phd in education hse

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PhD in Health Sciences Education

• Master of Arts in Educational Psychology
• Graduate Certificate in Foundations of Health Sciences Education
• Medical and Health Sciences Education Electives
• Meakins Fellowship
• Class of Medicine 1970 Educational Award for Teaching Excellence and Innovation

Applications for Fall 2025 will open on September 15, 2024.

The PhD in Health Sciences Education is a unique, interdisciplinary and interprofessional program offered by McGill University’s Institute of Health Sciences Education (IHSE), within the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences.

This program uses a theoretical approach to guide aspiring researchers in health professions and health sciences education (HSE) to develop the skills to make conceptually informed design and methodological choices in their research projects.

After completing the program, students will join a new, innovative and fast-growing field in the health sciences, where researchers from a broad range of disciplines contribute practice-informed evidence that advances:

• societal health and well-being
• the quality and safety of patient care
• the education of the next generation of health care professionals.

As PhD students are based at the IHSE, a unit specially devoted to the field in Canada, they will also gain opportunities for networking, collaboration and mentorship, as well as access to research and clinical sites.

The PhD program is offered on a full-time and part-time basis at the IHSE, located on the McGill University campus in downtown Montreal.  

Who should apply?

This program is designed for qualified candidates from various disciplines (e.g. health professions, biomedical and natural sciences, humanities and social sciences, and education) who possess a strong background in teaching, mentoring, coaching and educational scholarship.

As this program focuses on theoretical perspectives and research design, it is expected that candidates aspire to produce original and theoretically informed research and contribute to new evidence within HSE.

Accepted candidates will be eager to develop expertise in research, educational scholarship, knowledge translation (including written and oral communication), leadership, research mentoring, capacity building, career development and grant writing.

Structure and Delivery

This four-year PhD program covers a broad spectrum of topics within health professions education and health sciences education.

Completing the PhD program involves:

• completing mandatory courses (see below) that focus on theoretical perspectives of relevant topics and research design during the first two years
• completing an advanced methodology course of the student’s choosing
• passing a comprehensive written and oral examination, which will cover the content of the mandatory courses and the student’s own research project
• producing, submitting and defending a PhD thesis, as an original and theoretically informed contribution to health sciences education.

During the third year, students are expected to continue to work on their thesis and are expected to submit their thesis by the end of the fourth year. Students will also deliver an oral defense of their research project.  

Course Information and Assessment

The following courses in the PhD program are mandatory in the first two years of the program:

Health Sciences Education: The relationship between research knowledge and health educational practice, including the continuum of knowledge creation and engagement; education and healthcare systems, including research on: policy, governance and regulation; program design and teaching and learning approaches in health sciences education (HSE); assessment and evaluation frameworks, including: quantitative and qualitative approaches; social accountability in HSE and HSE research including: equity, diversity and inclusion; and professional research skills, including: research management, academic communication in various genres, and research supervision.

Offered by: Health Sciences Education

• Prerequisite: Permission of the Instructor
• Students must register for both HSED 702D1 and HSED 702D2
• No credit will be given for this course unless both HSED 702D1 and HSED 702D2 are successfully completed in consecutive terms
• Language of instruction is English.
• Peter I Nugus, Maryam Wagner, Carlos A Gomez-Garibello

Health Sciences Education: For description see HSED 702D1 .

• Prerequisite: HSED 702D1
• Winter 2025

Health Sciences Education: Various frameworks, theories and methodologies that contribute to health sciences education (HSE) research, and how these elements fit together to make a particular project coherent. Examination of the character of inter-disciplinary academic contributions and foci in HSE research. Emphasis on different types of research perspectives (such as constructionism, postmodernism and positivism) and approaches (qualitative, quantitative, participatory and mixed-methods).

• Language of Instruction is English.
• Meredith E Young

Health Sciences Education: An examination process covering two components: a written component and an oral component. Submission of a written proposal for examination which, following responses or amendments and re-examination, is the basis of an oral examination. The comprehensive examination must be passed by all doctoral candidates in order to continue in the doctoral program.

• Prerequisites: HSED 702 , HSED 703
• Language of instruction is English
• Peter I Nugus

Program Details

Instructors and supervisors.

Tamara Carver , PhD, Director of the Office of Ed-TECH, Associate Professor, Institute of Health Sciences Education and Associate Member, Department of Surgery

Carlos Gomez-Garibello , PhD, Assistant Professor, Institute of Health Sciences Education

Jason M. Harley , MA, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Surgery and Associate Member, Institute of Health Sciences Education

Elizabeth Anne Kinsella , MAdEd, PhD, Director and Full Professor, Institute of Health Sciences Education and Associate Member, School of Physical and Occupational Therapy

Sylvie Lambert , RN, PhD, Associate Professor, Ingram School of Nursing and Principal Scientist, St. Mary’s Research Centre

Monica Molinaro , PhD, Assistant Professor, Institute of Health Sciences Education

Peter Nugus , MA (Hons), MEd, PhD, Associate Professor and Associate Director (Graduate Programs), Institute of Health Sciences Education and Associate Member, Department of Family Medicine and Department of Oncology

David Ragsdale , PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery at the Montreal Neurological Institute and Associate Member, Institute of Health Sciences Education

Charo Rodríguez , MD, MSc, PhD, Professor, Department of Family Medicine and Associate Member, Institute of Health Sciences Education

Linda Snell , MD, MHPE, Professor and Associate Director (Outreach), Institute of Health Sciences Education and Professor, Department of Medicine

Yvonne Steinert , PhD, CM, Professor, Department of Family Medicine and Faculty Member, Institute of Health Sciences Education

Aliki Thomas , PhD, OT, Associate Professor, School of Physical and Occupational Therapy and Associate Member, Institute of Health Sciences Education

Maryam Wagner , BSc, BEd, MEd, PhD, Assistant Professor, Institute of Health Sciences Education

Meredith Young , BSc, PhD, Associate Director (Research) and Associate Professor, Institute of Health Sciences Education

Admission Requirements

Applicants must apply through McGill University's Slate application system . To be considered for this program, candidates must provide:

• An indicative research proposal (two pages, including references). Although this is not expected to be a complete or final proposal, it should show that the candidate has given thought to the appropriate design and conduct of a research proposal that is situated in the field of health sciences education. It is suggested that the candidate use headings, such as Introduction/Background, Methodology and Expected Contributions.
• The transcripts of the applicant should show a Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) of at least 3.4 out of a possible maximum CGPA of 4.0, or a GPA of 3.6 out of 4.0 for the last two years of full-time studies.
• A personal statement (1-2 pages)
• A Curriculum Vitae (CV) identifying the candidate’s formal qualifications, scholarly outputs, background or experience as an educator, work experience, any relevant prizes received, any financial awards/grants received for scholarly work, and any community or professional service that would demonstrate potential contribution to and engagement with the IHSE community.
• A writing sample (no more than 10 pages) that should showcase the candidate’s writing ability. It could be a published article, book chapter or assignment submitted in a previous course.
• Two written references, which should convey the candidate’s ability, attitude, commitment, productivity and work ethic, that would enable them to successfully complete a PhD in Health Sciences Education.

The Slate application system has separate sections for uploading transcripts and details of referees. Other documents need to be uploaded under “Supporting Documents”. Candidates are also expected to attend an online or in-person interview with the prospective supervisor and the Associate Director (Graduate Programs) prior to or during the application process.

We expect candidates to ensure they meet the full criteria for admission before applying.

Research Domains

Students can choose from a range of topics within HSE research for their research project. At the IHSE, members are engaged in a wide variety of educational topics related to health care, including:

• Professionalism and Professional Identity Formation
• Faculty Development and Continuing Professional Development
• Innovations in Teaching and Learning
• Assessment and Program Evaluation
• Decision-Making and Clinical Reasoning
• Education and Health Care Systems

Cutting across these domains are the following principles and strategies, which reflect the IHSE’s commitment to patient- and learner-centred research:

• Advancement of Theory and Research Methodology
• Development of Policy and Practice
• Knowledge Translation
• Social Accountability

Tuition Fees

Tuition fees for this program can be found on the Student Accounts website . On this site, you will find tuition fees and charges for each semester. These may fluctuate based on annual adjustments to the fees and charges.

For the duration of their PhD, students are required to apply for scholarships each year to fund their studies.

Benefits and Professional Opportunities

Upon completion of the PhD in Health Sciences Education, the student is expected to be able to:

Design, conduct and disseminate a conceptually coherent and ethical research project, which makes an original contribution to the field of HSE research

Demonstrate a core area of content expertise, based on detailed understanding of different approaches and perspectives related to HSE research

• Demonstrate a core area of methodological expertise relevant to HSE research

Demonstrate understanding of the relationship between topics in HSE research, and the conceptual, professional, policy, translational and social accountability implications of various HSE research topics and perspectives

Facilitate knowledge production and knowledge exchange from a range of conceptual and methodological perspectives, to address a range of research and applied challenges in HSE

Engage and develop new ways of learning that result in interdisciplinary and interprofessional collaboration, with strong understanding of and ability to navigate complex applied health services and contextual issues

Develop HSE research networks both within academia as well as the broader health sciences, educational, institutional, and policy-oriented communities to facilitate knowledge translation and exchange

Furthermore, the student may find employment in:

A medicine and health sciences faculty within a university as a professor, researching and teaching health sciences education

The health system, as a clinician-educator or clinical education manager (e.g. medical or surgical residency director, or nursing preceptor)

The health system or in a university, undertaking research and practice in the management and facilitation of accreditation, curriculum development, learning, or assessment and evaluation

Policy-making in education or health care

Industry, as a strategic learning development lead in, for example, the biotech, pharmaceutical or medical equipment industry

For more information, please contact: Institute of Health Sciences Education Lady Meredith House, Room 205 1110 Pine Avenue West Montreal, Quebec H3A 1A3 E-mail: gradcoord-ihse.med [at] mcgill.ca

Please note: McGill University reserves the right to make changes to the program, content, and services as it deems necessary.

Department and University Information

Institute of health sciences education.

• Degrees and Certificates
• Graduate Degrees

Occupational Safety and Health, Ph.D.

May 13, 2024

Next Start Date

Courses Required

Cost Per Credit Hour

Total Credit Hours (18 Coursework, 24 Research Credits)

Online Courses

Learning Format

Become a subject matter expert.

The online Occupational Safety and Health Ph.D. program is designed for students/professionals who aspire to advance their knowledge, research potential, and overall expertise to be able to tackle research and development opportunities in academia, consulting, or high-level industry positions. The program equips students with the skills necessary to tackle complex occupational safety and health challenges by seamlessly integrating structured coursework with applied research. The flexible, self-paced online curriculum allows students to balance their professional commitments while pursuing their doctoral degrees. Optional on-campus sessions and the opportunity to visit the campus to conduct lab-related research enrich the learning experience and foster a deeper understanding of the subject matter. The program's industry-focused curriculum addresses the growing demand for doctoral-level expertise in high-risk sectors such as healthcare, fire safety, construction, and more.

With the Bureau of Labor Statistics reporting a 4 percent yearly increase in job opportunities in this field through 2024, graduates will be ready to address the needs of the public and private sectors. Specifically, the program graduates will help employers adhere to safety and health regulations, and design and implement programs to prevent disease, injury, or environmental damage.

Program Requirements

Curriculum in Doctor of Philosophy – Occupational Safety and Health A candidate for the Ph.D. degree with a major in occupational safety and health must comply with the rules and regulations as outlined in the WVU Graduate Catalog and the specific requirements of the Statler College and the Industrial and Management Systems Engineering Department.

The Doctor of Philosophy degree with a major in occupational safety and health is administered through the college’s interdisciplinary Ph.D. program. The research work for the doctoral dissertation must show a high degree of originality on the part of the student and must constitute an original contribution to the art and science of occupational safety and health.

All Ph.D. degree candidates are required to perform research and follow a planned program of study. The student’s research advisor, in conjunction with the student’s Advising and Examining Committee (AEC) will be responsible for determining the plan of study appropriate to the student’s needs. The underlying principle of the planned program is to provide the students with the necessary support to complete their degrees and prepare them for their career.

Required core courses for the Ph.D. program are determined by the student’s area of emphasis. The research work for the doctoral dissertation may entail a fundamental investigation or a broad and comprehensive investigation into an area of specialization.

Educational Objectives/Outcomes

Program Educational Objectives Drawing from the university's mission, the program mission, and the needs of our constituents, the following educational objectives were developed for the Doctor of Philosophy degree in Occupational Safety and Health:

• Anticipate and recognize hazards and environmental cases requiring the application of safety and health methods in occupational settings.
• Identify social and epidemiological trends in occupational safety and health issues at the national and international levels.
• Identify methods of management in application of effective control techniques.
• To demonstrate understanding of federal, state, and local regulatory agencies as they impact the practice of occupational safety and health.
• Conduct, disseminate, and publish original research in occupational safety and health.
• Be qualified to enter the profession as a professor, practitioner, or researcher in occupational safety and health.

Student Outcomes In order to meet the Program Educational Objectives, students of the Occupational Safety and Health Doctoral program must be able to meet the following educational outcomes at the time of their graduation. Students will have acquired the ability:

• To construct, manage, and evaluate a comprehensive safety and health program for large industry or government agencies.
• To participate in the safety and health regulatory process as an individual or part of a corporation or university.
• To critically evaluate research conducted by other individuals or corporations in occupational safety and health.
• To provide excellent teaching at the University or corporate levels.
• To participate in activities such as conferences or seminars for continued professional improvement.
• To actively participate as a leader in the professional organizations that serve the occupational safety and health fields.
• To demonstrate the highest possible ethical standards in the field of occupational safety and health.

Program Detail

The Occupational Safety and Health Ph.D. program is meticulously designed to offer a self-paced learning structure that caters to the varying needs of full-time students and/or working professionals. The program entails a total of 42 credit hours, encompassing 24 credits dedicated to research work and 18 credits attributed to coursework. Individuals with a bachelor’s degree (with significant work experience) or a master's degree in safety or related fields will be eligible for admission into the program.

Format: Online 8-week courses Next Start Date: Spring 2024

Ann is here to help.

Ann clayton, your personal online admissions coach.

"I am a graduate of Michigan State University, with a Master’s degree in Counseling Psychology. I have worked in an advising setting for over 15 years and am here to help answer any questions you may have about the enrollment process in our online programs. Our online programs are designed to allow everyone the opportunity to earn a degree, while balancing school, family and life, and I am happy to help you as you go through that journey."

Learn More About Ann Request Information

• Email: [email protected]
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Occupational Safety and Health, Ph.D. Admission Requirements

The qualified students must hold B.S. and/or M.S. degrees in safety-related disciplines.

A direct track option from the Bachelor of Science (B.S.) to the Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degree for prospective qualified students with exceptional academic records and/or professional experience is available.

• Applicants must have earned a GPA of 3.0 or better (out of a possible 4.0) in their undergraduate and graduate coursework.
• Applicants with a cumulative grade point average of less than 3.00 may be considered for admission if they have professional or other relevant experience.
• A statement of purpose. Explain your motivation for pursuing a Ph.D. in Occupational Safety and Health and how your research interests align with the program's focus and faculty expertise. Discuss any personal, academic, or professional experiences that have shaped your interest in this field and the research area/topic you intend to pursue during the Ph.D. program.
• Two letters of recommendation
• Official transcripts of all previous college coursework
• International applicants must meet the WVU requirement of English language proficiency.

Faculty Spotlight

Omar al-shebeeb.

"I strive to learn from and to adapt both the style and content of my teaching material to reflect the diversity of my students."

Omar Al-Shebeeb went into industrial engineering because he was interested in optimizing processes and creating effective solutions to engineering problems.

In addition, he already had a solid foundation in production engineering, a profession that combines parts of mechanical and industrial engineering.

He says his teaching style is determined by the class arrangement and structure. It is adaptive and varies from class to class.

"I use a variety of teaching approaches in my graduate and undergraduate classes, depending on the courses," he says.

"When I get productive feedback from students, and I see positive results on their faces, it makes me more motivated to give more and more. I consider my students to be my customers, and I am motivated by their needs."

Omar says the development of a vibrant and welcoming learning atmosphere that prioritizes active participation, open communication, and a sincere interest for the material is essential for student success in his classrooms.

He thinks students are more likely to effectively retain and understand knowledge when they are actively engaged in their learning process.

"The common activity in all the classes that I teach is the availability of the projects and teamwork in addition to the self-learning activities," he says.

Avishek Choudhury

"My aim is to empower students to become not just proficient learners, but critical thinkers with a robust problem-solving toolkit that extends well beyond the confines of the classroom."

Avishek Choudhury went into his field of study because it was in the pioneering landscape where systems engineering meets cognitive human factors in healthcare.

"I found myself at the thrilling intersection of technology, healthcare, and human behavior," he says.

His work involves unraveling the intricacies of healthcare environments, fostering systems that are not only efficient and reliable but also emphatically human-centered.

"We champion innovative solutions, setting a new benchmark in healthcare delivery," he says. "The solutions are user-friendly, enhancing the safety and wellbeing of both healthcare professionals and patients alike."

But his role is also about preparing the next generation of professionals.

"This is not just a profession, it is a commitment to revolutionizing healthcare."

In his classroom, he expects his students to immerse themselves in a deep well of knowledge, venturing far beyond the pursuit of grades.

He emphasizes conceptual understanding over rote memorization and nurtures a learning environment where curiosity is not just encouraged, but is a requisite.

Makenzie Dolly

"My teaching style is interactive, engaging, exploratory, experiential, and involved."

Makenzie Dolly went into industrial engineering because it is all about high efficiency, productivity, and organization.

"It's a representation of my character inside and out," she says. "From the time I first read about industrial engineering on some random internet forum many years ago, I knew it would be the perfect fit for me. I've never thought twice."

Similarly, Makenzie says she has always been an educator, whether it was formal or informal.

"I started peer tutoring at the age of 12 and never stopped sharing my knowledge with others. Getting to teach industrial engineering and engineering management is truly the perfect combination for me."

She describes her teaching style as interactive, engaging, exploratory, experiential, and involved.

Jeremy Gouzd

"All students learn a little differently than others. Being able to see that and provide the material in different ways until you see the ‘light bulb’ moment is crucial."

Jeremy Gouzd decided to go into his field of study because throughout his career he enjoyed engineering and the field of occupational safety.

"Along with those fields of study, I had a passion for teaching," he says.

He tries to get as much involvement with his students as possible, because he believes this is the best way to communicate the material that is being taught.

"Teaching online is different in that the paths you need to take to connect with the student are different," he says. "The information isn't conveyed in the same manner as the traditional style of teaching."

He engages in as much feedback with students as possible, through grading comments, discussions, announcements, and emails.

"I also record shorter versions of my lectures that students seem to be more apt to watch and which highlight and move through the material as the student would, week to week."

"I think that all students learn a little differently than others. Being able to see that and provide the material, information, and lectures in those different ways until you see the ‘light bulb’ moment is crucial."

JuHyeong Ryu

"To adapt to the changing landscape of education, I leverage advanced web-based tools in online classes, tailoring learning experiences to individual students' needs and progress."

JuHyeong Ryu entered the field of safety engineering and management because he was driven by a strong desire to enhance worker safety, health, and productivity.

"Combining my background in architectural and civil engineering, I have developed a multidisciplinary approach, focusing on sustainability and leveraging cutting-edge technologies like human motion sensing, artificial intelligence, biomechanical analysis, and automated work systems," he says.

"Despite the challenges, I'm proud to have made a meaningful contribution to improving occupational safety in various industries."

His teaching approach is centered on facilitating meaningful and engaging online learning experiences.

"I am proficient in delivering content effectively through digital platforms, ensuring that students remain actively involved in the online classroom."

"My experiences as a research advisor, particularly in the online PhD in Occupational Safety and Health program, have equipped me with valuable insights and strategies to enhance the online education environment."

"I place a strong emphasis on personalized feedback and engagement, ensuring that students have the resources they need to excel in their academic journey."

Tuition, Fees, and Financial Aid

WVU provides a comprehensive approach to helping you finance your education. Learn more by visiting the Student Financial Services website.

Students are encouraged to:

• File the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) form by the June 30, 2024 deadline to determine their eligibility for federal and state funds as well as scholarships. WVU’s FAFSA Code is 003827; and
• Check with your employer to see if they provide financial support for earning your graduate degree.

Occupational Safety and Health, Ph.D. total degree cost: Around $30,000 to $35,000 – Residents and Non-Residents

Tuition and fees are usually not the only educational expenses you may have while pursuing a degree. You may have other costs such as books, supplies and living expenses. Please see the Estimate Costs and Aid webpage for how to estimate and plan for other potential expenses.

The future for graduates with an Occupational Safety and Health, Ph.D.

Career paths:

• Healthcare Safety Manager: Graduates can ensure a safe environment in healthcare facilities by identifying, assessing, and mitigating risks, developing policies, and overseeing compliance to protect patients and staff from infections, injuries, or accidents.
• Infection Control Specialist: With specialized knowledge, graduates can develop and implement infection control programs, monitor compliance, and train healthcare staff in best practices to minimize the spread of infections within healthcare settings.

Construction

• Construction Safety Manager: With industry-specific knowledge, graduates can develop and implement safety programs for construction sites, ensuring worker safety, reducing accidents, and maintaining compliance with regulations.
• Site Safety Coordinator: Graduates can oversee safety operations on construction sites, monitor compliance with safety regulations, conduct safety training, and investigate incidents to prevent future occurrences.

Transportation

• Fleet Safety Manager: By applying advanced knowledge of safety management principles, graduates can develop and maintain comprehensive safety programs for vehicle fleets, minimizing accidents and ensuring compliance with transportation safety regulations.
• Rail Safety Specialist: Graduates can assess rail systems for safety hazards, develop and implement safety measures, and ensure compliance with industry regulations to maintain the safety and integrity of rail transportation systems.

Government and Public Sector

• Occupational Safety and Health Specialist (OSHA): With a strong foundation in safety legislation and compliance, graduates can work with government agencies such as OSHA, inspecting workplaces, enforcing safety regulations, and contributing to developing new safety policies.
• Environmental Health and Safety Specialist (EPA): Graduates can collaborate with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to develop and enforce regulations, evaluate the environmental impact of industrial activities, and promote best practices for environmental health and safety.

View Courses and Curriculum for Occupational Safety and Health, Ph.D.

A minimum cumulative GPA of 3.0 is required in all courses

Research Requirements (24)

Coursework mandatory requirements (9).

These three (3) courses must be completed:

Coursework Requirements (9)

Select three (3) courses from the following based on degree path:

Any BIOM, BMEG, CE, CHE, CHEM, CPE, CS, EE, IENG, IH&S, MAE, MATH, MINE, PCOL, PNGE, PHYS, PUBH, SAFM, SENG, or STAT courses 500-795, as approved by the student's AEC

Examinations/Milestones

• Plan of Study
• Qualifying Exam
• Candidacy Exam
• Dissertation

Total Hours: 42

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the options to complete the research requirements.

The students will have three options to complete the research requirements:

• Web-based: This option will mainly involve web-based experimentation and data collection. The student can develop games and web or mobile applications to conduct research in UX/UI, Human behavior, or Decision making. Additionally, for Artificial Intelligence /Machine Learning/ Simulation/ Management focused research, tools are available to design studies/ experiments and collect the data virtually. This option will also involve non-experimental surveys, interview-based research, retrospective/secondary data analysis, and theory development.
• Hybrid experimental: The student will have the option to visit the WVU campus for a limited duration to conduct their experiment in our labs. Safety-related research that mandates controlled experiments will fall under this option.
• Industry-led: With this option, the student and their research advisor will identify an existing problem within the student's workplace (industry, national lab, etc.) and will develop a theoretical framework and applied solutions to address the problem. This option will also help the IMSE department build strong industry relationships.

How will you provide programmatic support services to online Ph.D. students?

We will conduct a virtual orientation session at the beginning of every semester. The students will work closely with the program coordinator to develop a preliminary plan of study by the end of the first semester and their Advising and Examining Committee (AEC) by the end of the second semester.

What are the various program completion milestones?

• Complete the coursework.
• Complete the qualifying exam requirements (typically completed by the end of the second semester or completion of coursework).
• Complete the candidacy exam requirements (completed after the qualifying exam, by the end of the second year, or once the research proposal is finalized).
• Complete the final exam (typically completed by the end of the third year or after the completion of research requirements)

What is involved in Qualifying Examination?

This examination is designed to assess the basic competency of students in the occupational safety and health field to determine whether or not they have sufficient knowledge to undertake independent research. There are two options available to take the qualifying exam: (1) coursework based; (2) research based.

What is involved in Candidacy Examination?

In order to be admitted to candidacy, the student must pass a candidacy exam, which is designed to evaluate the student’s overall ability to engage in high-level research. A student who has successfully completed all coursework, passed the qualifying examination, and successfully defended the research proposal is defined as one who is a candidate for the Ph.D. degree.

What is involved in Final Examination?

At the completion of the dissertation research, candidates must prepare a dissertation and pass the final oral examination (defense) administered by their AEC. In order to complete the Ph.D. requirements, a student must pass a final oral examination on the results embodied in the dissertation. This examination is open to the public and, in order to evaluate critically the student's competency, may include testing on material in related fields, as deemed necessary by the AEC. In addition, since the Ph.D. degree is primarily a research degree that embodies the results of an original research proposal and represents a significant contribution to scientific literature, the student must submit a manuscript on this research to the AEC.

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Health Professions Education, Doctoral/PhD

Gain the academic skills needed to conduct educational research, lead educational programs, institutions, curricula, and organizations in the health and medical professions..

The PhD in Health Professions Education provides the next generation of health professions faculty advanced training in education. This program aims to provide students with the necessary tools to further develop interprofessional health profession course and curricular design, research, and assessment skills. Learners will build on existing health professional competencies gained through their professional education. Topics such as educational theory and using educational research to advance knowledge in teaching and the learning in health professions are core to this program. The primary discipline will serve as one lens through which educational theory and phenomena can be examined. After the completion of this program graduates will continue their careers with the tools necessary to adequately prepare health professions students to impact the health of our diverse society. Applications for admission to the fall term are due by February 1.

• Application Instructions

Details, Dates & Deadlines

Program details, class format, program location.

Predominantly online

Program Length

36-60 months

Credits to Complete

Cost/credit hour.

In State: $779 Out of State: $996

• Online application
• $75 application fee
• Official transcripts
• 3 Letters of recommendation
• Proof of English language proficiency for international students
• Current CV or resume
• Master’s degree or higher in the health professions or a related field
• Proof of English language proficiency for international applicants
• No GRE required 

Dates & Deadlines

Fall Deadline: February 1

Career Outlook

As the demand for health professionals and health education programs continues to grow nationwide, so does the need for well-prepared health professions faculty who have advanced training in educational theory, instructional strategies in the health professions, and related assessment methods. The Health Professions Education curriculum is intentionally designed to formally prepare learners with the foundations needed to engage in educational scholarship, curricular design, assessment, program evaluation, and institutional leadership. 

Admission Guidelines

Admission requirements for the PhD in Health Professions Education are listed below: 

• An  official application
• 75.00 application fee
• No GRE Required
• Submit proof of current professional licenses for applicants who are clinically practicing (Applicants may upload a pdf/copy of the license directly to the admissions portal) 
• Submit official transcripts from all former institutions
• You must possess a master’s degree or higher in the health professions or related field
• Statement of proposed research topics and how the degree will support your career plans and trajectory (no longer than 2 pages)
• 3 letters of recommendation
• Current CV/Resume
• Practice-based experience, working a minimum of 2 years in one’s clinical field or profession
• English Language proficiency assessment (TOEFL or IELTS), as applicable

The professional licenses requirement may be waived for individuals whose profession does not require a license to practice, and they will still be considered for admission.

Partial Fulfillment Credit

For applicants who may have taken courses at other accredited graduate schools that appear to be similar to HPE required coursework, requests will be reviewed on a case by case basis. After a review of the syllabus, grade received, and discussion with the Program Director, one of the following could be an outcome:

• Acceptance of the course credits towards the transfer credit allowance (up to 6 credits);
• Examination for competence, with a plan for independent study;
• Independent study for gap areas; or,
• Requirement for enrollment in UMB's HPE course

Please feel out the transfer credit   to initiate the process. 

Program Structure

The PhD in health professions education consists of a total of 60 credits. The instruction will occur predominantly online utilizing distance learning technologies in addition to a mandatory on-site residency to be taken in tandem with the beginning of the program and conclusion. The mandatory In person (residency) will require students to attend four consecutive days of face-to-face lectures, training, discussions, and presentations at UMB’s campus in Baltimore, MD.

Program Completion Timeline

• The degree is designed for completion within three academic years, and its online format increases its accessibility to students.
• Participants can start the program in the fall term only.

Learning Outcomes

Graduates of the PhD in HPE program will be prepared to apply the skills that they have acquired to higher education employment in their profession, the private sector, as well as local, state and government positions in healthcare and education.

Graduates of the PhD in HPE will:

• Advance theory through the generation and dissemination of rigorous educational research and scholarship.
• Demonstrate proficiency in curriculum design, delivery, and evaluation.
• Work effectively in interprofessional research
• Demonstrate academic and executive-level administration and leadership skills needed to lead higher education programs, institutions, agencies, and organizations in the health professions.
• Demonstrate evidence-based teaching and assessment methods at the course or program level.
• Demonstrate the ability to apply analytical skills to improve educational programs and institutional effectiveness.
• Participate in the broader national and global health professions community to improve health professions education.

Hear from a few of our students

Program Contacts

Nina Jackson Admissions Counselor  [email protected] 410-706-6489

Violet Kulo, EdD, MS, MA PhD, HPE Leadership Certificate Program Director [email protected]  

Karen Gordes, PhD, PT, DScPT MS, HPE Teaching Certificate Program Director [email protected]

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Safety Sciences, PhD

Become a Leader in the Field of Safety Sciences

You’re a professional working in the sciences, and you’re looking to advance your skills without interrupting your career. The Safety Sciences PhD program at IUP will prepare you to become a leader in the field, developing safer workplaces and protecting employees, property, and the environment.

Through hybrid learning that combines part-time distance education with a summer workshop program, you can earn this applied research science degree without taking a break from work.

The 54-credit program, including the dissertation, can be completed in three to eight years, with 24 credits through distance education courses, 18 credits of summer workshop courses, and 12 credit hours of dissertation. See more about the  Classes and Requirements .

A Degree That Leads to a Future of Options

IUP’s Safety Sciences PhD program prepares you for a higher level of professional performance. You’ll learn how to anticipate, recognize, evaluate, control, and prevent safety, health, and environmental hazards in work environments. You’ll also be ready to teach safety sciences at academic institutions and conduct independent research.

You’ll be learning alongside a diverse group of fellow students—our PhD student population is composed of 20 percent minorities and 50 percent women. Some students enter the program to advance their careers. Some want to gain qualifications for academic instruction. Others pursue the degree to change the direction of their career or to plan for a second career after retirement.

How You’ll Learn

A new student group is admitted into the program every odd-numbered year and remains together as a cohort to complete the program. In the fall and spring, you’ll attend evening classes online, and in the summer, you'll gather on campus with your cohort for a two-week workshop.

Imagine Your Future

When you envision the pinnacle of your career, what do you see? Depending on where you are in your safety and environmental health career path, an IUP Safety Sciences PhD can open doors to managerial and director positions, and even C-suite roles in the public or private sector.

If your goal is to educate the next generation of safety science professionals, this degree will prepare you to enter academia as a full-time, tenure-track or part-time adjunct professor.

Graduates of the PhD in Safety Sciences program have gone on to excel in their careers in positions such as:

• Assistant professors
• Corporate managers
• Superintendents

A Credential for Problem-Solvers

To function and compete in today’s business dynamic, organizations are looking for professionals with a higher level of safety science knowledge, skills, and abilities. Most private sector companies are required to adhere to OSHA regulations that protect workers across the United States. Many companies have unique safety programs in place to reduce their company-specific hazards and risks to acceptable levels.

Additionally, workplaces are being developed with increasingly sophisticated and complex designs and functions, and the coronavirus pandemic has underscored the importance of workplace safety professionals who can control exposures in these environments.

A PhD credential in the field demonstrates that you have the expertise to rise to the challenge.

Career Opportunities in Safety Sciences

The safety sciences field employs approximately 132,400  individuals, with opportunities projected to increase through 2031, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics . The job outlook as a whole is positive, with an average annual occupational growth rate of 5 percent.

In a field with a wide variety of positions and skill sets, safety science professionals have the freedom to work almost anywhere in the world. You’ll use new technologies to make a difference in the health and welfare of workers.

New Challenges for More Advanced Professionals

New technologies, techniques, and materials are creating new health and safety challenges in the workplace. Organizations are under greater pressure to identify hazardous conditions and prevent workplace injury or harm. Additionally, reputation management and a desire to uphold good corporate citizenship are driving employment growth in safety sciences.

It’s your time: seasoned professionals like you will have room to advance as more than half of occupational safety and health professionals are approaching retirement age.

Safety sciences professionals who earn a doctoral degree are poised for a fulfilling and rewarding career.

Median Annual Salary

Safety professionals holding a PhD

Classes and Requirements

Upon graduation, you’ll be able to:

• Anticipate, recognize, evaluate, control, and prevent safety, health, and environmental hazards in the work environment.
• Conduct independent research.
• Teach safety sciences at academic institutions.

The program can be completed in three to eight years. A minimum of 54 semester hours of credits is required, including:

• 24 credits (eight courses) earned through distance education courses online (six credits each fall and spring term for two consecutive years).
• 18 credits (six courses) in six one-week summer workshop courses on the IUP campus (six credits over a two-week period in the summer semester for three consecutive years).
• 12 hours of dissertation supervision.

To earn your degree, you must satisfactorily complete a comprehensive written examination, an oral defense of your dissertation proposal, a dissertation , and an oral defense of your dissertation.

The total minimum time to complete the degree is approximately three years; the average time to complete the degree is approximately five years.

Full Academic Catalog Listing

The course catalog is the official reference for all our degree and course offerings. Check it out for a full listing of the classes available and requirements for this degree.

Student Demographics

The field of safety sciences is predominantly male at present; approximately 80 percent of jobs in the field are held by men. However, the demographic of the student population in IUP’s Safety Sciences PhD program reflects a changing picture.

More than 75 percent of the current program cohort includes women, minorities, and international students ranging in age from 26 to 60.

Almost all our students currently work in the safety, health, and environmental field, and approximately half work for employers that are paying for their education. Most students reported that they see themselves eventually moving into academia to teach full- or part-time. A very limited number of our students are currently working in academia.

Program Outcomes

In this program, you’ll develop sophisticated research, analytical, and problem-solving skills that will position you for safety science leadership careers in industry, government, and academia. As a graduate, you will be prepared to:

• Apply appropriate quantitative and qualitative research methods to solve safety, health, and environmental problems.
• Conduct independent research in the safety, health, and environmental field.
• Demonstrate advanced knowledge of safety, health, and environmental management techniques.
• Effectively develop, implement, and evaluate a safety education curriculum.

Strengths of the PhD in Safety Sciences Program

As a doctoral student in the safety sciences at IUP, you’ll enter a program that can take you to the top of your field, without interrupting your career. This is the only hybrid safety science program in the nation, allowing you to pursue your degree on a part-time basis.

Our PhD program is also one of few in the general field that is not affiliated with an engineering school, public health school, or business school. While our program includes courses in these disciplines, the curriculum is intentionally balanced to appeal to a broad student base and reflect the reality of safety science as a generalized field that spans almost every industry and workplace type.

A Practical Education with Purpose

IUP’s program attracts working professionals because it’s structured as an applied research science degree. Unlike programs that focus on theory, our PhD in Safety Sciences equips you with knowledge that is immediately applicable in the workplace.

Some students leverage their dissertations to resolve specific workplace problems, increasing their visibility and potential for career advancement and creating value for employers who may be funding their education.

During the on-campus, two-week summer experience, you’ll build lifelong friendships and professional bonds with professors and fellow students in your cohort. Many students bring years of field knowledge to campus, further enhancing the quality of the program.

Recent PhD Graduate Awards

We take great pride in our graduates who continue to distinguish themselves in the field of safety science. Recent graduates have gained outstanding field recognition with awards that include:

• American Society of Safety Professionals Professional Safety Article of the Year
• Industrial Hygiene Officer of the Year
• Rising Star of Safety, awarded by the National Safety Council
• Safety Professional of the Year, awarded by ASSP Region VI
• Uniformed Services University’s F. Edward Hebert School of Medicine Dean’s Impact Award

Program Graduate Survey Results

The Department of Safety Sciences at IUP is committed to continuous improvement of our education programs, with the goal of providing a learning experience that meets the expectations of students and aligns with current industry demands.

As part of that effort, our faculty solicit input to gain insight into students’ experience in the Safety Sciences PhD program. In the survey results, students noted the quality of program professors. They describe professors as:

• Accessible to students
• Adaptable to different learning styles
• Attentive to students’ concerns
• Committed to providing valuable feedback
• Dedicated to helping students learn and grow
• Motivated to help students succeed
• Passionate about teaching
• Supportive with dissertation assistance
• Top notch in their field, with private sector experience

Comments about the program and curriculum design include praise for:

• A beneficial combination of distance and live classroom learning
• Coursework that introduces complex issues and safety, health, and environmental (SHE) problem-solving methods
• Dissertations that use specific safety and environmental health examples
• Exposure to critical thinking, reasoning, and detailed analysis of problems and solutions
• Intensive academic writing requirements that are indispensable for scholarly research and writing
• Preparing students to become future educators, with an emphasis on pedagogy and teaching
• Program flexibility and professors who accommodate the schedules of working professionals
• Statistics and research courses that are appropriate for the safety sciences field
• A transformational dissertation process that motivates further interest in research
• A well-rounded and field-relevant curriculum that enhances and builds on students’ technical abilities

Selection and Type of PhD Dissertations

Choosing a topic for your dissertation must be a carefully considered process. This is a crucial component of your doctoral studies that takes months to complete, and it requires deep immersion into the subject matter.

Based on feedback from program graduates and current students, the selection of dissertation topics is founded on five primary considerations:

• A newly discovered topic of interest drawn from a PhD class or lesson
• Corporate interest, particularly if the student’s employer is funding tuition
• Faculty interest
• Personal interest
• Urgency, based on the availability to certain data or information to the student and limited time or resources to complete a dissertation

Most dissertations in the field of safety science are mixed method studies, a combination of quantitative and qualitative research. These dissertations are founded on survey results, physical experiments, and epidemiological studies. To date, graduates of IUP’s PhD in Safety Sciences program have most frequently conducted surveys for their dissertation, followed by physical experiments, and then epidemiological studies.

PhD Dissertation Titles

• Rodriguez-Franco, Oscar. 2021. “Contributing Factors to Serious Injuries and Fatalities in Electrical Occupations Due to Contact with Electricity.”
• Mullins-Jaime, Charmane. 2021. “Assessing the Effects of a Communication Intervention on Climate Change Action Motivation Using a Health and Safety Risk Management Framework.”
• Schoolcraft, Steven G. 2021. “Factors Influencing the Perceived Social Theories Associated with Motivating Safety Performance in a Global Organization.”
• Reed, Patricia A. 2021. “Evaluating the Effectiveness of Chemical Exposure Training in Improving Employee Risk Perception with a Case Study in a Bleach Processing Plant Filling Department.”
• Pugh, Cynthia T. 2020. “Characterization of Occupational Exposures to Engineered Nanomaterials in an Electronic Recycling Facility.”
• Hunter, Pamela A. 2020. “An Evaluation of the Efficacy of Workplace Violence Prevention Programs in Reducing Workplace Violence Injuries to Registered Nurses in Connecticut.”
• Diehl, Francene S. 2020. “An Evaluation of Social Marketing Delivery Modes Aimed at Teen Smartphone Use While Driving: An Application of the Theory of Planned Behavior.”
• Mulroy, John M. 2020. “An Investigation of Occupational Safety and Health Management Attributes on High-Hazard Small Enterprise Safety Outcomes for Use in Modifying OSHA Consultation's Safety and Health Assessment Worksheet (Revised Form 33).”
• Armstrong, George. 2020. “Assessing Manufacturing Employee Perceptions of Supervisor Occupational Health and Safety Competencies and Potential for Occupational Health and Safety Training Facilitation.”

Steps to Complete Your Dissertation in Safety Sciences

Completing your dissertation: standard process.

• Complete your program coursework.
• Formulate an idea for your dissertation topic or experimental approach.
• Form a dissertation committee with approval from the program coordinator.
• Discuss your topic with your dissertation committee members.
• Take the comprehensive/candidacy exam (similar to writing the first three chapters of your dissertation).
• Present an oral defense of your dissertation proposal.
• Complete and submit your research topic approval form (RTAF), generate institutional review board (IRB) documentation, and receive approval from the graduate school.
• After you receive a written receipt of research topic approval from the School of Graduate Studies and Research, begin writing your dissertation. You may not begin dissertation research activity—other than preliminary steps such as background research, an IRB or IACUC (research animal care and use) approved pilot study, or a three-chapter writing/review)—until you have received notice of approval from the School of Graduate Studies and Research.
• Conduct formal research.
• Write your dissertation.
• Present an oral defense of your dissertation.

Completing Your Dissertation: Alternate, Expedited Process

• Complete program courses any time before graduation.

Safety Leadership Hub

IUP’s Safety Leadership Hub is founded on five pillars: Research, Education, Training, Consultation, and Partnerships. Hosted by the Department of Safety Sciences, it represents the university’s holistic approach to being a regional leader in safety, health, and environmental sciences.

Through our vision to be the premier institution for education and research and the program of choice for industry partnerships in the global safety, health, and environmental profession, the IUP Safety Leadership Hub will serve as a portal to explore our education programs, current research, collaboration opportunities, consultation services, and training.

How Many Safety Professionals Hold Doctoral Degrees?

Each year, the Board of Certified Safety Professionals conducts a safety field salary survey in collaboration with the National Safety Council to learn what type of academic degrees safety professionals earn and the median compensation by degree.

The yearly report generated from data gathered in this survey includes an expansive variety of demographic information. Review the most recent full report (pdf).

Percent of Safety Professionals Who Hold Various Educational Degrees

• Associate’s degree: 6%
• Bachelor’s degree: 45%
• Doctoral degree: 2%
• High school diploma/GED: 3%
• Master’s degree: 32%
• Some college but not a degree: 9%
• Vocational/trade school diploma or certificate: 2%

Annual Median Safety Professional Compensation by Educational Degree

• Doctoral degree: $118.5K
• Master’s degree: $105K
• Bachelor’s degree: $93K

About Our Faculty

The  Safety Sciences faculty members  bring to the classroom their professional experience in industries such as insurance, consulting, manufacturing, healthcare, construction, government, and others.  All faculty are certified safety professionals and/or certified industrial hygienists, and many hold multiple certifications.

• Our professors are active in safety sciences research, publishing, and service to the profession.
• Their focus is on the student. All graduate students have an advisor who mentors them throughout their graduate program.
• Safety Sciences hosts an annual departmental career fair.  An average of 75 companies attend the career fair, and it's here that you can find co-ops, internships and full-time employment.

Student Opportunities

Iup chapter of american society of safety professionals.

The Department of Safety Sciences has had a student section of the American Society of Safety Professionals for more than 20 years and has won the Outstanding ASSP Student Section five times. All students are encouraged to participate, and about 100 students currently are involved.

Rho Sigma Kappa

The Alpha Chapter of Rho Sigma Kappa was inaugurated at IUP in 1993. This honor society recognizes exemplary performance in the safety sciences. Graduate student membership is based on nomination by program faculty and requires completion of at least 15 credits in the major and meeting minimum grade point averages, as well as other evidence of superior performance. Typically, only 5 to 10 percent of Safety Sciences students qualify for membership in Rho Sigma Kappa.

Safety Sciences Career Fair

Our career fair is widely recognized as one of the crown jewels of the Safety Sciences Department. With our outstanding national reputation, we attract some of the largest employers in many industries who are seeking to hire personnel with safety expertise. We host the Safety Sciences Career Fair in October each year at the Kovalchick Convention and Athletic Complex. All students are invited.

• Introduction

Harvard Griffin GSAS strives to provide students with timely, accurate, and clear information. If you need help understanding a specific policy, please contact the office that administers that policy.

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Questions about these requirements? See the contact info at the bottom of the page. 

The PhD in education is awarded by the Harvard Kenneth C. Griffin Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.

Students will work with faculty in the Harvard Graduate School of Education and the Faculty of Arts and Sciences.

Candidates for the PhD in education will be affiliated with one of three concentrations: culture, institutions, and society (CIS); education policy and program evaluation (EPPE); or human development, learning, and teaching (HDLT).

All entering PhD students (“G1s”) are assigned an academic advisor based on interests and goals discussed in the admissions application. The advisor must be a  current  HGSE faculty member who is a member of the Faculty of the Whole. The relationship between the faculty advisor and student is integral for scholarly progress and professional development. Like any professional relationship, the advisor-student relationship takes time to develop and is unique in nature, matching the styles and needs of both individuals.

Academic Residence

Completion of a minimum of two years of full-time study in residence is required to receive the PhD from Harvard Griffin GSAS. The academic residence requirement can be reduced by as much as one term (four four-credit courses) if the candidate's department grants academic credit for prior work done at HGSE within three years of starting the PhD (see Credit for Completed Graduate Work ).

Satisfactory Progress

The PhD in Education Steering Committee monitors each student’s progress year by year. The PhD in education degree is governed by a series of benchmarks that define what is considered evidence that the student is making “satisfactory, adequate and timely progress.” During the period between admission and submission of the dissertation, the PhD Steering Committee conducts annual reviews to ensure each candidate is meeting relevant benchmarks and academic milestones.

Program of Study

The first two years.

PhD in education students must complete a minimum of 64 credits/16 courses toward the degree, along with other academic and research-related requirements including:

• PhD Proseminar in Education (Year 1 fall; 1 course)
• Concentration Core Seminar (Year 1 spring; 1 course)
• Foundational Quantitative Methods Courses (2 courses)
• Foundational Qualitative Methods Course (1 course)
• Additional Qualitative Methods Course (1 course)
• Concentration Electives (3 courses)
• General Electives (5 courses)
• Research apprenticeship (each year)
• Reading Time (written comprehensive exam preparation; Year 2 spring, 1 course)
• Written Comprehensive Examination (Year 2 spring)
• Research Colloquia (Years 1 and 2; 1 course per year)
• Any outstanding coursework
• Oral Comprehensive Examination
• Research apprenticeship
• Teaching Fellow appointment(s) (four “slots” required at HGSE, typically fulfilled in Years 3 and 4)
• Research Colloquium presentation (Year 3, 4, 5, or 6)

Years Four-Six

• Dissertation Proposal (to be completed by the end of Year 4)
• Dissertation Committee Meeting (Year 4 or 5)
• Dissertation and Dissertation Defense (Year 4, 5, or 6)

Master of Arts (AM)

Candidates for the PhD in education degree may apply eight courses/32 credits of their doctoral program toward an AM in passing from Harvard Griffin GSAS. PhD in education students may apply for a master’s only after they have completed at least 16 courses (64 credits) since enrolling in the PhD program.

Students who wish to receive the AM in passing must file with the Harvard Griffin GSAS Registrar’s Office. While the department does not admit candidates for a terminal AM degree, students who have met all the course requirements may petition to be awarded the AM in education. Students must have a B+ average to receive a master’s-in-passing.

To enhance students’ teaching skills and to promote consolidation of their own learning, all PhD in education students are required to complete four Teaching Fellowship (TF) “slots” at HGSE over the course of their time in the program. Most students will fulfill this requirement in Year 3 or Year 4, though students must fulfill the requirement before receiving Harvard Griffin GSAS dissertation completion funding .  

Please note that this requirement is applicable to all PhD in education students—regardless of amount/level of teaching experience—and MUST be met with HGSE courses. TF slots from the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS), Harvard Griffin GSAS, and/or other Harvard schools do not count toward this requirement, though are certainly encouraged in terms of professional development.

TF “slots” at HGSE represent one and a half days per week (on average) of salaried academic work over the course of a term, or the equivalent amount of time when spread over a longer period (e.g., yearlong) or condensed into a shorter more intensive period (e.g., January Term). A TF “slot” can be fulfilled in the following ways:

• A single course “slot” for a traditional term-long class (equates to one “slot”)
• A single course “slot” spread across a year-long class (equates to one “slot”)
• A double “slot” for a course with a particularly heavy TF workload (equates to two “slots”)
• A January term “slot” (equates to one “slot”)

Other Requirements

Research colloquia.

The HGSE Research Colloquia Series brings together faculty and doctoral students in a community of learning to foster disciplinary, as well as interdisciplinary, dialogue. These meetings include presentations by Harvard faculty, faculty and researchers from outside of Harvard, and other Harvard doctoral students. They meet weekly, at the same day and time. Each colloquium addresses topics salient to its participants and includes presentations of work-in-progress in addition to completed work in topic areas in education, such as leadership in education, global contexts in education, early childhood education, education access and equity, civic learning and engagement, or teaching and instructional effectiveness. 

First- and second-year PhD in education students are required to register (and earn two credits per year) for the colloquium related to their academic concentration. Participation is strongly encouraged in later years as well. PhD in education students are required to present their work in the colloquium once during their program, typically between Year 3 and graduation.

Research Apprenticeship

All PhD in education students are expected to engage in research starting in their first year and continuing throughout their doctoral studies. The research apprenticeship provides students an opportunity to develop their research skills, and may take several forms, including:

• independent research work under the guidance of a faculty member, either as a paid research assistant (RA) or for independent study credit
• research work with a faculty member (and often other doctoral students) as part of a research project
• active participation in a research group or lab, often led by the primary academic advisor or by a small group of collaborating faculty.

Students are strongly encouraged, as part of their research apprenticeship work, to collaborate with faculty and other doctoral students in order to jointly author scholarly papers.

Grade Requirements

Students must maintain a cumulative grade average of B+ or better in each year of graduate work. At no time may a student register for a term if they have more than one Incomplete. Where the primary field requires either that all courses be passed at or above a certain grade or that the student’s average grade be higher than B+, the student will be required to meet that requirement for courses in the field.

No more than one Incomplete may be carried forward at any time by a PhD student in education. The work of the incomplete course must be made up before the end of the term following that in which the course was taken. In applying for an Incomplete, students must have signed permission from the instructor and, in some cases, the director of graduate studies, or the course in question may not count toward the program requirements. If students do not complete work by the deadline, the course will not count toward the program requirements, unless there are documented extenuating circumstances.

Comprehensive Examinations

All PhD in education students take the Written Comprehensive Exam at the end of Year 2. In Year 3, students take the Oral Comprehensive Exam with their faculty advisor and committee members. Once the student has passed the oral exam, they are approved to move forward to the dissertation proposal stage.

Dissertation Proposal

The Dissertation Proposal (DP) is a document generated prior to the dissertation to introduce and summarize a student’s research goals and proposed methods of investigation. It is a blueprint for the research to follow. The purpose of the dissertation proposal is to articulate for committee readers that there is a research question worth pursuing and that the study is well designed to address it. Every DP includes a literature review leading to an explicit research question and a detailed plan for investigating the question through original research. The DP should convince readers that the study is both likely to enrich the field in general and feasible in nature. As noted above, all PhD students are required to obtain DP approval by the end of their fourth year.

Dissertation Committee Meeting

The Dissertation Committee must hold at least one meeting (the Dissertation Committee Meeting, or DCM) to discuss and support the student’s progression toward completing the dissertation proposal as well as the dissertation. Each student should determine, in consultation with their advisor, when holding the DCM would be the most useful for advancing the dissertation work. For some students, the DCM will occur early in the dissertation process and involve discussion and/or approval of the DP. For other students, the DP can be approved by committee members without holding a committee meeting, allowing the DCM to be held after data collection has commenced (e.g., in order to talk about progress and potential challenges in the dissertation study). Regardless of timing, all DCMs should include the following elements:

• provide faculty readers the opportunity to question and offer suggestions about the dissertation proposal, data collection, analysis, and writing plans
• anticipate and/or discuss emergent issues in the early progress of the proposed work
• establish a framework and timetable for reading and submitting dissertation drafts to faculty readers.

At the DCM, members of the Dissertation Committee should come to an understanding about the future progress of the dissertation, resolve any emergent issues, and agree upon what will be included in the final dissertation in order for it to be considered complete.

Dissertation

The dissertation is the cornerstone of a PhD, presenting the student’s independent research and supporting their candidacy for earning the doctoral degree. For purposes of this program, a dissertation is a scholarly inquiry into some aspect of education based on original empirical research; it addresses a particular question and contributes significantly to knowledge and/or concepts in the field of education.

Dissertation Defense

The Dissertation Defense is, in many ways, a doctoral student’s crowning academic achievement––the presentation and defense of one’s own ideas and scholarship in a public forum. The Dissertation Defense promotes intellectual discourse and emphasizes the importance of disseminating educational research with the goal of having an impact on practice and/or policy. The Dissertation Defense is 75 to 90 minutes—beginning with a 20- to 30‐minute presentation by the student, followed by a 45‐minute question and answer session led by the dissertation committee. At the conclusion of these public aspects of the Dissertation Defense, the student’s Dissertation Committee will deliberate and vote in private before having the student return and learn the rating, along with suggestions for steps to finalize the dissertation. The dissertation committee must submit original signatures on the PhD in Education Dissertation cover sheet and the Dissertation and Defense rating sheet. In the event a committee member is participating remotely, please consult with the Doctoral Programs Office on how best to obtain all original signatures.

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Meg Anderson, Associate Director of Admissions Stanislav Rivkin, Associate Director of Admissions Harvard Graduate School of Education 13 Appian Way Cambridge, MA 02138

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Howard Gardner ’65 Named Harvard Graduate School of Education’s 2024 Convocation Speaker

Developmental psychologist Howard E. Gardner ’65 will give the keynote address at the Harvard Graduate School of Education’s 2024 Convocation, HGSE Dean Bridget Terry Long announced on April 15.

Gardner, a longtime professor at HGSE, will address graduates during the May 22 convocation ceremony, one day before the University-wide Commencement in Harvard Yard.

While Gardner retired from teaching a few years ago, he remains actively involved in research at Harvard.

“I used to joke that I have the largest medical record of the university because I’ve been going to the health services for 60 some years,” Gardner said.

Gardner is renowned globally for decades of pioneering work in the field of cognitive psychology.

He is best known for his theory of multiple intelligences, which theorizes that individuals have multiple forms of intelligence beyond intellectual capacity, including linguistic, interpersonal, spatial-visual, and others.

According to Gardner, the overarching theme of his convocation speech is that to make lasting change in the field of education, students and leaders must balance long-standing continuities and a rapidly changing landscape.

Gardner described HGSE students as generally “idealistic.”

“They want to try to improve education and, as the slogan for the school says, ‘Learn to save the world,’” he added. “We have to have two eyes, one eye focused on the continuities, the human needs which have always been present as long as we’ve had young people who we want to help grow up — but also the many, many changes, intellectual, political, technological and so on.”

As one of the founding members of Project Zero, a significant HGSE research center dedicated to enhancing learning in the arts and other disciplines, Gardner served as co-director for 28 years and now acts as the head of the steering committee.

Long said in a press release announcing Gardner as the keynote speaker that he “has been an insightful voice in the field of education and a proud member of the HGSE community.”

“His scholarly contributions are immense — from the theory of multiple intelligences to the Good Project and his long service as co-director of Project Zero,” Long added. “But it is his unending curiosity and generosity that stand out for me, and I cannot think of a better person to instill a message of hope, good work, and civic participation to our next generation of educators and leaders.”

In 1996, Gardner co-founded “The Good Project” alongside psychologists Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and William Damon ’67, which aims to design tools for confronting everyday ethical decisions, with an emphasis on effective collaboration, digital citizenship, and civic participation.

Gardner explained that he and his colleagues define good citizenship as “having 3 E’s.”

“It has to be excellent, it has to be engaging, and it has to be carried out in an ethical way,” he said.

According to Gardner, given that today’s researchers and leaders have access to unprecedented levels of knowledge, as well as increasingly powerful computational instruments, it is necessary to rethink education “from the cradle to the grave.”

“The Ed School is uniquely poised to consider education from the very first life until the time when people can no longer function anymore,” Gardner said.

“Any good education school should try to do it,” he added. “But as a Harvard man for my life, I’d like us to take the lead in that.”

—Staff writer Katie B. Tian can be reached at [email protected] .

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College of Arts and Sciences recognizes outstanding faculty, staff, and students

Nineteen faculty, four staff, and seven graduate students were honored for outstanding achievement and their commitment to excellence at the 2024 College of Arts and Sciences Appreciation and Recognition Social last week.

Professor Nairanjana (Jan) Dasgupta, a national leader in data analytics, received the college’s distinguished faculty award. Cheryl Schultz and Michael Berger, both in the School of Biological Science at WSU Vancouver, were recognized for outstanding career achievement. Faculty honors also included excellence in teaching and service, and spanned eight disciplines and three campuses.

School of the Environment lab manager Charles Knaack led the staff career achievement awards, and top graduate students were recognized in the humanities, arts, and sciences.

Visit the CAS awards poster gallery to meet all the award recipients.

Undergraduate awards

Twenty-three outstanding seniors , each representing a degree program offered in the College of Arts and Sciences at WSU Pullman, will be honored at a separate medallion ceremony on Friday, May 3, the day before commencement.

The College of Arts and Sciences is the largest academic college in the WSU system, encompassing more than 600 faculty, 180 staff, 580 graduate students, and thousands of undergraduate students across five WSU campuses. The college delivers more than half of all student credit hours of instruction at WSU, and supports scholarly, research, and creative activities across the arts, humanities, sciences, and social sciences.

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Local News | Police pursuit preceded deadly crash in Carroll…

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Local News | Police pursuit preceded deadly crash in Carroll County on Saturday; Maryland AG investigating

A driver fleeing a traffic stop in Carroll County on Saturday night crashed head-on into another car, killing its driver, according to the Maryland Office of the Attorney General.

The Independent Investigations Unit under the attorney general’s office, which investigates fatal encounters with police in Maryland, is examining the police pursuit that led to the deadly collision, the office said in a news release.

A Carroll County sheriff’s deputy near the intersection of Liberty and Ridge roads in Eldersburg saw a car speeding around 11:30 p.m. and attempted a traffic stop, the release says. About a mile away, the driver,   a man, crossed into oncoming traffic on Liberty Road and struck an SUV with a driver and a passenger.

The driver of the SUV was declared dead at the scene while its passenger and the driver who fled were taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. None of those involved in the Saturday evening accident had been identified as of Monday.

After about 30 seconds of attempting to pull the driver over, the deputy lost sight of the car, slowed and turned off his emergency equipment before discovering the crash, according to the release. The police car has a dashboard camera that recorded the deputy’s point of view, the release says.

Earlier this month, a fatal crash on Interstate 695 followed a police pursuit. Officers had attempted to stop a reportedly stolen vehicle, but the driver refused, according to Baltimore County Police. The vehicle was traveling in the wrong direction on the interstate’s outer loop when it struck another car, killing the driver.

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Who Studies at HGSE

Teachers, entrepreneurs, engineers, doctors, lawyers, and artists — hgse students defy a single mold, but share a singularly vital goal: to make a difference through education..

The master's programs at the Harvard Graduate School of Education attract extraordinary students from every imaginable background: classroom teachers, district leaders, nonprofit workers, public policy researchers, social entrepreneurs, and software engineers. Our doctoral programs draw emerging leaders in research, policy, and practice committed to improving educational opportunities in America and around the world. Our diversity is our greatest strength. We are a community of talented, compassionate, and ambitious individuals united by a shared purpose: making a difference in the lives of learners of all ages.

2023-2024 Entering Class 

Individual class profiles vary significantly by program, but here is the big picture for the class that entered in 2023-2024:

• Residential Master's in Education (Ed.M.) students: 632
• Online Master's in Education Leadership (Ed.M.) students: 93
• Doctor of Philosophy in Education (Ph.D.) students: 24
• Doctor of Education Leadership (Ed.L.D.) students: 18
• Certificate of Advanced Student (C.A.S.) students: 9

Gender Identity : Woman: 69%  |  Man: 23%  |  Transgender, Genderqueer/Gender Non-Conforming, or Another Identity: 3%

Geographical Distribution:  44 states plus D.C. and Puerto Rico, and 63 countries of citizenship

International Students: 44%

Students of Color: 55% of US citizens and permanent residents

First Generation College Students : 31%

First Generation Graduate Students : 50%

LGBTQ +: 21%

Age Breakdown

Years of Work

Note: All class profile numbers are accurate as of November 9, 2023.

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.