Health Sciences
Doctor of Philosophy in Health Sciences
The Fall 2021 application cycle is now closed.
The PhD in Health Sciences is designed to be a research-intensive program emphasizing the development of research skills with a particular focus on populations who historically have higher rates of poorer health (such as seniors and Indigenous populations). It is a high quality graduate program in which students faculty, and staff together engage in research and scholarly work, including creative and innovative endeavours.
The PhD program is housed in the Department of Health Sciences, whose mission is to create and mobilize knowledge, to protect and promote health, and to reduce health inequities. Through applied research, community engagement, and provision of diverse learning opportunities, we help to build capacity to understand and address the complexities of both current and emerging health issues. Our vision is to be a leader in applied health research and comprehensive health education that enables and supports individuals and communities to achieve optimal health. Applied health research is an integral part of the PhD in Health Sciences program. It includes a hands-on experience through an innovative Research Internship that provides students with the opportunity to apply program content in a real-world, applied health research setting.
The objectives of the PhD in Health Sciences program are to prepare graduates who are able to:
Applicants must indicate their areas of interest when applying to the program and must identify a potential supervisor. Admittance is dependent on faculty availability from among full-time faculty of the Department of Health Sciences.
The PhD in Health Sciences program may be completed either over 4 years (12 terms) on a full-time basis, or over 8 years (24 terms) on a flexible full-time basis. Note that, once admitted to the PhD in Health Sciences program, students are not permitted to change from the full-time option to the flexible full-time option, and vice versa.
Applicants for admission must be graduates of a recognized university and show evidence of scholarly achievement. Except where otherwise stated in the Admission Requirements of a particular program, students must have a Masters degree or its equivalent with an academic average as specified by the academic unit. An applicant holding a degree other than one in the discipline area to which admission is sought will be considered on the basis of Master's courses taken and academic standing. A Qualifying Year may be required at the Masters level to meet the admission standards. Courses taken as part of a Qualifying Year cannot be used as credit towards a doctoral degree.
Meeting the minimum requirements does not necessarily guarantee admission. No candidate will be admitted unless the academic unit recommends admission. All applicants will be advised in writing by the Office of Graduate Studies of their admission status.
Although applications are accepted on a continual basis, to be considered in the initial Admission & Funding decisions for the Fall (September) semester, you are encouraged to apply by February 1st.
Interested students are encouraged to contact potential supervisors directly and before submitting an application for graduate study.
The first step in the application process is to complete the online graduate studies application form.
After you have submitted the online form along with the required $100 CAD application fee, you will be provided with an online account where you can complete the remaining steps of the application process which include uploading the required supporting documents and monitoring the status of your application.
After you have submitted the online application form, you will be provided with instructions by email on how to log in to myinfo, where you will be able to review and upload the remaining and required supporting documents.