Population & Family Health

The Heilbrunn Department of Population and Family Health will launch a new DrPH in Leadership in Global Health and Humanitarian Systems in Fall 2012. The innovative new program combines on-site formal classes, remote learning and field-based research to produce graduates with the skills, knowledge, and drive to take on leadership roles in the field of global health and humanitarian response.

The program structure will equip participants with strong research and measurement capacities and supports their practical application to ‘on-the-ground’ realities of humanitarian aid and global health practice.

Drawing extensively on the expertise and field engagement of professors from the Program on Forced Migration & Health and other department faculty working in the field of global health and humanitarian systems, the curriculum will place a particular focus on themes of policy, protection, and evaluation.

Competencies and Degree Requirements

In addition to addressing the core DrPH competences specified by the Association of Schools of Public Health, the program establishes:

• Understanding of interdisciplinary, health science approaches to population based health in developing or crisis-affected contexts
• Ability to critically analyze global health system challenges and the skills to address these in leadership settings
• Mastery of program and policy evaluation methods and a deep understanding of evidence-based research and policy formulation
• Ability to think critically, using logic, theory, and evidence to engage in systems research, design and analysis

Students will complete a minimum total of thirty-three credits plus written comprehensive exams, a practicum project requirement and a dissertation. The DrPH is structured to be fulfilled over a period of three years, with four consecutive semesters of coursework followed by one year of dissertation writing. Students are expected to be in residency at Columbia for semester 1 and semester 2 of their first year of study.

Students will work remotely during their second and third years, enabling deep engagement with field practice and the topic of their dissertation. Remote classes will link students from a range of global locations.

 Click here for the full DrPH Program Outline.