Doctoral

DOCTORAL DEGREES

Angie Otiniano with her committee after successfully defending her dissertation

The department offers 2 doctoral programs, the Dr.P.H. and the Ph.D.

The Dr.P.H. is a professional practice doctoral degree in public health.  The Ph.D. is an academically oriented doctorate in public health.  These degree programs comprise an intensive period of study with formal courses as well as guidance from a faculty advisor and doctoral committee.  The typical sequence for the doctoral degree is two years of coursework, followed by preparation and completion of two written qualifying exams, preparation of a research proposal, oral qualifying exam (proposal defense), completion of a dissertation, and oral dissertation defense.  Doctoral students are advanced to candidacy after they have passed their oral qualifying exam.  A listing of dissertations completed by CHS students is available here. The first two years the student is required to be in residence full time.  Admission is selective and normally 6 to12 new doctoral students are welcomed into the program every year.

The Doctoral program handbook has an in depth description of admission requirements, course requirements, differentiation between Dr.P.H. and Ph.D. programs, advisement, committee formation, qualifying examinations, and the dissertation proposal.

For information on the UCLA Graduate Division, see the Graduate Division website.