The PhD program consists of a minimum of 10 half-year courses, oral defence of a dissertation proposal, and completion of a dissertation and its oral defence. Students meet annually with their supervisor and the PhD Program Director to review their progress and to plan course work and other activities for the following year.

Students must have knowledge of the Canadian health care system and basic research and statistics skills or they will be required to take additional courses.

PhD students will be required to complete an intermediate statistics course while in the program. A pre-requisite for successful completion of this course is familiarity with introductory statistics up to and including regression. All students are strongly advised to take an applied introductory statistics course over the summer, or review the material independently.

Course exemptions will only be offered to those students who have successfully completed graduate level courses at accredited universities, and if no degree was awarded for completion of those courses.

The following courses are required for all students in all concentrations.

HAD5772H - Intermediate Statistics for Health Services Researchers (or equivalent such as Biostatistics II)
Upon completion of HAD5772H students will have a working knowledge of selected statistical analysis techniques relevent to health services research

Comprehensive Courses
Each specialization has a Comprehensive Course tailored to assess their students' ability to demonstrate a high level of competency in the area of specialization and satisfactory evidence of proficiency in statistics and research methods.

The following courses are recommended for all students, and may be required for some concentrations.

HAD5011H - Canada's Health Care System
This course provides an overview of Canada's rapidly changing and increasingly politicized health care environment. Students will develop policy analysis skills and mastery of a variety of analytical approaches.

HAD6760H - Introduction to Health Services Research Theory and Methods
The field of health services research draws upon the theory and methods of a wide variety of disciplines, including the clinical sciences, the social and behavioural sciences, management and administrative sciences, law, epidemiology and biostatistics. The goal of HAD6760H is to review these interdisciplinary skills and provide an opportunity for PhD students to apply them to health services research.

HAD7001H-S4 - Introduction to Health Services Research Theory and Methods 2
Continuation of HAD6760H (above)

The usual required course of study for each of the 4 areas of concentration is as follows:

Specialization in Knowledge Translation

Elective Courses

Dissertation

The purpose of the dissertation is to undertake an original theory-driven investigation characterized by rigorous methodology and capable of making a significant contribution to knowledge about the subject under study. The dissertation supervisor must have their primary graduate appointment in the Institute of HPME. The dissertation process includes:

1. Preparation and oral defence of a dissertation proposal
2. Preparation of the written dissertation
3. Presentation and oral defence of the dissertation.