Applicable only to students admitted during the 2024-2025 academic year.

Health Policy and Management

School of Public Health

Graduate Degrees

The Department of Health Policy and Management offers the Master of Science (M.S.) and Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degrees in Health Policy and Management.

Admissions Requirements

Master’s Degree

Advising

A faculty adviser is appointed for each new master’s student by the head of the respective department. Students are expected to follow and adhere to the department’s list of required courses and recommended sequencing. Any subsequent alterations must be approved by the student’s faculty adviser. Students are expected to meet with their faculty advisers each quarter. A departmental guidance committee is established when the student has completed approximately half of the program for the master’s degree. Members of the departmental guidance committee are approved by the department chair after consultation with the student and the student’s faculty adviser.

A faculty adviser is responsible for the student’s academic progress. Progress is evaluated on an ongoing basis. At the end of each quarter, the Associate Dean of Student Affairs reviews academic listings of students and notifies them and the advisers when the cumulative grade-point average is below 3.0. Advisers review each case with their advisees and make recommendations to the Associate Dean of Student Affairs for continuance or recommendation for academic disqualification. Students who wish to change advisers must file a petition which must be approved by the new faculty adviser, the department chair, and the Associate Dean for Student Affairs.

Areas of Study

Consult the graduate adviser.

Foreign Language Requirement

None.

Course Requirements

Students pursuing the two-year MS program must complete Health Policy and Management 200A, 225A, 225B, 237C, 423, Biostatistics 211A, 211B, and Epidemiology 100. Students must complete 16 full courses (70 units) and at least four quarters of graduate residence at the University of California, including at least two quarters at UCLA. All courses with the exception of Epi 100 must be 200 level or above. Only four units of either Health Policy and Management 596 or 598 may be applied to the degree. Health Policy Management 597 may not be applied toward the degree requirements. Students are strongly encouraged to take the following courses or equivalents: Health Policy and Management 227A, 227B, and/or Epidemiology 201A, 201B. Elective courses should be selected in consultation with the student’s adviser. Electives may be chosen from offerings in the department or other departments in the School of Public Health. Students may apply a maximum of two 400-level courses toward their electives.

Students with a prior doctoral-level degree (M.D., Ph.D., J.D., D.D.S., or equivalent) are eligible to pursue the one-year Postdoctoral MS Program. Students in this one-year track must complete 12 courses (54 units). Required courses include Health Policy and Management 200A, 225A, 225B, 237C, Biostatistics 211A or HLT POL 202, 211B, and Epidemiology 100 (or an equivalent introductory epidemiology course or shows proof of an equivalent introductory epidemiology course that meets the requirements for an undergraduate program from a CEPH-accredited institution or successful completion of the Step 1 USMLE exam). 20 units of elective courses are required and should be selected in consultation with the adviser. Students with previous academic work in statistics and Epidemiology are encouraged to take more advanced courses in lieu of Biostatistics 211A and 211B, or Epidemiology 100. This determination will be made on a case by case basis in consultation with the program director.

Students with a prior doctoral-level degree on the one-year Implementation Science (IS) track may choose to replace Health Policy and Management 237C (6 units) and Biostatistics 211B (4 units) with Health Policy and Management 215B (4 units) and 225C (4 units); with this replacement, they must complete 12 courses (52 units).

Students in the one-year Postdoctoral MS Program through the National Clinician Scholars Program are expected, in the Summer Session prior to their first Fall quarter, to enroll in Health Policy and Management 225A and to participate in the biostatistics boot camp. Students must also complete Health Policy and Management 266A and 266B as part of the 20-unit elective requirements.

M.S. students who do not have a degree from a Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH)-accredited public health school must take Public Health C150/C201 to meet the CEPH-required 12 learning objectives. Equivalent courses must be approved by the department.

For all master’s students, only courses in which a letter grade of C or better is received may be applied toward the requirements for a master’s degree. Students must maintain a minimum cumulative grade point average of 3.0 (B) in all courses taken in graduate status at the University.

Teaching Experience

Not required.

Field Experience

Not required.

Capstone Plan

For the capstone project, students must establish a committee with at least three faculty members who hold regular professorial appointments at UCLA. Two of the three committee members must have an appointment in the Health Policy and Management Department. The committee is approved by the department chair and the student’s faculty adviser using the school’s internal petition.

After advancement to candidacy, students must submit the Master’s Research Report consisting of extensive written research in the major area of study. The Master’s Report should report on the results of their original investigation of a problem/issue. While the problem may be one of only limited scope, the report must show a significant style, organization, and depth of understanding of the subject. The committee will apply their professional judgment to reviewing the report and the standards they will apply should be communicated to the students. The Master’s Report is graded Pass/Fail.

Thesis Plan

Every master’s degree thesis plan requires the completion of an approved thesis that demonstrates the student’s ability to perform original, independent research.

If the thesis option is approved, a thesis committee is established. The committee approves the thesis prospectus before the student files for advancement to candidacy. The thesis must be acceptable to the thesis committee.

Time-to-Degree

From graduate admission to the award of the master’s degree, normative progress is six academic quarters (and two summer terms). The maximum time-to-degree is nine academic quarters (and two summer terms) of enrollment, including quarters enrolled in previous graduate study at a UC campus prior to admission to the School of Public Health.

DEGREE	NORMATIVE TIME TO ATC (Quarters)	NORMATIVE TTD	MAXIMUM TTD
M.S.	6 + 2 summers	6 + 2 summers	9 + 2 summers

Doctoral Degree

Advising

A faculty adviser is assigned to each new student by the program chair, admissions chair, and/or student affairs officer. Additionally, the student and the faculty adviser together agree upon a study list for the cognate the student wishes to pursue. Any subsequent alterations must be approved both by the faculty adviser and the department chair.

Within the first three quarters of study, students file Doctoral Form 1, Petition for Establishment of Three-Member Guidance Committee and Study in Major and Cognate Field for the Ph.D. The guidance committee consists of three members including the student’s faculty adviser in the major field and the student’s faculty adviser in the minor field. Courses to be taken for the cognate field must be approved by the student’s faculty adviser and the chair of the department.

Major Fields or Subdisciplines

Consult the graduate adviser.

Foreign Language Requirement

None.

Course Requirements

Major field course requirements include Health Policy and Management 200A, 225A, 225B, 226A, 226B, 227A, 237C, Biostatistics 211A, Biostatistics 211B, an additional statistics course at 200-level or above, Epidemiology 100 (or an equivalent introductory epidemiology course or show proof of an equivalent introductory epidemiology course that meets the requirements for an undergraduate or graduate program from a CEPH-accredited institution or successful completion of the Step 1 USMLE exam), and four or more cognate electives (at least 16 units) from a department that grants a Ph.D. degree. Cognate courses must be at the graduate level. Acceptable cognate areas would be from one of the following disciplinary areas: health care outcomes research, health economics, organizational behavior and implementation science, pharmaceutical economics, public policy, population health, and sociology. Students with previous academic work in statistics and Epidemiology are encouraged to take more advanced courses in lieu of Biostatistics 211A and 211B, or Epidemiology 100. This determination will be made on a case by case basis in consultation with the program director.

Ph.D. students who do not have a degree from a Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH)-accredited public health school must take Public Health C150/C201 to meet the CEPH-required 12 learning objectives. Equivalent courses must be approved by the department.

Teaching Experience

Teaching experience is recommended but not required for the doctoral degree.

Written and Oral Qualifying Examinations

Academic Senate regulations require all doctoral students to complete and pass university written and oral qualifying examinations prior to doctoral advancement to candidacy. Also, under Senate regulations, the University Oral Qualifying Examination is open only to the student and appointed members of the doctoral committee. In addition to university requirements, some graduate programs have other pre-candidacy examination requirements. What follows in this section is how students are required to fulfill all of these requirements for this doctoral program.

All committee nominations and reconstitutions adhere to the Minimum Standards for Doctoral Committee Constitution.

Before advancement to candidacy, students must pass a written comprehensive examination and pass an oral qualifying examination conducted by the student’s doctoral committee. The written comprehensive examination prepares and evaluates the students’ knowledge and application of health services research and its methods. The examination is administered during September of each year and students have five days to complete the take-home exam, which is comprised of four sections: conceptual question, literature critique, research design, and statistical analysis. Students may retake the examination only once the following year, if they fail to pass the exam. Failure to pass the examination the second time would result in discussion of a recommendation for academic disqualification from the doctoral program. If any additional reexamination is required due to special circumstance, the student may petition with the department chair and the decision will be made on a case by case basis. After the students complete their cognate coursework and pass the written comprehensive exam, they will submit one paper that addresses the theoretical frameworks and methodologies undergirding the cognate and propose the method of integrating the cognate into their own scholarship during the dissertation process.

The oral qualifying examination consists of the proposal of the dissertation work to the committee members approved by the Division of Graduate Education. It entails a brief presentation of the proposal and Q&A session with the committee members. After passing the university oral qualifying examination, the student may be advanced to candidacy and commence work on a dissertation in the principal field of study. The doctoral committee guides the student’s progress toward completion of the dissertation.

Advancement to Candidacy

Students are advanced to candidacy upon successful completion of the written and oral qualifying examinations.

Doctoral Dissertation

Every doctoral degree program requires the completion of an approved dissertation that demonstrates the student’s ability to perform original, independent research and constitutes a distinct contribution to knowledge in the principal field of study.

Final Oral Examination (Defense of Dissertation)

Required for all students in the program.

Time-to-Degree

The normative time-to-degree is 18 academic quarters (and one summer term). Maximum allowable time for the attainment of the degree is 24 academic quarters (and one summer term) of enrollment. This limitation includes quarters enrolled in previous graduate study at a UC campus prior to admission to the doctoral degree program.

DEGREE	NORMATIVE TIME TO ATC (Quarters)	NORMATIVE TTD	MAXIMUM TTD
Ph.D.	10	18 + 1 summer	24 + 1 summer

Academic Disqualification and Appeal of Disqualification

University Policy

A student who fails to meet the above requirements may be recommended for academic disqualification from graduate study. A graduate student may be disqualified from continuing in the graduate program for a variety of reasons. The most common is failure to maintain the minimum cumulative grade point average (3.00) required by the Academic Senate to remain in good standing (some programs require a higher grade point average). Other examples include failure of examinations, lack of timely progress toward the degree and poor performance in core courses. Probationary students (those with cumulative grade point averages below 3.00) are subject to immediate dismissal upon the recommendation of their department. University guidelines governing academic disqualification of graduate students, including the appeal procedure, are outlined in Standards and Procedures for Graduate Study at UCLA.

Special Departmental or Program Policy

Master’s

In addition to the standard reasons outlined above, a student may be recommended for academic disqualification for failure to complete the required course work within seven quarters of matriculation.

Doctoral

In addition to the standard reasons outlined above, a student may be recommended for academic disqualification for: failure to maintain a 3.00 grade point average for two consecutive quarters following matriculation into the doctoral program; a second failure of any written qualifying examination in the major or minor fields; a second failure of either the oral qualifying examination or the final oral examination (dissertation defense); or exceeding enrollment time limits.

A student may appeal a recommendation for academic disqualification first to the departmental chair, then to the Associate Dean of Student Affairs, then to the Associate Dean of Academic Affairs and finally to the dean of the school.