The Ph.D. in Public Health Sciences requires two years of research courses and rotations to allow students to practice research and translational public health sciences techniques they have learned in the classroom.  Upon finishing the coursework and completing a dissertation, graduates of the Ph.D. program will be able to accomplish the following:

  • Understand the unique public health needs and issues of the diverse population of northern and rural California.

  • Apply skills in the epidemiologic traditions of surveillance and the identification of modifiable risk factors.

  • Select appropriate research approaches from a variety of biomedical, social and environmental “basic sciences.”

  • Create a research design, intervention, or policy that incorporates a spectrum of determinants of health, from the individual and collective levels.

  • Conduct a thoughtful and inclusive synthesis of the evidence in the student’s area of research.

  • Effectively communicate public health research results to a wide variety of audiences, including researchers, the general public, and policy makers.