The Doctorate in Public Health [DrPH] with a focus in health services administration for international health professionals was approved by the Trustees in October 2000.  The DrPH is a professional degree offered by Schools of Public Health similar to the DBA for Schools of Business, DSW for Schools of Social work or the EdD for Schools of Education.  It is a logical outgrowth for Saint Louis University’s School of Public Health with its commitment to training practitioners.  Executive style formats which incorporate distance education modalities become attractive for students who want advanced training but cannot leave their full time positions  

Admission Criteria 

The ideal students for this program are individuals who currently occupy or desire executive careers in health services administration.  Many of these potential students have some graduate academic preparation and a significant number of years of experience but cannot advance without additional professional training in the field.  This includes clinicians who cannot advance unless they have additional management training.  They may also be mid-level managers without clinical backgrounds who need additional training to advance their careers.   

Criteria are:  

• clinical/professional degrees (MD, JD, DDS, MSN, terminal degree in allied health disciplines) and/or master’s degree (MHA, MBA, MPH),  

• minimum of two years of full-time experience in health or medical services, 

• minimum of 3.25 GPA or equivalent (A= 4.00) in previous graduate coursework,  

• satisfactory GRE [> 60 percentile quantitative and > 25 percentile verbal] or GMAT and TOEFL scores are considered.     

Applicants with baccalaureate degrees will be considered on a case-by-case basis.  Applicants who already have earned doctoral degrees in their clinical fields (MD, JD DDS) will not be required to take the GRE or GMAT examination.  Also, upon successful completion of an on site interview, the requirement of the TOEFL examination can also be waived.  Admission to the program will be based on these requirements and concurrence of partner faculty.   

Length of Program:   

Based on discussions with our partners, we expect annual cohorts of 15-20 students.  It is anticipated that students with advanced training in the field will require a minimum of two years for the program.  The length of time for program completion may be additionally influenced by the student’s desire for full recognition by the Taiwan Department of Education.  Such instances will be administered on a case-by-case basis with each student and his/her committee.  

Curriculum

Format of courses:   

Courses are offered during the Fall, Spring, and Summer semesters of each year.  Most of the courses are offered on site in Taiwan by either American or Taiwanese faculty.  The remainder are offered on the SLU main campus during 2-3 week summer sessions. The courses are offered in a delivery mode that utilizes traditional on-site instructional seminars, site visits and computer based distance-education methods.  Under exceptional circumstances, students outside the program may be granted permission to enroll in the DrPH classes.  Permission will be granted by a Program Director after a written petition is provided. 

Total credit hours:   

The DrPH program includes a total of 75 graduate level semester credit hours.  This includes 12 hours of credit for the student’s DrPH dissertation.  For those students who have already earned graduate level degrees in health administration or a related discipline (MHA, MBA, MPH), up to 11 courses (33 credit hours) in the program can be waived.  For those students in the advanced track the number of hours to be waived will be recommended by the student’s committee and petitioned to the Graduate School for approval.  The petitions for waiving courses will follow Graduate School guidelines.  Thus, students must complete a minimum of 43 credit hours (including 12 dissertation credit hours) to be awarded the DrPH.  

Course Sequence (for students with the MHA entering in 2001):

Comprehensive Oral Examination 

A comprehensive oral examination is conducted in two phases over the course of the curriculum.  Phase I will occur after the student completes the first year of training.  If Phase I is not passed the student may re-take the exam within 60 days of the results.  A second failure will result in termination from the program.  A Phase II comprehensive examination will be conducted after all of the course work is completed.  If the Phase II examination is not passed a second examination will be scheduled to occur within 60 days of the failure.  A third examination may be scheduled if the Program Directors recommend it to the Dean of the Graduate School.  Both examinations are intended to assess the student’s knowledge of health systems management and strategic thinking.  The student’s ability to integrate these bodies of knowledge will be assessed using the case study method.  The case[s] will be selected by the examination committee and distributed to the student six weeks prior to the examination.  The student will be expected to analyze the case critically and defend his/her recommendations to the examination committee.  The examination committee will be appointed by Dean of the Graduate School and consist of five members of the Graduate Faculty; four from the School of Public Health and one from the Graduate School.  The School of Public Health committee members will be nominated by the Program Directors.  In some instances, distance education formats may be used to examine the student. 

Dissertation

The DrPH dissertation is different from the traditional Ph.D. dissertation.  It includes a strong applied focus on a problem with broad implications in health care management practices.  Thus, it will often focus on applying new knowledge or technical advances to solving current problems in health care management.  This differs from the traditional Ph.D. dissertation that is typically theory-based.  Accordingly, the dissertation resembles an analysis of a health systems management problem, documented with scientific literature and a recommendation for solving the problem using the advanced health systems management analytical abilities.  Upon completion of the dissertation, the student will conduct an oral public defense of the project.  The composition of the dissertation committee will follow Graduate School requirements for the Ph.D.  In some instances, distance education formats may be used to examine the student.   

Financing 

Similar to the MHA-T Program, fees include tuition, books and all other pertinent costs.  The total fee for the current program is USD 33,600 or USD 4,800 for each of the seven semesters.  Tuition fees are due 30 days prior to the beginning of the semester. 

Application contacts 

Click here to view links to Graduate School application forms.