Health Management and Policy DrPH

Major: Health Management and Policy
Degree Awarded: Doctor of Public Health (DrPH)
Calendar Type: Quarter
Minimum Required Credits: 55.5
Co-op Option: None
Classification of Instructional Programs (CIP) code: 51.0701
Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) code: 11-9111

Note: The DrPH will not be offered in the 2023-2024 academic year.

About the Program

The Doctor of Public Health in Health Management and Policy equips students with the skills to pursue practice-based careers in health management and policy in healthcare, public health, or related domains in the United States and to become effective leaders at successive levels during the course of their careers. This is a part-time program intended for full-time working practitioners in the field of public health.

The program is grounded in the scientific disciplines that provide the evidence base for effective health services, programs, and policies. Coursework will provide a foundation in the social, political, and historical forces that shape healthcare and public health systems in this country, with a focus on the evolving efforts to improve healthcare access and value. Students will learn how to optimize uses of healthcare data and information and redefine the interface between healthcare and public health systems. Through coursework, the practicum experience, and the applied dissertation project, participants will explore the determinants of health and health disparities, as well as leadership, management, and policy strategies for reducing disparities by improving individual and population health.

Students will benefit from engagement with the Department of Health Management and Policy’s interdisciplinary faculty, the Dornsife School of Public Health’s emphasis on urban health and social justice, and the School’s location in Philadelphia—the sixth largest city in the United States where dynamic networks of academic, government, non-profit, and community-based organizations share a commitment to addressing health problems.

Foundational Competencies

• Explain qualitative, quantitative, mixed methods, and policy analysis research and evaluation methods to address health issues at multiple (individual, group, organization, community, and population) levels
• Design a qualitative, quantitative, mixed methods, policy analysis, or evaluation project to address a public health issue
• Explain the use and limitations of surveillance systems and national surveys in assessing, monitoring, and evaluating policies and programs and to address a population’s health
• Propose strategies for health improvement and elimination of health inequities by organizing stakeholders, including researchers, practitioners, community leaders, and other partners
• Communicate public health science to diverse stakeholders, including individuals at all levels of health literacy, for purposes of influencing behavior and policies
• Integrate knowledge, approaches, methods, values, and potential contributions from multiple professions, sectors, and systems in addressing public health problems
• Create a strategic plan
• Facilitate shared decision making through negotiation and consensus-building methods
• Create organizational change strategies
• Propose strategies to promote inclusion and equity within public health programs, policies, and systems
• Assess one’s own strengths and weaknesses in leadership capacities, including cultural proficiency
• Propose human, fiscal, and other resources to achieve a strategic goal
• Cultivate new resources and revenue streams to achieve a strategic goal
• Design a system-level intervention to address a public health issue
• Integrate knowledge of cultural values and practices in the design of public health policies and programs
• Integrate scientific information, legal and regulatory approaches, ethical frameworks, and varied stakeholder interests in policy development and analysis
• Propose interprofessional and/or intersectoral team approaches to improving public health
• Assess an audience’s knowledge and learning needs
• Deliver training or educational experiences that promote learning in academic, organizational, or community settings
• Use best practice modalities in pedagogical practices

Major Competencies

• Demonstrate a commitment to public health professional values through the integration of ethical principles and an evaluation of personal values
• Assess the feasibility and implications of health systems policies as related to the organizing, delivering, and financing of health services
• Propose solutions to address a challenge in the US Health system using Economic models
• Interpret legal, ethical, and policy principles as they apply to public health practice
• Conduct econometric analyses to analyze the nature of relationships between health care expenditures, costs, and use and their determinants

Additional Information

For more information about this program, please contact:

DSPH Academic Advising Team
Office of Education
​dsphadvising@drexel.edu

Additional information can be found on the Dornsife School of Public Health website, including admissions criteria and how to apply.

Degree Requirements

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Foundational Public Health Learning Objectives: PBHL 501 is only required for students who do not have a degree from a CEPH accredited school.

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Students choose from any BST, CHP, ECON, EOH, EPI, HMP, PBHL courses from the 500-999 level. Students can take additional 500-level or above electives across the university as long as they meet prerequisite and restriction requirements. Students can contact their faculty mentor to discuss elective options. One elective must be at the 800-level.

Sample Plan of Study

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PBHL 501 is only required for students who do not have a degree from a CEPH accredited school.