PhD Coursework & Schedules

 

	Health Economics Track	Decision Science Track
Statistical Data Analysis, Econometrics, and Causal Inference	Required: one year sequence in econometrics: ECON 270: Intermediate Econometrics I ECON 271: Intermediate Econometrics II ECON 272: Intermediate Econometrics III OR MGTECON 603: Econometric Methods I MGTECON 604: Econometric Methods II MGTECON 605: Econometric Methods III	Required: at least two quarters of one of the two following sequences: ECON 270: Intermediate Econometrics I ECON 271: Intermediate Econometrics II ECON 272: Intermediate Econometrics III OR MGTECON 603: Econometric Methods I MGTECON 604: Econometric Methods II MGTECON 605: Econometric Methods III
Micro-Economics	Required: one year sequence in microeconomics: ECON 202: Microeconomics I ECON 203: Microeconomics II ECON 204: Microeconomics III   OR equivalent, e.g. GSBGEN 675 or MGTECON 600 can be substituted for ECON 202 and/or MGTECON 601 can be substituted for ECON 203	Required: at least one quarter-long course from among the following options: GSBGEN 675: Microeconomic Theory OR MGTECON 600: Microeconomic Analysis I MGTECON 601: Microeconomic Analysis II OR ECON 202N: Microeconomics I for Non-Economics PhDs OR ECON 202: Microeconomics I ECON 203: Microeconomics II
Discipline-Specific Courses	Required: HRP 249: Topics in Health Economics HRP 257: Advanced Topics in the Economics of Health and Medical Care AND Choose 4 courses in the following 4 fields in economics: Development Economics Public Finance Labor Economics Industrial Organization	Required: HRP 263: Advanced Decision Science Methods and Modeling in Health AND Choose 4 methods courses such as: MS&E 211X: Introduction to Optimization (Accelerated) MS&E 221: Stochastic Modeling MS&E 223: Simulation MS&E 226: "Small" Data: Prediction, Inference, Causality MS&E 263: : Healthcare Operations Management MS&E 463: Healthcare Systems Design
Health Policy	Required: HRP 252: Outcomes Analysis HRP 256: Economics of Health and Medical Care HRP 392: Analysis of Costs, Risks, and Benefits of Health Care AND Choose 3 additional health-related courses, such as: EASTASN 217: Health and Healthcare Systems in East Asia HRP 209: Health Law: The FDA HRP 391: Health Law: Finance and Insurance MED 209: Health Law: Quality and Safety of Care MED 237: Health Law: Improving Public Health MED 238: Leading and Managing Health Care Organizations: Innovation and Collaboration	Required: HRP 252: Outcomes Analysis HRP 256: Economics of Health and Medical Care HRP 392: Analysis of Costs, Risks, and Benefits of Health Care AND Choose 3 additional health-related courses, such as: EASTASN 217: Health and Healthcare Systems in East Asia HRP 209: Health Law: The FDA HRP 391: Health Law: Finance and Insurance MED 209: Health Law: Quality and Safety of Care MED 237: Health Law: Improving Public Health MED 238: Leading and Managing Health Care Organizations: Innovation and Collaboration
Practice of Research	Required: HRP 201A, 201B, 201C: First-year Core Tutorial HRP 800: Second Year Health Policy PhD Tutorial (Aut, Win & Spr) Health Policy Research in Progress Seminar (Aut, Win & Spr) MED 255: The Responsible Conduct of Research (or equivalent)	Required: HRP 201A, 201B, 201C: First-year Core Tutorial HRP 800: Second Year Health Policy PhD Tutorial (Aut, Win & Spr) Health Policy Research in Progress Seminar (Aut, Win & Spr) MED 255: The Responsible Conduct of Research (or equivalent)

For more information on individual courses go to: http://explorecourses.stanford.edu/browse

 

Final schedules to be discussed with, and approved by, the student's primary advisor. Possible schedule options are:

Economics (Econ) Track	Decision Sciences (DS) Track
Q1 Fall
ECON 270	MGTECON 603
ECON 202	GSBGEN 675
HRP 392	HRP 392
HRP 201A	HRP 201A
HRP Graduate Research	HRP Graduate Research
Q2 Win
ECON 271	MGTECON 604
ECON 203	HRP 263
HRP 391	HRP 391
HRP 201B	HRP 201B
HRP Graduate Research	HRP Graduate Research
Q3 Spr
ECON 272	HRP 256
ECON 204	HRP 252
HRP 256	Health Policy Course
HRP 201C	Health Policy Course
HRP Graduate Research	HRP 201C
	HRP Graduate Research
Q4 Sum
HRP Graduate Research	HRP Graduate Research
Q5 Fall
HRP 257	Health Policy Course
ECON Field Course	DS Methods Course
ECON Field Course	DS Methods Course
HRP 800	HRP 800
HRP Graduate Research	HRP Graduate Research
Q6 Win
ECON Field Course	DS Methods Course
ECON Field Course	Health Policy Course
HRP 800	HRP 800
Health Policy Course	HRP Graduate Research
HRP Graduate Research
Q7 Spr
HRP 252	Health Policy Course
HRP 249	DS Methods Course
Health Policy Course	DS Methods Course
HRP 800	HRP 800
HRP Graduate Research	HRP Graduate Research
Q8 and beyond
HRP Graduate Research	HRP Graduate Research

For full details please see Stanford’s Graduate Academic Policies and Procedures (https://gap.stanford.edu/), the Stanford Bulletin (http://exploredegrees.stanford.edu/) and the Health Policy PhD Student Handbook.

The minimum number of units required for a Ph.D. degree at Stanford (satisfied both through coursework and research units) is 135.

First year:

• Completion of first-year coursework with a minimum grade of B- in all courses and an overall minimum GPA of 3.0 (equivalent to a grade of B).
• Students are expected to enroll in exactly 18 units per quarter for each of Fall, Winter & Spring Quarters (unless otherwise approved by the student's advisor and program directors). These units should be in health policy relevant courses and research, but occasional outside-interest courses may be taken with approval from the student’s advisor and the Director of Education.
• Completion of the Individual Development Plan (IDP) meeting with primary advisor within the first quarter.
• Completion of CITI/HIPAA training and research ethics/responsible conduct of research (MED 255) course.
• Regular meetings with primary advisor(s) (at least quarterly required, more frequent meetings are recommended).
• Development and presentation of first-year research proposal (as part of the Spring Quarter Tutorial).
• Completion of progress assessment/milestone meeting with primary advisor (Spring Qtr).

 

Second Year:

• Completion of second-year coursework with a minimum grade of B- in all courses and an overall minimum GPA of 3.0 (equivalent to a grade of B).
• Students are expected to enroll in exactly 18 units per quarter for each of Fall, Winter & Spring Quarters (unless otherwise approved by the student's advisor and program directors). These units should be in health policy relevant courses and research, but occasional outside-interest courses may be taken with approval from the student’s advisor and the Director of Education.
• Final course work (for both first and second year) must total at least 75 units for both core and track specific courses
• Completion of the Individual Development Plan (IDP) meeting with primary advisor within the first quarter.
• Regular meetings with advisor(s) (at least quarterly required, more frequent meetings are recommended). If the student's primary advisor is also her/his research advisor for the Tutorial, then meeting frequency should follow the Tutorial requirements.
• Maintenance of CITI/HIPAA training.
• Development of second-year research project (as part of Tutorial)
• Development and submission of funding/grant proposal (as part of Tutorial).
• Completion of progress assessment/milestone meeting with primary advisor (Spring Qtr).
• Taking and passing Written Qualifying Exam (2 weeks after the end of Spring Qtr).
• Submission, and approval by advisor, of the Second Year Paper (by end of 2nd year).
• Advancement to PhD Candidacy (by end of 2nd year).
• Presentation of second-year research project (before/at the start of 3rd year).

 

Third Year:

• Completion of IDP meeting with primary advisor within the first quarter.
• Regular meetings with primary advisor (at least quarterly required, more frequent meetings are recommended).
• Completion of units to secure Terminal Graduate Registration (TGR) status.
• Maintenance of CITI/HIPAA training (Group 7) (see: https://researchcompliance.stanford.edu/panels/hs/forms/training/citi).
• Development of dissertation proposal.
• Taking and passing the departmental Ph.D. Oral Exam - dissertation proposal defense (by end of Spring Qtr).
• Completion of progress assessment/milestone meeting with primary advisor (Spring Qtr).

 

Fourth Year (& Beyond):

• Completion of IDP meeting with primary advisor within the first quarter.
• Regular meetings with primary advisor (at least quarterly required, more frequent meetings are recommended).
• Maintenance of CITI/HIPAA training (Group 7) see: https://researchcompliance.stanford.edu/panels/hs/forms/training/citi)
• Completion of progress assessment/milestone meeting with primary advisor (Spring Qtr).
• Completion of dissertation.
• Final presentation of dissertation.

 

PhD Candidacy:

 

• Satisfactory completion of coursework (maintaining GPA of B (3.0) or better and course grades B- or better). Final course work must total at least 75 units for both core and track specific courses.
• Satisfactory completion of program requirements (such as Individual Development Plans, Responsible Conduct of Research coursework, etc.).
• Passing of the written qualifying exam.
• Submission, and approval by advisor, of the Second-Year Paper.
• Submission of PhD Candidacy form - https://registrar.stanford.edu/resources-and-help/student-forms/additional-graduate-forms
• Candidacy is valid for five calendar years (through the end of the quarter in which candidacy expires), unless terminated by the department for unsatisfactory progress. An extension of candidacy may be obtained for a maximum of one additional year.
• It is the responsibility of the student to intitate the required paperwork and committee meetings required by Stanford.

Written Qualifying Exam:

• In order to advance to PhD Candidacy students must take and pass a written qualifying exam - material will cover broader health policy concepts (such as ones covered in the first year Tutorial) as well as track specific topics in Health Economics and Decision Sciences.
• The exams will be evaluated and graded by core faculty.

 

Oral Exam:

• In accordance with University policy (see: http://gap.stanford.edu) students must take and pass an Oral Examination as part of the PhD degree requirements.
• The Oral Examination (colloquially known as “the proposal defense”) will be focused mainly on the student’s dissertation proposal. As well as examining feasibility and understanding of the dissertation proposal, it assesses the candidate’s command of the field of study.
• Students are required to take the Oral Exam after passing their Written Qualifying Exam, and when the advisor believes that the student is ready.
• The Oral Exam must be taken and passed no later than the end of Spring Quarter of the student’s third year.
• The student’s Oral Exam committee must be chaired by an out-of-department chairperson. The other members of the Oral Exam committee are the student’s primary advisor and at least 3 core faculty members.

 

PhD Dissertation:

• Students must present a Ph.D. dissertation that is the result of independent investigation and that constitutes a contribution to knowledge in health services research and health policy.
• Students must select a primary dissertation advisor and at least 2 additional faculty members to serve on the dissertation committee.
• Presentation of a prospectus outlining the proposed research to the committee - as part of the oral examination.
• Receipt of written approval from the dissertation committee chair.
• Passing of the University oral examination – before the student’s committee (primary & secondary advisors, and additional members including a University chair from outside the program).
• Submission of a final draft of the work signed by all members of the dissertation committee.
• Final talk to present thesis work and findings