Area of Emphasis

Implementation Science

Many evidence-based interventions fail to translate into meaningful patient or public health outcomes because they are not used effectively, consistently, or sometimes used at all, causing a "know-do" gap. Implementation science seeks to close the know-do gap by studying the causes, and developing and evaluating strategies to close it. Implementation scientists have robust theoretical and analytic training to address broad and complex implementation issues in health systems research.

The implementation science area of emphasis prepares PhD students with grounding in implementation concepts and frameworks, advanced methods and analytical skills, practical considerations related to engaging stakeholders, and understanding real-world context. Students may choose to acquire training in quantitative methods and qualitative methods that support their research interests. The goal is to develop in-depth knowledge of implementation theory, applicable research methods and analytical techniques, and real-world implementation considerations that can be applied to a variety of dissertation topics in health systems research.

Required Courses:

Both of the following:

HSERV 581
Strategies of Health Promotion

GH 535
Advanced Methods for Global Health I

One of following (optionally, students can take both and only take one additional elective):

GH 536
Advanced Methods for Global Health II

GH 537
Advanced Methods for Global Health III

Two of following (or one if student takes both GH 536 and GH 537)*:

BIOST 536
Categorical Analysis of Count Data

BIOST 540
Longitudinal and Multilevel Data Analysis

BIOST 544
Introduction to Biomedical Data Science

GH 538
Advanced Qualitative Research Design & Methods in Global Health

GH 539
Analyzing Qualitative Data

HSERV 507
Health Communication and Marketing for Health Promotion: Theory and Practice

HSERV 517
Qualitative Research Methods for Health Systems and Population Health

HSERV 587
Health Policy Economics

NMETH 588
Mixed Methods Research for Health Sciences

SOC WL 553
Policy Implementation in Social Work

* Listed alphabetically