Doctor of Philosophy

Health Policy

School of Medicine

MS
PhD
Joint Degree

Overview

Health Policy investigates how social factors, financing systems, organizational structures and processes, health technologies, and personal behaviors affect the accessibility, quality, and cost of health care and, ultimately, our health and well-being. Stanford Health Policy offers a PhD program that promises to educate students who will be scholarly leaders in the field of health policy and will be highly knowledgeable about the theoretical and empirical approaches that can be applied in the development of improvements in health policy and the health care system. The curriculum offers courses across a wide range of health policy areas, including health economics, health insurance and government program operation, health financing, international health policy and economic development, cost-effectiveness analysis and the evaluation of new technologies, health law and ethics, health systems operations, relevant statistical and methodological approaches, and health policy issues related to public health concerns like obesity and chronic disease.

See the program’s website opens in a new tab for additional program information, including (but not limited to) faculty lists, admissions information, and deadlines. Address admission inquiries to the Health Policy Admissions Team at hrpadmissions@stanford.edu.

Applications to the program must be submitted through the Stanford Graduate Admissions website opens in a new tab by clicking Apply Now.

Requirements

Program Requirements

Requirements Overview

Requirements

The minimum number of units required for a PhD at Stanford (satisfied through coursework and research units) is 135.

Completion of coursework (see below) with minimum grades of B- and an overall/average GPA of B (3.0).
Individual development plan (IDP) meeting with a primary advisor within the first quarter of each year.
Meeting with an advisor(s) regularly.
Completion of progress assessment/milestone meeting with a primary advisor each year (during Spring quarters).
Completion of coursework in the responsible conduct of research.
Completion of a First Year Research Proposal, to be presented by the end of the Spring Quarter.
Completion & presentation of a Second Year Paper, approved by the primary advisor.
Taking and passing both Written Qualifying Exams (General and Track Specific Exams).
Taking and passing the Oral Exam.
Students must develop, write, and present a PhD dissertation that results from the independent investigation and contributes to health services and health policy research knowledge. The student’s dissertation (or “reading”) committee members must review and approve this.
A final presentation is required for graduation - the final presentation summarizes the work accomplished on the PhD research. It should occur while the student matriculates during the regular academic quarter.

In addition to taking a set of core courses, students are expected to complete coursework in one of three tracks:

Health Economics: including the economic behavior of individuals, providers, insurers, and governments and how their actions affect health and medical care.
Decision Sciences: with quantitative techniques to assess the effectiveness and value of medical treatments and for decision-making about medical care at the individual and/or collective level.
Evaluative Methods: encompassing advanced statistical, computational, and other quantitative methodologies appropriate for application in areas of interest to students, such as organizational behavior, law, ethics, and data science.

Students must also develop, write and present a PhD dissertation that results from the independent investigation and contributes to health services and health policy research knowledge.

Health Policy Foundations

Complete all of the following course(s):

HRP 201A

Health Policy Graduate Student Tutorial I

1 Units

HRP 201B

Health Policy Graduate Student Tutorial II

1 Units

HRP 201C

Health Policy Graduate Student Tutorial III

1 Units

HRP 203

Methods for Reproducible Population Health and Clinical Research

2 Units

HRP 391

Health Law: Finance and Insurance

3 Units

HRP 392

Introduction to Cost-Effectiveness Analysis: Evaluating Benefits and Costs of Health Interventions

4-5 Units

All classes must be taken for a letter grade, if letter grades are offered.

Practice of Research

Students must enroll in HRP 200 PhD Research Seminar for 6 quarters: Autumn, Winter, and Spring quarters in the first & second years. All students expected to attend and present at least yearly.

Complete all of the following course(s):

HRP 200

Health Policy PhD Seminar

1 Units

HRP 800

Second Year Research Tutorial

1-3 Units

MED 255

The Responsible Conduct of Research

1 Units

All classes must be taken for a letter grade, if letter grades are offered.

Tracks

Complete one of the following tracks.

Complete any of the following requirements:

Health Economics Track

Complete all of the following requirements:

Econometrics

and

Microeconomics

and

Topics in Health Economics

and

Economics Electives

and

Practice of Research Seminars

Decision Science Track

Complete all of the following requirements:

Econometrics/Biostatistics

Complete any of the following requirements:

Intermediate Econometrics

Econometric Methods

Biostatistics

and

Microeconomics

and

Applied Econometrics

and

Advanced Decision Science Methods and Modeling in Health

and

Methods Electives

Complete any 3 of the courses listed below. Other decision science methods courses may also be counted with the approval of the student's advisor.

Complete at least 3 of the following courses:

MS&E 211X

Introduction to Optimization (Accelerated)

3-4 Units

MS&E 221

Stochastic Modeling

3 Units

MS&E 223

Stochastic Simulation and Monte Carlo Methods

3 Units

MS&E 226

Fundamentals of Data Science: Prediction, Inference, Causality

3 Units

MS&E 263

Healthcare Operations Management

3 Units

MS&E 463

Healthcare Systems Design

3-4 Units

All classes must be taken for a letter grade, if letter grades are offered.

and

Topics or Methods Elective

and

Practice of Research Seminars

Evaluative Methods Track

Complete all of the following requirements:

Statistical Data Analysis, Econometrics, and Causal Inference

Complete at least 2 quarters in 1 of the following sequences.

Complete any of the following requirements:

ECON 270 Series

POLISCI 450 Series

EDUC Series

and

Microeconomics

and

Applied Econometrics

and

Discipline-Specific Courses

Choose 4 advanced methods courses with advisor approval to create a defined cluster in a methodological area relevant to the student’s program and related to their content area of specialization.
- A range of methodology courses are available in areas including qualitative research, survey/interview/ethnography methods, legal research methods, data sciences, epidemiological methods, and related areas.

AND

Choose 4 advanced courses with advisor approval to create a defined cluster in a content area relevant to the student’s program and related to their methodological area of specialization.
- The program emphasizes potential content cluster areas in law, ethics, organizations, machine learning, and data science. Additional areas may be possible in consultation with the program.

All classes must be taken for a letter grade, if letter grades are offered.

and

Practice of Research Seminars

Graduate Degrees opens in a new tab summarizes university requirements for the PhD degree.

Research Requirement

Advancement to Candidacy

PhD Candidacy Requirements

Approval by the advisor(s)
Satisfactory completion of coursework (maintaining GPA of B (3.0) or better and course grades B- or better).
Students must have completed all required courses, or approved substitutions, as described in the set of program core requirements and the requirements for their track
Satisfactory completion of program requirements (such as Individual Development Plans, Responsible Conduct of Research coursework, etc.)
Passing both Written Qualifying Exams (General and Track Specific Exams)
Submission and approval by the advisor of the Second-Year Paper

Oral Exam

In accordance with university policy (see: http://gap.stanford.edu opens in a new tab), students must take and pass an Oral Examination as part of the PhD degree requirements.
The Oral Examination (colloquially known as “the proposal defense”) will be focused mainly on the student’s dissertation proposal. As well as examining the feasibility and understanding of the dissertation proposal, it assesses the candidate’s command of the field of study.
Students must take the Oral Exam after passing their Written Qualifying Exam and when the advisor believes the student is ready.
The Oral Exam must be taken and passed no later than the end of spring quarter of the student’s third year.

Dissertation

Overview

Applications to the program must be submitted through the Stanford Graduate Admissions website opens in a new tab by clicking Apply Now.

Requirements

Program Requirements

Requirements Overview

Requirements

The minimum number of units required for a PhD at Stanford (satisfied through coursework and research units) is 135.

Completion of coursework (see below) with minimum grades of B- and an overall/average GPA of B (3.0).
Individual development plan (IDP) meeting with a primary advisor within the first quarter of each year.
Meeting with an advisor(s) regularly.
Completion of progress assessment/milestone meeting with a primary advisor each year (during Spring quarters).
Completion of coursework in the responsible conduct of research.
Completion of a First Year Research Proposal, to be presented by the end of the Spring Quarter.
Completion & presentation of a Second Year Paper, approved by the primary advisor.
Taking and passing both Written Qualifying Exams (General and Track Specific Exams).
Taking and passing the Oral Exam.
Students must develop, write, and present a PhD dissertation that results from the independent investigation and contributes to health services and health policy research knowledge. The student’s dissertation (or “reading”) committee members must review and approve this.
A final presentation is required for graduation - the final presentation summarizes the work accomplished on the PhD research. It should occur while the student matriculates during the regular academic quarter.

In addition to taking a set of core courses, students are expected to complete coursework in one of three tracks:

Health Economics: including the economic behavior of individuals, providers, insurers, and governments and how their actions affect health and medical care.
Decision Sciences: with quantitative techniques to assess the effectiveness and value of medical treatments and for decision-making about medical care at the individual and/or collective level.
Evaluative Methods: encompassing advanced statistical, computational, and other quantitative methodologies appropriate for application in areas of interest to students, such as organizational behavior, law, ethics, and data science.

Students must also develop, write and present a PhD dissertation that results from the independent investigation and contributes to health services and health policy research knowledge.

Health Policy Foundations

Complete all of the following course(s):

HRP 201A

Health Policy Graduate Student Tutorial I

1 Units

HRP 201B

Health Policy Graduate Student Tutorial II

1 Units

HRP 201C

Health Policy Graduate Student Tutorial III

1 Units

HRP 203

Methods for Reproducible Population Health and Clinical Research

2 Units

HRP 391

Health Law: Finance and Insurance

3 Units

HRP 392

Introduction to Cost-Effectiveness Analysis: Evaluating Benefits and Costs of Health Interventions

4-5 Units

All classes must be taken for a letter grade, if letter grades are offered.

Practice of Research

Students must enroll in HRP 200 PhD Research Seminar for 6 quarters: Autumn, Winter, and Spring quarters in the first & second years. All students expected to attend and present at least yearly.

Complete all of the following course(s):

All classes must be taken for a letter grade, if letter grades are offered.

Tracks

Complete one of the following tracks.

Complete any of the following requirements:

Health Economics Track

Complete all of the following requirements:

Econometrics

and

Microeconomics

and

Topics in Health Economics

and

Economics Electives

and

Practice of Research Seminars

Decision Science Track

Complete all of the following requirements:

Econometrics/Biostatistics

Complete any of the following requirements:

Intermediate Econometrics

Econometric Methods

Biostatistics

and

Microeconomics

and

Applied Econometrics

and

Advanced Decision Science Methods and Modeling in Health

and

Methods Electives

Complete any 3 of the courses listed below. Other decision science methods courses may also be counted with the approval of the student's advisor.

Complete at least 3 of the following courses:

All classes must be taken for a letter grade, if letter grades are offered.

and

Topics or Methods Elective

and

Practice of Research Seminars

Evaluative Methods Track

Complete all of the following requirements:

Statistical Data Analysis, Econometrics, and Causal Inference

Complete at least 2 quarters in 1 of the following sequences.

Complete any of the following requirements:

ECON 270 Series

POLISCI 450 Series

EDUC Series

and

Microeconomics

and

Applied Econometrics

and

Discipline-Specific Courses

Choose 4 advanced methods courses with advisor approval to create a defined cluster in a methodological area relevant to the student’s program and related to their content area of specialization.
- A range of methodology courses are available in areas including qualitative research, survey/interview/ethnography methods, legal research methods, data sciences, epidemiological methods, and related areas.

AND

Choose 4 advanced courses with advisor approval to create a defined cluster in a content area relevant to the student’s program and related to their methodological area of specialization.
- The program emphasizes potential content cluster areas in law, ethics, organizations, machine learning, and data science. Additional areas may be possible in consultation with the program.

All classes must be taken for a letter grade, if letter grades are offered.

and

Practice of Research Seminars

Graduate Degrees opens in a new tab summarizes university requirements for the PhD degree.

Research Requirement

Advancement to Candidacy

PhD Candidacy Requirements

Approval by the advisor(s)
Satisfactory completion of coursework (maintaining GPA of B (3.0) or better and course grades B- or better).
Students must have completed all required courses, or approved substitutions, as described in the set of program core requirements and the requirements for their track
Satisfactory completion of program requirements (such as Individual Development Plans, Responsible Conduct of Research coursework, etc.)
Passing both Written Qualifying Exams (General and Track Specific Exams)
Submission and approval by the advisor of the Second-Year Paper

Oral Exam

In accordance with university policy (see: http://gap.stanford.edu opens in a new tab), students must take and pass an Oral Examination as part of the PhD degree requirements.
The Oral Examination (colloquially known as “the proposal defense”) will be focused mainly on the student’s dissertation proposal. As well as examining the feasibility and understanding of the dissertation proposal, it assesses the candidate’s command of the field of study.
Students must take the Oral Exam after passing their Written Qualifying Exam and when the advisor believes the student is ready.
The Oral Exam must be taken and passed no later than the end of spring quarter of the student’s third year.