Many, if not all, research endeavors have implications for health. The doctoral minor in population health provides the methodological foundations for understanding how health is evaluated, how to assess influences on health and how to critically evaluate health related research. In addition, students completing the minor enhance their general understanding of research design and statistical interpretation.
The coursework encompasses the methodological cornerstones of population health and clinical research: epidemiology, health services research, and biostatistics. The electives allow students to emphasize epidemiology or health services research.
In order to have approval to pursue the population health minor, please send an email to the Population Health Sciences graduate program coordinator, Quinn Fullenkamp (quinn.fullenkamp@wisc.edu), explaining the sequence of courses that you plan to take toward the doctoral minor requirement. Be sure to include course completion dates. Your plan will be approved via email. When you are ready to have your warrant signed, email Quinn Fullenkamp again to make arrangements to obtain a signature.
The population health minor is open to students in any major field of graduate studies at the University of Wisconsin. Given the necessarily quantitative emphasis of the coursework, a prior one-semester course in biostatistics (such as POP HLTH/B M I 551, B M I/STAT 541 or STAT/F&W ECOL/HORT 571) is required or can be taken simultaneously (prior to B M I/POP HLTH 552) with coursework for the minor.
A minimum of 10 credits of coursework consisting of three required 3-credit courses and 1–3 credits of a Population Health elective must be completed. The minor will consist of the following Population Health Sciences courses:
| Code | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| Required courses: | ||
| POP HLTH/SOC 797 | Introduction to Epidemiology | 3 |
| POP HLTH 795 | Principles of Population Health Sciences (Preferred full semester option only) | 3 |
| POP HLTH 796 | Introduction to Health Services Research | 3 |
| or POP HLTH 798 | Epidemiologic Methods | |
| Students are strongly encouraged to take one of the following as an elective. However, other POP HLTH courses can be considered: | ||
| POP HLTH/B M I 552 | Regression Methods for Population Health | 3 |
| POP HLTH/B M I 651 | Advanced Regression Methods for Population Health | 3 |
A likely course sequence for the doctoral minor in population health would be as follows:
| Fall | Credits | Spring | Credits |
|---|---|---|---|
| POP HLTH 795 | 3 | POP HLTH 796 or 798 | 3 |
| POP HLTH/SOC 797 | 3 | POP HLTH Elective | 3 |
| 6 | 6 | ||
| Total Credits 12 | |||
Students who request exemptions and/or substitutions for required minor courses must appeal to the director of the graduate program through the graduate program coordinator. In this case, the appeal must include a Proposed Minor Program Plan, which must be approved and signed by the graduate program director.