The purpose of the PhD program in Social, Behavioral, and Population Sciences is to train experts who will advance the field of social, behavioral, and population sciences through research, development and application of theory, and teaching. The PhD is a highly specialized training program, integrating theory and research in a focused substantive area of global importance. Graduates will have in-depth expertise necessary for a research career, and are expected to develop careers in universities, medical schools, and other higher institutions of learning as faculty members or in research organizations globally.
Program Competencies
Upon completion of the program, the graduate should be able to:
- Evaluate social and behavioral sciences theoretical approaches for guiding population health research.
- Evaluate significant research questions in social, behavioral, and population sciences using qualitative and quantitative research methods.
- Design independent research to investigate social or structural causes of population health inequities.
- Create compelling written and oral presentations of social, behavioral and population science research results.
- Design teaching and learning experiences grounded in pedagogical best practices in a chosen area of expertise.
- Develop a grant proposal for a public health research study with a compelling scientific narrative, description of investigator capacity, timeline, and budget
The PhD in Social, Behavioral, and Population Sciences follows the SPHTM guidelines for all PhD degrees. For further details on the PhD please see the Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine “Policies and Procedures for Doctoral Programs” guide.
The PhD degree in Social, Behavioral, and Population Sciences requires a total of 49 post-baccalaureate degree credits with at least 30 credits of doctoral study at Tulane SPHTM. Up to 18 credits may be applied from the MPH or equivalent master’s degree.
Course List | Course ID | Title | Credits |
| SPHL 6020 | Foundations in Public Health | 3 |
| SPHL 6050 | Biostatistics for Public Health | 3 |
| SBPS 6340 | Monitoring and Evaluation of Health Programs | 3 |
| BIOS 6290 | Data Management and Statistical Computing | 3 |
| SPHL 6060 | Epidemiology for Public Health | 3 |
| SBPS 7280 | Qualitative Methods I: Basic Foundations | 3 |
| Total Credit Hours | 18 |
Course List | Course ID | Title | Credits |
| BIOS 6040 | Intermediate Biostatistics | 3 |
| HPAM 8770 | Health Services Research Methods | 3 |
| SPHL 8080 | Public Health Pedagogy | 3 |
| SPHL 7500 | Public Health Grant Writing | 3 |
| Total Credit Hours | 12 |
Course List | Course ID | Title | Credits |
| SBPS 8750 | Social Determinants of Health I: Theory | 3 |
| SBPS 8760 | Social Epidemiology/Social Determinants of Health II | 3 |
| SBPS 7290 | Qualitative Methods II: Theory and Methods | 3 |
| SBPS 8800 | Senior Graduate Research Seminar I (Fall) | 0 |
| SBPS 8830 | Senior Graduate Research Seminar II (Spring) | 1 |
| Total Credit Hours | 10 |
Course List | Course ID | Title | Credits |
| Clustered and Longitudinal Data Analysis | |
| Multivariate Methods | |
| Population Health Analytics | |
| Epidemiologic Methods II | |
| Observational Epidemiology | |
| Survey Methodology | |
Research Ethics
Students are required to take online research ethics training via CITI or another equivalent training program in research ethics. This certification must remain current throughout the program duration.
TA Requirement
All PhD students at SPHTM are required to serve as a teaching assistant (TA) for two SPHTM courses while enrolled in the PhD program. The courses for which the student will serve as a TA must be approved by the PhD advisor.
Comprehensive Exams
On completion of the coursework listed above, students will be required to pass a comprehensive examination to demonstrate doctoral program competencies as well as knowledge related to their content area of expertise.
Prospectus
After passing the comprehensive exam a student must defend their prospectus. Upon agreement of all committee members, a student will defend the prospectus in an oral exam which is open to the school. Students need to follow all deadlines and submit all forms as specified in the school PhD handbook.
Dissertation
PhD students must complete a dissertation that has a strong basic social science or natural science research focus, and make a unique and original contribution to the scientific literature. The dissertation should help the student prepare for a career in research through demonstrated excellence in the research methods that are used. Consistent with the purpose of the PhD program, dissertations should go beyond basic descriptive analyses of existing data sets (through novel theoretical or methodological applications are acceptable); and have greater innovation and significance than just monitoring and evaluation of an existing project.
