phd thesis in healthcare

PhD Thesis Guide

This phd thesis guide will guide you step-by-step through the thesis process, from your initial letter of intent to submission of the final document..

All associated forms are conveniently consolidated in the section at the end.

Deadlines & Requirements

Students should register for HST.ThG during any term in which they are conducting research towards their thesis. Regardless of year in program students registered for HST.ThG in a regular term (fall or spring) must meet with their research advisor and complete the  Semi-Annual PhD Student Progress Review Form to receive credit.

Years 1 - 2

• Students participating in lab rotations during year 1, may use the optional MEMP Rotation Registration Form , to formalize the arrangement and can earn academic credit by enrolling in HST.599. 
• A first letter of intent ( LOI-1 ) proposing a general area of thesis research and research advisor is required by April 30th of the second year of registration.
• A second letter of intent ( LOI-2 ) proposing a thesis committee membership and providing a more detailed description of the thesis research is required by April 30th of the third year of registration for approval by the HST-IMES Committee on Academic Programs (HICAP).

Year 4 

• Beginning in year 4, (or after the LOI-2 is approved) the student must meet with their thesis committee at least once per semester.
• Students must formally defend their proposal before the approved thesis committee, and submit their committee approved proposal to HICAP  by April 30 of the forth year of registration.
• Meetings with the thesis committee must be held at least once per semester. 

HST has developed these policies to help keep students on track as they progress through their PhD program. Experience shows that students make more rapid progress towards graduation when they interact regularly with a faculty committee and complete their thesis proposal by the deadline.

Getting Started

Check out these resources  for finding a research lab.

The Thesis Committee: Roles and Responsibilities

Students perform doctoral thesis work under the guidance of a thesis committee consisting of at least three faculty members from Harvard and MIT (including a chair and a research advisor) who will help guide the research. Students are encouraged to form their thesis committee early in the course of the research and in any case by the end of the third year of registration. The HST IMES Committee on Academic Programs (HICAP) approves the composition of the thesis committee via the letter of intent and the thesis proposal (described below). 

Research Advisor

The research advisor is responsible for overseeing the student's thesis project. The research advisor is expected to:

• oversee the research and mentor the student;
• provide a supportive research environment, facilities, and financial support;
• discuss expectations, progress, and milestones with the student and complete the  Semi-Annual PhD Student Progress Review Form each semester;
• assist the student to prepare for the oral qualifying exam;
• guide the student in selecting the other members of the thesis committee;
• help the student prepare for, and attend, meetings of the full thesis committee, to be held at least once per semester;
• help the student prepare for, and attend, the thesis defense;
• evaluate the final thesis document.

The research advisor is chosen by the student and must be a faculty member of MIT* or Harvard University and needs no further approval.  HICAP may approve other individuals as research advisor on a student-by-student basis. Students are advised to request approval of non-faculty research advisors as soon as possible.  In order to avoid conflicts of interest, the research advisor may not also be the student's academic advisor. In the event that an academic advisor becomes the research advisor, a new academic advisor will be assigned.

The student and their research advisor must complete the Semi-Annual PhD Student Progress Review during each regular term in order to receive academic credit for research.  Download Semi Annual Review Form

*MIT Senior Research Staff are considered equivalent to faculty members for the purposes of research advising. No additional approval is required.

Thesis Committee Chair

Each HST PhD thesis committee is headed administratively by a chair, chosen by the student in consultation with the research advisor. The thesis committee chair is expected to:

• provide advice and guidance concerning the thesis research; 
• oversee meetings of the full thesis committee, to be held at least once per semester;
• preside at the thesis defense; 
• review and evaluate the final thesis document.

The thesis committee chair must be well acquainted with the academic policies and procedures of the institution granting the student's degree and be familiar with the student's area of research. The research advisor may not simultaneously serve as thesis committee chair.

For HST PhD students earning degrees through MIT, the thesis committee chair must be an MIT faculty member. A select group of HST program faculty without primary appointments at MIT have been pre-approved by HICAP to chair PhD theses awarded by HST at MIT in cases where the MIT research advisor is an MIT faculty member.**

HST PhD students earning their degree through Harvard follow thesis committee requirements set by the unit granting their degree - either the Biophysics Program or the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS).

** List of non-MIT HST faculty approved to chair MIT thesis proposals when the research advisor is an MIT faculty member.

In addition to the research advisor and the thesis committee chair, the thesis committee must include one or more readers. Readers are expected to:

• attend meetings of the full thesis committee, to be held at least once per semester;
• attend the thesis defense; 

Faculty members with relevant expertise from outside of Harvard/MIT may serve as readers, but they may only be counted toward the required three if approved by HICAP.

The members of the thesis committee should have complementary expertise that collectively covers the areas needed to advise a student's thesis research. The committee should also be diverse, so that members are able to offer different perspectives on the student's research. When forming a thesis committee, it is helpful to consider the following questions: 

• Do the individuals on the committee collectively have the appropriate expertise for the project?
• Does the committee include at least one individual who can offer different perspectives on the student's research?  The committee should include at least one person who is not closely affiliated with the student's primary lab. Frequent collaborators are acceptable in this capacity if their work exhibits intellectual independence from the research advisor.
• If the research has a near-term clinical application, does the committee include someone who can add a translational or clinical perspective?  
• Does the committee conform to HST policies in terms of number, academic appointments, and affiliations of the committee members, research advisor, and thesis committee chair as described elsewhere on this page?

[Friendly advice: Although there is no maximum committee size, three or four is considered optimal. Committees of five members are possible, but more than five is unwieldy.]

Thesis Committee Meetings

Students must meet with their thesis committee at least once each semester beginning in the fourth year of registration. It is the student's responsibility to schedule these meetings; students who encounter difficulties in arranging regular committee meetings can contact Julie Greenberg at jgreenbe [at] mit.edu (jgreenbe[at]mit[dot]edu) .

The format of the thesis committee meeting is at the discretion of the thesis committee chair. In some cases, the following sequence may be helpful:

• The thesis committee chair, research advisor, and readers meet briefly without the student in the room;
• The thesis committee chair and readers meet briefly with the student, without the advisor in the room;
• The student presents their research progress, answers questions, and seeks guidance from the members of the thesis committee;

Please note that thesis committee meetings provide an important opportunity for students to present their research and respond to questions. Therefore, it is in the student's best interest for the research advisor to refrain from defending the research in this setting.

Letters of Intent

Students must submit two letters of intent ( LOI-1 and LOI-2 ) with applicable signatures. 

In LOI-1, students identify a research advisor and a general area of thesis research, described in 100 words or less. It should include the area of expertise of the research advisor and indicate whether IRB approval (Institutional Review Board; for research involving human subjects) and/or IACUC approval (Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee; for research involving vertebrate animals) will be required and, if so, from which institutions. LOI-1 is due by April 30 of the second year of registration and and should be submitted to HICAP, c/o Traci Anderson in E25-518. 

In LOI-2, students provide a description of the thesis research, describing the Background and Significance of the research and making a preliminary statement of Specific Aims (up to 400 words total). In LOI-2, a student also proposes the membership of their thesis committee. In addition to the research advisor, the proposed thesis committee must include a chair and one or more readers, all selected to meet the specified criteria . LOI-2 is due by April 30th of the third year of registration and should be submitted to HICAP, c/o Traci Anderson in E25-518.

LOI-2 is reviewed by the HST-IMES Committee on Academic Programs (HICAP) to determine if the proposed committee meets the specified criteria and if the committee members collectively have the complementary expertise needed to advise the student in executing the proposed research. If HICAP requests any changes to the proposed committee, the student must submit a revised LOI-2 for HICAP review by September 30th of the fourth year of registration. HICAP must approve LOI-2 before the student can proceed to presenting and submitting their thesis proposal. Any changes to the thesis committee membership following HICAP approval of LOI-2 and prior to defense of the thesis proposal must be reported by submitting a revised LOI-2 form to HICAP, c/o tanderso [at] mit.edu (Traci Anderson) . After final HICAP approval of LOI-2, which confirms the thesis committee membership, the student may proceed to present their thesis proposal to the approved thesis committee, as described in the next section.

Students are strongly encouraged to identify tentative thesis committee members and begin meeting with them as early as possible to inform the direction of their research. Following submission of LOI-2, students are required to hold at least one thesis committee meeting per semester. Students must document these meetings via the Semi- Annual PhD Student Progress Review form in order to receive a grade reflecting satisfactory progress in HST.ThG.

Thesis Proposal and Proposal Presentation

For MEMP students receiving their degrees through MIT, successful completion of the Oral Qualifying Exam is a prerequisite for the thesis proposal presentation. For MEMP students receiving their degrees through Harvard, the oral qualifying exam satisfies the proposal presentation requirement.

Proposal Document

Each student must present a thesis proposal to a thesis committee that has been approved by HICAP via the LOI-2 and then submit a full proposal package to HICAP by April 30th of the fourth year of registration. The only exception is for students who substantially change their research focus after the fall term of their third year; in those cases the thesis proposal must be submitted within three semesters of joining a new lab. Students registering for thesis research (HST.THG) who have not met this deadline may be administratively assigned a grade of "U" (unsatisfactory) and receive an academic warning.

The written proposal should be no longer than 4500 words, excluding references. This is intended to help students develop their proposal-writing skills by gaining experience composing a practical proposal; the length is comparable to that required for proposals to the NIH R03 Small Research Grant Program. The proposal should clearly define the research problem, describe the proposed research plan, and defend the significance of the work. Preliminary results are not required. If the proposal consists of multiple aims, with the accomplishment of later aims based on the success of earlier ones, then the proposal should describe a contingency plan in case the early results are not as expected.

Proposal Presentation

The student must formally defend the thesis proposal before the full thesis committee that has been approved by HICAP.

Students should schedule the meeting and reserve a conference room and any audio visual equipment they may require for their presentation. To book a conference room in E25, please contact Joseph Stein ( jrstein [at] mit.edu (jrstein[at]mit[dot]edu) ).

Following the proposal presentation, students should make any requested modifications to the proposal for the committee members to review. Once the committee approves the proposal, the student should obtain the signatures of the committee members on the forms described below as part of the proposal submission package.

[Friendly advice: As a professional courtesy, be sure your committee members have a complete version of your thesis proposal at least one week in advance of the proposal presentation.]

Submission of Proposal Package

When the thesis committee has approved the proposal, the student submits the proposal package to HICAP, c/o Traci Anderson in E25-518, for final approval. HICAP may reject a thesis proposal if it has been defended before a committee that was not previously approved via the LOI-2.

The proposal package includes the following: 

• the proposal document
• a brief description of the project background and significance that explains why the work is important;
• the specific aims of the proposal, including a contingency plan if needed; and
• an indication of the methods to be used to accomplish the specific aims.
• signed research advisor agreement form(s);
• signed chair agreement form (which confirms a successful proposal defense);
• signed reader agreement form(s).

Thesis Proposal Forms

• SAMPLE Title Page (doc)
• Research Advisor Agreement Form (pdf)
• Chair Agreement Form (pdf)
• Reader Agreement Form (pdf)

Thesis Defense and Final Thesis Document

When the thesis is substantially complete and fully acceptable to the thesis committee, a public thesis defense is scheduled for the student to present his/her work to the thesis committee and other members of the community. The thesis defense is the last formal examination required for receipt of a doctoral degree. To be considered "public", a defense must be announced to the community at least five working days in advance. At the defense, the thesis committee determines if the research presented is sufficient for granting a doctoral degree. Following a satisfactory thesis defense, the student submits the final thesis document, approved by the research advisor, to Traci Anderson via email (see instructions below).

[Friendly advice: Contact jrstein [at] mit.edu (Joseph Stein) at least two weeks before your scheduled date to arrange for advertising via email and posters. A defense can be canceled for insufficient public notice.]

Before the Thesis Defense 

Committee Approves Student to Defend: The thesis committee, working with the student and reviewing thesis drafts, concludes that the doctoral work is complete. The student should discuss the structure of the defense (general guidelines below) with the thesis committee chair and the research advisor. 

Schedule the Defense: The student schedules a defense at a time when all members of the thesis committee will be physical present. Any exceptions must be approved in advance by the IMES/HST Academic Office.

Reserve Room: It is the student's responsibility to reserve a room and any necessary equipment. Please contact imes-reservation [at] mit.edu (subject: E25%20Room%20Reservation) (IMES Reservation) to  reserve rooms E25-140, E25-141, E25-119/121, E25-521. 

Final Draft: A complete draft of the thesis document is due to the thesis committee two weeks prior to the thesis defense to allow time for review.  The thesis should be written as a single cohesive document; it may include content from published papers (see libraries website on " Use of Previously Published Material in a Thesis ") but it may not be a simple compilation of previously published materials.

Publicize the Defense:   The IMES/HST Academic Office invites the community to attend the defense via email and a notice on the HST website. This requires that the student email a thesis abstract and supplemental information to  jrstein [at] mit.edu (Joseph Stein)  two weeks prior to the thesis defense. The following information should be included: Date and time, Location, (Zoom invitation with password, if offering a hybrid option), Thesis Title, Names of committee members, with academic and professional titles and institutional affiliations. The abstract is limited to 250 words for the poster, but students may optionally submit a second, longer abstract for the email announcement.

Thesis Defense Guidelines

Public Defense: The student should prepare a presentation of 45-60 minutes in length, to be followed by a public question and answer period of 15–30 minutes at discretion of the chair.

Committee Discussion:  Immediately following the public thesis presentation, the student meets privately with the thesis committee and any other faculty members present to explore additional questions at the discretion of the faculty. Then the thesis committee meets in executive session and determines whether the thesis defense was satisfactory. The committee may suggest additions or editorial changes to the thesis document at this point.

Chair Confirms Pass: After the defense, the thesis committee chair should inform Traci Anderson of the outcome via email to tanderso [at] mit.edu (tanderso[at]mit[dot]edu) .

Submitting the Final Thesis Document

Please refer to the MIT libraries  thesis formatting guidelines .

Title page notes. Sample title page  from the MIT Libraries.

Program line : should read, "Submitted to the Harvard-MIT Program in Health Sciences and Technology, in partial fulfillment of the the requirements for the degree of ... "

Copyright : Starting with the June 2023 degree period and as reflected in the  MIT Thesis Specifications , all students retain the copyright of their thesis.  Please review this section for how to list on your title page Signature Page: On the "signed" version, only the student and research advisor should sign. Thesis committee members are not required to sign. On the " Accepted by " line, please list: Collin M. Stultz, MD, PhD/Director, Harvard-MIT Program in Health Sciences and Technology/ Nina T. and Robert H. Rubin Professor in Medical Engineering and Science/Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

The Academic Office will obtain Professor Stultz's signature.

Thesis Submission Components.  As of 4/2021, the MIT libraries have changed their thesis submissions guidelines and are no longer accepting hard copy theses submissions. For most recent guidance from the libraries:  https://libguides.mit.edu/mit-thesis-faq/instructions  

Submit to the Academic Office, via email ( tanderso [at] mit.edu (tanderso[at]mit[dot]edu) )

pdf/A-1 of the final thesis should include an UNSIGNED title page

A separate file with a SIGNED title page by the student and advisor, the Academic Office will get Dr. Collin Stultz's signature.

For the MIT Library thesis processing, fill out the "Thesis Information" here:  https://thesis-submit.mit.edu/

File Naming Information:  https://libguides.mit.edu/

Survey of Earned Doctorates.  The University Provost’s Office will contact all doctoral candidates via email with instructions for completing this survey.

Links to All Forms in This Guide

• MEMP Rotation Form (optional)
• Semi-Annual Progress Review Form
• Letter of Intent One
• Letter of Intent Two

Final Thesis

• HST Sample thesis title page  (signed and unsigned)
• Sample thesis title page  (MIT Libraries)

Dissertations

The following is a complete listing of successful PHS PhD dissertations to-date, including:

• Field of Study
• Cohort Year
• Last/First Names of Doctoral Degree Recipients
• Dissertation Titles
• Faculty Advisor/Doctoral Committee Chairs

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PhD Program: Dissertations

• The Effect of Private Managed Care on Medicaid Spending and Fiscal Predictability
• Physician Learning: The Role of Physician Practice Organization and Competition
• Firm Response to Low-Reimbursement Patients in the Market for Unscheduled Outpatient Care
• The Demand for Preventive Activities and its Association with Medicare Expenditures
• Perspectives on Firm Decision Making During Risky Technology Acquisitions
• Information in Medicare HMO Markets: The Interplay of Advertising and Report Cards
• Generic Pharmaceutical Entry via Paragraph IV Certification
• Precautionary Savings to Manage Common Health Risks Among the Poor
• The Impact of Medical Spending Growth on Guaranteed Renewable Health Insurance
• The Effect of Publicized Hospital Charges on Hospital Choice
• The Effects of Language and Geography-Defined Groups on Health Insurance Choice
• The Effect of Specialty Tier Placement on Enrollment and Utilization in Medicare Part D.
• Competition, Ownership Type, and Provider Behavior in the Hospice Industry
• Market Heterogeneity and Drug Innovation
• Changing Activity and Behavior of Primary Care Physicians Following Practice by Academic Medical Centers
• Medicare Prescription Drug Legislation: An Analysis of Economic Effect
• Economic Determinants and Consequences of Physical Activity
• The Impact of Competition in Hospital Markets on Disparities in Procedure Use: The Care of CABG Surgery for AMI Patients
• Organizational Form and Niche Overlap: The Dynamics of Surgery Center Entry and Exit
• Is More Necessarily Better? The Impact of Prescription Drug Coverage on Clinical Outcomes in the Medicare Population
• The Impact of Physical Activity on Short-Run Healthcare Utilization and Costs in US Adults
• Perception, Selection and Performance: Hospitals’ Adaption Strategies
• Creative Value in Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology Research: The Role of Resource Allocation and Capabilities Development
• Patent Policy and Entry: Evidence form Pharmaceutical Patent Challenges
• The Formation of Surgeon Peer Reputation and its Effect on Technology Adoption
• Understanding the Role of Genetic Factors and Risky Health Behavior on Adolescent Student Outcomes
• Public Insurance Programs: The Impact of Uncompensated Care, Reimbursement Funds and Medicaid
• Analysis of Acquisitions by Medical Device Manufacturers
• Responses to Cardiac Surgery Mortality Report Cards
• Medicare and Prescription Drug Coverage: Impacts on Non-Drug Medical Spending and Disability
• The Impact and Response of Physicians to Malpractice Liability Claims
• Physician Agency Issues and Response to FDA Labeling: The Case of Anti-Cancer Drugs
• The Adoption and Diffusion of Hospital Information Systems
• Firm Ownership Form and Quality: An Examination of the Impact of the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 on Hospitals
• Responses to Mortality Report Cards for Cardiac Surgery
• Educational Programs As Incentives to Students for Selecting Dental Schools of Their Choice
• The Value of Choice in Health Insurance Purchasing
• Price Regulation, Capital Market Imperfections, and Strategic R&D Investment Behavior in the Pharmaceutical Industry: Consequences for Innovation
• The Impact of CABG Report Cards on Racial Disparities

1999 – 2002

• Community Rating and Regulatory Reform in Health Insurance Markets
• Access to Free Care for the Uninsured and its Effect on Private Health Insurance
• Employee Demand for Health Insurance and Employer Health Benefit Choices
• Physician’s Practice Styles and How They Change as a Higher Percentage of Managed Care Patients are Treated as a Percentage of their Patient Panel
• Demand for and Provision of HMO Quality Information
• How People Trade-Off Pregnancy and HIV Risk When Choosing Forms of Contraception

1996 – 1998

• Do Relative Fees Affect Utilization of Surgical Procedures Under Medicare? A Study of Geographic Variations
• Technology Diffusion of Marketed and Unmarketed Products: Addressing the Social Welfare of Promotional Restriction and Positive Reimbursement Policy for Off-Label Anti-Cancer Drugs
• The Impact of Internal Structural Changes on Hospital Costs
• Environmental Turbulence, Organizational Capabilities and Strategic Response: Hospital Strategy in an Era of Managed Care
• Role of Functional Status in Predicting Inpatient Mortality with AIDS
• How Parent’s Schooling Affects Child Health: The Importance of Quality Time

1992 – 1995

• A Theory of Congestion in General Hospitals
• An Analysis of the Effect of Changes in Coinsurance Rates on Health Care Use and Cost
• The Effects of Alternative Third Party Reimbursement Systems on the Adoption and Diffusion of New Medical Technologies
• Hospital Pricing and Organizational Control: The Effect of Government Payment Changes on Hospital Prices
• A Theory of Incentives for Providers: Payment Systems, Quality of Services, and Consumer Information in Health Care Markets
• Productive Efficiency and Cost-Effectiveness of Public-Funded Drug Treatment Programs in New Jersey

1987 – 1991

• A Theoretical and Empirical Study of Physician Compensation Arrangements
• The Effects of Liability on the Practice Patterns of Obstetricians and Gynecologists
• Measuring Hospital Quality of Care: A Study of the Failure Rate, Adverse-Occurrence Rate and Death Rate
• Consumer Discount Rates for Health and Money in Health Care Cost Effectiveness Analysis
• The Extent and the Determinants of Variations in Nursing Home Staffing and Practice

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Digital Commons @ USF > College of Public Health > Health Policy and Management > Theses and Dissertations

Health Policy and Management Theses and Dissertations

Theses/dissertations from 2017 2017.

Healthcare Costs of Injured Youth: The Need for Prevention, Policy, and Proper Triage , Jessica Lynn Ryan

Physical Therapy Utilization and Length of Stay among Patients with Low Back Pain in Florida Hospitals , Kyle A. Watterson

Theses/Dissertations from 2013 2013

Predictors of the Incidence and Charges for Lumbar Spinal Fusion Surgery in Florida Hospitals During 2010 , Anna Ialynychev

Theses/Dissertations from 2010 2010

Analysis of Two Strategies for Structuring Medicare Reimbursement to Maximize Profitability in Acute Care General Hospitals , James D. Barrington

Theses/Dissertations from 2009 2009

Predicting the Medical Management Requirements of Large Scale Mass Casualty Events Using Computer Simulation , Scott A. Zuerlein

Theses/Dissertations from 2008 2008

The Association between the Measles, Mumps, and Rubella Vaccine and the Development of Autism: A Meta-Analysis , Rashad Carlton

The Influence of Specialized Cancer Hospitals in Florida on Mortality, Length of Stay, and Charges of Care , Patricia L. Spencer

Theses/Dissertations from 2005 2005

Racial Disparities in Breast Cancer Surgical Treatment and Radiation Therapy Use , Tracey Lynn Koehlmoos

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Research Topics & Ideas: Healthcare

100+ Healthcare Research Topic Ideas To Fast-Track Your Project

Finding and choosing a strong research topic is the critical first step when it comes to crafting a high-quality dissertation, thesis or research project. If you’ve landed on this post, chances are you’re looking for a healthcare-related research topic , but aren’t sure where to start. Here, we’ll explore a variety of healthcare-related research ideas and topic thought-starters across a range of healthcare fields, including allopathic and alternative medicine, dentistry, physical therapy, optometry, pharmacology and public health.

NB – This is just the start…

The topic ideation and evaluation process has multiple steps . In this post, we’ll kickstart the process by sharing some research topic ideas within the healthcare domain. This is the starting point, but to develop a well-defined research topic, you’ll need to identify a clear and convincing research gap , along with a well-justified plan of action to fill that gap.

If you’re new to the oftentimes perplexing world of research, or if this is your first time undertaking a formal academic research project, be sure to check out our free dissertation mini-course. In it, we cover the process of writing a dissertation or thesis from start to end. Be sure to also sign up for our free webinar that explores how to find a high-quality research topic.

Overview: Healthcare Research Topics

• Allopathic medicine
• Alternative /complementary medicine
• Veterinary medicine
• Physical therapy/ rehab
• Optometry and ophthalmology
• Pharmacy and pharmacology
• Public health
• Examples of healthcare-related dissertations

Allopathic (Conventional) Medicine

• The effectiveness of telemedicine in remote elderly patient care
• The impact of stress on the immune system of cancer patients
• The effects of a plant-based diet on chronic diseases such as diabetes
• The use of AI in early cancer diagnosis and treatment
• The role of the gut microbiome in mental health conditions such as depression and anxiety
• The efficacy of mindfulness meditation in reducing chronic pain: A systematic review
• The benefits and drawbacks of electronic health records in a developing country
• The effects of environmental pollution on breast milk quality
• The use of personalized medicine in treating genetic disorders
• The impact of social determinants of health on chronic diseases in Asia
• The role of high-intensity interval training in improving cardiovascular health
• The efficacy of using probiotics for gut health in pregnant women
• The impact of poor sleep on the treatment of chronic illnesses
• The role of inflammation in the development of chronic diseases such as lupus
• The effectiveness of physiotherapy in pain control post-surgery

Topics & Ideas: Alternative Medicine

• The benefits of herbal medicine in treating young asthma patients
• The use of acupuncture in treating infertility in women over 40 years of age
• The effectiveness of homoeopathy in treating mental health disorders: A systematic review
• The role of aromatherapy in reducing stress and anxiety post-surgery
• The impact of mindfulness meditation on reducing high blood pressure
• The use of chiropractic therapy in treating back pain of pregnant women
• The efficacy of traditional Chinese medicine such as Shun-Qi-Tong-Xie (SQTX) in treating digestive disorders in China
• The impact of yoga on physical and mental health in adolescents
• The benefits of hydrotherapy in treating musculoskeletal disorders such as tendinitis
• The role of Reiki in promoting healing and relaxation post birth
• The effectiveness of naturopathy in treating skin conditions such as eczema
• The use of deep tissue massage therapy in reducing chronic pain in amputees
• The impact of tai chi on the treatment of anxiety and depression
• The benefits of reflexology in treating stress, anxiety and chronic fatigue
• The role of acupuncture in the prophylactic management of headaches and migraines

Topics & Ideas: Dentistry

• The impact of sugar consumption on the oral health of infants
• The use of digital dentistry in improving patient care: A systematic review
• The efficacy of orthodontic treatments in correcting bite problems in adults
• The role of dental hygiene in preventing gum disease in patients with dental bridges
• The impact of smoking on oral health and tobacco cessation support from UK dentists
• The benefits of dental implants in restoring missing teeth in adolescents
• The use of lasers in dental procedures such as root canals
• The efficacy of root canal treatment using high-frequency electric pulses in saving infected teeth
• The role of fluoride in promoting remineralization and slowing down demineralization
• The impact of stress-induced reflux on oral health
• The benefits of dental crowns in restoring damaged teeth in elderly patients
• The use of sedation dentistry in managing dental anxiety in children
• The efficacy of teeth whitening treatments in improving dental aesthetics in patients with braces
• The role of orthodontic appliances in improving well-being
• The impact of periodontal disease on overall health and chronic illnesses

Tops & Ideas: Veterinary Medicine

• The impact of nutrition on broiler chicken production
• The role of vaccines in disease prevention in horses
• The importance of parasite control in animal health in piggeries
• The impact of animal behaviour on welfare in the dairy industry
• The effects of environmental pollution on the health of cattle
• The role of veterinary technology such as MRI in animal care
• The importance of pain management in post-surgery health outcomes
• The impact of genetics on animal health and disease in layer chickens
• The effectiveness of alternative therapies in veterinary medicine: A systematic review
• The role of veterinary medicine in public health: A case study of the COVID-19 pandemic
• The impact of climate change on animal health and infectious diseases in animals
• The importance of animal welfare in veterinary medicine and sustainable agriculture
• The effects of the human-animal bond on canine health
• The role of veterinary medicine in conservation efforts: A case study of Rhinoceros poaching in Africa
• The impact of veterinary research of new vaccines on animal health

Topics & Ideas: Physical Therapy/Rehab

• The efficacy of aquatic therapy in improving joint mobility and strength in polio patients
• The impact of telerehabilitation on patient outcomes in Germany
• The effect of kinesiotaping on reducing knee pain and improving function in individuals with chronic pain
• A comparison of manual therapy and yoga exercise therapy in the management of low back pain
• The use of wearable technology in physical rehabilitation and the impact on patient adherence to a rehabilitation plan
• The impact of mindfulness-based interventions in physical therapy in adolescents
• The effects of resistance training on individuals with Parkinson’s disease
• The role of hydrotherapy in the management of fibromyalgia
• The impact of cognitive-behavioural therapy in physical rehabilitation for individuals with chronic pain
• The use of virtual reality in physical rehabilitation of sports injuries
• The effects of electrical stimulation on muscle function and strength in athletes
• The role of physical therapy in the management of stroke recovery: A systematic review
• The impact of pilates on mental health in individuals with depression
• The use of thermal modalities in physical therapy and its effectiveness in reducing pain and inflammation
• The effect of strength training on balance and gait in elderly patients

Topics & Ideas: Optometry & Opthalmology

• The impact of screen time on the vision and ocular health of children under the age of 5
• The effects of blue light exposure from digital devices on ocular health
• The role of dietary interventions, such as the intake of whole grains, in the management of age-related macular degeneration
• The use of telemedicine in optometry and ophthalmology in the UK
• The impact of myopia control interventions on African American children’s vision
• The use of contact lenses in the management of dry eye syndrome: different treatment options
• The effects of visual rehabilitation in individuals with traumatic brain injury
• The role of low vision rehabilitation in individuals with age-related vision loss: challenges and solutions
• The impact of environmental air pollution on ocular health
• The effectiveness of orthokeratology in myopia control compared to contact lenses
• The role of dietary supplements, such as omega-3 fatty acids, in ocular health
• The effects of ultraviolet radiation exposure from tanning beds on ocular health
• The impact of computer vision syndrome on long-term visual function
• The use of novel diagnostic tools in optometry and ophthalmology in developing countries
• The effects of virtual reality on visual perception and ocular health: an examination of dry eye syndrome and neurologic symptoms

Topics & Ideas: Pharmacy & Pharmacology

• The impact of medication adherence on patient outcomes in cystic fibrosis
• The use of personalized medicine in the management of chronic diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease
• The effects of pharmacogenomics on drug response and toxicity in cancer patients
• The role of pharmacists in the management of chronic pain in primary care
• The impact of drug-drug interactions on patient mental health outcomes
• The use of telepharmacy in healthcare: Present status and future potential
• The effects of herbal and dietary supplements on drug efficacy and toxicity
• The role of pharmacists in the management of type 1 diabetes
• The impact of medication errors on patient outcomes and satisfaction
• The use of technology in medication management in the USA
• The effects of smoking on drug metabolism and pharmacokinetics: A case study of clozapine
• Leveraging the role of pharmacists in preventing and managing opioid use disorder
• The impact of the opioid epidemic on public health in a developing country
• The use of biosimilars in the management of the skin condition psoriasis
• The effects of the Affordable Care Act on medication utilization and patient outcomes in African Americans

Topics & Ideas: Public Health

• The impact of the built environment and urbanisation on physical activity and obesity
• The effects of food insecurity on health outcomes in Zimbabwe
• The role of community-based participatory research in addressing health disparities
• The impact of social determinants of health, such as racism, on population health
• The effects of heat waves on public health
• The role of telehealth in addressing healthcare access and equity in South America
• The impact of gun violence on public health in South Africa
• The effects of chlorofluorocarbons air pollution on respiratory health
• The role of public health interventions in reducing health disparities in the USA
• The impact of the United States Affordable Care Act on access to healthcare and health outcomes
• The effects of water insecurity on health outcomes in the Middle East
• The role of community health workers in addressing healthcare access and equity in low-income countries
• The impact of mass incarceration on public health and behavioural health of a community
• The effects of floods on public health and healthcare systems
• The role of social media in public health communication and behaviour change in adolescents

Examples: Healthcare Dissertation & Theses

While the ideas we’ve presented above are a decent starting point for finding a healthcare-related research topic, they are fairly generic and non-specific. So, it helps to look at actual dissertations and theses to see how this all comes together.

Below, we’ve included a selection of research projects from various healthcare-related degree programs to help refine your thinking. These are actual dissertations and theses, written as part of Master’s and PhD-level programs, so they can provide some useful insight as to what a research topic looks like in practice.

• Improving Follow-Up Care for Homeless Populations in North County San Diego (Sanchez, 2021)
• On the Incentives of Medicare’s Hospital Reimbursement and an Examination of Exchangeability (Elzinga, 2016)
• Managing the healthcare crisis: the career narratives of nurses (Krueger, 2021)
• Methods for preventing central line-associated bloodstream infection in pediatric haematology-oncology patients: A systematic literature review (Balkan, 2020)
• Farms in Healthcare: Enhancing Knowledge, Sharing, and Collaboration (Garramone, 2019)
• When machine learning meets healthcare: towards knowledge incorporation in multimodal healthcare analytics (Yuan, 2020)
• Integrated behavioural healthcare: The future of rural mental health (Fox, 2019)
• Healthcare service use patterns among autistic adults: A systematic review with narrative synthesis (Gilmore, 2021)
• Mindfulness-Based Interventions: Combatting Burnout and Compassionate Fatigue among Mental Health Caregivers (Lundquist, 2022)
• Transgender and gender-diverse people’s perceptions of gender-inclusive healthcare access and associated hope for the future (Wille, 2021)
• Efficient Neural Network Synthesis and Its Application in Smart Healthcare (Hassantabar, 2022)
• The Experience of Female Veterans and Health-Seeking Behaviors (Switzer, 2022)
• Machine learning applications towards risk prediction and cost forecasting in healthcare (Singh, 2022)
• Does Variation in the Nursing Home Inspection Process Explain Disparity in Regulatory Outcomes? (Fox, 2020)

Looking at these titles, you can probably pick up that the research topics here are quite specific and narrowly-focused , compared to the generic ones presented earlier. This is an important thing to keep in mind as you develop your own research topic. That is to say, to create a top-notch research topic, you must be precise and target a specific context with specific variables of interest . In other words, you need to identify a clear, well-justified research gap.

Need more help?

If you’re still feeling a bit unsure about how to find a research topic for your healthcare dissertation or thesis, check out Topic Kickstarter service below.

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15 Comments

I need topics that will match the Msc program am running in healthcare research please

Hello Mabel,

I can help you with a good topic, kindly provide your email let’s have a good discussion on this.

Can you provide some research topics and ideas on Immunology?

Thank you to create new knowledge on research problem verse research topic

Help on problem statement on teen pregnancy

This post might be useful: https://gradcoach.com/research-problem-statement/

can you provide me with a research topic on healthcare related topics to a qqi level 5 student

Please can someone help me with research topics in public health ?

Hello I have requirement of Health related latest research issue/topics for my social media speeches. If possible pls share health issues , diagnosis, treatment.

I would like a topic thought around first-line support for Gender-Based Violence for survivors or one related to prevention of Gender-Based Violence

Please can I be helped with a master’s research topic in either chemical pathology or hematology or immunology? thanks

Can u please provide me with a research topic on occupational health and safety at the health sector

Good day kindly help provide me with Ph.D. Public health topics on Reproductive and Maternal Health, interventional studies on Health Education

may you assist me with a good easy healthcare administration study topic

May you assist me in finding a research topic on nutrition,physical activity and obesity. On the impact on children

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Phd dissertations.

Sorted by year and author.

All SBMI PhD dissertations can be requested from the Texas Medical Center Library . Full text of dissertations are available online for open access in the Digital Commons of the TMC Library . Note that recent dissertations will not be immediately available as the online collection is updated and indexed.

Yanfei Wang, MS (2023) Advancing Precision Medicine: Unveiling Disease Trajectories, Decoding Biomarkers, and Tailoring Individual Treatments PhD thesis, McWilliams School of Biomedical Informatics at UTHealth Houston.

Tavleen Kaur Ranjit Singh, MS (2023) Context-aware Content-sensitive Modeling of Online Peer Interactions in Social Media: Towards Personalized Digital Experiences for Behavior Change and Health Promotion PhD thesis, McWilliams School of Biomedical Informatics at UTHealth Houston.

Sarah May, BS, MS, MPH (2023) Automating Construction of Fair Models for HIV Risk Prediction Using Neighborhood Data PhD thesis, McWilliams School of Biomedical Informatics at UTHealth Houston.

Astrid Manuel, BSc (2023) Translational Bioinformatics Approaches for Decoding Mechanisms and Developing Drug Repositioning Strategies in Multiple Sclerosis PhD thesis, McWilliams School of Biomedical Informatics at UTHealth Houston.

Bingrui Li, BS (2023) Unveiling the Hidden Landscape of Tumors: Developing Cutting-Edge Machine Learning Approaches to Determine the Compositions of Cells and Exosomes PhD thesis, McWilliams School of Biomedical Informatics at UTHealth Houston.

Alexandra Zingg, MPH, MS (2023) Leveraging Digital Technologies for Management of Peripartum Depression to Mitigate Health Disparities PhD thesis, The University of Texas School of Biomedical Informatics at Houston.

Sarvesh Soni, B.Tech., MS (2023) Question Answering from Electronic Health Records PhD thesis, The University of Texas School of Biomedical Informatics at Houston.

Zhao Li, M.Eng. (2023) Cancer Risk Prediction and Interpretation from Electronic Health Records PhD thesis, The University of Texas School of Biomedical Informatics at Houston.

Fangfang Yan, MS (2022) Informatics Approaches for Capturing Dynamic Gene Expression and Regulation PhD thesis, The University of Texas School of Biomedical Informatics at Houston.

Su Wang, MBE (2022) Development of Enabling Technologies for Genomic Analysis PhD thesis, The University of Texas School of Biomedical Informatics at Houston.

Jingqi Wang, MS (2022) Disease Concept Normalization for Clinical Documents Using Deep Learning and Knowledge Graphs PhD thesis, The University of Texas School of Biomedical Informatics at Houston.

Nina Smith, MPH (2022) Proposing a Conceptual Model of the Unintended Consequences of Health Information Technology Policy PhD thesis, The University of Texas School of Biomedical Informatics at Houston.

Surabhi Datta, BE, MS (2022) Spatial Information Extraction from Radiology Reports PhD thesis, The University of Texas School of Biomedical Informatics at Houston.

Yi-Ching Tang, MS (2022) Utilizing Molecular Pathways to Provide Generalizable, Explainable, and Translatable Models from Cancer Drug Response Prediction PhD thesis, The University of Texas School of Biomedical Informatics at Houston.

Carlos Artuto Perez Aldana, MS (2022) Social Network Analysis of Online Support Communities for Adolescent and Young Adult Cancer Survivors PhD thesis, The University of Texas School of Biomedical Informatics at Houston.

Roni Matin, MSc (2022). Identifying Risk Factors for Anchoring Bias during Emergency Department Transitions of Care PhD thesis, The UTHealth Houston School of Biomedical Informatics

Xinyuan Zhang, MS (2022). Computer-Aided Diagnosis for Melanoma using Ontology and Deep Learning Approaches PhD thesis, The UTHealth Houston School of Biomedical Informatics

Laila Rasmy Gindy Bekhet, MS (2021). Secondary use of Structured Electronic Health Records Data: From Observational Studies to Deep Learning-based Predictive Modeling PhD thesis, The UTHealth Houston School of Biomedical Informatics

Yuqi Si, MS (2021). Enhance Representation Learning of Clinical Narrative with Neural Networks for Clinical Predictive Modeling PhD thesis, The UTHealth Houston School of Biomedical Informatics

Xiao Dong, MD, MS (2021). Standardizing New Diagnostic Tests to Facilitate Rapid Responses to The Covid-19 Pandemic PhD thesis, The University of Texas School of Biomedical Informatics at Houston.

Maryam Y. Garza, MPH, MMCi (2020). Determining the Utility of HL7 ® Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR ® ) Standards in Supporting EHR and EDC-agnostic eSource Implementations for Clinical Research PhD thesis, The University of Texas School of Biomedical Informatics at Houston.

Qiang Wei, MS (2020). Table-to-Text: Generating Descriptive Text for Scientific Tables from Randomized Controlled Trials PhD thesis, The University of Texas School of Biomedical Informatics at Houston.

Muhammad Amith, MS (2019). Design and Architecture of an Ontology-driven Dialogue System for HPV Vaccine Counseling PhD thesis, The University of Texas School of Biomedical Informatics at Houston.

Jingcheng Du, BS (2019). VaxInsight: an artificial intelligence system to access large-scale public perceptions of vaccination from social media PhD thesis, The University of Texas School of Biomedical Informatics at Houston.

Kang Lin Hsieh, MS (2019). Utilizing Temporal Information in The EHR for Developing a Novel Continuous Prediction Model PhD thesis, The University of Texas School of Biomedical Informatics at Houston.

Vickie Nguyen, MA, MS (2019). TURF for Teams: Considering Both the Team and I in the Work-Centered Design of Systems PhD thesis, The University of Texas School of Biomedical Informatics at Houston.

Safa Fathiamini, MD, MS (2018). Comparing Attributional and Relational Similarity as a Means to Identify Clinically Relevant Drug-gene Relationships PhD thesis, The University of Texas School of Biomedical Informatics at Houston.

Jun Li, MS (2018). Ontology-Based Clinical Information Extraction Using SNOMED CT PhD thesis, The University of Texas School of Biomedical Informatics at Houston.

Scott Malec, MLIS, MSIT (2018). Using the Literature to Identify Confounders PhD thesis, The University of Texas School of Biomedical Informatics at Houston.

Melissa P. Resnick, MLS (2018). Characterizing the Information Needs of Rural Healthcare Practitioners with Language Agnostic Automated Text Analysis PhD thesis, The University of Texas School of Biomedical Informatics at Houston.

Barbara Berkovich, MA (2017). Impact of Terminology Mapping on Population Health Cohorts PhD thesis, The University of Texas School of Biomedical Informatics at Houston.

Francis Manion (2017). A Life Cycle Approach to the Development and Validation of an Ontology of the U.S. Common Rule (45 C.F.R. § 46) PhD thesis, The University of Texas School of Biomedical Informatics at Houston.

Scott Sittig, MHI, RHIA (2017). Integrating Behavioral Trigger Messages into a mHealth System Design for Chronic Disease Management PhD thesis, The University of Texas School of Biomedical Informatics at Houston.

Zhiguo Yu, MS (2017). Understanding PubMed Search Results using Topic Models and Interactive Information Visualization PhD thesis, The University of Texas School of Biomedical Informatics at Houston.

Min Jiang, MS (2017). Improving Syntactic Parsing of Clinical Text Using Domain Knowledge PhD thesis, The University of Texas School of Biomedical Informatics at Houston.

Chen Liang, MS (2017). Understanding Patient Safety Reports via Multi-label Text Classification and Semantic Representation PhD thesis, The University of Texas School of Biomedical Informatics at Houston.

Jose Franck Diaz, MS (2016). DataGauge: A Model-Driven Framework for Systematically Assessing the Quality of Clinical Data for Secondary Use PhD thesis, The University of Texas School of Biomedical Informatics at Houston.

J. Caleb Goodwin, MS, BS (2015). Implications of computational cognitive models for information retrieval PhD thesis, The University of Texas School of Biomedical Informatics at Houston.

Deevakar Rogith, MBBS (2015). Process Mining of Medication Revisions in Electronic Health Records PhD thesis, The University of Texas School of Biomedical Informatics at Houston.

Claire Loe, BA, MPH (2015). Designing for Practice Development in a Social Learning System: Communicating Norms and Vicarious Experience PhD thesis, The University of Texas School of Biomedical Informatics at Houston.

Jianbo Lei, MD, MS, MA (2014). Named Entity Recognition in Chinese Clinical Text PhD thesis, The University of Texas School of Biomedical Informatics at Houston.

Ning Shang, MS (2014). Integrating Domain Knowledge to Improve Signal Detection from Electronic Health Records for Pharmacovigilance PhD thesis, The University of Texas School of Biomedical Informatics at Houston.

Sahiti Myneni, MSE (2013). Attributing Meaning to Online Social Network Analysis  for Tailored Socio-Behavioral Support Systems PhD thesis, The University of Texas School of Biomedical Informatics at Houston.

Sina Madani, MD, MS (2013). Development and Evaluation of an Ontology-Based Quality Metrics Extraction System PhD thesis, The University of Texas School of Biomedical Informatics at Houston.

Ashish Joshi, MD, MPH (2012). The SanaViz: Human Centered Geovisualization to Facilitate Visual Exploration of Public Health Data PhD thesis, The University of Texas School of Biomedical Informatics at Houston.

Phatak, S. S., MS (2012). Advanced Protein Modeling Method: Benchmarking and Applications in Computer-Aided Drug Discovery PhD thesis, The University of Texas School of Biomedical Informatics at Houston.

Srinivasan, A., MS (2012). A Method for representing contextualized Information (MeRCI) To Improve Situational Awareness Among Electronic Message Brokering System Dashboard Users PhD thesis, The University of Texas School of Biomedical Informatics at Houston.

Rusu, M., Meng, MS (2011). Modeling Techniques for the High-Resolution Interpretation of Cryo-Electron Microscopy Reconstructions PhD thesis, The University of Texas School of Biomedical Informatics at Houston.

McGuire, M., BS, MS (2011). Pathway Semantics: An Algebraic Data Driven Algorithm to Generate Hypotheses about Molecular Patterns Underlying Disease Progression PhD thesis, The University of Texas School of Biomedical Informatics at Houston.

Maffei, R., BS, MS(2011). Understanding and Characterizing Shared Decision-Making and Behavioral Intent in Medical Uncertainty   PhD thesis, The University of Texas School of Biomedical Informatics at Houston. 

Kennedy, C., MD, MS (2010). Time Series Analysis as Input for Predictive Modeling: Predicting Cardiac Arrest in a Pediatric Intensive Care Unit PhD thesis, The University of Texas School of Biomedical Informatics at Houston. 

Zhu, M., MD, MS(2010). Formalizing a Conceptual Framework of Work Domain Knowledge PhD thesis, The University of Texas School of Biomedical Informatics at Houston. 

Nahm, Meredith, MS (2010). Data Accuracy in Medical Record Abstraction PhD thesis, The University of Texas School of Biomedical Informatics at Houston. 

Smith, Kimberly, PhD (2010). The Effect of Proximity, Explicitness, and Representation of Basic Science Information on Student Clinical Program-Solving PhD thesis, The University of Texas School of Health Information Sciences at Houston. 

Mirhaji, Parsa, MD (2009). Biomedical Language Understanding and Extraction: A Minimal Syntactic, Semantic Method PhD thesis, The University of Texas School of Health Information Sciences at Houston.

Florez-Arango, J., MD, MS (2009). Workload and Performance Factors Associated with Multimedia Jobs Aids for Community Health Workers PhD thesis, The University of Texas School of Health Information Sciences at Houston.

McLane, S., MS, MBA, RN-BC (2009). Understanding Nurse Created Cognitive Artifacts:Personally-Created-Cognitive-Artifacts as External Representations of Distributed Cognition PhD thesis, The University of Texas School of Health Information Sciences at Houston.

Esquivel, A., MD, MS (2008). Characterizing, Assessing, and Improving Healthcare Referral Communication PhD thesis, The University of Texas School of Health Information Sciences.

Herskovic, J.R., MD, MS (2008). Unsupervised Indexing Of Medline Articles Through Graph-Based Ranking PhD thesis, The University of Texas School of Health Information Sciences.

Rankin, J., BA, MHA, MS, MPH, PHD (2008). The Multiple Location Time Weighted Index: Using Patient Activity Spaces to Calculate Primary Care Service Areas PhD thesis, The University of Texas School of Health Information Sciences at Houston.

Chen, J., DDS, MS, PhD, (2007). Developing a Method for Identifying and Reducing Functional Discrepancies of Information Systems PhD thesis, The University of Texas School of Health Information Sciences at Houston.

Bhavanne, R., MS (2006). Nanoparticle Agglomerates for Pulmonary Drug Delivery PhD thesis, The University of Texas School of Health Information Sciences at Houston.

Brixey, J.J., RN, PhD (2006). Understanding Interruptions in Healthcare: Developing a Model PhD thesis, The University of Texas School of Health Information Sciences at Houston.

Gong, Y., MD, MS (2006). The Interaction Between Internal and External Information on Relational Data Search PhD thesis, The University of Texas School of Health Information Sciences at Houston.

Walji, M.F., MS (2006). Does the Message Matter? Enhancing Patient Adherence through Persuasive Messages PhD thesis, The University of Texas School of Health Information Sciences at Houston.

Michea, Y.F., MD, MS, PhD, (2004). Cognitive Impact of Interactive Multimedia PhD thesis, The University of Texas School of Health Information Sciences at Houston.

Johnson, C.M., RN, PhD (2003). Effects of Information Display on the Construction of Clinical Mental Models PhD thesis, The University of Texas School of Health Information Sciences at Houston.

Richesson, R.L., MPH, PhD (2003). A Process for Achieving Comparable Data from Heterogeneous Databases PhD thesis, The University of Texas School of Health Information Sciences at Houston.

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About the Concentration in Health Economics and Policy

The concentration in Health Economics and Policy prepares doctoral students to address the most pressing challenges in health and health care through innovative, rigorous and interdisciplinary research in the field of health economics. This program integrates traditional training in economics with practical training in health policy and health services research to train the next generation of health economists.

The curriculum offers a broad exposure to the health economics literature and public health disciplines, and stresses the policy implications of these fields of research. The curriculum stresses a foundation in applied modern microeconomic theory, economic evaluation, quantitative methods and econometrics, including PhD-level courses from the Department of Economics in the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences.

Doctoral students are paired with a faculty adviser from the Health Economics concentration with similar research interests. Faculty in the Health Economics concentration are working in a variety of research areas including understanding health insurance design, the economic implications of health and health care disparities, market forces and health care prices, pharmaceutical economics, and payment design and access. Doctoral students will also have the opportunity to work with other faculty within the Department, as well as faculty from other Departments including International Health, Population, Family, and Reproductive Health, Biostatistics, the School of Medicine, School of Nursing, the Carey Business School, and the Department of Economics. Students also often work with various centers and initiatives across the University, including the Hopkins Business of Health Initiative.

What Can You Do With a Graduate Degree In Health Economics And Policy?

The program prepares students for successful research careers as health economists. Former students have gone onto careers in academia, government, research-oriented non-profits, and the private sector.

View a list of selected recent graduates and dissertation titles for the PhD Concentration in Health Economics and Policy.

Curriculum for the Concentration in Health Economics and Policy

Browse an overview of the requirements for this PhD program in the JHU  Academic Catalogue  and explore all course offerings in the Bloomberg School  Course Directory .

Admissions Requirements

For general admissions requirements, please visit the How to Apply page.

Standardized Test Scores

Standardized test scores are  not required and not reviewed  for this program. If you have taken a standardized test such as the GRE, GMAT, or MCAT and want to submit your scores, please note that they will not be used as a metric during the application review.  Applications will be reviewed holistically based on all required application components.

Matthew Eisenberg, PhD, MPhil,

uses applied health economics methods to study how consumers make decisions about their healthcare.

All accepted PhD students receive a standard funding package.  As of September 1, 2023 this package includes full tuition support, a $30,000 per year stipend, individual health, dental, and vision insurance and the University Health Services clinic fee for four years.

For funding sources, please see PhD funding page .

Need-Based Relocation Grants Students who  are admitted to PhD programs at JHU starting in Fall 2023 or beyond can apply to receive a $1500 need-based grant to offset the costs of relocating to be able to attend JHU.   These grants provide funding to a portion of incoming students who, without this money, may otherwise not be able to afford to relocate to JHU for their PhD program. This is not a merit-based grant. Applications will be evaluated solely based on financial need.  View more information about the need-based relocation grants for PhD students .

Questions about the program? We're happy to help. [email protected] 410-955-2488