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Earn your MBA and SM in engineering with this transformative two-year program.

Combine an international MBA with a deep dive into management science. A special opportunity for partner and affiliate schools only.

A doctoral program that produces outstanding scholars who are leading in their fields of research.

Bring a business perspective to your technical and quantitative expertise with a bachelor’s degree in management, business analytics, or finance.

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PhD Program

Program overview.

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Rigorous, discipline-based research is the hallmark of the MIT Sloan PhD Program. The program is committed to educating scholars who will lead in their fields of research—those with outstanding intellectual skills who will carry forward productive research on the complex organizational, financial, and technological issues that characterize an increasingly competitive and challenging business world.

Start here.

Learn more about the program, how to apply, and find answers to common questions.

Admissions Events

Check out our event schedule, and learn when you can chat with us in person or online.

Start Your Application

Visit this section to find important admissions deadlines, along with a link to our application.

Click here for answers to many of the most frequently asked questions.

PhD studies at MIT Sloan are intense and individual in nature, demanding a great deal of time, initiative, and discipline from every candidate. But the rewards of such rigor are tremendous:  MIT Sloan PhD graduates go on to teach and conduct research at the world's most prestigious universities.

PhD Program curriculum at MIT Sloan is organized under the following three academic areas: Behavior & Policy Sciences; Economics, Finance & Accounting; and Management Science. Our nine research groups correspond with one of the academic areas, as noted below.

MIT Sloan PhD Research Groups

Behavioral & policy sciences.

Economic Sociology

Institute for Work & Employment Research

Organization Studies

Technological Innovation, Entrepreneurship & Strategic Management

Economics, Finance & Accounting

Accounting  

Management Science

Information Technology

System Dynamics  

Those interested in a PhD in Operations Research should visit the Operations Research Center .  

PhD Program Structure

Additional information including coursework and thesis requirements.

MIT Sloan Predoctoral Opportunities

MIT Sloan is eager to provide a diverse group of talented students with early-career exposure to research techniques as well as support in considering research career paths.

Rising Scholars Conference

The fourth annual Rising Scholars Conference on October 25 and 26 gathers diverse PhD students from across the country to present their research.

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The goal of the MIT Sloan PhD Program's admissions process is to select a small number of people who are most likely to successfully complete our rigorous and demanding program and then thrive in academic research careers. The admission selection process is highly competitive; we aim for a class size of nineteen students, admitted from a pool of hundreds of applicants.

What We Seek

• Outstanding intellectual ability
• Excellent academic records
• Previous work in disciplines related to the intended area of concentration
• Strong commitment to a career in research

MIT Sloan PhD Program Admissions Requirements Common Questions

Dates and Deadlines

Admissions for 2024 is closed. The next opportunity to apply will be for 2025 admission. The 2025 application will open in September 2024. 

More information on program requirements and application components

Students in good academic standing in our program receive a funding package that includes tuition, medical insurance, and a fellowship stipend and/or TA/RA salary. We also provide a new laptop computer and a conference travel/research budget.

Funding Information

Throughout the year, we organize events that give you a chance to learn more about the program and determine if a PhD in Management is right for you.

PhD Program Events

May phd program overview.

During this webinar, you will hear from the PhD Program team and have the chance to ask questions about the application and admissions process.

June PhD Program Overview

July phd program overview, august phd program overview.

Complete PhD Admissions Event Calendar

Unlike formulaic approaches to training scholars, the PhD Program at MIT Sloan allows students to choose their own adventure and develop a unique scholarly identity. This can be daunting, but students are given a wide range of support along the way - most notably having access to world class faculty and coursework both at MIT and in the broader academic community around Boston.

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Profiles of our current students

MIT Sloan produces top-notch PhDs in management. Immersed in MIT Sloan's distinctive culture, upcoming graduates are poised to innovate in management research and education.

Academic Job Market

Doctoral candidates on the current academic market

Academic Placements

Graduates of the MIT Sloan PhD Program are researching and teaching at top schools around the world.

view recent placements 

MIT Sloan Experience

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The PhD Program is integral to the research of MIT Sloan's world-class faculty. With a reputation as risk-takers who are unafraid to embrace the unconventional, they are engaged in exciting disciplinary and interdisciplinary research that often includes PhD students as key team members.

Research centers across MIT Sloan and MIT provide a rich setting for collaboration and exploration. In addition to exposure to the faculty, PhD students also learn from one another in a creative, supportive research community.

Throughout MIT Sloan's history, our professors have devised theories and fields of study that have had a profound impact on management theory and practice.

From Douglas McGregor's Theory X/Theory Y distinction to Nobel-recognized breakthroughs in finance by Franco Modigliani and in option pricing by Robert Merton and Myron Scholes, MIT Sloan's faculty have been unmatched innovators.

This legacy of innovative thinking and dedication to research impacts every faculty member and filters down to the students who work beside them.

Faculty Links

• Accounting Faculty
• Economic Sociology Faculty
• Finance Faculty
• Information Technology Faculty
• Institute for Work and Employment Research (IWER) Faculty
• Marketing Faculty
• Organization Studies Faculty
• System Dynamics Faculty
• Technological Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Strategic Management (TIES) Faculty

Student Research

“MIT Sloan PhD training is a transformative experience. The heart of the process is the student’s transition from being a consumer of knowledge to being a producer of knowledge. This involves learning to ask precise, tractable questions and addressing them with creativity and rigor. Hard work is required, but the reward is the incomparable exhilaration one feels from having solved a puzzle that had bedeviled the sharpest minds in the world!” -Ezra Zuckerman Sivan Alvin J. Siteman (1948) Professor of Entrepreneurship

Sample Dissertation Abstracts - These sample Dissertation Abstracts provide examples of the work that our students have chosen to study while in the MIT Sloan PhD Program.

We believe that our doctoral program is the heart of MIT Sloan's research community and that it develops some of the best management researchers in the world. At our annual Doctoral Research Forum, we celebrate the great research that our doctoral students do, and the research community that supports that development process.

The videos of their presentations below showcase the work of our students and will give you insight into the topics they choose to research in the program.

How Should We Measure the Digital Economy?

2020 PhD Doctoral Research Forum Winner - Avinash Collis

Watch more MIT Sloan PhD Program  Doctoral Forum Videos

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Faculty Directory

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Doctor of Philosophy in Education

Additional Information

• Download the Doctoral Viewbook
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The Harvard Ph.D. in Education trains cutting-edge researchers who work across disciplines to generate knowledge and translate discoveries into transformative policy and practice.

Offered jointly by the Harvard Graduate School of Education and the Harvard Kenneth C. Griffin Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, the Ph.D. in Education provides you with full access to the extraordinary resources of Harvard University and prepares you to assume meaningful roles as university faculty, researchers, senior-level education leaders, and policymakers.

As a Ph.D. candidate, you will collaborate with scholars across all Harvard graduate schools on original interdisciplinary research. In the process, you will help forge new fields of inquiry that will impact the way we teach and learn. The program’s required coursework will develop your knowledge of education and your expertise in a range of quantitative and qualitative methods needed to conduct high-quality research. Guided by the goal of making a transformative impact on education research, policy, and practice, you will focus on independent research in various domains, including human development, learning and teaching, policy analysis and evaluation, institutions and society, and instructional practice.   

Curriculum Information

The Ph.D. in Education requires five years of full-time study to complete. You will choose your individual coursework and design your original research in close consultation with your HGSE faculty adviser and dissertation committee. The requirements listed below include the three Ph.D. concentrations: Culture, Institutions, and Society; Education Policy and Program Evaluation; and Human Development, Learning and Teaching . 

We invite you to review an example course list, which is provided in two formats — one as the full list by course number and one by broad course category . These lists are subject to modification. 

Ph.D. Concentrations and Examples

Summary of Ph.D. Program

Doctoral Colloquia  In year one and two you are required to attend. The colloquia convenes weekly and features presentations of work-in-progress and completed work by Harvard faculty, faculty and researchers from outside Harvard, and Harvard doctoral students. Ph.D. students present once in the colloquia over the course of their career.

Research Apprenticeship The Research Apprenticeship is designed to provide ongoing training and mentoring to develop your research skills throughout the entire program.

Teaching Fellowships The Teaching Fellowship is an opportunity to enhance students' teaching skills, promote learning consolidation, and provide opportunities to collaborate with faculty on pedagogical development.

Comprehensive Exams  The Written Exam (year 2, spring) tests you on both general and concentration-specific knowledge. The Oral Exam (year 3, fall/winter) tests your command of your chosen field of study and your ability to design, develop, and implement an original research project.

Dissertation  Based on your original research, the dissertation process consists of three parts: the Dissertation Proposal, the writing, and an oral defense before the members of your dissertation committee.

Culture, Institutions, and Society (CIS) Concentration

In CIS, you will examine the broader cultural, institutional, organizational, and social contexts relevant to education across the lifespan. What is the value and purpose of education? How do cultural, institutional, and social factors shape educational processes and outcomes? How effective are social movements and community action in education reform? How do we measure stratification and institutional inequality? In CIS, your work will be informed by theories and methods from sociology, history, political science, organizational behavior and management, philosophy, and anthropology. You can examine contexts as diverse as classrooms, families, neighborhoods, schools, colleges and universities, religious institutions, nonprofits, government agencies, and more.

Education Policy and Program Evaluation (EPPE) Concentration

In EPPE, you will research the design, implementation, and evaluation of education policy affecting early childhood, K–12, and postsecondary education in the U.S. and internationally. You will evaluate and assess individual programs and policies related to critical issues like access to education, teacher effectiveness, school finance, testing and accountability systems, school choice, financial aid, college enrollment and persistence, and more. Your work will be informed by theories and methods from economics, political science, public policy, and sociology, history, philosophy, and statistics. This concentration shares some themes with CIS, but your work with EPPE will focus on public policy and large-scale reforms.

Human Development, Learning and Teaching (HDLT) Concentration

In HDLT, you will work to advance the role of scientific research in education policy, reform, and practice. New discoveries in the science of learning and development — the integration of biological, cognitive, and social processes; the relationships between technology and learning; or the factors that influence individual variations in learning — are transforming the practice of teaching and learning in both formal and informal settings. Whether studying behavioral, cognitive, or social-emotional development in children or the design of learning technologies to maximize understanding, you will gain a strong background in human development, the science of learning, and sociocultural factors that explain variation in learning and developmental pathways. Your research will be informed by theories and methods from psychology, cognitive science, sociology and linguistics, philosophy, the biological sciences and mathematics, and organizational behavior.

Program Faculty

The most remarkable thing about the Ph.D. in Education is open access to faculty from all Harvard graduate and professional schools, including the Harvard Graduate School of Education, the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, the Harvard Kennedy School, the Harvard Law School, Harvard Medical School, and the Harvard School of Public Health. Learn about the full Ph.D. Faculty.

Jarvis R. Givens

Jarvis Givens studies the history of American education, African American history, and the relationship between race and power in schools.

Paul L. Harris

Paul Harris is interested in the early development of cognition, emotion, and imagination in children.

Meira Levinson

Meira Levinson is a normative political philosopher who works at the intersection of civic education, youth empowerment, racial justice, and educational ethics. 

Luke W. Miratrix

Luke Miratrix is a statistician who explores how to best use modern statistical methods in applied social science contexts.

Eric Taylor

Eric Taylor studies the economics of education, with a particular interest in employer-employee interactions between schools and teachers — hiring and firing decisions, job design, training, and performance evaluation.

Paola Uccelli

Paola Ucelli studies socio-cultural and individual differences in the language development of multilingual and monolingual students.

View Ph.D. Faculty

Dissertations.

The following is a complete listing of successful Ph.D. in Education dissertations to-date. Dissertations from November 2014 onward are publicly available in the Digital Access to Scholarship at Harvard (DASH) , the online repository for Harvard scholarship.

• 2022 Graduate Dissertations (265 KB pdf)
• 2021 Graduate Dissertations (177 KB pdf)
• 2020 Graduate Dissertations (121 KB pdf)
• 2019 Graduate Dissertations (68.3 KB pdf)

Student Directory

An opt-in listing of current Ph.D. students with information about their interests, research, personal web pages, and contact information:

Doctor of Philosophy in Education Student Directory

Introduce Yourself

Tell us about yourself so that we can tailor our communication to best fit your interests and provide you with relevant information about our programs, events, and other opportunities to connect with us.

Program Highlights

Explore examples of the Doctor of Philosophy in Education experience and the impact its community is making on the field:

Reshaping Teacher Licensure: Lessons from the Pandemic

Olivia Chi, Ed.M.'17, Ph.D.'20, discusses the ongoing efforts to ensure the quality and stability of the teaching workforce

Lost in Translation

New comparative study from Ph.D. candidate Maya Alkateb-Chami finds strong correlation between low literacy outcomes for children and schools teaching in different language from home

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PhD Programs

• Accounting & Management
• Business Economics
• Health Policy (Management)
• Organizational Behavior
• Technology & Operations Management

Students in our PhD programs are encouraged from day one to think of this experience as their first job in business academia—a training ground for a challenging and rewarding career generating rigorous, relevant research that influences practice.

Our doctoral students work with faculty and access resources throughout HBS and Harvard University. The PhD program curriculum requires coursework at HBS and other Harvard discipline departments, and with HBS and Harvard faculty on advisory committees. Faculty throughout Harvard guide the programs through their participation on advisory committees.

How do I know which program is right for me?

There are many paths, but we are one HBS. Our PhD students draw on diverse personal and professional backgrounds to pursue an ever-expanding range of research topics. Explore more here about each program’s requirements & curriculum, read student profiles for each discipline as well as student research , and placement information.

The PhD in Business Administration grounds students in the disciplinary theories and research methods that form the foundation of an academic career. Jointly administered by HBS and GSAS, the program has five areas of study: Accounting and Management , Management , Marketing , Strategy , and Technology and Operations Management . All areas of study involve roughly two years of coursework culminating in a field exam. The remaining years of the program are spent conducting independent research, working on co-authored publications, and writing the dissertation. Students join these programs from a wide range of backgrounds, from consulting to engineering. Many applicants possess liberal arts degrees, as there is not a requirement to possess a business degree before joining the program

The PhD in Business Economics provides students the opportunity to study in both Harvard’s world-class Economics Department and Harvard Business School. Throughout the program, coursework includes exploration of microeconomic theory, macroeconomic theory, probability and statistics, and econometrics. While some students join the Business Economics program directly from undergraduate or masters programs, others have worked in economic consulting firms or as research assistants at universities or intergovernmental organizations.

The PhD program in Health Policy (Management) is rooted in data-driven research on the managerial, operational, and strategic issues facing a wide range of organizations. Coursework includes the study of microeconomic theory, management, research methods, and statistics. The backgrounds of students in this program are quite varied, with some coming from public health or the healthcare industry, while others arrive at the program with a background in disciplinary research

The PhD program in Organizational Behavior offers two tracks: either a micro or macro approach. In the micro track, students focus on the study of interpersonal relationships within organizations and the effects that groups have on individuals. Students in the macro track use sociological methods to examine organizations, groups, and markets as a whole, including topics such as the influence of individuals on organizational change, or the relationship between social missions and financial objectives. Jointly administered by HBS and GSAS, the program includes core disciplinary training in sociology or psychology, as well as additional coursework in organizational behavior.

Accounting & Management  

Business economics  , health policy (management)  , management  , marketing  , organizational behavior  , strategy  , technology & operations management  .

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PhD in Epidemiology and Clinical Research

The PhD program in epidemiology and clinical research provides methodologic and interdisciplinary training to equip students to carry out cutting-edge epidemiologic research. The program trains students in the tools of modern epidemiology, with heavy emphasis on statistics, computer science, genetics, genomics, and bioinformatics. We welcome applicants with diverse backgrounds.

Pre-Application Sessions and Recordings

We are EPH: Meet Sam Jaros

Sam Jaros is a 4th year PhD candidate in the Department of Epidemiology and Population Health. His current research and my thesis projects are all about finding actionable patterns in opioid addiction to better spend limited public health resources on improving care. He first found a passion for improving care for opioid addiction while working in Appalachia in previous mining towns. 

Read the Q&A with S am

Student Bios

The Department of Epidemiology and Population Health is committed to fostering a diverse community in which all individuals are welcomed, respected, and supported to achieve their full potential.  

Stanford recognizes that the Supreme Court issued a ruling in June 2023 about the consideration of certain types of demographic information as part of an admission review. All applications submitted during upcoming application cycles will be reviewed in conformance with that decision.

The Department of Epidemiogy and Population Health welcomes graduate applications from individuals with a broad range of life experiences, perspectives, and backgrounds who would contribute to our community of scholars. The review process is holistic and individualized, considering each applicant’s academic record and accomplishments, letters of recommendation, prior research experience, and admissions essays to understand how an applicant’s life experiences have shaped their past and potential contributions to their field and how they might enrich the learning community at Stanford.

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Clinical and Translational Science

Clinical and translational science track, research focus.

across the translational spectrum from discovery to implementation

average amount of time to Ph.D. degree

Guaranteed 5-year internal fellowship

includes full tuition, stipend and benefits

Moving new biomedical discoveries into clinical use as new treatments and cures takes considerable time and resources. A translational scientist is at the forefront of this work, teaming with an integrated group of experts focused on taking knowledge gained through research and translating it for use in health care settings. This bench-to-bedside effort is essential to bridging the gap between basic science and patient care.

The Clinical and Translational Science (CTS) Track within the Ph.D. Program at Mayo Clinic Graduate School of Biomedical Science is built upon Mayo Clinic's extensive interdisciplinary research and medical environment. It prepares you to lead the biomedical research teams of the future that will rapidly translate discoveries to new treatments and change the paradigms of how we conduct biomedical research.

As a graduate of this program, you’ll be able to conduct research leading to meaningful scientific contributions. In addition, you’ll be prepared to change and improve how biomedical research is conceptualized and implemented.

The Clinical and Translational Science Track allows students to personalize their studies in three areas of emphasis:

• Population-based translational science
• Patient-based translational science
• Laboratory-based translational science

A great strength of the Mayo Clinic CTS track is its focus on providing mentored research experiences for each student. The pre-eminent physicians, scientists, and educators who comprise the faculty at Mayo Clinic are available as mentors or co-mentors for students in the track.

All doctoral students in the CTS track have a common core curriculum.  Depending on your area of concentration (laboratory-, patient- or population-based translational science), you’ll select your advanced courses from either track courses or graduate school courses in the basic science disciplines.

• Core required courses  
• Track required courses  
• Introduction to research projects and methodologies used in the laboratories of clinical/translational investigators
• Completion of three research experiences or laboratory rotations, each lasting eight weeks
• Selection of laboratory for thesis research
• Advanced elective courses (areas of interest)
• Research gathering preliminary data for a thesis research project
• Preparation of a thesis proposal in the format of a grant application
• Selection of faculty for the oral qualifying exam committee, followed by defense of the research proposal in the oral exam (to be completed before the end of the fall quarter)
• Written Comprehensive Examination
• Oral Qualifying Examination (presentation of thesis proposal)
• Ongoing workshops/seminars/journal clubs
• Completion of thesis research and any remaining course requirements
• Selection of your Graduate School Thesis Advisory Committee that will evaluate the proposed direction, specific aims, and experimental strategies of your project, as well as meet with you at least twice a year to discuss your research progress
• Works-in-progress presentation of research project
• Final Oral Examination (thesis defense)

I chose the Clinical and Translational Science Track because of the flexibility of the program. Much of your coursework can be whichever topic helps you most for your research, and there are very few restrictions on the principal investigators you can work under. Also, because Mayo provides access to such unique patient populations, I’m able to use a lot of techniques that I wouldn’t be able to at a university or institution.

Kevin Kelly Ph.D. student, Clinical and Translational Science Track

One thing that attracted me to the CTS Track is how supported I felt as a student and the opportunities we have to learn and grow. We’re encouraged to explore career options other than the traditional academic route. I’m interested in translational science, and there have been numerous examples in which discoveries happened at the bench and ended up as clinical trials here at Mayo.

Alaa Koleilat, Ph.D. 2020 graduate of the Ph.D. Program, Clinical and Translational Science Track

Mayo Clinic draws students and patients from all over the world, which creates a unique educational environment. It also emphasize patient needs, which shapes the way that students learn and interact with other professionals. The small class size and primary focus on biomedical sciences contributes to the welcoming, energetic and collaborative environment. The leaders of all the programs I am associated with are clearly invested in my success.

Josiane Joseph M.D.-Ph.D. student, Clinical and Translational Science Track

• "BLOOM: Beta-lactam Optimization and Outcomes Management," Erin Barreto (Mentor: Andrew Rule, M.D.)
• "Differentiating types of dementia using extracellular vesicles," Maria Esperanza Bregendahl (Mentor: Pam J. McLean, Ph.D.)
• "Investigating Sulfatase 2 effects on the tumor microenvironment in hepatobiliary cancers," Tayla Brooks (Mentor: Lewis. R. Roberts, M.B., Ch.B., Ph.D.)
• "Defining racial differences in hedgehog-associated breast cancer risk biomarkers in normal breast biopsies," Jennifer Cabezas (Mentor: Derek Radisky, Ph.D.)
• "Cytokine Mediated Death and Survival in Multiple Myelom," Allison (Allie) Carr (Mentor: Adrian T. Ting, Ph.D.)
• "Peripheral multi-omics biomarkers of Alzheimer’s and related phenotypes," Xuan Chen (Mentor: Nilufer Taner, M.D., Ph.D.)
• "Pulmonary Hypertension Secondary to Left Heart Diseases," Ahmed Fayyaz (Mentor: Margaret M. Redfield, M.D.)
• "Using focused ultrasound (FUS) to enhance the delivery of intravenous umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cells (UCMSC) in chronic spinal cord injured rats," Abdul Karim (AK) Ghaith (Mentors: Mohamad Bydon M.D., and Anthony J. Windebank M.D.)
• "The Role of the Endocannabinoid System in Systemic Stress Response in Zebrafish," Robin Heider (Mentor: Karl J. Clark, Ph.D.)
• "Utilizing long-read sequencing to unravel the clinical heterogeneity in motor neuron diseases and undiagnosed genetic disorders," Angita (AJ) Jain (Mentor: Marka M. Van Blitterswijk, M.D., Ph.D.)
• "Unraveling the Immunological Basis of Lobular Involution Stagnation in Breast Cancer Development," Jaida Lue (Mentor: Derek Radisky, Ph.D.)
• "Artificial intelligence derived voice biomarkers for the detection and management of cardiovascular disease," Jaskanwal Deep (Jas) Sara (Mentor: Amir Lerman, M.D.)
• "Characterization of Mitochondrial DNA variations, heteroplasmic levels, and deletion frequency in Pacbio’s continuous long reads," Ngan Tran (Mentor: Owen Ross, Ph.D.
• "Unrefined: Hepatocellular carcinoma and hepatitis burden and potential interventions in x population," Caitlin VanLith (Mentor: Lewis. R. Roberts, M.B., Ch.B., Ph.D.)
• "Data Independent Acquisition of Small Molecule Signatures to Characterize Inborn Errors of Metabolism," Rachel Wurth (Mentor: Devin Oglesbee, Ph.D.)
• "Developing Strategies to address health disparities for first generation regenerative medicine treatments," Mohamed (Mo) Addani (Mentor: Zubin Master, Ph.D.)
• "Utility of Methylated DNA Markers for the Diagnosis of Malignant Pancreatic Biliary Strictures," Matthew Cooley (Mentor: Lewis. R. Roberts, M.B., Ch.B., Ph.D.)
• "Electrical stimulation of hippocampus and amygdala modulates human ventral temporal cortex in distinct ways," Harvey Huang (Mentor: Dora Hermes, Miller Ph.D.)
• "Senolytics and antifibrotic treatment for chronic spinal cord injury," Vagisha Kulsreshtha (Mentors: James Kirkland M.D., Ph.D., and Isobel A. Scarisbrick Ph.D.)
• "HDAC1/OLIG2/STAT5 transcriptional complex facilitates GSC-mediated invasion and tumorigenesis," Auna’y Miller (Mentor: Nhan L. Tran, Ph.D.)
• "Transcriptional adaptation as a possible mechanism underlying amyotrophic lateral sclerosis," Adriana (Adri) Morales Gomez (Mentor: Nathan Staff M.D., Ph.D.)
• "Single Cell Landscape of Infiltrating Immune Cells in Cholangiocarcinoma," Hannah Stumpf (Mentor: Sumera I. Ilyas, M.B.B.S.)
• "Developing a Value-Based Hybrid Care Model for Stroke Patients," Stephanie Zawada (Mentor: Bart M. Demaerschalk, M.D.)
• “Improving Facial Paralysis Surgical Outcomes: Targeting Facial Nerve Regeneration,” Marissa Suchyta (Mentor: Samir Mardini, M.D.)
• “Regenerative Capabilities of Extracellular Vesicles in Myocarditis,” Danielle Beetler (Mentor: DeLisa Fairweather, Ph.D.)
• “Machine Learning-Aided Biomarker Discovery and Precision Genomics for Gallbladder Cancer,” Linsey Jackson (Mentor: Lewis R. Roberts, M.B., Ch.B., Ph.D.)
• “Pathway Discovery in Neurodegenerative Diseases by Integration of Multi-omics Data,” Yuhao (Harry) Min (Mentor: Nilufer Taner, M.D., Ph.D.)
• “Investigating Uterine Fibroids in Women of Color: A Translational Approach,” Minerva Orellana (Mentors: Felicity T. Enders, Ph.D. and Elizabeth (Ebbie) A. Stewart, M.D.)
• “Natural Language Processing Aided Discovery of Adverse Symptoms during Fertility Procedures,” Karen DSouza (Mentor: Megan A. Allyse, Ph.D.)
• “Understanding and Promoting Student Wellbeing Through Social-Emotional Behavioral Programming,” Catherine Knier (Mentor: Dr. Anthony J. Windebank, M.D, and Christopher K. Pierret, Ph.D.)
• “Reducing the Burden of Hepatocellular Carcinoma Among Migrant Populations: Improving Prevention and Outcomes Through Disease Modeling,” Kenneth Valles (Mentor: Lewis R. Roberts, M.B., Ch.B., Ph.D.)
• “Living Systematic Reviews and Guideline Updates in Areas with Rapidly Evolving Evidence,” Irbaz Bin Riaz (Mentor: M. Hassan Murad, M.D.)
• “Sex Differences in Mitochondria During Acute cvb3 Myocarditis,” Damian Di Florio (Mentor: DeLisa Fairweather, Ph.D.)
• “The Role of Convection-Enhanced Delivery for Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma,” Erica Power (Mentor: David J. Daniels, M.D., Ph.D)
• “Subcutaneous Combination Biodevice for the Treatment of Type 1 Diabetes,” Ethan Law (Mentor: Quinn P. Peterson, Ph.D.)
• “Technologies to Enable Closed-loop Neurochemical Control in Deep Brain Stimulation,” Aaron Rusheen (Mentor: Kendall H. Lee, M.D., Ph.D.)
• “Functional Validation in Unsolved Rare Disease Patients as a Method of Providing and Clarifying Diagnosis,” Brad Bowles (Mentor: Karl J. Clark, Ph.D. and Eric W. Klee, Ph.D.)
• “The Role of Glypican-3 Isoforms in the Development of Chimeric Antigen Receptor T Cells for Liver Cancer Therapy,” Aarti Koluri (Mentor: Lewis R. Roberts, M.B., Ch.B., Ph.D.)
• “Clinical Implementation of Tobacco Cessation Treatment among Cancer Patients,” Josh Ohde, Ph.D. (Mentor: David O. Warner, M.D.)
• “Metabolic Abnormalities Associated with Disease Alter Progenitor Cell Function and Precede Tissue Deterioration,” Josiane Joseph (Mentor: Jason D. Doles, Ph.D.)
• “Breast Cancer Mode of Detection Varies by Breast Density and Stage at Diagnosis in Population Based Cohort,” Susanna Basappa (Mentor: Lila J. Rutten, Ph.D.)

Your future

Many graduates of the Clinical and Translational Science Track choose to pursue postdoctoral training regardless of whether they intend to pursue careers in academia or industry. Other students choose to enter advanced training programs, such as genetics fellowships.

Meet the directors

Clinical and translational science is a rapidly developing area of science. Advances in technology and the way we approach and treat diseases or other conditions have set the stage for improved human health.

Our program combines the clinical and scientific resources of Mayo Clinic, where you’ll graduate with an understanding of how research is translated to health care, and ready to carry out research that accelerates medical discoveries into better health.

Felicity Enders, Ph.D.

Clinical and Translational Science Track Director Professor of Biostatistics Phone: 507-538-4970 Email:  [email protected] View research interests

Marina Walther-Antonio, Ph.D.

Clinical and Translational Science Track Associate Director Assistant Professor of Surgery Phone: 507-293-7070 Email:  [email protected]   View research interests

Anthony Windebank, M.D.

Clinical and Translational Science Track TL1 Principal Investigator Professor of Neurology Phone: 507-284-4716 Email: [email protected]   View research interests

Browse a list of Clinical and Translational Science Track faculty members

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Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Offered By: Department of Epidemiology

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About the PhD in Epidemiology Program

The doctoral program in Epidemiology is anchored in public health and population research and analysis. Students approach research using epidemiologic methods to understand complex human health problems. The PhD requires two years of coursework followed by two (or more) years of research. Students are required to complete a teaching training curriculum and serve as a teaching assistant for methods and topical courses. Additionally, students must complete a written comprehensive exam, a practice oral exam, a preliminary exam, multiple oral and poster presentations, and a final dissertation including presentation and defense.

PhD in Epidemiology Program Highlights

Train with renowned faculty.

100+ faculty across 8 research tracks in epidemiology

Access to wide range of coursework

Explore your interests with a wide variety of courses taught by our faculty

Write and publish

All of our doctoral students get training in writing papers and proposals through didactic learning and mentoring

Participate on research teams

The School is the leading recipient of NIH research funding among U.S. schools of public health, providing robust hands-on research opportunities

What Can You Do With a Graduate Degree In Epidemiology?

Sample careers.

• Epidemiologist
• Faculty Member
• Science Director
• Health Commissioner

Curriculum for the PhD in Epidemiology

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

Current students can view the PhD in Epidemiology requirements in the student handbook on the Epidemiology portal site.

Research Tracks

The Department's current research tracks in the PhD program include:

Cancer Epidemiology offers a rich, vibrant and dynamic environment for masters and doctoral students, and postdoctoral fellows to actively participate, learn, explore and conduct cancer-related population-based and clinical research. The track has a long and successful history of training masters and doctoral students and postdoctoral fellows. Past students continue to conduct population-based cancer research and have made successful transitions to positions in academia, government and private sector organizations.

Cardiovascular and Clinical Epidemiology focuses on the use of epidemiologic methods in clinical research and practice as well as interdisciplinary training on the epidemiology of cardiovascular disease. The program integrates knowledge on all aspects of the disease: biology, behavior, treatment, and prevention. Training emphasizes active participation in research and translational epidemiology using a collaborative approach, which is enhanced by the close relationships between the Department of Epidemiology and clinical departments of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine at the Johns Hopkins Hospital.

Clinical Trials and Evidence Synthesis offers students a unique educational experience in clinical trial and evidence synthesis methodology. Methods are applied to a variety of clinical areas including respiratory-, eye- and infectious diseases, and mental health. Student-faculty discussions, journal clubs, research-in-progress meetings, seminars and active participation in research add to both the depth and breadth of the program.

Environmental Epidemiology concentrates on the impact of environmental exposures on health and disease states in human populations. This track integrates epidemiological methods, assessment of environmental exposures and understanding of specific disease processes to identify the health consequences of environmental exposures. Environmental Epidemiology provides basic information for risk assessment, risk communication, and environmental health policy decisions and has a central role in identifying, implementing and evaluating strategies for the prevention and control of environmental exposures. Training in Environmental Epidemiology emphasizes active participation in large population research projects, with close collaborations across the School and with national and international collaborators.

Epidemiology of Aging focuses on the determinants of physical and cognitive health, disease, and function in older adults. Offers multidisciplinary training in methods and theories needed for the study of older populations. Strong ties exist with several multi-departmental training grants and programs. This training program also is connected to numerous large research projects.

General Epidemiology and Methodology offers research and training opportunities in almost all areas of chronic disease epidemiology, including cardiovascular diseases, cancer and diseases of childhood and includes advanced methodology training in epidemiologic methods as well as providing individualized or customized training in statistical epidemiology, pharmacoepidemiology and social epidemiology.

Genetic Epidemiology focuses on the study of genetic and environmental factors, and their interaction in disease and normal variation. Emphasis is on understanding the methodology and approach to designing, executing and analyzing genetic studies. Training is broad-based and collaborative and encourages participation in research from faculty in the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, the Institute of Genetic Medicine, and the School of Medicine.

Infectious Disease Epidemiology provides training in the fundamentals of infectious disease epidemiology with an eye toward preparing graduates to work in teaching, research and practice. The program emphasizes principles and methods that can be used to understand the dynamics and control of transmissible diseases by all classes of organisms. The curriculum builds on the faculty's extensive and diverse experience researching and combating infectious diseases, ranging from hospital acquired infections, to neglected tropical diseases and sexually transmitted infections.

Admissions Requirements

For general admissions requirements, please visit the How to Apply page. This specific program also requires:

Prior Coursework

College-level math through pre-calculus, a biology course, and one additional science course

Prior Graduate Degree

Not required, but highly recommended

Prior Work Experience

One year of full-time work experience in a related field

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.

All full-time PhD students will receive the following support for the first four years of the program: full tuition, individual health insurance, University Health Services clinic fee, vision insurance, and dental insurance.

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.

Academic Program Manager Frances S. Burman [email protected]

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PhD in Research Methodology

Use numbers and data to drive systematic change in education.

A number is not simply a number in our research methodology program. Here, unlike in math or statistics, numbers are not the final answer. With a PhD in Research Methodology, you can work in educational and institutional research, using numbers to tell the story of the human experience and create meaningful change.

Our commitment to you

Upon graduation with a PhD in research methodology from Loyola, you will possess the following knowledge, skills, and professional values necessary to commence a career as an institutional researcher, evaluator, college professor, or researcher at large professional organizations, testing companies, or consulting agencies that provide educational evaluation services.

You will develop expertise in evaluation, statistics, and measurement, and recognize when research findings are being misrepresented or data misused. Our expert faculty will train you in both qualitative and quantitative methodology, including applied statistics and psychometrics. You'll also learn how numbers relate to action, policy, and advocacy.

You will be able to critically evaluate bodies of knowledge from a variety of methodological traditions, use a variety of software programs to implement analyses, and conduct all stages of a research study in applied settings. Plus, you'll participate in a required consulting experience, where you'll conduct a research study and then provide consulting advice to a researcher or organization.

Professional Values

We strive to ensure that our graduates never lose sight of the humanity that number reflect, and become responsible researchers whose conclusions align with their findings. You will engage in ethical, just, and culturally competent research practices.

Program Faculty

Our dedicated Research Methodology Faculty are experts in their fields who will support students throughout each stage of the program.

Program Length

Students typically take up to two or three courses each term and up to two courses during the summer, and completion times for this degree vary with the topic of each student's dissertation. The typical length for this program is five years.

Continuous Enrollment Doctoral students in research methodology are required to maintain continuous enrollment during their program of studies. This means that during each semester of each academic year (excluding Summer Sessions), each student must enroll in at least one course. A formal  leave of absence  may be granted upon request and the approval of the School of Education’s Associate Dean of Student Academic Services.

Admission Requirements

Interested in applying? Check out the  PhD Research Methodology application requirements .

• For  application  related questions,  contact Graduate Enrollment Management . 
• For  program structure and academics  related questions, contact:  Ken Fujimoto , Program Chair

Tuition, Financial Aid and Scholarships

The School of Education and Loyola's Financial Aid Office are committed to helping students secure the necessary financial resources to make their education at Loyola affordable. You can learn more on the  Financial Assistance  page.

How long will it take to finish the program?

Five years is about the average length of time, especially if the student is not full-time. However a full-time student who transfers the maximum 30 credit hours from another university could complete the PhD in as few as three years. Please note that a maximum of six years is allowed to complete your coursework and dissertation.

Much will depend upon how many courses a student is able to take during any given term. Since the minimum is 20 courses, one should count on two or three years of coursework, another year for taking and passing comprehensive exams and developing a proposal, and at least one more year for the dissertation research. 

What can I do with a degree in research methodology?

This degree offers many professional opportunities. Recent graduates work at research firms, testing companies, professional associations or accrediting agencies, nonprofits, and in higher education, including institutional research.

How is the consulting experience structured?

The consulting experience is fulfilled by providing research or statistical consulting. Students, in consultation with their advisor, will determine the form of the consulting. For example, some students have provided statistical analysis assistance to faculty members or other doctoral students at the university, working on a research team with a faculty member in the School of Education. Others have completed a project associated with the student's full-time employment.

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Phd student and postdoc experiences.

Read our exclusive interviews with past and current PhD students to find out what it’s like to do a PhD.

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Dr Jain gained her PhD in Molecular Oncology from the Indian Institute of Science. She is...

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Carina is a PhD student at The University of Manchester who has just defended her viva....

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Pavan's nearing completion of her Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) degree at the University of Toronto, whilst...

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Aaron's now writing up his PhD thesis at the University of Birmingham. His research has investigated...

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Helena is pursuing a PhD at the University of Vienna. Her research is centred around how...

Opportunity Spotlight

Looking for an amazing PhD programme or funding opportunity? Then make sure to check out the opportunities below while they last.

Latest Blog Posts

Find out everything you need to know about PhDs, from writing an academic cover letter to preparing a research proposal, secure funding and finding a supportive PhD supervisor.

Don’t Let Research Overwhelm You: Writing Habits that Work

There’s no doubt about it – writing can be difficult. Whether you’re writing the first sentence of a paper or a grant proposal, it’s easy to feel like you’re drowning in a sea of words. However, good writing is critical to academic success, so here are six habits for research...

You’re Not Alone: Here’s How to Cope With Impostor Syndrome

Impostor Syndrome is a common phenomenon amongst PhD students, leading to self-doubt and fear of being exposed as a "fraud". How can we overcome these feelings?

Guide to PhD Entry Requirements

Guide to NERC PhD Funding

Guide to EPSRC PhD Funding

About discoverphds.

Our mission is simple – to help you find the right STEM PhD programme, supervisor and university for you. Our database allows you to effortlessly search through the latest PhDs, research projects and studentships in a matter of minutes.

In addition to this, we provide comprehensive guidance via our PhD Advice page. Whether you’re considering a PhD or already undertaking one, you’ll find useful information for each stage of your journey.

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Thinking About What PhD Guides Do ?

Phd research is a difficult and time-consuming task. you may feel the need for direction and expert phd consultation. we recognize this, and with this in mind, we have created a community of phd consultants and industry professionals to guidance and counselling for phd candidates throughout your journey. phdguides offer resources, training, advice, phd guidance and helping hands during every phase of your phd journey in accordance with your needs., resource center.

We are the treasure trove of resources to help you with all aspects of research writing, from finding the right format for your assignment to writing a compelling literature review.

Here you can find:

• University assignment formats for all major disciplines
• Review formats for journals, books, and other publications
• Synopsis formats for research proposals and grant applications
• Thesis formats for different academic levels
• Research writing samples from top universities around the world
• Review article samples
• Guidelines PPTs on research documentation
• Guides, e-books, and tools to help you with your research
• Free downloadable resources, such as templates, checklists, and citation generators

So whether you’re just getting started with your PhD research or you’re a seasoned academic, our website has something to help you improve your research writing skills.

The PhD Research Consultation Bootcamp

Are you interested in finding out more about how our guidance might support your success in your phd now, schedule a time to talk with one of our phd guides in order to help you make a well-informed decision on your academic career, our team of experts is available to answer your questions and walk you through the process..

Our humungous community of PHD Study will help you ask questions related to your topic and get that question solved as quickly as possible.

Read out the detailed story behind completing your PHD. May be this will engage you & help you with the complete knowledge about PHD journey.

We provide the best training to complete your PhD with an ease. These training will help you a lot till completion of your doctorate.

Here you can find university formats, guidelines, samples, PPT’s, Guides, e-books, tools and free downloadable resources to get started with PhD research.

Read out the detailed story behind completing your PHD. May be this will engage you & help you with the complete knowledge about PHD.

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How to stand out in your PhD interview – 6 important topics you must prepare

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Access important phd resources, we have a massive sample database, depending on the higher education programme or course, you can find and download appropriate pdf samples., research writing sample​s, university formats & guidelines, our contribution to academic research society.

Our exceptional service levels, constant support and extensive relations with the students, built painstakingly has earned us the admiration of people who are assisters of scholars 

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Eligibility

• A full-time bachelor's degree.
• A full-time master's degree with at least 55% marks.
• The cut-off for SC/ST and OBCs is 50%.
• University/College mandated or national-level entrance examination.
• For a part-time Ph.D., a NOC (No Objection Certificate) is obtained from the educational institute or organization of employment.
• Some colleges/universities require relevant job experience.

Prior to Enrolment:

• Document Verification
• Entrance Exam and Interview
• Issuance of a Selection Letter

Enrolment via the website and the issuance of an Enrolment Letter. For your initial research plan, you will receive a Guide.

Exams for course work and approval of the synopsis

Initial Progress Evaluation

Review of Progress (Second)

Third Progress Review

PhD Thesis Presentation and Provisional Certificate Issuance

The Certificate of Ph.D. Issuance

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The PhD can take three to six years to complete. The time limit can differ as per the institute, hence the candidate should inquire about it with the desired university before applying.

A master’s degree or M.phill from any recognised Indian university in the relevant field is required for admission to the PhD programme. To be eligible for admission, you must have at least 55% of the marks or corresponding grades.

If you are pursuing a self-funded PhD or have professional experience in the industry, you can apply with lower grades.

Not all bachelor’s students are eligible for a PhD, but according to the new UGC guidelines, students who obtain a four-year degree in UG can apply for admission to PhD programmes in their desired fields.

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• 25 April 2024

NIH pay raise for postdocs and PhD students could have US ripple effect

• Amanda Heidt 0

Amanda Heidt is a freelance journalist in southeastern Utah.

You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

Academic workers walk a picket line at the University of California, Los Angeles. Credit: Gary Coronado/Los Angeles Times via Getty

Amid a reckoning over poor job prospects and stagnating wages for early career scientists, the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) said it will raise the salaries of thousands of postdoctoral researchers and graduate students who receive a prestigious NIH research fellowship. The move could boost pay for other scientists as well, because academic institutions often follow guidelines set by the NIH.

Beginning immediately, postdocs who hold one of the agency’s Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Awards (NRSA) will now earn at least $61,008 per year — an 8% increase and the largest year-over-year increase the NIH has implemented since 2017. Postdocs’ salaries, which are adjusted for years of experience, are capped at $74,088 per year. Graduate students’ yearly salaries will rise by $1,000, amounting to a minimum annual salary of $28,224.

“This is a major step in the right direction and something that the majority will agree is widely needed to retain talent in the biomedical and academic research sectors,” says Francisca Maria Acosta, a biomedical engineer and postdoc at UT Health San Antonio in Texas who is herself funded through an NRSA.

Postdoc shortage

In 2022, the agency assembled an advisory group on how best to retain and cultivate postdoctoral talent following reports that principal investigators (PIs) were struggling to fill vacant postdoc positions . In December, the panel released recommendations that suggested a minimum salary of $70,000 for postdocs.

The NIH agreed that a salary increase is indeed needed for the more than 17,000 research trainees covered by the NRSAs. The agency will also provide an extra $500 in subsidies for childcare and $200 for training-related expenses. In this week’s announcement, the agency acknowledged that this increase falls short of the council’s recommendation, and cited its tight budget in recent years.

Canadian science gets biggest boost to PhD and postdoc pay in 20 years

It added that “pending the availability of funds through future appropriations,” the agency would increase salaries to meet the recommended $70,000 target in the next three to five years, while also suggesting that NIH-funded institutions could supplement salaries in other ways. That presents a challenge, according to Sharona Gordon, a biophysicist at the University of Washington in Seattle, when the NIH’s modular R01 grants — one of the primary research awards given to PIs to fund their labs — have remained at $250,000 since they were introduced in 1998. Such grants cannot be used to supplement salaries, meaning lab heads have to pull money from other sources to increase trainees’ pay.

Even scientists who approve of the NIH’s move say it could have unintended consequences. “For institutions such as ours, which mandate that the postdoc minimum salary be set to the NIH minimum, there are some concerns that this increase in personnel costs could be a barrier for labs based on funding levels,” Acosta says.

For some, the five-year timeline for the increase feels insufficient. Haroon Popal, a cognitive science postdoc at the University of Maryland in College Park whose work is funded by the NIH, says that while he understands the pressures on the agency, the new salary will not be enough to support him as he assumes multiple caregiving responsibilities. Even with the boost, postdoc positions in academia fall far short of what researchers could make in government, industry, or nonprofit positions. “This is an issue of diversity and equity for me,” he says. “The new postdoc salary is not allowing people like me to be in academia, which is counter to the NIH’s, institutions’, and our scientific community’s goals of increased diversity.”

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-01242-x

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• v.30(2); 2022 Jun

Expected Roles of PhD Graduated Nurses: A Scoping Review

Reza negarandeh.

1 Nursing and Midwifery Care Research Center, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

Sahar Khoshkesht

2 Department of Medical-Surgical Nursing, School of Nursing & Midwifery, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

The aim of this study was to investigate the expected roles of the Doctor of Philosophy graduated nurses and their challenges. This study was conducted as a scoping review based on Arksey and O'Malley’s approach. After a search in valid databases such as Google Scholar, Information Sciences Institute, Science Direct, Ovid, PubMed, and Scientific Information Database between 2000 and 2019 and review the websites of some well-known universities and the contents of some of the global nursing websites such as the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, National League for Nursing (NLN), International Network for Doctoral Education in Nursing (IDEN), as well as reports such as Institute of Medicine. All data were collected, summarized, and then described narratively. There was much evidence that the Doctor of Philosophy programs had failed to prepare graduated nurses for the related roles and responsibilities. The expected roles of the Doctor of Philosophy graduated nurses in this study summarized in five domains of education, clinical practice, research, leadership and management, and policy-making along with worldwide challenges, especially those highlighted in Iran. It seems that besides clarifications of the expected roles of the Doctor of Philosophy graduated nurses, there should be more thought about the contents of the programs along with roles responsibilities, as well as the establishment of better communications between universities and workplaces.

Introduction

The Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) refers to the philosophy and scientific diligence in knowledge which is also regarded as the highest academic degree in all disciplines. The term “doctorate” is rooted in the Latin word “docere” which means teaching ( Winter et al., 2000 ) and it is also characterized by an advanced level of education and research that is employed to create new knowledge ( Ellis, 2005 ). The graduates of disciplines such as medicine labeled as “MD,” pharmacy called “Pharm.D,” veterinary named as “DVSc,” and dentistry termed as “DT” are also mentioned as doctorate which is a degree equivalent to a bachelor’s and master’s in other sciences.

History showed that PhD education was established in Europe and Germany. Then, it was brought to the United States in the 1860s. Yale University was the first academic center to award a PhD degree in 1861. Then, Oxford University in the United Kingdom began to accept students in PhD programs in 1920 ( Carpenter & Hudacek, 1996 ).

In general, the goal of a PhD program is to educate scholars and scientists to develop disciplines and to create new knowledge in which there is an emphasis on preparing students to assume expected roles after completion of the courses ( Fiedler et al., 2015 ). The global competition for doctoral study is growing. Moreover, PhD graduates play an important role in the development of communities because of having specific skills in research methods and abilities to create, implement, and publish knowledge and innovation ( Auriol, 2010 ).

The concept of PhD in nursing is not new. In the past, most nurses could also obtain their doctoral degrees in disciplines such as physiology, education, or social sciences. Doctorate of Education (EdD) was created between 1900 and 1940 and the first EdD in nursing was awarded in 1933 at Columbia University. In the 1950s, the University of Pittsburgh emphasized the importance of clinical research for the development of a body of knowledge and nursing profession in the PhD program. Then Boston University launched the Doctorate of Nursing Science (DNSc) ( Robb, 2005 ). Later, different types of nursing doctorates were developed including Doctorate of Science in Nursing, Nursing Doctorate, Doctor of Philosophy in Nursing (PhD), and Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) ( Meleis, 1988 ; Rosseter, 2017 ). The history of PhD degrees development in nursing in some countries across the world such as the United States (1933), the United Kingdom (1970), Sweden (1986), Australia (1987), South Korea (1988), Brazil (1990), Canada (1991), Venezuela (1998), and China (2003) is reflecting the historical record and the importance of developing PhD studies in nursing worldwide.

Historically, the first PhD program in nursing in Iran was held by Tabriz University of Medical Sciences in 1995. Then, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, and Isfahan University of Medical Sciences started accepting PhD students in nursing. Currently, a total number of 17 universities of medical sciences in Iran have permission to train PhD students in this domain.

In general, two models of PhD programs in nursing are known worldwide. In the research-based/oriented European model, students only focus on the implementation of research projects. This model is being used in European countries, North Africa, Egypt, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand. But in the North American model or the Pan-American model, students first take courses that are related to the subject of the dissertation and, after successfully passing the relevant exams; they concentrate on doing their dissertations. This model is being implemented in countries such as Brazil, Canada, the United States, Venezuela, South Korea, the Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand, and Iran ( Ketefian et al., 2001 ).

In recent years, scientific research studies have put more stress on the professional development of nursing and they have particularly focused on the unique characteristics of nursing. Unlike other disciplines that start with general studies and then make progress toward specializations in the postgraduate programs, nursing is a profession that requires a general perspective in the PhD program ( Rosseter, 2017 ). Nursing programs traditionally present courses in the fields of nursing history and philosophy and development of healthcare techniques as well as socio-economic, political, and ethical issues. Data management and research methods are also included as the most important areas in doctoral education in nursing ( American Association of Colleges of Nursing [AACN], 2018 ).

Undoubtedly, the purpose of PhD programs in the development of nursing sciences is through research. In this respect, graduates are trained in research-based disciplines to contribute to a collection of unique knowledge in nursing and they are expected to accept leadership positions in their fields. As noted, the nursing process has been toward increasing PhD programs. Having doctoral degrees, as the most known and highest degree of science, has also clarified the value of PhD in nursing. Although the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) announced in 2004, there are mainly two types of nursing doctorate including PhD and DNP in Nursing; but most of the nursing leaders who recognize and accept PhD as a degree at the postgraduate level are strongly advocating the removal of other specialized programs such as DNP named as PhD in Nursing. Moreover, the AACN has differentiated PhD graduates as knowledge developers and DNP and DNSc ones as experts in using the new knowledge ( AACN, 2002 ; Rosseter, 2017 ).

Growing knowledge and increasing complexity of health systems increase the need for advanced and qualified nursing. Therefore, nursing education and the training of Ph.D. students are very important ( Patelarou et al., 2009 ). According to the Institute of Medicine (2011) , “The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health,” nurses could play a very important role in reforming and redesigning health systems that need improving the levels of knowledge and attitudes. Based on the recommendations in this report, there is an emphasis on increasing levels of nursing education, doubling the number of PhD graduates in nursing by 2020, and using the full extent of nurse education and training; therefore, nurses should be responsive to changing needs of health care systems. However; there is much more evidence that PhD programs in nursing have failed to prepare graduates for relevant roles and responsibilities ( Booth et al., 2016 ). Generally, the relationship between doctoral education and expectations and roles is vague and there are sometimes no defined roles and responsibilities for nursing graduates in health systems ( Agger et al., 2014 ; Bullin, 2018 ). Even if the roles and responsibilities have been defined, they have not been properly addressed in practice. Considering the increasing importance and the need for training nurses with PhD degrees as the source of changes in healthcare systems, as well as the controversies in preparation of graduates that exposed them to the confusion of their roles, there is the need to discuss the role of PhD graduate students. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the expected role of PhD graduate nurses.

Research Questions

1. What are the roles and responsibilities of PhD graduate nurses? 2. Is there compatibility between the expected roles, curriculum, clinical environment, and organizations that provide job opportunities? 3. What are the worldwide PhD graduate nurses challenges; especially those highlighted in Iran?

Study Design

This study was a scoping review based on Arksey and O’Malley approach (2005).

Study Process

The five-stage approach of Arksey and O’Malley (2005) includes identifying the research question, identifying relevant studies, study selection, charting the data, collating, summarizing, and reporting. A summary of the stages is shown in the below flowchart ( Figure 1 ).

Flowchart of the Process of Study Based on Arksey and O’Malley’s Five-Stage Approach.

Search Process and Study Identification

Regarding the importance of the subject in the field of nursing and the lack of sufficient evidence in this domain, the main research question was about the expected roles of PhD graduated nurses and their challenges. Accordingly, various keywords such as doctorate in nursing OR PhD in nursing AND roles of PhD nurses AND scope of practice of PhD nurses were searched in valid databases such as Google Scholar, Information Sciences Institute, Ovid, PubMed, and Scientific Information Database in the related studies published between 2000 and 2019.

Eligibility of Resources

More than 414 articles were extracted. After removing duplicate items, examining the relevancy of titles, and reviewing the relevance of the subject, the validity of the source, and accessibility to the article, finally, the 23 articles were examined. Also, seven articles and two books were added after reference lists review. Since the purpose of a scoping review is a brief analysis around key concepts in the research subject and finding main sources and types of evidence without considering the quality of the studies ( Tricco et al., 2016 ), the studies were selected only based on the proximity to the subject and scope of the investigation. Exclusion criteria included irrelevant, duplicate, and non-English articles. However, lectures, summaries, studies related to other disciplines, and studies just related to DNP were excluded from the final review. In addition, the websites of some well-known universities and the contents of some of the global nursing websites such as AACN, NLN, IDEN, as well as reports such as IOM were reviewed. All data were collected, summarized, and then described narratively and discussed.

Goals of PhD in Nursing

By exploring PhD programs in nursing across the world, it becomes clear that the educational goals of training PhD graduates are different due to discrepancies in defined roles and responsibilities. The following cases are examples of such differences.

The University of Virginia in the United States which accepts students through two PhD and DNP programs aims to educate clinical professionals, nursing scholars, and researchers to develop nursing knowledge in the 21 century ( The University of Virginia, 2018 ), while the John Hopkins University, in the United States, emphasized the empowerment of students in development and direction of research toward improving provision of healthcare services ( The Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing, 2018 ). Accordingly, the general purpose of this university is to educate nursing scholars to develop and conduct research studies and finally progress the nursing discipline and deliver better healthcare services ( The Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing, 2018 )

The University of Alberta in Canada also expects the following roles from nursing graduates including nursing progress, knowledge mobilization, research development, and change in leadership ( The University of Alberta, 2018 ). Also, the objective of nursing education in China, which has been working on nursing education since 2003, is to educate future nurses in the domains of research and management ( Wang et al., 2016 ).

In general, the major objectives of establishing the nursing discipline in Iran include training specialized staff to provide the required workforce in the areas of research, education, technology, management, and services. Therefore, graduates can play roles in the domains of education, research, care, counseling, management, and prevention in communities. Accordingly, the positions considered for nurses can extend from hospitals to private centers, welfare and rehabilitation centers, research centers and institutes, planning centers related to nursing, growth centers, and knowledge-based companies as well as the community. However; the goals, visions, roles, and responsibilities of PhD graduated nurses in Iran have undergone changes in three periods since 1994. The focus of the first PhD programs in nursing was on improving the quality of education and research in order to achieve professional independence to supply the required human resource and also to promote nursing ( The Iranian Curriculum of PhD in Nursing, 1995 ). In 2003, following the graduation of only ten students, the curriculum of PhD programs in nursing was revised and training of high-quality students in terms of research gained more weight ( The Iranian Curriculum of PhD in Nursing, 2005 ). In the last period and following the approval of the curriculum for PhD programs in nursing which had been implemented since 2017, the main goal was training specialized nursing staff to provide the required human resources in the field of research, education, technology, management, and nursing services as well as participation in policy-making in the health system. By adding six non-core units to the curriculum, a clinical perspective was formed ( The Iranian Curriculum of PhD in Nursing, 2017 ). Moreover, 24 professional responsibilities were considered for graduates. But there are not enough infrastructures to prepare nurses for gaining enough knowledge and skills during the years of education.

It seems that the shift in the locus of attention to the nursing PhD programs in Iran and some other countries from education to research and then clinical practice, as evident in curriculum changes, along with inappropriate consideration of specialized roles and responsibilities in PhD programs that distinguish graduates of PhD nursing from other nursing groups can be a reason for the role confusion among PhD graduates.

PhD in Nursing Careers

Based on the IOM (2011) reports as well as AACN (2018) , the nursing profession requires much more nurses at the doctoral level to deal with the difficulty of the lack of nursing faculty members and scholars. The Doctor of Philosophy programs in nursing is held with the purpose of preparing graduates to accept careers in health, education, research, and clinical practice.

Most nurses with PhD degrees have a normal transition to achieve an academic career; however, there are other alternatives for nurses at this level. For example, PhD graduated nurses are often recruited by large consulting companies to work with other individuals in terms of designing solutions related to problems in providing healthcare services. Some other nurses are employed by big hospitals to manage different wards. Moreover, a group of such nurses is hired for the management of complicated healthcare systems at an executive level. In other places, these nurses could carry out research and also formulate and develop national and international healthcare policies. No need to say that PhD studies can meet individuals with a wide range of appropriate job opportunities.

Roles, Expectations, and Challenges

Within the nursing profession, graduate students are trained to develop new nursing knowledge and to prepare future nurses in the fields of research, education, clinical practice, leadership, and health-related policies. However, one of the major challenges of nursing education is the lack of clarity in the roles and responsibilities of graduated nurses, especially those involved in PhD programs ( Bunkers, 2002 ).

In the study by Cheraghi et al. (2014) , clinical nurses’ perceptions and expectations about the roles and responsibilities of nursing doctorates were addressed. This study suggested that although nurses were good perceptions of PhD in nursing and believed that PhD nurses had been prepared to do research and to utilize theoretical knowledge in practice and they could also make use of their own specific conditions to improve current nursing status, PhD nurses, in reality, in the clinical setting cannot analyze issues related to healthcare systems and establish strategies to address nursing challenges.

Also, McKenna et al. (2014) highlighted the inadequate competency of PhD graduated nurses in confronting existing challenges in health systems. They acknowledged that although PhD graduates were expected to deal with nursing problems via knowledge and in-depth insights, in practice, such individuals had failed to play their roles in reforming the health system.

On the other hand, Sahebi et al. (2017) reviewing the challenges of the nursing doctoral curriculum in Iran conceded that with regard to the dynamism nature of needs of the health system and the development of nursing education, the nursing curriculum was faced with challenges and needed some changes. One of the most important findings of this study was that the nursing doctoral curriculum could not meet the needs of the community, health care system, the nursing profession, and even faculty members and PhD students. In the study by Zamanzadeh et al. (2014) investigating students’ attitudes toward the quality of PhD programs in nursing, the lowest score was associated with “no consistency between the curriculum of PhD programs and the nursing profession as well as its missions and obligations.”

Following the changes that occurred in the curriculum approved by the Ministry of Health and Medical Education in 2017, it seemed that no adaptation was expected in this domain via adding six non-core units whose method of implementation was not defined clearly. The confusion and challenges faced by PhD students in relation to the expected roles of passing these six units also increased. In a study by Feizalahzadeh and Hassani (2012) , the participants showed that if nurses with PhD degrees were to be employed in clinical practice, necessary and sufficient infrastructure and organizational positions, as well as salaries, are required.

Expectations from PhD graduated nurses are miscellaneous and multifaceted. So, it is expected that individuals demonstrate their best performance in different domains and positions; while there is no proper and practical preparation in the clinical, care, decision-making, policy-making, and education fields. There actually seems to be a contradiction in what universities are producing and what employers expect from the graduated nurses. The following is a summary of the expected roles of PhD graduated nurses in five domains of education, clinical practice, research, leadership and management, and policy-making along with worldwide challenges, especially those highlighted in Iran.

Before the mid-19th century, the main focus of PhD programs was on teaching and higher education, aimed at training faculty members ( Glanville & Houde, 2004 ). Nonetheless, with the expansion of PhD programs in nursing and admitting more students, teaching became a secondary activity and concentration was directed to research programs ( AACN, 2016 ). One of the tasks of schools in this domain is to train experts, that is, future students and nurses, in terms of theoretical and clinical education ( Oermann et al., 2016 ). It is also one of the professional responsibilities and roles of PhD graduated nurses in Iran. Thus, nursing education has great importance in the development of the nursing profession and preparation of future nurses to accept today’s advanced roles and to take on responsibilities for providing safe and high-quality nursing services ( Burton et al., 2009 ).

Nursing graduates are expected to be able to prepare for the quality training of future nurses, but this readiness is low or not at all ( Bullin, 2018 ). Previous studies have shown that insufficient preparation among graduates to assume the role of lecturers and faculty members could reduce job satisfaction and have a negative impact on their performance in the educational role ( Whitehead, 2015 ). In the study by Moghadam et al. (2017) , it has been reported that PhD nursing students and graduates were not ready for nursing education. PhD graduated nurses further acknowledged that organizational expectations were much beyond their abilities, clinical competencies were low, and uncertainties and obligations could lead to identity threats in PhD students. Also, McNelis et al. (2019) showed that there is a vague process for preparing graduates for teaching in both PhD and DNP curricula. so, should prepare graduates for faculty roles by including coursework on teaching.

Currently, the presence of Iranian PhD graduated nurses in clinical practice is defined as lecturers in undergraduate and postgraduate courses in clinical settings ( Cheraghi, et al., 2014 ). But based on the contents of the PhD programs, students are not completely prepared for clinical education. So, assuming the role of clinical instructors by PhD graduated nurses is neither acceptable nor cost-effective. Perhaps, teaching-specialized clinical education can be assigned to experts of the related field and the educational role of nursing doctorates can be limited to teaching how to acquire knowledge and research and how to enhance the body of nursing knowledge. It has been highlighted in most PhD programs worldwide, and PhD nursing students are prepared in that domain.

Clinical Practice

As stated, the nursing discipline is inherently clinical and one of the goals to train future nurses is helping in terms of provision of safe and high-quality services and consequently improvement of community health ( Edwards et al., 2018 ). By assessing the roles for PhD graduates in clinical practice, it can be realized that the expected clinical role is promoting health in communities at higher executive and managerial levels, and no direct clinical role for such graduates in the care domain has been taken into consideration. In contrast, in Iran, planning, implementation, and evaluation of nursing services, working with healthcare teams, as well as patient follow-up after discharge, have been considered as responsibilities of PhD graduated nurses, while the defined positions for playing these roles have been not considered ( The Iranian Curriculum of PhD in Nursing, 2017 ). Additionally, the lack of well-defined and purposeful program have faced students with more confusion. There is no doubt about the role that nurses can play in clinical practice, but if nurses with PhD degrees have the same responsibilities assumed by other nursing groups, what is the need to spend money, time, and manpower to train nursing doctorates.

Certainly, DNP has a different definition of PhD. Accordingly, there are different programs, goals, missions, and job positions ( Oermann et al., 2016 ). The launch of the DNP program alongside PhD in nursing as a separate discipline considering educational infrastructure, manpower, working environment, community acceptance, and … can be debated; however, the problem is to what extent the integration of these two programs will be practical.

Research and Investigation

The goal of the PhD programs is to prepare nursing students to produce new knowledge, develop the profession, and improve the quality of healthcare and health policies that are possible in the light of research studies. Therefore, one of the expected roles of PhD students in nursing is the ability to carry out applied research ( Henly et al., 2015 ). Now, in the PhD Programs in Nursing in Iran (2017), students are required to fulfill a final research dissertation. In fact, one of the prominent roles of PhD graduated nurses is setting up and conducting proper and high-quality research. Thus, PhD students can identify concepts and structures of their interest, study their relationships, develop predicted models, and finally test them. The result can be the production of new knowledge for the nursing profession. However, AACN (2013) and Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education ( The Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education [QAAHE], 2011 ) in the United Kingdom have expressed concerns about the quality of PhD theses.

It seems that attention to the quantity of the dissertations, limited research areas, and lack of interest in fundamental subjects, along with the prolongation of the research period, can all reduce the quality of research in PhD programs in nursing.

Leadership and Policy-Making

Although the tasks of governments or nursing leaders appointed to state affairs are policy-making, the presence of nurses in policy-making can improve nursing performance and consequently increase the quality of care services ( Sullivan & Garland, 2010 ).

More than any other efforts up to the present, the IOM report (2011) has encouraged nurses to make changes in policies. According to this report, nurses have been called on to enhance their leadership capacities in order to design, implement, and support health policies that affect community health.

In recent years, Iranian nurses have tried to increase their participation in policy-making in nursing affairs although the status of nurses in the domain of policy-making is not still clear enough ( Ministry of Health Policy Making Council, 2014 ).

It is also obvious that PhD graduated nurses have the most important role in shaping leadership. In the curriculum ( The Iranian Curriculum of PhD in Nursing, 2017 ), there are at least eight to ten leadership responsibilities that have been listed for PhD graduated nurses. It is also believed that the endpoint of the nursing profession is a leadership position to provide nursing services or train nurses. Accordingly, the PhD degree puts more emphasis on the leadership position of nurses, particularly in clinical practice. Moreover, it is claimed that nursing managers should benefit from the cooperation of PhD nurses in decision-making processes ( Brar et al., 2010 ).

In regard to the preparation of PhD graduated nurses to assume leadership and policy-making roles, there are still ambiguities. Recently, two units of policy-making have been included in the nursing syllabus, but they have not been enough and also failed to prepare nurses for such situations. Therefore, it seems necessary to change the goals and the plans of PhD programs in nursing in order to prepare nurses to take on leadership and policy-making roles in the future.

On the other hand, due to the lack of a precise definition for organizational positions in leadership and policy-making groups in the Ministry of Health or at hospitals, graduates have no idea of employment in such organizations. Moreover, the terms “cooperation” or “participation” have been used in the responsibilities listed in the curriculum and independent roles have not been considered for PhD graduated nurses.

Study Limitations

One of the limitations of this study was the difficulty of fully accessing up-to-date and reliable sources. However, the best and most reliable sources were selected and retrieved according to the situation and needs.

Conclusion and Recommendations

The Doctor of Philosophy graduated nurses are expected to play the roles of agents for the development of the body of knowledge and nursing profession, as well as for educators, researchers, leaders, policy-makers, and professional consultants. Nevertheless, one of the major challenges facing nursing education is ambiguity in defining the roles of nursing graduates particularly those with PhD degrees (Bunkers, 2001). The definition of nursing roles can be challenging because studies in many countries have indicated disruptions in roles as well as overlaps ( Chiarella & McInnes, 2010 )

There is much evidence that PhD programs in nursing do not prepare graduates for their roles and responsibilities ( Booth et al., 2016 ). In general, the relationships between doctoral education, expectations, and career roles for PhD graduated nurses have not been well defined ( Agger et al., 2014 ; Bullin, 2018 ). Therefore, for possessing graduates with multiple abilities and multiple tasks, there is a need for the enrichment of the curriculum, defining clear roles, and proper preparation to achieve these roles ( Adib-Hajbaghery & Hosieni, 2018 ).

It seems that PhD programs lasting for 4–5 years have failed to create the competency required to provide these complex, broad, and sometimes cooperating roles with other medical and nursing staff. On the other hand, the working environment is not ready to accept these graduates.

As a whole, all the expected roles of PhD graduated nurses need further clarifications and there is a need to think about the consistency between curriculums and roles, as well as the establishment of better relationships between academic settings and educational programs and organizations providing job opportunities.

Educational planning to achieve the competency to accept the roles needed for the market in order to meet the needs of communities and the nursing profession is worthwhile because the type of investments in an educational system will be equal to its outputs. Therefore, the type of perspectives to educational programs can direct human resource policy. Therefore, the results of this study, while reporting the situation in Iran, should be considered as a basis for expanding awareness of the challenges in this field, and the authorities should find a solution in the field with proper planning.

This article provides an overview of the expected role of nursing PhD graduates around the world with a special focus on nursing PhD graduates in Iran and discusses its challenges. Obviously, because of cultural differences and the educational and care structure of each country, roles and expectations will be different. Therefore, it is suggested that this issue be discussed in several countries and a solution be found to its challenges.

Peer Review: Externally peer-reviewed.

Author Contributions: Concept – S.K., R.N.; Design S.K., R.N.; Supervision – R.N.; Resources – S.K., R.N.; Materials – S.K., R.N.; Data Collection and/or Processing – S.K.; Analysis and/or Interpretation – S.K., R.N.; Literature Search – S.K., R.N.; Writing Manuscript – S.K.; Critical Review – R.N.

Declaration of Interests: The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.

Funding: The authors declared that this study has received no financial support.

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• Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering >
• PhD Program >
• PhD Degree Requirements >

Operations Research

Degree concentration for phd, industrial engineering.

Operations Research (OR) is the application of scientific and especially mathematical methods to the study and analysis of problems involving complex systems. 

PhD students interested in OR apply methods such as mathematical programming, stochastic modeling, and discrete-event simulation to the solution of problems in complex systems such as logistics, supply chain optimization, long-range planning, energy and environmental systems, urban and health systems, and manufacturing.

We have an active student body - in fact, UB hosts one of the founding chapters of Omega Rho, the National Operations Research Honor Society. Students are also active participants in the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS).

Our faculty and students conduct OR research funded by such agencies as the National Science Foundation, the Office of Naval Research, the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Transportation and the National Institute of Justice, as well as national and local corporations and foundations such as United Airlines, Praxair, Lockheed Martin, Boeing, and the Fire Protection Research Foundation. We often work in teams with faculty and students with research interests in manufacturing, production systems and human factors to solve problems beyond the expertise of any single discipline.

Graduating students take positions in national and international corporations, academic institutions and research laboratories. 

Required Core Courses

ISE PhD students who concentrate in OR complete at a minimum:

• IE 572 Linear Programming
• IE 573 Discrete Optimization
• IE 575 Stochastic Methods
• IE 576 Applied Stochastic Processes
• IE 5xx/6xx Operations Research/IE Elective
• IE 555 Programming for Analytics (Must be completed within the first two years of the program) 

PhD student vs PhD researcher – Are they the same thing?

There is often some confusion amongst PhD students and members of the public about what a PhD student versus PhD research really is. This is mainly because there is no standard definition for what either of these terms really means.

Having spent 15 years in academia I can tell you that there is generally a rule that can be followed.

There is some overlap between the roles of a PhD student and a PhD researcher, but they are not exactly the same thing. A PhD student is a student pursuing a doctoral degree, while a PhD researcher can be anyone who is conducting research at the doctoral level, including PhD students, postdocs, and faculty members. However, in practice, the terms PhD student and PhD researcher are often used interchangeably.

The confusion comes from the fact that a PhD research is the broadest term that can describe:

• PhD students
• postdoctoral researchers
• PhD qualified research assistance
• in any other PhD qualified researcher

PhD student is a much narrower descriptor and can be described as a PhD researcher.

Not all PhD researchers PhD students, but all PhD students on PhD researchers.

What is a PhD student researcher?

Although there is no strict definition for what a PhD student researcher is, here is what I believe most academics will understand it to be.

A PhD student researcher is a PhD student who is pursuing a PhD qualification through research, typically at a university. They have a masters degree and are pursuing higher education. 

The primary role of a PhD student researcher is to conduct independent research that leads to the advancement of knowledge and understanding within their subject area.

The research will be conducted will be under the guidance of a PhD supervisor.

This may involve:

• studying existing literature,
• developing new theories,
•  conducting experiments or surveys,
• analyzing data, and
• writing papers for publication.

A PhD student researcher is expected to be an independent thinker who can work collaboratively with other researchers and use evidence-based approaches to problem-solving.

A successful PhD student researcher must be able to think critically, creatively, and analytically about problems and have excellent communication skills.

These skills will be built up with the support of your PhD supervisor throughout the course of your degree.

However, is it right for PhD should students to call themselves academic researchers?

Can PhD students call themselves academic researchers?

In my experience, people who call themselves academic researchers typically already hold a PhD.

If you feel comfortable calling yourself an academic researcher while you are pursuing PhD – by all means you should be able to do it.

Just be aware that some people will find this description of your current academic situation in accurate.

But this is not a hard and fast rule and I think that once you have a peer-reviewed publication under your belt it is reasonable to call yourself an academic researcher.

After all, your research has been reviewed and assessed by your peers and deemed good enough to appear in the peer-reviewed literature.

That is probably one of the most important signals which shows that you are capable of independent academic research and therefore you are an academic researcher.

What is the difference between PhD student and PhD researcher?

A PhD student and a PhD researcher are ALMOST the same things.

To some, they are the same.

For most people in academia, however, there would be a slight but important difference between PhD students and PhD researchers.

A PhD student is typically a person who is undertaking their doctoral studies and is actively working towards completing their degree. They may be taking courses, writing papers, or conducting research in order to fulfil the requirements of their program.

On the other hand, a PhD researcher can also be someone who has already completed their degree and is now engaging in further research activities in order to advance knowledge in a specific field or topic.

While both roles involve engaging in research activities, a PhD researcher often has more autonomy over what they are researching as well as the resources available to them for conducting said research.

A person with a PhD and called a PhD researcher often engages in more high-level analysis than what would be required of a PhD student.

You may also call these types of researchers ‘associates’.

Can you call a PhD student a researcher?

Yes, you can call a PhD student a researcher.

The goal of a PhD student during their thesis is to contribute to the knowledge base in the particular field that they are studying.

As such, they are actively engaging in research and should be considered researchers.

They can also do a range of other activities including:

• academic writing
• mentoring (senior PhD students)
• grant writing
• attending conference and symposia and much more.

However, conducting and reporting on research is the most important activity if they are to graduate with a PhD via the submission of a thesis or peer-reviewed papers.

PhD students often collaborate with other researchers and mentor junior faculty members and graduate students in their department or organization.

It is completely appropriate to refer to PhD students as researchers due to their activities advancing knowledge in their chosen field.

Wrapping up

This article has been through everything you need to know that PhD students are usually researchers.

All PhD students are PhD research is not all PhD research is our PhD students.

PhD students are free to call themselves academic researchers if they feel comfortable however some people find that this is a little bit misleading because academic researchers tend to have already completed their PhD.

Dr Andrew Stapleton has a Masters and PhD in Chemistry from the UK and Australia. He has many years of research experience and has worked as a Postdoctoral Fellow and Associate at a number of Universities. Although having secured funding for his own research, he left academia to help others with his YouTube channel all about the inner workings of academia and how to make it work for you.

Thank you for visiting Academia Insider.

We are here to help you navigate Academia as painlessly as possible. We are supported by our readers and by visiting you are helping us earn a small amount through ads and affiliate revenue - Thank you!

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Economics Student Receives CGB PhD International Research Award

The Center for Global Business (CGB) proudly announces the recipient of this year's CIBE PhD International Research Award: Chan Kim , a fifth-year student in the Economics PhD program at the University of Maryland College Park. Kim's groundbreaking proposal delves into the intricate dynamics of international trade, industrial organization, innovation, and productivity growth, addressing critical questions at the heart of U.S. businesses' global competitiveness.

“U.S. businesses’ global competitiveness and overall economic growth are closely tied to their ability to innovate,” says Kim. “Critical to this process are Research and Development (R&D), though they serve different purposes. Research fosters new scientific knowledge, while development applies this knowledge to improve or invent products.”

Kim's research focuses on the evolving landscape of R&D investments within U.S. firms and its implications for long-term innovation capacity and competitiveness. He adeptly navigates the complex interplay between research, which generates broad scientific knowledge, and development, which applies this knowledge to create or enhance products.

The core of Kim's proposal lies in his meticulous analysis of the declining research intensity among U.S. businesses in recent decades, juxtaposed against the surge in development activities. Drawing on comprehensive data and sophisticated modeling techniques, Kim sheds light on the underlying factors driving this trend and its ramifications for both short-term profitability and long-term innovation potential.

“One of Kim's seminal contributions lies in his examination of the nexus between globalization and firms’ innovation strategies,” points out his mentor, Associate Professor of Economics, John Shea. “His research illuminates how intensified global competition compels firms to recalibrate their R&D investments, favoring development efforts over research pursuits.”

Moreover, Kim’s interdisciplinary approach synthesizes insights from various fields such as international trade theory, industrial organization, and innovation economics. This comprehensive approach enables him to develop a robust analytical framework. By clarifying the factors influencing firms' decisions regarding research and development investments, Kim’s model offers valuable insights for crafting effective innovation and trade policies that support the long-term competitiveness of U.S. businesses on the global stage.

The Center for Global Business at the Smith School of Business provides funding for PhD research that aligns with the mission of the CIBE grant, to contribute to the internationalization of business disciplines and/or the global competitiveness of U.S. businesses.

The PhD Award is supported in part by CIBE, a Title VI grant from the U.S. Department of Education.

• Center for Global Business

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About the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business

The Robert H. Smith School of Business is an internationally recognized leader in management education and research. One of 12 colleges and schools at the University of Maryland, College Park, the Smith School offers undergraduate, full-time and flex MBA, executive MBA, online MBA, business master’s, PhD and executive education programs, as well as outreach services to the corporate community. The school offers its degree, custom and certification programs in learning locations in North America and Asia.

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Research in Motion: Roger Anderson, PhD

April 24, 2024 by [email protected]

My research is dedicated to reducing and eliminating social disparities in cancer incidence and outcomes. A lot of my research has been focused on rural cancer disparities, especially in Appalachia, where we see high rates of incidence and mortality from breast cancer, colorectal cancer, cervical cancer, and lung cancer. —Roger Anderson, PhD, Professor, Department of Public Health Sciences

To watch more  Research in Motion  videos in this series:

• Visit our  School of Medicine website research landing page
• Sign-up for our  weekly newsletter  Medicine in Motion  or the  SOM’s YouTube channel

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Driving Innovations in Biostatistics with Denise Scholtens, PhD

“I'm continually surprised by new data types. I think that we will see the emergence of a whole new kind of technology that we probably can't even envision five years from now…When I think about where the field has come over the past 20 years, it's just phenomenal.”  —  Denise Scholtens, PhD  

• Director, Northwestern University Data Analysis and Coordinating Center (NUDACC)  
• Chief of Biostatistics in the Department of Preventive Medicine  
• Professor of Preventive Medicine in the Division of Biostatistics and of Neurological Surgery  
• Member of Northwestern University Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute (NUCATS)  
• Member of the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center  

Episode Notes 

Since arriving at Feinberg in 2004, Scholtens has played a central role in the dramatic expansion of biostatistics at the medical school. Now the Director of NUDACC, Scholtens brings her expertise and leadership to large-scale, multicenter studies that can lead to clinical and public health practice decision-making.    

• After discovering her love of statistics as a high school math teacher, Scholtens studied bioinformatics in a PhD program before arriving at Feinberg in 2004.  
• Feinberg’s commitment to biostatistics has grown substantially in recent decades. Scholtens was only one of five biostatisticians when she arrived. Now she is part of a division with almost 50 people.  
• She says being a good biostatistician requires curiosity about other people’s work, knowing what questions to ask and tenacity to understand subtitles of so much data.   
• At NUDACC, Scholtens and her colleagues specialize in large-scale, multicenter prospective studies and clinical trials that lead to clinical or public health practice decision-making. They operate at the executive level and oversee all aspects of the study design.  
• Currently, Scholtens is involved with the launch of a large study, along with The Ohio State University, that received a $14 million grant to look at the effectiveness of aspirin in the prevention of hypertensive disorders in pregnancy.  
• Scholtens first started her work in data coordinating through the Hyperglycemia Adverse Pregnancy Outcome (HAPO) study, which looked at 25,000 pregnant individuals. This led to a continued interest in fetal and maternal health.   
• When it comes to supportive working environments, Scholtens celebrates the culture at Feinberg, and especially her division in biostatistics, for being collaborative as well as genuinely supportive of each other’s projects. She attributes this to strong leadership which established a culture with these guiding principles.   

Additional Reading  

• Read more about the ASPIRIN trial and other projects taking place at NUDACC   
• Discover a study linking mothers’ obesity-related genes to babies’ birth weight, which Scholtens worked in through the HAPO study   
• Browse all of Scholtens recent publications 

Recorded on February 21, 2024.

Continuing Medical Education Credit

Physicians who listen to this podcast may claim continuing medical education credit after listening to an episode of this program..

Target Audience

Academic/Research, Multiple specialties

Learning Objectives

At the conclusion of this activity, participants will be able to:

• Identify the research interests and initiatives of Feinberg faculty.
• Discuss new updates in clinical and translational research.

Accreditation Statement

The Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) to provide continuing medical education for physicians.

Credit Designation Statement

The Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine designates this Enduring Material for a maximum of 0.50  AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™.  Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

American Board of Surgery Continuous Certification Program

Successful completion of this CME activity enables the learner to earn credit toward the CME requirement(s) of the American Board of Surgery’s Continuous Certification program. It is the CME activity provider's responsibility to submit learner completion information to ACCME for the purpose of granting ABS credit.

All the relevant financial relationships for these individuals have been mitigated.

Disclosure Statement

Denise Scholtens, PhD, has nothing to disclose.  Course director, Robert Rosa, MD, has nothing to disclose. Planning committee member, Erin Spain, has nothing to disclose.  FSM’s CME Leadership, Review Committee, and Staff have no relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies to disclose.

Read the Full Transcript

[00:00:00] Erin Spain, MS: This is Breakthroughs, a podcast from Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. I'm Erin Spain, host of the show. Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine is home to a team of premier faculty and staff biostatisticians, who are the driving force of data analytic innovation and excellence here. Today, we are talking with Dr. Denise Scholtens, a leader in biostatistics at Northwestern, about the growing importance of the field, and how she leverages her skills to collaborate on several projects in Maternal and Fetal Health. She is the Director of the Northwestern University Data Analysis and Coordinating Center, NUDACC, and Chief of Biostatistics in the Department of Preventive Medicine, as well as Professor of Preventive Medicine and Neurological Surgery. Welcome to the show.  

[00:01:02] Denise Scholtens, PhD: Thank you so much.  

[00:01:02] Erin Spain, MS: So you have said in the past that you were drawn to this field of biostatistics because you're interested in both math and medicine, but not interested in becoming a clinician. Tell me about your path into the field and to Northwestern.  

[00:01:17] Denise Scholtens, PhD: You're right. I have always been interested in both math and medicine. I knew I did not want to be involved in clinical care. Originally, fresh out of college, I was a math major and I taught high school math for a couple of years. I really enjoyed that, loved the kids, loved the teaching parts of things. Interestingly enough, my department chair at the time assigned me to teach probability and statistics to high school seniors. I had never taken a statistics course before, so I was about a week ahead of them in our classes and found that I just really enjoyed the discipline. So as much as I loved teaching, I did decide to go ahead and invest in this particular new area that I had found and I really enjoyed. So I wanted to figure out how I could engage in the field of statistics. Decided to see, you know, exactly how studying statistics could be applied to medicine. At the time, Google was brand new. So I literally typed in the two words math and medicine to see what would come up. And the discipline of biostatistics is what Google generated. And so here I am, I applied to grad school and it's been a great fit for me.  

[00:02:23] Erin Spain, MS: Oh, that's fantastic. So you went on to get a PhD, and then you came to Northwestern in 2004. And so tell me a little bit about the field then and how it's changed so dramatically since.  

[00:02:36] Denise Scholtens, PhD: So yes, I started here at Northwestern in 2004, just a few months after I had defended my thesis. At the time there was really an emerging field of study called bioinformatics. So I wrote my thesis in the space of genomics data analysis with what at the time was a brand new technology, microarrays. This was the first way we could measure gene transcription at a high throughput level. So I did my thesis work in that space. I studied at an institution with a lot of strengths and very classical statistics. So things that we think of in biostatistics like clinical trial design, observational study analysis, things like that. So I had really classic biostatistics training and then complimented that with sort of these emerging methods with these high dimensional data types. So I came to Northwestern here and I sort of felt like I lived in two worlds. I had sort of classic biostat clinical trials, which were certainly, you know, happening here. And, that work was thriving here at Northwestern, but I had this kind of new skillset, and I just didn't quite know how to bring the two together. That was obviously a long time ago, 20 years ago. Now we think of personalized medicine and genomic indicators for treatment and, you know, there's a whole variety of omics data variations on the theme that are closely integrated with clinical and population level health research. So there's no longer any confusion for me about how those two things come together. You know, they're two disciplines that very nicely complement each other. But yeah, I think that does speak to how the field has changed, you know, these sort of classic biostatistics methods are really nicely blended with a lot of high dimensional data types. And it's been fun to be a part of that.  

[00:04:17] Erin Spain, MS: There were only a handful of folks like you at Northwestern at the time. Tell me about now and the demand for folks with your skill set.  

[00:04:26] Denise Scholtens, PhD: When I came to Northwestern, I was one of a very small handful of biostatistics faculty. There were five of us. We were not even called a division of biostatistics. We were just here as the Department of Preventive Medicine. And a lot of the work we did was really very tightly integrated with the epidemiologists here in our department and we still do a lot of that for sure. There was also some work going on with the Cancer Center here at Northwestern. But yeah, a pretty small group of us, who has sort of a selected set of collaborations. You know, I contrast that now to our current division of biostatistics where we are over 20s, pushing 25, depending on exactly how you want to count. Hoping to bring a couple of new faculty on board this calendar year. We have a staff of about 25 statistical analysts. And database managers and programmers. So you know, when I came there were five faculty members and I think two master's level staff. We are now pushing, you know, pushing 50 people in our division here so it's a really thriving group.  

[00:05:26] Erin Spain, MS: in your opinion, what makes a good biostatistician? Do you have to have a little bit of a tough skin to be in this field?  

Denise Scholtens, PhD: I do think it's a unique person who wants to be a biostatistician. There are a variety of traits that can lead to success in this space. First of all, I think it's helpful to be wildly curious about somebody else's work. To be an excellent collaborative biostatistician, you have to be able to learn the language of another discipline. So some other clinical specialty or public health application. Another trait that makes a biostatistician successful is to be able to ask the right questions about data that will be collected or already have been collected. So understanding the subtleties there, the study design components that lead to why we have the data that we have. You know, a lot of our data, you could think of it in a simple flat file, right? Like a Microsoft Excel file with rows and columns. That certainly happens a lot, but there are a lot of incredibly innovative data types out there: wearables technology, imaging data, all kinds of high dimensional data. So I think a tenacity to understand all of the subtleties of those data and to be able to ask the right questions. And then I think for a biostatistician at a medical school like ours, being able to blend those two things, so understanding what the data are and what you have to work with and what you're heading toward, but then also facilitating the translation of those analytic findings for the audience that really wants to understand them. So for the clinicians, for the patients, for participants and the population that the findings would apply to.   

Erin Spain, MS: It must feel good, though, in those situations where you are able to help uncover something to improve a study or a trial.  

[00:07:07] Denise Scholtens, PhD: It really does. This is a job that's easy to get out of bed for in the morning. There's a lot of really good things that happen here. It's exciting to know that the work we do could impact clinical practice, could impact public health practice. I think in any job, you know, you can sometimes get bogged down by the amount of work or the difficulty of the work or the back and forth with team members. There's just sort of all of the day to day grind, but to be able to take a step back and remember the actual people who are affected by our own little niche in this world. It's an incredibly helpful and motivating practice that I often keep to remember exactly why I'm doing what I'm doing and who I'm doing it for.  

[00:07:50] Erin Spain, MS: Well, and another important part of your work is that you are a leader. You are leading the center, NUDACC, that you mentioned, Northwestern University Data Analysis and Coordinating Center. Now, this has been open for about five years. Tell me about the center and why it's so crucial to the future of the field.  

[00:08:08] Denise Scholtens, PhD: We specialize at NUDACC in large scale, multicenter prospective studies. So these are the clinical trials or the observational studies that often, most conclusively, lead to clinical or public health practice decision making. We focus specifically on multicenter work. Because it requires a lot of central coordination and we've specifically built up our NUDACC capacity to handle these multi center investigations where we have a centralized database, we have centralized and streamlined data quality assurance pipelines. We can help with central team leadership and organization for large scale networks. So we have specifically focused on those areas. There's a whole lot of project management and regulatory expertise that we have to complement our data analytics strengths as well. I think my favorite part of participating in these studies is we get involved at the very beginning. We are involved in executive level planning of these studies. We oversee all components of study design. We are intimately involved in the development of the data capture systems. And in the QA of it. We do all of this work on the front end so that we get all of the fun at the end with the statistics and can analyze data that we know are scientifically sound, are well collected, and can lead to, you know, really helpful scientific conclusions.  

[00:09:33] Erin Spain, MS: Tell me about that synergy between the clinicians and the other investigators that you're working with on these projects.  

[00:09:41] Denise Scholtens, PhD: It is always exciting, often entertaining. Huge range of scientific opinion and expertise and points of view, all of which are very valid and very well informed. All of the discussion that could go into designing and launching a study, it's just phenomenally interesting and trying to navigate all of that and help bring teams to consensus in terms of what is scientifically most relevant, what's going to be most impactful, what is possible given the logistical strengths. Taking all of these well informed, valid, scientific points of view and being a part of the team that helps integrate them all toward a cohesive study design and a well executed study. That's a unique part of the challenge that we face here at NUDACC, but an incredibly rewarding one. It's also such an honor and a gift to be able to work with such a uniformly gifted set of individuals. Just the clinical researchers who devote themselves to these kinds of studies are incredibly generous, incredibly thoughtful and have such care for their patients and the individuals that they serve, that to be able to sit with them and think about the next steps for a great study is a really unique privilege.  

[00:10:51] Erin Spain, MS: How unique is a center like this at a medical school?  

[00:10:55] Denise Scholtens, PhD: It's fairly unique to have a center like this at a medical school. Most of the premier medical research institutions do have some level of data coordinating center capacity. We're certainly working toward trying to be one of the nation's best, absolutely, and build up our capacity for doing so. I'm actually currently a part of a group of data coordinating centers where it's sort of a grassroots effort right now to organize ourselves and come up with, you know, some unified statements around the gaps that we see in our work, the challenges that we face strategizing together to improve our own work and to potentially contribute to each other's work. I think maybe the early beginnings of a new professional organization for data coordinating centers. We have a meeting coming up of about, I think it's 12 to 15 different institutions, academic research institutions, specifically medical schools that have centers like ours to try to talk through our common pain points and also celebrate our common victories.  

[00:11:51] Erin Spain, MS: I want to shift gears a little bit to talk about some of your research collaborations, many of which focus on maternal and fetal health and pregnancy. You're now involved with a study with folks at the Ohio State University that received a 14 million grant looking at the effectiveness of aspirin in the prevention of hypertensive disorders in pregnancy. Tell me about this work.  

[00:12:14] Denise Scholtens, PhD: Yes, this is called the aspirin study. I suppose not a very creative name, but a very appropriate one. What we'll be doing in this study is looking at two different doses of aspirin for trying to prevent maternal hypertensive disorders of pregnancy in women who are considered at high risk for these disorders. This is a huge study. Our goal is to enroll 10,742 participants. This will take place at 11 different centers across the nation. And yes, we at NUDACC will serve as the data coordinating center here, and we are partnering with the Ohio State University who will house the clinical coordinating center. So this study is designed to look at two different doses to see which is more effective at preventing hypertensive disorders of pregnancy. So that would include gestational hypertension and preeclampsia. What's really unique about this study and the reason that it is so large is that it is specifically funded to look at what's called a heterogeneity of treatment effect. What that is is a difference in the effectiveness of aspirin in preventing maternal hypertensive disorders, according to different subgroups of women. We'll specifically have sufficient statistical power to test for differences in treatment effectiveness. And we have some high priority subgroups that we'll be looking at. One is a self-identified race. There's been a noted disparity in maternal hypertensive disorders, for individuals who self identify according to different races. And so we will be powered to see if aspirin has comparable effectiveness and hopefully even better effectiveness for the groups who really need it, to bring those rates closer to equity which is, you know, certainly something we would very strongly desire to see. We'll also be able to look at subgroups of women according to obesity, according to maternal age at pregnancy, according to the start time of aspirin when aspirin use is initiated during pregnancy. So that's why the trial is so huge. For a statistician, the statisticians out there who might be listening, this is powered on a statistical interaction term, which doesn't happen very often. So it's exciting that the trial is funded in that way.  

[00:14:27] Erin Spain, MS: Tell me a little bit more about this and how your specific skills are going to be utilized in this study.  

[00:14:32] Denise Scholtens, PhD: Well, there are three biostatistics faculty here at Northwestern involved in this. So we're definitely dividing and conquering. Right now, we're planning this study and starting to stand it up. So we're developing our statistical analysis plans. We're developing the database. We are developing our randomization modules. So this is the piece of the study where participants are randomized to which dose of aspirin they're going to receive. Because of all of the subgroups that we're planning to study, we need to make especially sure that the assignments of which dose of aspirin are balanced within and across all of those subgroups. So we're going to be using some adaptive randomization techniques to ensure that that balance is there. So there's some fun statistical and computer programming innovation that will be applied to accomplish those things. So right now, there are usually two phases of a study that are really busy for us. That's starting to study up and that's where we are. And so yes, it is very busy for us right now. And then at the end, you know, in five years or so, once recruitment is over, then we analyze all the data,  

[00:15:36] Erin Spain, MS: Are there any guidelines out there right now about the use of aspirin in pregnancy. What do you hope that this could accomplish?  

 Prescribing aspirin use for the prevention of hypertension during pregnancy is not uncommon at all. That is actually fairly routinely done, but that it's not outcomes based in terms of which dosage is most effective. So 81 milligrams versus 162 milligrams. That's what we will be evaluating. And my understanding is that clinicians prescribe whatever they think is better, and I'm sure those opinions are very well informed but there is very little outcome based evidence for this in this particular population that we'll be studying. So that would be the goal here, would be to hopefully very conclusively say, depending on the rates of the hypertensive disorders that we see in our study, which of the two doses of aspirin is more effective. Importantly, we will also be tracking any side effects of taking aspirin. And so that's also very much often a part of the evaluation of You know, taking a, taking a drug, right, is how safe is it? So we'll be tracking that very closely as well. Another unique part of this study is that we will be looking at factors that help explain aspirin adherence. So we are going to recommend that participants take their dose of aspirin daily. We don't necessarily expect that's always going to happen, so we are going to measure how much of their prescribed dose they are actually taking and then look at, you know, factors that contribute to that. So be they, you know, social determinants of health or a variety of other things that we'll investigate to try to understand aspirin adherence, and then also model the way in which that adherence could have affected outcomes.  

Erin Spain, MS: This is not the first study that you've worked on involving maternal and fetal health. Tell me about your interest in this particular area, this particular field, and some of the other work that you've done.  

[00:17:31] Denise Scholtens, PhD: So I actually first got my start in data coordinating work through the HAPO study. HAPO stands for Hyperglycemia Adverse Pregnancy Outcome. That study was started here at Northwestern before I arrived. Actually recruitment to the study occurred between 2000 and 2006. Northwestern served as the central coordinating center for that study. It was an international study of 25,000 pregnant individuals who were recruited and then outcomes were evaluated both in moms and newborns. When I was about mid career here, all the babies that were born as a part of HAPO were early teenagers. And so we conducted a follow up study on the HAPO cohort. So that's really when I got involved. It was my first introduction to being a part of a coordinating center. As I got into it, though, I saw the beauty of digging into all of these details for a huge study like this and then saw these incredible resources that were accumulated through the conduct of such a large study. So the data from the study itself is, was of course, a huge resource. But then also we have all of these different samples that sit in a biorepository, right? So like usually blood sample collection is a big part of a study like this. So all these really fun ancillary studies could spin off of the HAPO study. So we did some genomics work. We did some metabolomics work. We've integrated the two and what's called integrated omics. So, you know, my work in this space really started in the HAPO study. And I have tremendously enjoyed integrating these high dimensional data types that have come from these really rich data resources that have all, you know, resulted because of this huge multicenter longitudinal study. So I kind of accidentally fell into the space of maternal and fetal health, to be honest. But I just became phenomenally interested in it and it's been a great place.  

[00:19:24] Erin Spain, MS: Would you say that this is also a population that hasn't always been studied very much in biomedical science?  

[00:19:32] Denise Scholtens, PhD: I think that that is true, for sure. There are some unique vulnerabilities, right, for a pregnant individual and for the fetus, right, and in that situation. You know, the vast majority of what we do is really only pertaining to the pregnant participant but, you know, there are certainly fetal outcomes, newborn outcomes. And so, I think conducting research in this particular population is a unique opportunity and there are components of it that need to be treated with special care given sort of this unique phase of human development and this unique phase of life.  

[00:20:03] Erin Spain, MS: So, as data generation just really continues to explode, and technology is advancing so fast, faster than ever, where do you see this field evolving, the field of biostatistics, where do you see it going in the next five to ten years?  

[00:20:19] Denise Scholtens, PhD: That's a great question. I think all I can really tell you is that I'm continually surprised by new data types. I think that we will see an emergence of a whole new kind of technology that we probably can't even envision five years from now. And I think that the fun part about being a biostatistician is seeing what's happening and then trying to wrap your mind around the possibilities and the actual nature of the data that are collected. You know, I think back to 2004 and this whole high throughput space just felt so big. You know, we could look at gene transcription across the genome using one technology. And we could only look at one dimension of it. Right now it just seems so basic. When I think about where the field has come over the past 20 years, it's just phenomenal. I think we're seeing a similar emergence of the scale and the type of data in the imaging space and in the wearable space, with EHR data, just. You know, all these different technologies for capturing, capturing things that we just never even conceived of before. I do hope that we continue to emphasize making meaningful and translatable conclusions from these data. So actionable conclusions that can impact the way that we care for others around us. I do hope that remains a guiding principle in all that we do.  

[00:21:39] Erin Spain, MS: Why is Northwestern Medicine and Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine such a supportive environment to pursue this type of work?  

[00:21:47] Denise Scholtens, PhD: That's a wonderful question and one, honestly, that faculty candidates often ask me. When we bring faculty candidates in to visit here at Northwestern, they immediately pick up on the fact that we are a collaborative group of individuals who are for each other. Who want to see each other succeed, who are happy to share the things that we know and support each other's work, and support each other's research, and help strategize around the things that we want to accomplish. There is a strong culture here, at least in my department and in my division that I've really loved that continues to persist around really genuinely collaborating and genuinely sharing lessons learned and genuinely supporting each other as we move toward common goals. We've had some really strong, generous leadership who has helped us to get there and has helped create a culture where those are the guiding principles. In my leadership role is certainly something that I strive to maintain. Really hope that's true. I'm sure I don't do it perfectly but that's absolutely something I want to see accomplished here in the division and in NUDACC for sure.  

[00:22:50] Erin Spain, MS: Well, thank you so much for coming on the show and telling us about your path here to Northwestern and all of the exciting work that we can look forward to in the coming years.  

[00:22:59] Denise Scholtens, PhD: Thank you so much for having me. I've really enjoyed this.  

[00:23:01] Erin Spain, MS: You can listen to shows from the Northwestern Medicine Podcast Network to hear more about the latest developments in medical research, health care, and medical education. Leaders from across specialties speak to topics ranging from basic science to global health to simulation education. Learn more at feinberg. northwestern.edu/podcasts.