public health phd programs california

UC Davis Graduate Studies

Public health sciences (phd), about the program, learn more about the program.

The PhD program in Public Health Sciences trains students to become experts in generating, through scholarly research, new knowledge about health and disease prevention and effective programs in public health. Graduates will be equipped with the means to communicate and disseminate this new knowledge. The program educates students in research design, implementation, analysis and public health practice, and teaches effective ways to disseminate scholarly findings and implement evidence-based, effective public health programs.

School of Medicine

Admissions and Fellowship Information

UC Davis General Admission Requirements Program Admissions Requirements

Admissions Actions

Program contact information, primary program contacts.

Program Coordinator Kristyn Keylon [email protected]

Additional Contacts

Advisor: General Deborah Bennett Public Health Sciences (530) 754-8282 | [email protected]

Advisor: Admissions and General Marcella Gonsalves Public Health Sciences (530) 752-0849 | [email protected]

Advisor: Admissions and Primary Contact Brad Pollock Public Health Sciences [email protected]

Advisor: General David Rocke Public Health Sciences (530) 752-6999 | [email protected]

Senior Academic Advisor Brittney Dinelli [email protected]

PhD in Public Health

The Departments of Population Health and Disease Prevention and Health Society and Behavior jointly offer a unique, research training doctorate degree, culminating with a PhD in Public Health with concentrations in biobehavioral mechanisms of health, disease prevention, or global health. Admitted students will have the opportunity to conduct research with top-tier faculty on the biopsychosocial determinants of health status of populations, and the translation of such knowledge to improve health and prevent disease and disability.

Graduates of the PhD program will be prepared for independent and collaborative research careers, and to teach at advanced levels of instruction. Students who complete the research training program will create new knowledge through a deep understanding of the theoretical underpinnings of public health challenges, research methods, and their application to contemporary and emerging trends in public health.

Students enrolled in the PhD in Public Health must choose a concentration in one of the following concentrations: Biobehavioral Mechanisms of Health, Disease Prevention, or Global Health.

In most cases, students will have a primary faculty mentor from the core faculty from either the Department of Health Society & Behavior or Department of Population Health and Disease Prevention. However, students are encouraged to work with a variety of core and affiliated faculty.

Students enrolled in the PhD in Public Health are required to serve as Teaching Assistants in public health courses for two quarters during their graduate study. Teaching is an important component of graduate training, as it helps graduate students learn how to communicate effectively about their field of knowledge. In addition, teaching experience is valuable to those planning for a career in academia. Graduate students with comparable prior teaching experience (e.g., through postgraduate degrees earned at UC Irvine or other comparable institution) may request a waiver of the teaching requirement.

The following faculty mentors are accepting students for the Fall 2024 admissions cycle.

Concentrations

The focus of the PhD concentration in Biobehavioral Mechanisms of Health is to train excellence in research to discover the pathways and mechanisms linking social and psychological factors with biological processes and physical health. Biobehavioral research considers psychological, social and cultural, and biological processes that underlie health outcomes, with a strong emphasis on neuroimmune pathways, autonomic nervous system physiology, neuroscience, and human genomics. A focus on biobehavioral mechanisms of health incorporates the potential for contextual influences, psychological stress processes, and biological systems to influence health. It bears the potential to help solve our most pressing public health problems.

Learning Objectives:

• Demonstrate knowledge of the major theoretical and methodological underpinnings of advances in biobehavioral health research.
• Integrate theory and research methods to identify, assess, and alter biobehavioral pathways to health.
• Analyze interrelationships among social, psychological, and biological factors impacting health and illness.
• Formulate research hypotheses in the intersection of biobehavioral health mechanisms and public health.
• Compose research proposals and conduct original research resulting in discoveries that contribute to improved understanding of the role of biobehavioral mechanisms of health in specific populations, with the goals of applying the knowledge to public health.

Please note that the Biobehavioral Mechanisms of Health concentration is not yet accredited by the Council on Education for Public Health.

The focus of the PhD concentration in Disease Prevention is to train excellence in research to discover insights into how human behavior, social constraints, and other contextual factors influence strategies to prevent disease in populations that are vulnerable to risk factors. The program emphasizes the ecological model of disease prevention, with research hypotheses emerging through multi-layered analysis of determinants of health status, including individual, interpersonal, organizational, community, and overarching policy. Students generate the hypotheses for their research in the nexus of risk factors, health behavior, and vulnerable populations.

• Demonstrate knowledge of the major theoretical underpinnings of strategies for disease
• Explain the relationship between theory and research methods focused on understanding the association of risk, behavior, and vulnerability with respect to disease pathways.
• Analyze interrelationships among the determinants of illness and maladaptive health behaviors using theories of health
• Formulate research hypotheses in the intersection of health risk factors, health behavior, and health promotion and policies toward disease
• Compose research proposals and conduct original research resulting in discoveries that contribute to improved understanding of the role of behavior and health promotion strategies in mitigating the vulnerability to health risk factors in specific populations, with the goals of applying the knowledge to disease prevention.

The focus of the PhD concentration in Global Health is to train excellence in research through engagement in hypothesis-driven projects to investigate the global context of disease burden and the improvement of population health status. The program will attract candidates who seek to analyze problems at the intersection of risk, vulnerability, and disease. Activities may include investigation of strategies to make research results that have already produced benefits in one country or region effective in underprivileged regions. The program trains students in integrative expertise essential for global health research with hypotheses in the nexus of content (risk analysis), context (vulnerability assessments), and process (translation of knowledge to reduce the burden of disease).

• Demonstrate knowledge of the major theoretical underpinnings of advances in global health
• Explain the relationship between theory and research methods focused on understanding the association of risk, vulnerability, and outcome in global
• Compare and contrast the health status of different populations with respect to their burden of
• Formulate research hypotheses in the intersection of risk factors, vulnerable populations, and burden of
• Compose research proposals and conduct original research resulting in discoveries that contribute to improved understanding of risk factors and variations in disease burden in a population, and strategies to alleviate the burden at the global level.

Time to Degree

It is expected that students will need 5 years to complete the program.

Career Opportunities

The PhD in Public Health prepares graduates to initiate independent and collaborative research careers in academic institutions, to teach at advanced levels of instruction, and to lead research efforts at agencies dedicated to public health at all levels of organization. Graduates of the PhD in Public Health will gain employment at research universities, government agencies, or private sector organizations including research institutes, hospitals, and public health foundations. 

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Health Policy PhD

Impact population health at a systems level.

Health policy is an interdisciplinary field that examines the organization and financing of health systems and services; the impact of health policies on population health; and the economic, social and behavioral determinants of health. It involves the investigation of all systems that affect population health, not just the medical care system. The purview of health policy is global.

The mission of our program is to prepare students for research careers in health policy and health services research; teaching; and public service in university, governmental and public policy settings. This program is distinguished by its interdisciplinary application of the social and behavioral science disciplines to real world health issues. Graduates are prepared to play lead scientific roles in addressing the many challenges facing health care and public health systems in the United States and countries around the world.

Students must successfully complete a health services research readings and methods seminar (two semesters), five specialty field courses, three quantitative research methods courses, and three additional graduate elective courses.

The program includes three specialty fields:

The Health Economics specialty field draws on economics, epidemiology and statistics to understand the causal relationship between different aspects of health and the health care sector. With an emphasis on quantifying relationships, health economics covers a broad range of study areas including health production, demand and supply of health services, health care financing, behavioral responses to institutional or policy incentives, policy evaluations and other efficiency, and equity issues surrounding health.

The Organizations & Management specialty field trains scholars in organizational behavior and political science in regards to health. Theories and methods in organizational sociology, political science and social psychology are central to the study of health organizations. Specialty field courses in macro-organizational theory, micro-organizational theory and organizational analysis of the health sector are required. This specialty field emphasizes the management of health care and public health organizations and systems, the implementation and dissemination of policies and practices within and across organizations, and the role of policy-making institutions as platforms for the creation and modification of health policies.

The Population Health Sciences specialty field trains students for research careers in the social, behavioral, and economic determinants of health and the study of interventions, policies, and practices that impact the health of populations and vulnerable communities. The specialty field emphasizes addressing the social and behavioral determinants of health through quantitative research informed by theoretical frameworks in economics, psychology, demography, and social epidemiology. Training in innovative methodologies for establishing causal relationships in quasi-experimental research is a cornerstone of the Population Health Sciences specialty field. Students will learn and integrate cutting-edge methods from key areas of strength at Berkeley: biostatistics, social science methods such as econometrics and formal demography, and the rapidly evolving set of data science innovations such as machine learning that are being advanced at Berkeley including in the Division of Computing, Data Science, and Society. The explosion of health sector data availability, along with Berkeley’s innovation hub positioning, make this an excellent track for students looking to become quantitative experts who can lead research across a wide variety of population health science and health policy questions.

Students have access to all of UC Berkeley’s disciplines and professional schools, in addition to UCSF faculty and research programs. This is a full-time program geared for careers in academia and research and students typically complete it in four to five years. Our program is administered by Berkeley Public Health and the doctoral degree is granted by UC Berkeley’s Graduate Division.

Graduates can achieve and demonstrate expertise in the following major academic outcomes:

• Develop domain expertise in core works in health policy and the selected specialty field.
• Understand central social science theoretical frameworks and debates shaping health policy.
• Demonstrate substantive knowledge of the specialty field sufficient to design and teach graduate-level courses in that field.
• Demonstrate the ability to conduct rigorous quantitative research.
• Plan and conduct independent research using advanced research methods.
• Demonstrate the mastery of academia and grant writing, conference presentation, IRB procedures and ethics in research.
• Engage in intellectual exchange among students and faculty across the university to enhance interdisciplinary research and training.

Qualifications

A master’s degree is not a requirement for this program, however, entering students should have completed introductory coursework in statistics, microeconomics, epidemiology and public health. Students without master’s-level coursework in these areas are required to take relevant courses at UC Berkeley or otherwise demonstrate mastery of these areas.

Graduates are well-prepared to assume academic careers in research and teaching. Many of our graduates move directly to positions in academia, government or research organizations. Other graduates receive postdoctoral fellowships to continue specific training in their area of interest and research.

To apply to the Health Policy PhD program, please complete the UC Berkeley Graduate Division admissions application . This program does not use the SOPHAS application.

Submissions of GRE scores are optional but strongly recommended for this program. Especially if you have no other evidence of quantitative, verbal, or analytical abilities in your application. If not submitting a score, competitive applicants will need to provide alternative evidence of strong quantitative capability and should speak to their analytical and quantitative preparation for the PhD program in their application based on past coursework (e.g. statistics, microeconomics, math) and/or professional experience.

Please submit a writing sample and provide a list of publications and/or presentations related to your academic or professional background (include the PubMed ID if applicable).

If your work is published as a website or part of it, please provide the URL. Your writing sample can be a written assignment, journal article, report, Op-Ed, commentary, conference abstract, or other publication. Please enter your most recent citation first.

This is a quantitatively-oriented health policy program. Prospective applicants primarily interested in qualitative methods are advised to explore related programs such as the UC Berkeley PhD in Social Welfare or Medical Anthropology, or the UCSF Sociology program. Prospective applicants instead primarily focused on computational methods should also consider related UC Berkeley PhD programs in Biostatistics or Computational Precision Health.

Core Faculty

The core PhD program faculty members of the School of Public Health, the Haas School of Business, School of Social Welfare, the Goldman School of Public Policy, and the Departments of Economics, Sociology, and Political Science.

Emeriti Faculty

Emeritus faculty of the Health Policy Faculty Group are Professors of the Graduate School and may serve on dissertation committees as Chair, inside members, or as an Academic Senate Representative. Their availability to students, however, may be limited compared to core faculty group members.

Health Policy Research Centers at UC Berkeley and UCSF

Health Policy PhD students have access to a wide range of resources at UC Berkeley and UCSF, including highly regarded research centers. Below are brief descriptions of a selected list of research centers most closely aligned with the Health Policy PhD program. These Centers include faculty from a wide variety of backgrounds and disciplines who bring expertise in health services research and provide settings for intensive training and mentorship opportunities for trainees.

• The  Berkeley Center for Health Technology (BCHT) , co-directed by Dr. James Robinson (Director) and Dr. Tim Brown (Associate Director), promotes the efficiency and effectiveness of healthcare through research and education on the development, insurance coverage, payment, and appropriate use of medical technologies. The focus of BCHT is on biopharmaceuticals, implantable medical devices, insurance benefit design, and payment methods. Research initiatives include leadership roundtables, case studies of leading organizations, and econometric analyses of public and private data sources. BCHT helps stakeholders design a healthcare system that combines innovation and entrepreneurship with economic efficiency and social fairness.
• The UC Berkeley  Nicholas C. Petris Center on Health Care Markets and Consumer Welfare , co-directed by Dr. Richard Scheffler (Director) and Dr. Brent Fulton (Associate Director), focuses on consumer protection, affordability and access to healthcare, especially for low and middle-income individuals. The Petris Center also focuses on and the role of information in consumer choice, and regulation and competition within healthcare markets.  The research center is named after former California State Senator Nicholas Petris, who advocated strongly on behalf of California consumers for affordable, accessible, and quality healthcare.
• The UC Berkeley  Center for Healthcare Organizational and Innovation Research (CHOIR) , co-directed by Dr. Hector Rodriguez (Director) and Dr. Amanda Brewster (Associate Director) aspires to help make the U.S. healthcare system among the most responsive in the world through practice-based research and dissemination of evidence. CHOIR emphasizes innovations in healthcare delivery and assessment of organizational performance to improve the technical quality of care delivered, patient experience and outcomes of care, population health, and cost. CHOIR works to maximize their “voice” and impact through webinars, roundtables, and discussions with private and public sector action and thought leaders.
• The Laboratory for Systems Medicine, directed by Dr. Ziad Obermeyer, applies methods from machine learning, biostatistics, and econometrics to the complex world of medical diagnoses, interventions, and outcomes. The center translates large observational datasets into new ways to understand and improve the life and death decisions that providers and patients make every day, in the US and across the world.
• The Center on the  Economics and Demography of Aging (CEDA) , directed by Professor William Dow, was founded in 1993 to promote interdisciplinary research on the economic and demographic aspects of aging.  In response to the growing demand from government agencies, Congress, and academic researchers for timely, accessible, and practical information as well as basic research. At the central core of CEDA is a group of outstanding formal and mathematical and statistical demographers who apply their skills to a variety of research areas, including biodemography, demographic modeling and forecasting, and intergenerational transfers including fiscal accounting. This central core is enriched by other themes, notably psychological and behavioral economics with applications to economic and health-related behaviors.
• The  UC-Berkeley Opportunity Lab (O-Lab) , co-directed by Professor Ben Handel and Professor Hilary Hoynes serves as the central research hub for Berkeley scholars conducting rigorous, data-driven research on social and economic inequality in the United States. Our network of faculty and graduate students work across disciplines and study a wide array of topics, from the role of childhood food security on long-term economic security to the disparate impacts of climate change on low-income communities.
• The UCSF  Center for Vulnerable Populations  at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital carries out innovative research to prevent and treat chronic disease in populations for whom social conditions often conspire to both promote various chronic diseases and make their management more challenging. Beyond the local communities it serves, CVP is nationally and internationally known for its research in health communication and health policy to reduce health disparities, with special expertise in the social determinants of health, including literacy, food policy, poverty, and minority status, with a focus on the clinical conditions of pre-diabetes, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease.  CVP is at the frontline of practice-based research on chronic diseases for the diverse and disadvantaged populations of San Francisco and the Bay Area. UCSF faculty mentors Drs. Margot Kushel, Courtney Lyles, and Urmimala Sarkar are core CVP faculty.
• The  Healthforce Center  at UCSF was founded in 1992 to help healthcare leaders and  policymakers better understand the health workforce and develop successful strategies and policies. The Center’s dynamic leadership training programs have touched thousands of people across the entire healthcare ecosystem who continue to make significant and meaningful change in healthcare. UCSF Professor Janet Coffman and Professor Joanne Spetz are core faculty of the center.

Health Policy PhD Student Directory

• 2024–2025 Cohort div; cls: uk-animation-fade; delay: 18" uk-grid > Jeremy Rodriguez Cindy Alvarez Niru Ghoshal-Datta Alan Mozaffari Julian Ramos

Jeremy Rodriguez (he/they) is a PhD student in Health Policy on the Population Health Sciences track. His research interests include health care inequities, intergenerational health, and examining the effects of structural racism and colonization on health care access and utilization. Prior to joining the program, Jeremy was a program supervisor at a federally qualified health center, where he oversaw the volunteer and clinical student program, developed clinic support services, and facilitated learning opportunities for health professionals in training. His interest in research began at his undergraduate years, where he worked on projects concerning the impact of U.S. federal colonial policies on Puerto Rican maternal health outcomes, food insecurity, and examined the potential environmental and health effects of neonicotinoids (pesticide) legislation. He holds a BA in Anthropology modified with Public Health and Public Policy from Dartmouth College.

Jeremy Rodriguez on LinkedIn

Cindy Alvarez (she/her) is a Health Policy PhD student at UC Berkeley with a focus on Organizations and Management. Her research interests include primary care, Medicaid policy, and health workforce issues. Prior to graduate school, Cindy was a researcher at Mathematica, working on projects related to primary care, health equity, and public health interventions using qualitative methods. Cindy received a bachelor’s degree and MPH from Yale University.

Cindy Alvarez on LinkedIn

Niru Ghoshal-Datta (he/him) is a doctoral student in the Health Policy PhD program in the Economics track. His research interests focus on the design of public health insurance programs and the effects of privatization and consolidation in the healthcare industry. Prior to beinning his doctorate, Niru worked as a Research Assistant at the Healthcare Markets and Regulation Lab at Harvard Medical School, a Data and Policy Analyst at Acumen, and a Research Fellow at the California Policy Lab. He holds an undergraduate degree in Economics from the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Niru Ghoshal-Datta on LinkedIn

Alan Mozaffari (he/him) is a Health Policy PhD student in the Population Health Sciences track. His research interests include using prevention science, systems thinking, both participatory and causal quantitative methods, and critical theory to understand what social, legal, and welfare systems and policies require reinforcement, rethinking, and reevaluation to decrease risk and increase protective developmental and health factors for children during their early childhood through adolescent experiences. Prior to starting his PhD, he conducted community-based participatory research and quantitative analyses with youth populations in contexts ranging from Afghanistan, Pakistan, St. Louis, MO, and Massachusetts. Born and raised in San Francisco, Alan was motivated to look upstream and research the social determinants of health while teaching during the summers with the Breakthrough Collaborative. He holds a Masters of Education and a Masters of Public Health, both from Harvard University, and a Bachelors of Arts in Economics from Washington University in St. Louis.

Alan Mozaffari on LinkedIn

Julian Ramos (he/him), an Afro-Latinx native of South Sacramento and an early career researcher, focusing on power, justice, well being and democracy through empirical research. Currently a second-year Masters in Public Policy candidate at the Goldman School of Public Policy at UC Berkeley, he specializes in the nexus of the criminal legal system, democratic institutions, and public health. In 2023, Julian significantly contributed as a Graduate Student Research Assistant at the Democracy Policy Initiative alongside Dr. Charlotte Hill, focusing on voter turnout policy innovations and analyzing restrictive voter legislation. His pivotal work at The Possibilities Lab as a GSR involved advancing computational methods to enhance district attorney capabilities for resentencing, aiming to reduce sentences for individuals in correctional facilities. Julian’s academic journey began at Cosumnes River College, leading to a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from UC Berkeley, where he published in Globus Mundi and engaged in criminal legal system research with Dr. Nikki Jones’s Justice Lab. Before his graduate studies, he bridged grassroots organizations with empirical research as a consultant at Everyday Impact Consulting, driving advocacy and program optimization. Julian’s dedication to impactful research and community upliftment shines through his work and academic endeavors.

• 2023–2024 Cohort div; cls: uk-animation-fade; delay: 18" uk-grid > Jaclyn Schess Stacy Chen

Jaclyn Schess (she/her) is a PhD Student in Health Policy in the Health Economics Track. Her research interests are in the social and political determinants of mental health and substance use outcomes. At Berkeley, she conducts research on the impact of minimum wages on mental health and substance use. Prior to joining the program, Jaclyn served as a Research Associate at the University of Michigan where she investigated the long term and intergenerational impacts of early life endowments using a twins fixed-effects design. She has also conducted global mental health research with Sangath Community NGO in India and the Queensland Centre for Mental Health Research in Australia. In addition to her research work, Jaclyn is the founder of Generation Mental Health, a youth-led nonprofit building a generation of leaders in mental health research, programs and policy. Jaclyn has an MA in Economics from Georgetown University and a BA in Economics and Certificate in Global Health Studies from Yale University.

Jaclyn Schess on Google Scholar

Jaclyn Schess’ Personal Website

Jaclyn Schess on LinkedIn

Stacy Chen is a Health Policy PhD student at UC Berkeley in the Organizations and Management track. Her research interests are in patient access to safety-net providers and government health programs, specifically among immigrants and low-income individuals. Prior to graduate school, Stacy worked as a healthcare economist at the MITRE Corp supporting government funded research and development projects such as income mobility in Census and optimizing virtual care for federally-qualified health centers in HRSA. Stacy received an MPH and BA in economics from Tufts University.

Stacy Chen on Linkedin

• 2022–2023 Cohort div; cls: uk-animation-fade; delay: 18" uk-grid > Alexander Adia Alex Schulte Xuqian Ma Jorge A. Morales Alfaro

Alexander Adia (he/they) is a doctoral student on the Population and Data Science track and a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health Policy Research Scholar. His research examines how changes in markets and policies can impact patient health and welfare, with a specific focus on heterogenous impacts by race/ethnicity and income. His pre-doctoral research includes papers in journals like the American Journal of Public Health, Health Affairs, and JAMA Health Forum. Before starting the doctoral program, Alexander was a Senior Consultant at Precision Advisors in New York City. Alexander received a bachelor’s degree and MPH from Brown University and is the current President for the Filipinx/a/o Community Health Association.

Alexander Adia on Google Scholar

Alexander Adia’s Personal Website

Alex Schulte (she/her) is a Health Policy PhD candidate in the Organizations and Management track. She is interested in applying quantitative methodologies to better understand how organizational, market, and policy changes impact reproductive healthcare access and quality. Prior to starting her PhD, Alex worked as a healthcare consultant at Deloitte and later as a program officer at the Deloitte Health Equity Institute. She has bachelors degrees in Economics and Health Policy & Management from UNC Chapel Hill.

Alex Schulte on LinkedIn

Alex Schulte on Google scholar

Xuqian Ma (she/her) is a PhD student in Health Policy, specializing in Health Economics. Her research focuses on the economics of aging, exploring how social and environmental factors influence health outcomes in older adults. She is currently investigating how individual preferences and decision-making quality affect health and healthcare choices, particularly within aging populations. Additionally, Xuqian is involved in a project examining the life-term determinants of mental and cognitive health in Vietnam. Her work also extends to studying the cognitive impacts of real-time air pollution exposure among an aging population in low-resource settings like Kenya. Prior to her PhD, she earned a Bachelor’s degree in Quantitative Economics and Econometrics from the University of Minnesota Twin Cities and a Master’s degree in Applied Economics from Cornell University.

Xuqian Ma on LinkedIn

Jorge Morales Alfaro (he/him) is a PhD student in the Health Policy, Population, and Data Science Track focusing on healthcare services’ quality in pharmacy-adjacent clinics in Mexico and broadly on the health outcomes of the mixed-use of public and private services. Jorge is also interested in applying causal inference methods to disentangle the effects of social policy on health outcomes in LMIC and the US. He has worked at the Social Security Institute of Mexico (IMSS) doing applied quantitative research and in the non-profit and international organizations sector doing quantitative analysis on international development, poverty, inequality, and governance. Jorge studied Economics and Political Science at ITAM and has an MPP from Duke, where he specialized in Health Policy and International Development and worked in the Population Health Sciences Department at Duke.

Jorge Morales Alfaro on LinkedIn

Jorge Morales Alfaro on Google Scholar

• 2021–2022 Cohort div; cls: uk-animation-fade; delay: 18" uk-grid > Qi Jiang Christine Lo Madeline Adee Eleanor Tsai

Qi Jiang (she/they) is a PhD Candidate in Health Policy, Population Health Track, dedicated to addressing health inequalities faced by women and children in LMICs. Her research focuses on developing, evaluating, and scaling interventions to improve early child development and caretaker mental health. Her research emphasizes quantitative methods such as randomized controlled trials and quasi-experiment models to evaluate intervention effectiveness. She also conducts in-depth interviews and focus groups to enhance her understanding of intervention implementation. She collaborates closely with local stakeholders to ensure interventions are feasible, efficient, and impactful.

Qi Jiang  on Google Scholar

Qi Jiang on LinkedIn

Qi Jiang’s Personal website

Christine Lo (she/her) is a PhD student in Health Policy at UC Berkeley with a focus in Organizations and Management. Her research interests include Medicaid delivery and policy, health care safety nets, and social care integration. Prior to her PhD, Christine worked with health systems to develop and scale programs aimed to improve clinical effectiveness and address patients’ social needs. Christine holds a MPH from Yale School of Public Health and bachelor’s degree from University of Washington.

Christine Lo on LinkedIn

Madeline Adee is a Health Policy PhD student with a specialization in Population Health and Data Science. Her research focuses on improving health for people involved in the United States carceral system through decarceration efforts, addressing human rights concerns, and improved medical care. Prior to starting her PhD, she worked as a programmer analyst on cost-effectiveness and simulation modeling studies focused on hepatitis C elimination and overdose reduction. Madeline holds an MPH in Health Policy from the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University and a BS in Anthropology from Portland State University.

Madeline Adee on Google scholar

Madeline Adee on Linkedin

Madeline Adee’s Personal website

Eleanor Tsai (she/her) is a PhD candidate in Health Policy at UC Berkeley specializing in Population Health and Data Science.

Eleanor Tsai on LinkedIn

• 2020–2021 Cohort div; cls: uk-animation-fade; delay: 18" uk-grid > Solis Winters

Solis Winters (she/her) is a PhD candidate in Health Policy at the UC Berkeley School of Public Health, with a specialization in Population Health and Data Science. She uses causal inference methods from epidemiology and econometrics to better understand what types of interventions and policies can improve reproductive and perinatal health in low-income and under-resourced communities around the world. Her primary research interest is on the first 1,000 days of life, from pregnancy through age two—a critical stage of the life course where poor nutrition can lead to large, irreversible health and economic consequences later in adulthood and across future generations. Her second area of research focuses on people who recently initiated HIV care, a period characterized by high mortality and attrition from care. Prior to starting her PhD, Solis worked at the Inter-American Development Bank, where she researched mechanisms for improving maternal and child health in low-income and indigenous communities in Latin America. Solis holds a BS in Biostatistics and Public Health from Saint Louis University’s College for Public Health and Social Justice.

Solis Winters’ Personal Website

Solis Winters on Google Scholar

Solis Winters on LinkedIn

Graduates of the UC Berkeley PhD Program in Health Policy (formerly “Health Services and Policy Analysis”) hold leading research and teaching positions at academic and research institutions both within the United States and internationally. Many of our alumni hold tenured or tenure-track positions at respected universities and colleges such as Stanford University, Johns Hopkins University, Cornell University, UCSF, and Dartmouth College. Our recent alumni have also successfully obtained post-doctoral appointments at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Palo Alto Medical Foundation Research Institute, Kaiser Permanente Division of Research, Yale University, and Stanford University.

The following is a partial listing of PhD program alumni, their dissertation titles, and their current employment.

Jonathan Agnew, PhD Cost and Utilization of Outpatient Prescription Drugs Among the Elderly: Implications for a Medicare Benefit Owner and President, Agnew and Associates Medical Writing Vancouver, BC

Sangeeta C. Ahluwalia, PhD Professionalism among Physicians: Factors Associated with Outpatient Palliative Care Referral in a Managed Care Organization Senior Policy Researcher & Associate Director, Behavioral and Policy Sciences RAND Corporation, Santa Monica, CA

Jim Bellows, PhD Use of Worker’s Compensation Medical Care: Health Insurance Matters Managing Director Kaiser Permanente Care Management Institute, Oakland CA

Aman Bhandari, PhD National Estimates and Predictors of Pharmacy Utilization and Out-of-Pocket Prescription Drug Expenditures in Underserved Populations Vice President, Data Strategy and Solutions, Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Boston, MA

Claire Boone, PhD Essays in Health and Behavioral Economics Postdoctoral Fellow University of Chicago

Timothy T. Brown, PhD Three Essays on the Labor Market for Nonphysician Clinicians Associate Professor of Health Policy and Management Associate Director of Research, Berkeley Center for Health Technology University of California Berkeley, School of Public Health, Berkeley CA

Sahai Burrowes, PhD Essays on the Political Impact of Development Assistance Allocation in Malawi Associate Professor of Public Health Touro University, Vallejo CA

Drew Cameron, PhD The effect of short-term subsidies on future demand for potable water in rural Bihar, India: A randomized controlled trial Assistant Professor of Public Health (Health Policy) Yale University School of Public Health

Lawrence Casalino, MD, PhD Medical Groups and Physician Organization; Physician-Hospital and Physician-Health Plan Relationships; Physician Organization and Quality Professor Emeritus of Population Health Sciences Weill Cornell Medical College

Aaron Caughey, MD, PhD Applications from Behavioral Economics to Decision Making in the Setting of Prenatal Diagnosis Professor and Chair, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology Oregon Health Sciences University, Portland, OR

Paulette Cha, PhD Essays on Health Economics and Immigration Fellow Public Policy Institute of California

Susan Chapman, PhD The Experience of Returning to Work for Employed Women with Breast Cancer Professor, UCSF School of Nursing San Francisco, CA

Ann Chou, PhD Shared decision making: The selection process of treatment options and resulting quality of life implications for women with breast cancer Professor of Family and Preventive Medicine, Health Sciences Center University of Oklahoma

Elizabeth Ciemins, PhD The Effect of Mental Health Parity on Children’s Mental Health and Substance Abuse Service Utilization in Massachusetts Director of Research and Analytics American Medical Group Association Foundation, Alexandria, VA

Janet Coffman, PhD All Capitated Systems are not Alike: Effects of Organizational Structure, Culture, and Climate on Medicaid Recipients Use of Inpatient Psychiatric Care Professor of Health Policy Institute for Health Policy Studies, UC San Francisco

Carrie Colla, PhD Effects of the San Francisco Employer Health Spending Mandate Professor of Health Economics Dartmouth Medical School, Hanover NH

Leeann Comfort, PhD Applications and Extensions of Organization Theory: The Context of Accountable Care Organizations Scientist Administrator, Social Science Researcher Division of Healthcare Delivery and Systems Research Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality

David Contreras-Loya, PhD Managerial Practices and Altruism in Health Care Delivery Research Professor Escuela de Gobierno y Transformación Pública Tecnológico de Monterrey

Jan Cooper, PhD Money, Sex, and Power – An Analysis of Relationship Power in the Context of Conditional Cash Transfer Interventions to Reduce Risky Sex in Tanzania Researcher, Global Health and Policy Analysis Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

Jae Corman, PhD Foreclosures and Health Senior Director of Analytics Folx Health

Alison Evans Cuellar, PhD Changing Markets and Hospital: Managed Care, Horizontal Integration and Vertical Alignment Professor of Health Administration and Policy Associate Dean of Research, College of Public Health George Mason University, Fairfax, VA

Julie Dang, PhD Two Shots to Cancer Prevention: Improving the Uptake of the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) Vaccine among Preadolescent Patients of a Primary Care Network Assistant Professor & Executive Director, Office of Community Outreach and Engagement UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center

Maria Dieci, PhD Patient vs. provider incentives for malaria care: A cluster randomized controlled trial in Kenyan pharmacies Assistant Professor of Health Policy and Management Emory University

Ebbin Dotson, PhD The Business Case for Leadership Diversity in Health Care Assistant Professor of Health Policy and Management University of Michigan Ann Arbor, MI

April Falconi, PhD Perimenopause as a Sensitive Period for Women’s Health and Aging: A Review of the Chronic Disease Literature and Two Empirical Tests of Significance Associate Director, Elevance Health

Kevin Feeney, PhD Essays on Cash Transfers and Health Economist, Amazon Los Angeles, CA

Sara Fernandes-Taylor, PhD Provider Communication, Self-Reported Health, and Post-Treatment Regret among Young Breast Cancer Survivors Scientist III Department of Surgery University of Wisconsin School of Medicine

Robin Flagg, PhD Governor Decision Making: Expansion of Medicaid Under the Affordable Care Act Continuing Lecturer, Division of Health Policy and Management University of California, Berkeley

Jennifer Frehn, PhD Understanding the Influences and Organization of Systems to Improve Community Health Post-doctoral Research Fellow, School of Public Health UCLA

Vicki Fung, PhD The Effects of Losing Brand-Name Drug Coverage: Changes in Use of Inhaled Steroids and Clinical Outcomes Among Medicare Beneficiaries with Asthma Associate Professor of Medicine, Mongan Institute for Health Policy Massachusetts General Hospital Department of Medicine, Harvard Medical School Boston, MA

Daniel Gentry, PhD Organizational Bureaucracy, Legitimacy, and “Thrival”: A Study of the Response by AIDS Service Organizations in Twenty California Counties to the Ryan White CARE Act of 1990 President & CEO, Association of University Programs in Health Administration

Gabrielle Goldstein, JD, PhD A Market for Ethics Counsel Nixon Peabody LLP San Francisco, CA

Julia Goodman, PhD Three Essays on Maternity Leave Policies, Utilization and Consequences Assistant Professor of Public Health OHSU & Portland State University School of Public Health

Lakshmi Gopalakrishnan, PhD Gender norms as a social determinant of health and well-being of married adolescent girls and young women in South Asia Postdoctoral Fellow UCSF

Ilana Graetz, PhD The Impact of EHR and Teamwork on Care Transitions and Patient Outcomes Associate Professor of Health Policy and Management Rollins School of Public Health Emory University, Atlanta, GA

Chaoran Guo, PhD Social Learning in Health Insurance Choices: Evidence from Employer-Sponsored Health Plans Senior Data Scientist, Netflix Los Gatos, CA

Emily Hague, PhD Antecedents and Outcomes Associated with Hospital Participation in a Clinically Integrated Network Health Policy Researcher Mathematica Policy Research, Oakland, CA

Courtnee Hamity, PhD Social Influence and Innovation Adoption in the Clinical Setting Senior Program Officer, Evaluation and Data Strategy Blue Shield of California Foundation, San Francisco, CA

Alein Haro-Ramos, PhD Racism, Illegality, and Population Health: Mechanisms, Interventions, & Community-Engaged Research UC President’s Postdoctoral Fellow Department of Health, Society, and Behavior University of California, Irvine

Zoë K. Harris, PhD Private Health Insurance Sponsored Wellness Programs:  Examining Participation in the Healthy Lifestyle Rewards Financial Incentives Program on Health Care Costs, Utilization, and Risk Behaviors Executive Director, Head of Customer Engagement Strategy & Operations Genetech

Nianyi Hong, PhD Essays on Patient and Firm Behavior in Health Economics Analyst, Congressional Budget Office Washington, DC

Thomas Huber, PhD The Role of Micro and Macro Level Organizational Coordination in Accountable Care Organizations Adjunct Professor, The Ohio State University

Dorothy Hung, PhD Behavioral Preventive Service Delivery, Productivity, and Staff Turnover in Primary Care Practices: The Role of Participation in Decision Making and the Chronic Care Model Research Scientist and Director, Center for Lean and Engagement Research, School of Public Health University of California, Berkeley

Vanessa Hurley, PhD Collaborative Learning among Health Care Practice and Systems to Improve Patient-Centered Care Assistant Professor of Health Systems Administration Georgetown University

Jenny Hyun, PhD Person-Centered Care Program Philosophy in Capitated Community Mental Health Centers in Colorado Director, Business Intelligence Vituity, Emeryville, CA

Jennifer K. Ibrahim, PhD State Medicaid Coverage for Tobacco Dependence Treatments: Implications for a Federal Mandate Dean and Professor, College of Public Health and School of Social Welfare Temple University, Philadelphia PA

Jae Kennedy, PhD Americans Needing Assistance with Activities of Daily Living: Current Estimates and Policy Implications Professor of Health Policy and Administration Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine Washington State University, Spokane WA

Jung Kim, PhD Examining factors associated with learning and performance in primary care Graduate Medical Education organizations Assistant Professor, Health Systems Science Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine

Margae Knox, PhD Health System Efforts to Address Health Related Social Needs: Implications for Public Health, Health Services Use, and Quality Outcomes Postdoctoral Delivery Science Fellow Division of Research, Kaiser Permanente

Heather Knauer, PhD Parenting and Child Development in Rural Mexico: Examination of a Large-Scale Parenting Program Adjunct Assistant Professor School of Social Work University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI

Ada Kwan, PhD Can We Improve Quality of Care in Private Health Sectors? Evidence from a Randomized Field Experiment in Kenya Postdoctoral Researcher, School of Medicine University of California, San Francisco

Susan Lehrman, PhD Hospitals’ Participation in the Nursing Home Market Professor and Dean Emeritus, Rohrer College of Business Rowan University, Glassboro, New Jersey

Jing Li, PhD Altruism and Efficiency Preferences of U.S Medical Students and their Expected Specialty Choice Assistant Professor of Health Economics School of Pharmacy, University of Washington

Rui Li, PhD Effect of Financial Incentives on Physician Productivity in Medical Groups Senior Economist, Division of Reproductive Health Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta GA

Michael Lin, PhD Nursing Home Quality: Structure and Strategy Senior Scientist, Telligen Denver, CO

Jenny Liu, PhD Healthy Time, Home Production, and Labor Supply: The Effect of Health Shocks on Time Use within Chinese Households during Economic Transition Professor of Health Economics School of Nursing University of California, San Francisco

Christopher Lowenstein, PhD Essays on labor markets and health: Employment conditions and drug, suicide, and alcohol-related mortality among working-age adults in the United States Postdoctoral Fellow, Epidemiology Stanford University

Martin Marciniak, PhD Too Good to Be True? The Effect of Nicotine Replacement Therapy on an Individual’s Ability to Quit Smoking Vice President and Head, US Health Outcomes Chiesi USA, Inc.

Soledad Martinez, PhD Income, Health Insurance Type and the Quality of Primary Care Systems in Chile: Effects on Health Outcomes and Utilization of Services Assistant Professor School of Public Health at Universidad de Chile, Santiago Chile

Jill Marsteller, PhD The Relationship between Non-Racial Diversity in Team Composition and Performance and Creativity in a Chronic Illness Care Quality Improvement Intervention Professor, Health Policy and Management Bloomberg School of Public Health, John Hopkins University, Baltimore MD

Peter Martelli, PhD An Argument for Knowledge Variety in Evidence-Based Management Associate Professor of Healthcare Administration Sawyer Business School, Suffolk University, Boston, MA

Sean McClellan, PhD When does Adoption of Health Information Technology by Physician Practices Lead to Use by Physicians within the Practice? Health Policy Researcher Abt and Associates, Boston, MA

Rodney K. McCurdy, PhD Network Influence on Chronic Illness Care in Large Physician Organization:  A Study of the California Managed Care Network in 2001 and 2006 Professor and Program Director National University Detroit, MI

Kathryn McDonald, PhD Ambulatory Care Organizations: Improving Diagnosis Bloomberg Distinguished Professor Johns Hopkins University Schools of Medicine and Nursing

Sara McMenamin, PhD Organizational Support for Smoking Cessation Interventions in Physician Organizations Associate Professor, Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health & Human Longevity University of California, San Diego

Angela Merrill, PhD Subjective Expectations of Nursing Home Use, Medicaid, and Economic Behavior by Older Americans Principal Researcher Mathematica Policy Research, Cambridge MA

Chris Miller-Rosales, PhD Advancing Organizational Capabilities to Improve Patient Engagement in Health Care Associate, Analysis Group Menlo Park, CA

Eric Nauenberg, PhD Air Pollution and Hospitalization for Asthma in Los Angeles County: Economic and Policy Implications Associate Professor of Health Economics Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-term Care/Dept of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation, University of Toronto, Canada

Zachary Olson, PhD Can a Conditional Cash Transfer Reduce Teen Fertility? The Case of Brazil’s Bolsa Familia Senior Economist, Amazon Seattle, WA

Michael K. Ong, MD, PhD The Effects of Regulatory Change on the Safety of Pharmaceutical Innovations Professor in Residence, Division of GIM & HSR Associate Chief of Staff for Research Department of Medicine, UCLA and VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, Los Angeles, CA

Laura Packel, PhD Who Changes How: Strategies and Motivation for Risk Reduction Behaviors in the Context of an Economic-based HIV Prevention Intervention in Tanzania Research Director, McCoy Research Group University of California, Berkeley, School of Public Health

Mary Paterson, PhD Financial Status of Retiree Caregivers: An Analysis of the Asset Structure of the Retiree Caregiver Professor Emeritus, School of Nursing The Catholic University of America, Washington DC

Krista Perreira, PhD Exits, Recidivism, and Caseload Growth: The Effect of Private Health Insurance Markets on the Demand for Medicaid Professor of Health Economics University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, School of Medicine

Dana Petersen, PhD Social Capital, Social Support, and Quality of Life among Long-Term Breast Cancer Survivors Senior Researcher Mathematic Policy Research, Oakland CA

Aryn Phillips, PhD The Impact of Retail Availability on Health Behaviors: Policy Applications for the Prevention & Management of Chronic Conditions Assistant Professor of Health Policy and Management School of Public Health University of Maryland, College Park

Kathryn Phillips, PhD Public Policy and Screening: The Influence of State Policies on Utilization of Human Autoimmunodeficiency Virus (HIV) Screening Professor of Health Economics and Health Services Research UCSF School of Pharmacy, San Francisco CA

Jessica Poon, PhD Multilevel Pathways to Patient-Centered Care Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Division of Research Kaiser Permanente

Alexis Pozen, PhD Price Variation for Colonoscopy in a Commercially Insured Population Assistant Professor City University of New York School of Public Health New York NY

Brian Quinn, PhD The Effect of Community-Level Unemployment On Preventive Oral Health Care Utilization Associate Vice President, Research-Evaluation-Learning The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Princeton NJ

Nadia Safaeinili, PhD Evaluation of a statewide integrated medical and social service case management policy innovation: A multi-level assessment of equitable implementation for frontline staff and high-risk, high-need Medicaid patients Research Scientist, School of Medicine Stanford University

Robert Schell, PhD Understanding the Role of Socioeconomic, Health Behavioral, and Genetic Factors in Cardiovascular Disease Risk Associate, Analysis Group Menlo Park, CA

Julie Schmittdiel, PhD The Effect on Primary Health Care Orientation on Chronic Care Management Research Scientist and Associate Director of Health Care Delivery and Policy Division of Research Kaiser Permanente Northern California Oakland CA

John Schneider, PhD Regulation and Regulatory Reform in the U.S. Hospital Industry, 1980-1996 CEO and Founder Avalon Health Economics, Morristown NJ

Neil J. Sehgal, PhD Social Influences on Healthcare Outcomes in a Major Academic Medical Center Associate Professor of Health Systems and Population Health School of Public Health, University of Washington

Tetine Sentell, PhD Literacy, Health, and Health Services Use in a Nationally Representative Sample Chin Sik & Hyun Sook Chung Endowed Chair Department of Health Policy and Management Thompson School of Social Work & Public Health

Gordon Shen, PhD Global Mental Health Policy Diffusion, Institutionalization, and Innovation Assistant Professor of Management, Policy and Community Health The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) School of Public Health

Timothy Snail, PhD The Effects of Hospital Contracting for Physician Services on Hospital Performance Vice President, Charles River Associates Boston, MA

Sean Sullivan, PhD The Demand for Prescription Drugs in Elderly Americans Professor of Health Economics and Dean Emeritus School of Pharmacy, University of Washington

Aaron Tierney, PhD Virtual Diabetes and Hypertension Care in Community Health Centers: Use, Quality, and Patient Preferences Clinical Informatics Postdoctoral Fellow, Division of Research Kaiser Permanente

Yi-Wen Tsai, PhD Cigarette Taxation, National Health Insurance Professor, Institute of Health and Welfare Policy National Yang-Ming University, Taiwan

Lauren van der Walt, PhD Increasing Women’s Access to Information about Safe Abortion Methods through Local and Global Hotlines Executive Director, Optio Berkeley, CA

Megan Vanneman, PhD Consequences of Devolution: Effectiveness, Efficiency, and Equity in California’s County-based Public Mental Health Care System Assistant Professor of Medicine and Population Health Sciences University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT

Todd Wagner, PhD The Economics of Consumer Health Information Director, Health Economics Resource Center Department of Veterans Affairs Professor of Surgery Stanford University

Zachary Wagner, PhD Community Health Workers to Increase Use of ORS and Zinc to Treat Child Diarrhea in Uganda: A Cluster Randomized Trial Associate Policy Researcher, RAND Corporation Santa Monica, CA

Neal Wallace, PhD A Production Function Approach to Mental Health Service Coordination in California’s Publicly Financed Mental Health System Professor of Health Systems Management and Policy OHSU-Portland State University School of Public Health

Jessica Watterson, PhD Influences on the Effectiveness of Health Information Technology Innovations in Primary Health Care Senior Research Fellow in Public Health Monash University Melbourne, Australia

Christopher M. Whaley, PhD The Effects of Consumer Information and Cost-Sharing on Healthcare Prices Policy Researcher RAND Corporation

Justin White, PhD A Team-Based Behavioral Economics Experiment on Smoking Cessation Associate Professor of Health Economics Department of Health Law, Policy & Management, School of Public Health Boston University

Frances Wu, PhD The Role of Health Information Technology in Early Accountable Care Organizations in the U.S. Research Associate, The Healthcare Improvement Studies Institute University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom

Jill Yegian, PhD Politics, Economics, and Organizational Innovation in the Small Group Market for Health Insurance Principal, Yegian Health Insights, LLC Oakland, CA

Myoungsoon You, PhD Determinants of Risk Perception among Women with a Family History of Breast Cancer Professor Seoul National University, Korea

Jim Zazzali, PhD Executive Director, Head of Health Policy and Systems Research, and Modeling Genentech

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UCLA Graduate Programs

Graduate Program: Public Health

UCLA's Graduate Program in Public Health offers the following degree(s):

Doctor of Public Health (Dr.Ph.)

Masters available on Doctoral track

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Public Health Graduate Program at UCLA A1-269 CHS Box 951772 Los Angeles, CA 90095-1772

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MAJOR CODE: PUBLIC HEALTH