The mission of the PhD degree is to prepare public health professionals to make substantive contributions to public health inquiry and practice.

This mission relates directly to the University of South Florida mission, which includes creating a community of learners together with significant and sustainable university‐community partnerships and collaborations, as well as designing, strengthening and building sustainable healthy communities and improving quality of life.

Prerequisites

The doctoral committee or the department may require prerequisites. These courses are not included in the minimum number of hours a student needs to complete the Ph.D. and are expected to be completed early in the course of study.

Required Course Work

1. Public Health Core Courses (9 credits): PHC 6000 Epidemiology or equivalent, PHC 6050 Biostatistics I or equivalent, and one (1) of the following: PHC Social and Behavioral Sciences applied to health, PHC Environmental and Occupational Health, PHC Health Policy and Management.
2. A minimum of three semesters (one credit each semester) of a college-wide Advanced Interdisciplinary Seminar in Public Health.
3. A minimum of 13 credits at the 7000 level.

The courses and number of credit hours required are defined by the department and the doctoral committee and include course work from another department or college. Generally, the doctoral degree requires a minimum of 90 credits beyond the bachelor's degree. Departments determine the number of credits accepted from previous master(s) degree.

Tools of Research

Tools of research may be required by the department. Departmental Guidelines will address whether they are required for doctoral students within that department (consistency within the department required).  If required, the student must complete a minimum of two of the "Tools of Research" options designated by the department, and approved by the doctoral committee before the student is eligible to take the doctoral qualifying examination. The Tools of Research may include a wide range of skills or competencies relevant to research in the discipline not ordinarily part of the program of study, such as programming languages and application packages or other skills relevant to the area of study. The department will determine if credit hours taken to fulfill the Tools of Research will be credited toward the program of study.

Teaching

All doctoral students will demonstrate or document proficiency in teaching academic courses at the university level. The doctoral committee will determine the required teaching activities or if previous university teaching is sufficient to exempt the student from further teaching experience.

Qualifying Exam

When all required coursework is satisfactorily completed (including tools of research and prerequisites), the student must pass a written comprehensive qualifying examination covering the subject matter in the major and related fields. The department sets the specific criteria. 

The qualifying exam will comprise a written portion and may include an oral component. The exam will cover at least three major areas including: a) Broad area of public health; b)Focus area of study; c) Research methods. The student may have no longer than 10 weeks to complete the exam upon receipt of the exam from the Doctoral Supervisory Committee. The format and duration of the qualifying exam is the responsibility of the Doctoral Supervisory Committee following consultation with the student and consistent with departmental college and university guidelines. The Doctoral Supervisory Committee will have up to 3 weeks to review the exam and determine the outcome of either Pass or Fail. No more than 2 attempts will be allowed for the student to take the qualifying exam and earn a Pass. If the student receives a Fail on the qualifying exam on the first attempt and the Doctoral Supervisory Committee recommends that the student complete remedial work. the second attempt at the qualifying exam must be initiated within 3-months of completion of remedial work. If the student earns a Fail on the first attempt, and the committee determines that no remedial work is needed the student will have a second attempt to pass which must be initiated within 3-months. If the student does not earn a Pass on the qualifying exam on his/her second attempt. the student will not be admitted into doctoral candidacy. After successful completion of the qualifying exam and appropriate paperwork is submitted to Graduate School, the student is admitted to candidacy and may register for dissertation hours.

Dissertation

All students must follow the University’s “Guidelines for Dissertation and Theses” found at http://www.grad.usf.edu/thesis.php. The Dissertation must conform to one of the following two available options per USF degree requirements:

• Option 1: Traditional format inclusive of part I Preliminary pages, part II Text, part III References/Appendices, part IV About the Author
• Option 2: Collection of articles/papers instead of chapters inclusive of Part I Preliminary Pages, Part II Collection of Articles/Papers, Part III References/Appendices.

For details, please refer to the latest version of the USF Tampa Graduate Catalog.
After the Doctoral Dissertation Committee has determined that the final draft of the dissertation is suitable for presentation the committee will request the scheduling and announcement of the Dissertation Defense. Consistent with USF Graduate Degree Requirements a copy of the announcement should be sent to the USF Office of Graduate Studies and posted in a public forum preferably two weeks in advance of the defense date.

Guidelines for students in progress

Each Ph.D. student will undergo an annual review consistent with departmental guidelines. A summary of the annual review will be provided to the student and placed in the student's advising file.

Note: In order to be considered for admission to the Ph.D. Program in Public Health, applicants must be fully prepared to register as full-time students for at least one full academic year (consecutive Fall and Spring semesters).

The University of South Florida is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of College and Schools (SACS). The College of Public Health degree programs are fully accredited by the Council on Education in Public Health (CEPH).

• Director of PhD program: You can contact 
• Assistant Director of Professional Programs: You can contact Somer Burke at sburke@health.usf.edu or (813) 974-6606.
• Office of Academic and Student Affairs: 
  • You can call us at (813) 974-6505 or call toll-free (888) USF-COPH or (888) 873-2674 and press 1.
  • You can email us at advisor@health.usf.edu or view our staff directory to contact someone directly.
  • You can visit us at the WELL (MDA) across Holly street from the College of Public Health. 
  • You can also reach out to /wiki/spaces/COPHHB/pages/16768469664
• Admissions: Please go to our Prospective Students page to request an appointment with an advisor.  

All COPH and USF forms that you will need are located on this page: http://health.usf.edu/publichealth/forms.html

Please go to this link for information on a variety of student resources available to you as a student of USF: Student Resources