Structured Ph.D (Population Health and Health Services Research)

Course Overview

Population health research seeks to improve people’s health through a better understanding of the ways in which social, environmental, occupational and economic factors can influence health status and ultimately reduce the numbers seeking acute medical interventions or requiring care for chronic conditions. Population health research is a relatively new term that is considered to include, but be distinct from, traditional definitions of public health, health promotion and social epidemiology. In general, it can be viewed as a field which analyses health outcomes, patterns of health determinants and policy interventions that link them.

The Academy for Health Services Research and Health Policy defines Health Services Research as “the multidisciplinary field of scientific investigation that studies how social factors, financing systems, organisational structures and processes, health technologies, and personal behaviours affect access to health care, the quality and cost of health care, and ultimately our health and well-being.”