摘要：We examined trends in doctoral education in public health and the challenges facing practice-oriented doctor of public health (DrPH) programs. We found a rapid rise in the numbers of doctoral programs and students. Most of the increase was in PhD students who in 2006 composed 73% of the total 5247 current public health doctoral students, compared with 53% in 1985. There has also been a substantial increase (40%) in students in DrPH programs since 2002. Challenges raised by the increased demand for DrPH practice-oriented education relate to admissions, curriculum, assessment processes, and faculty hiring and promotion. We describe approaches to practice-based doctoral education taken by three schools of public health. THERE HAS LONG BEEN concern expressed in research and commentaries about how best to train experienced public health professionals for leadership positions. 1 Several themes have emerged in the past two decades from this literature, including the need to incorporate new subject matter (e.g., informatics, genomics, ethics) into public health education 2 ; the need to meet training 3 and continuing education needs, including possible certification of the large proportion of the public health workforce without formal training in public health 4 ; and the need to more thoroughly integrate practice skills into public health education, particularly in master of public health (MPH) programs. 5 At the same time, there has been rapid growth in the number of and enrollments in schools of public health, with the total number of public health students more than doubling between 1985 (n = 9494) and 2006 (n = 20 907). 6 There has also been a substantial increase in the number of students seeking doctorates in public health. We examined trends in doctoral education in public health with particular attention to the doctor of public health (DrPH) degree and the challenges associated with developing doctoral-level, practice-oriented degree programs. Data for this commentary have been drawn from the annual reports of the Association of Schools of Public Health (ASPH). 7 These reports contain a compilation of data supplied by every accredited school of public health on the characteristics of applicants, students, and graduates. Data are summarized by ASPH staff overseen by a data advisory committee comprising deans and staff at schools of public health.
