The changing pattern of doctoral education in public health from 1985 to 2006 and the challenge of doctoral training for practice and leadership

Abstract

We examined trends in doctoral education in public health and the challenges facing practice-oriented doctor of public health (DrPH) programs. We found a rapid rise in the numbers of doctoral programs and students. Most of the increase was in PhD students who in 2006 composed 73% of the total 5247 current public health doctoral students, compared with 53% in 1985. There has also been a substantial increase (40%) in students in DrPH programs since 2002. Challenges raised by the increased demand for DrPH practice-oriented education relate to admissions, curriculum, assessment processes, and faculty hiring and promotion. We describe approaches to practice-based doctoral education taken by three schools of public health.

FIGURE 1—

Number of public health doctoral students, by degree type: United States, 1985–2006. Note. Association of Schools of Public Health’s reported total of doctoral students for 2005 was 4892; Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine (which did not report 2005 data) had a total of 193 doctoral students in 2004 that were added for comparability over time for a total of 5085. …Source. Data are from the Association of Schools of Public Health’s Annual Data Reports.