Ph.D. in Community Health

Community Health

The OHSU-PSU School of Public Health (SPH) unites two outstanding research universities that have spent decades working to help reduce health disparities and designing innovative solutions to public health challenges.

Our graduate degrees in Health Promotion and Community Health equip you to identify the root causes of health problems and to devise interventions that create healthier communities from local to global levels. You will have opportunities to work with leading experts in the areas of Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (DOHaD), social determinants of health, sexual and reproductive health, food systems and nutrition, physical activity, aging, and other pressing issues.

Program Benefits

As a unique partnership between two world-class universities, the OHSU-PSU SPH unites health and scientific expertise with advanced scholarship in governance, public policy, urban studies, social work, and education. We offer a stand-alone Master of Public Health in Health Promotion, as well as dual degrees that pair the Health Promotion MPH with a Master of Social Work (MSW) or Master of Urban Planning (MURP). These graduate programs provide the foundation for those pursuing the terminal degree in this discipline, a Ph.D. in Community Health.

These programs excel because of their:

• Commitment to equitable, socially just access to health and health-supporting resources for all.
• Holistic approach that is built on collaboration among experts from multiple academic disciplines.
• Emphasis on solving real-world health challenges.
• Partnerships and engagement with a breadth of populations and social groups.
• Deep relationships with state, county, and local agencies; schools; nonprofit organizations; and other community stakeholders.
• Tight-knit culture that fosters supportive relationships among faculty and students.
• Direct access to OHSU’s medical and scientific experts and PSU’s leading scholars in community engagement, public policy, urban affairs, and the social sciences.

Ph.D. Community Health Career Opportunities

OHSU-PSU’s Ph.D. in Community Health equips you with superior skills in research methodology, qualitative research, data analysis, and epidemiologic study design. You will acquire an interdisciplinary skillset and a range of analytical frameworks that you can apply to address community health challenges.

Because the OHSU-PSU SPH has such a strong presence in the community, Ph.D. candidates in the Community Health program have robust opportunities to make an impact on public health. You will be able to collaborate with stakeholders on a wide range of upstream factors, such as housing, transit, education, employment, air and water quality, and other issues that affect the public’s health. The program qualifies you for a career as university faculty or in executive leadership for government agencies, major nonprofits, health care networks, insurance companies, and other organizations.

Accreditation & Rankings

The OHSU-PSU School of Public Health is accredited by the Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH).

Program Requirements & Guide

The doctoral program in Community Health from the OHSU-PSU School of public health is the culmination of 108 total credits in the following areas:

• Coursework requirements, including Mentored Research credit hours and Dissertation credit hours
• Comprehensive examination
• Dissertation Proposal and defense
• Doctoral Dissertation and defense

Upon successful completion of coursework, students must pass a written and oral comprehensive exam. Before advancing to PhD candidacy, students will complete and defend a dissertation proposal. Students will then design, implement, and analyze a research project. The final product is a written dissertation with an oral defense of the dissertation work.

Please refer to the Program Guide for an overview of all degree requirements and a current program of study – Ph.D. Requirements.