor in practice.
People with a demonstrated ability to:
- Think critically and articulate their thoughts, both verbally and in writing, in a clear and compelling manner
- Engage in the collegial debate of ideas and solutions, and
- Maintain collaborative learning and working relationships.

A cohort when taken together represents the following:

People who collectively represent the systems that must work together to improve the population’s health. This means people who currently work in government (from global to local), non-governmental organizations/civil service organizations, philanthropy, health care, business/industry, technology, innovation, etc. We want a cohort that can learn from each other across systems and solution types and that can rely on each other as professional “consultants.”
Both domestic and global health equity perspectives.

For Whom is this Program Not the Right Fit?

The following people are better served by other programs:

Early career professionals and those with less than five years of leadership experience since completing their first graduate degree.
People whose interests and future career ambitions are not clearly connected to public health improvement.
Those who want to conduct basic/pure/fundamental research. People who want to conduct applied research as part of practice will be given consideration. If that research requires strong quantitative research skills, the candidate should already possess those skills, as they are not a focus of this program.
Those interested solely in academic teaching jobs. An interest in teaching as part of a practice-based position will be given consideration.