142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition

Home Events & Meetings Annual Meeting Schedule & Program

Online Program

Annual Meeting Recordings are now available for purchase

307672
Trends in Public Health Doctoral Education 1957-2012

142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition (November 15 - November 19, 2014): http://www.apha.org/events-and-meetings/annual
Monday, November 17, 2014 : 11:10 AM - 11:30 AM

JP Leider, PhD , de Beaumont Foundation, Bethesda, MD
This project explores the Survey of Earned Doctorates (SED) data from 1957-2012 to assess characteristics of public health doctoral students, as well as trends in doctoral education and degrees in public health. SED is an annual census of all individuals receiving a research doctorate from an accredited U.S. institution in a given academic year. Historically, reports of graduates of public health from other sources have been infrequent and contain different information. This has made it hard to track public health graduates and thus know who is likely to enter the field of public health. SED offers an opportunity to examine trends in public health and related fields for doctoral students that has not been examined. This project will be the first of its kind to illustrate trends in doctoral education and post-graduate plans in public health. 

This project examined four questions: 1) characteristics of those receiving a research-related doctorate in the public health sciences currently?;2) have post-graduate plans among those receiving research-related doctorates in a public health science changed over time?; 3) has the educational profile of those receiving research-related doctorates in a public health science changed over time?; and 4) have the demographics of those receiving research-related doctorates in a public a public health science changed over time?

Preliminary results reveal that total doctorates have increased over time with pre-recession in 2007 having the highest number of earned doctorates.  Additionally, there are increasing trends in those receiving doctorates in public health with concentrations of epidemiology and health systems/systems administration.  This study will present additional information on the sectors that doctoral graduates are coming from prior entering their doctorate and upon graduation.  This has the potential to provide insight into areas of recruitment and retention for public health education and the public health workforce sectors.

Learning Areas:

Diversity and culture
Other professions or practice related to public health
Public health or related education
Public health or related public policy

Learning Objectives:
Identify characteristics of those receiving research-related doctorates in public health currently Evaluate how post-graduate plans among those receiving research-related doctorates in public health have changed over time. Evaluate how the demographics of those receiving research-related doctorates in public health science have changed over time.

Keyword(s): Workforce, Public Health Research

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I conceived of the project and analyzed the data. I have doctoral training in quantitative methods.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

Back to: 3150.0: Academic / practice partnerships and health administration training