Degree Requirements
Admitted Community Health Sciences (CHS) applicants with a specific interest in maternal and child health (MCH) expressed as MCH-oriented career goals, MCH practice/research experience, MCH publications, and/or MCH research interests may be eligible to become an MCH Scholar which includes a small amount of additional support from the Center of Excellence (CoE) in Maternal and Child Health.
Students with a master’s degree in public health or a related area may receive up to 32 SH of credit towards the 96 SH total. The 32 SH of credit will apply to the required 37-44 elective hours.
Students selected as MCH PhD Scholars will follow the CHS PhD curriculum, inclusive of the following adaptations specified below:
PhD Student Handbook
School-Wide Core Requirements (32-35 semester hours) Heading link
- IPHS 520 – Foundations of Public Health (required for all PhD students without an MPH degree) (3 semester hours)
- IPHS 599 – PhD Dissertation Research (minimum 32 SH)
Required Non-Credit Training Heading link
- Information Privacy & Security
- Human Subjects Research
- Title IX Training – Sexual Harassment
- SPH Academic Integrity Tutorial
Divisional Core Requirements (2 semester hours) Heading link
- CHSC 595 – Doctoral Seminar (1 semester hour – take two semesters) (2 semester hours total)
In the event that appropriate CHSC 595 options are not available, this requirement may be filled by taking appropriate sections of IPHS 595.
Course Areas Heading link
MCH PhD Scholars, as PhD students in Community Health Sciences, are required to take courses from three specific areas: 1) Community Health Sciences Theory and Methods, 2) Advanced Research Methods, and 3) Advanced Analytic Methods. Students must complete all courses from Community Health Sciences Theory and Methods, and at least three courses from the combined Advanced Research Methods and Advanced Analytic Methods lists, at least one course coming from each list. Registration in CHSC 593 is required every semester in the program.
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Core Courses
- CHSC 550 – Advanced Theories and Topics in Community Health Sciences (3 semester hours)
- CHSC 551 – Advanced Research Methods for Community Health Sciences (3 SH)
- CHSC 552 – Advanced Analytic Methods for Community Health Sciences (3 SH)
- CHSC 593 – Doctoral Laboratory in Community Health Sciences Research Development (required each semester) (0-1 SH)
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Courses
- ANTH / GEOG 418 – Ethnographic and Qualitative Research Methods (4 semester hours)
- BHIS 508 – Q Research Methodology? Qualitative Research (3 SH
- BSTT 426 – Analytics Using Python (3 SH)
- BSTT 529 – Investigations (2 SH)
- CHSC 434 – Introduction to Qualitative Methods in Public Health (3 SH)
- CHSC / PA 447 – Survey Planning and Design (3 SH)
- CHSC / PA 577 – Survey Questionnaire Design (3 SH)
- CHSC 588 – Research Synthesis and Meta-Analysis (3 SH)
- CLJ 560 – Quantitative Methods and Design (4 SH)
- CLJ 561 – Qualitative Methods and Design (4 SH)
- CLI 563 – Evaluation Research in Criminology, Law and Justice (4 semester hours)
- DHD 546 – Qualitative Methods in Disability Research (4 SH)
- ED 501 – Data and Interpretation in Educational Inquiry (4 SH)
- ED 502 – Essentials of Qualitative Inquiry in Education (4 SH)
- EPSY 550 – Rating Scale and Questionnaire Design and Analysis (4 SH)
- EPSY 560 – Educational Program Evaluation ( 4 SH)
- EPSY 564 – Evaluation Principles and Methods (4 SH)
- NUEL 548 – Methodological Issues for Cross-Cultural Research (3 SH)
- NURS 574 – Qualitative Research in Nursing (4 SH)
- OT 553 / DHD 543 – Program Evaluation: Documenting the Impact of Human Services (3 SH)
- PA 528 – Public Program Evaluation (4 SH)
- PA 582 – Survey Data Collection Methods: Theory and Practice (4 SH)
- SOCW 578 – Qualitative Methods in Social Work Research (3 SH)
- UPP 461 – Geographic Information Systems for Planning (4 SH)
- UPP 462 – Intermediate GIS for Planning (4 SH)
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Courses
- BHIS 540 – Essentials of Health Data Science (3 semester hours)
- BHIS 541 – Health Data Analytics (3 SH)
- BSTT 505 – Logistic Regression and Survival Analysis (2 SH)
- BSTT 527 – Statistical Learning (3 SH)
- BSTT 528 – Machine Learning (3 SH)
- *CHSC / EPID 518 – Epidemiology or Pediatric Diseases (3 SH)
- CHSC 534 – Management and Analysis of Qualitative Data (3 SH)
- *CHSC / EPID 545 (with lab) – Reproductive & Perinatal Health (4 SH)
- CHSC / EPID 549 – Advanced Applied Methods in Maternal and Child Health Epidemiology (3 SH)
- EPID 404 – Intermediate Epidemiologic Methods (4 SH)
- EPID 500 – Advanced Methods for the Analysis of Epidemiologic Data (4 SH)
- EPID 501 – Advanced Quantitative Methods in Epidemiology (4 SH)
- EPSY 514 – Non-Parametric Modeling (4 SH)
- EPSY 543 – Advanced Analysis of Variance in Educational Research (4 SH)
- EPSY 546 – Educational Measurement (4 SH)
- EPSY 547 – Multiple Regression in Educational Research (4 SH)
- EPSY 551 – Item Response Theory/Rasch Measurement (4 SH)
- EPSY 583 – Multivariate Analysis of Educational Data (4 SH)
- EPSY 584 – Hierarchical Linear Models (4 SH)
- HPA 564 – GIS Application in Public Health (3 SH)
- HPA 592 – Spatial Data Analysis and Visualization (3 SH)
- IDS 561 – Analytics for Big Data (4 SH)
- PSCH 541 & 543 – Intro to Computing in PSCH/Research Design & Analysis (1 + 4 SH)
- PSCH 545 – Multivariate Analysis (3 SH)
- PA 541 / POLS 501 – Advanced Data Analysis I (4 SH)
- PA 542 / POLS 502 – Advanced Data Analysis II (4 SH)
- PA 588 – Applied Survey Sampling and Analysis (4 SH)
- SOCW 597 – Applied Linear and Generalized Linear Regression Models (3 SH)
*Students with a focus in Maternal and Child Health must select at least one of these courses.
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Additional Required Courses
The following courses must be taken if an equivalent course was not completed in the student’s master’s program:
- BSTT 400 – Biostatistics I (4 semester hours)
- BSTT 401 – Biostatistics II (4 SH)
- CHSC 421 – Community Health 1: Assessing, Promoting and Improving Community Health (4 SH)
- CHSC 422 – Community Health 2: Evidence-Informed Community Health Interventions (4 SH)
- CHSC 446 – Research Methods in Community Health (3 SH)
- EPID 403 – Introduction to Epidemiology: Principles and Methods (3 SH)
- Two of:
- CHSC 510 – Maternal and Child Health Inequities and Responses I (4 semester hours)
- CHSC 511 – Maternal and Child Health Inequities and Responses II (4 semester hours)
- CHSC 543 – Maternal and Child Health Policy and Advocacy (3 semester hours)
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Courses
Students must select 1-2 MCH electives. If it meets your needs and interests, you can consider one of the CHS-MCH additional courses listed below as an elective with faculty advisor approval.
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Dissertation Research (32 semester hours)
In consultation with their faculty advisor, MCH PhD Scholars must select a dissertation topic related to maternal and child health.
- IPHS 599 – PhD Dissertation Research (32 semester hours)
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Opportunities
LEADERSHIP TRAINING & COACHING
- Each MCH PhD student will be required to meet with an MCH Leadership Coach two (2) times throughout their academic career.
TEACHING/RESEARCH TRAINING
- UIC SPH Office of Research Services hosts several trainings throughout the year. Each PhD student is required to obtain experience in classroom teaching. The teaching experience for doctoral candidates should at minimum consist of planning, leading, and evaluating a minimum of two classroom sessions, which maybe online or in-class sessions. If students are clear that they will be pursuing a career in academe, they are encouraged to exceed this minimum.
- It is suggested that all MCH PhD students interested in a career in academe take the “Foundations of Teaching” course offered through the Graduate College (https://grad.uic.edu/programs/foundations-college-instruction/gc-593/), or an equivalent course.