The Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences administers the Ph.D. in Social and Behavioral Sciences (PhD-SBS). This program provides advanced training in theory, methods, and research related to social and behavioral influences on population health that prepares students for advanced research and scholarship. The program provides experiences that support interdisciplinary learning; promote critical and theory-based problem-solving skills to address public health threats; and foster the development of professional values and ethics. Heavy emphasis is placed on scientific foundations, research methods, and statistics as well as hands-on research experience.

Coursework and experiential learning emphasize the dynamic interaction of individual difference characteristics, social circumstances, and situational factors influencing health-promoting and health-damaging behavior and behavior change. Required research courses, structured research experiences each academic term, colloquium presentations, and coursework in teaching and grant writing expand students’ knowledge and application of research methods and analytic techniques while facilitating professional development and scholarship. Students choose advanced training opportunities in concentration electives with close consultation from a faculty mentor to ensure proper breadth and depth of training in students’ emerging areas of expertise. A publishable first-authored paper is required prior to sitting for the preliminary examinations to further facilitate students’ focus on scholarship.

Throughout enrollment in the program, students are expected to actively participate in scholarly activities and develop their own line of independent research that will contribute to their area of interest within the social and behavioral sciences. Many opportunities lie in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences for research mentorship with internationally renowned faculty affiliated with dynamic research laboratories and centers, including the Center for Obesity Research and Education, the Health Behavior and Research Clinic, the Health Disparities Research Laboratory, the Risk Communication Laboratory, and the Social and Behavioral Health Interventions Laboratory, as well as the Dean’s Research Group. Collectively, centers and labs in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences develop, test, and evaluate interventions aimed at resolving significant public health problems in high-risk and vulnerable populations. Examples of research content areas in which department faculty are actively involved include cancer control (e.g., smoking cessation); cancer prevention and decision-making (e.g., early detection and screening); cancer survivorship (e.g., online and live support groups); ethnic and racial disparities in cancer; health systems research; obesity; and violence. Research mentors in these labs offer opportunities for research placements and developing papers for publication and presentation at conferences; provide professional socialization; help define dissertation projects using existing funded studies; and may provide some funding in the form of Research Assistantships.

Job Prospects: Students in the program develop public health content expertise and skills in research, scholarship, teaching, and grant writing. Therefore, graduates of the PhD-SBS program are prepared to become faculty members or researchers in colleges and universities or to hold research-related positions in a wide range of organizations, such as agencies promoting community and public health, consulting firms, foundations, healthcare systems, nonprofits, and research centers. Graduates are employed in health systems, hospitals and clinics, public health departments, public health and other healthcare and human service agencies, and universities.