I. Doctor of Philosophy in Clinical Investigation

Policy

All candidates for the mentored GTPCI curriculum will normally be admitted to the PhD program.  By written request to the Program director, PhD students may request transfer to ScM candidacy if for valid reasons they are unable to complete the residential or research requirements for the PhD program.  Alternatively, students may be advised to request transfer to ScM candidacy if in the opinion of their faculty advisor or the GTPCI Advisory Council, research achievements are not of sufficient scope or depth to satisfy the PhD requirements but do completely fulfill the expectations for a Master’s degree.  However, an automatic transfer to the ScM candidacy will occur if a PhD student does not form a thesis committee and complete the preliminary oral examination by the end of their third academic year.  Students matriculating into a thesis-requiring degree program Students matriculating into a thesis-requiring degree program will not be allowed to transfer into the MHS degree program.

Prerequisites for this degree include:

·satisfactory completion of 90 credit hours of course work (including thesis research credits), including one year of full-time in-residency course work

·5 additional courses to be taken the 2^nd or 3^rd years

·continuous registration for the Research Forum and registration for thesis research each term during the following years

·comprehensive examination at the end of the didactic year

·satisfaction of all university requirements for the PhD, including preliminary oral examination, thesis preparation and defense

PhD Residency Requirement

The School of Public Health requires all PhD candidates to register full-time for a minimum of four consecutive terms.  This does not necessarily have to be the first four terms of enrollment, but the full-time residency requirement must be fulfilled sometime during the PhD program PRIOR to taking the preliminary oral examination. 

Procedures

After a candidate is accepted into the program, an academic advisor will be appointed by the Research Review Committee during the second term.  The academic advisor will normally be a member of the Advisory Council or a GTPCI Committee, or an active GTPCI faculty member.  The faculty advisor’s responsibility is to: advise the student on course work selection and monitor academic performance, provide general mentoring and support for academic issues and the selection of a thesis research topic, and to serve on the student’s thesis committee, if requested.   Students are required to have a face-to-face introductory meeting no later than mid-November of the didactic year.  Then students are required to contact their academic advisor by July 1, and again December 1 in each succeeding research year until a degree is awarded.   Each academic advisor will provide brief, written documentation of these contacts to the Program Office for monitoring by the Research Review Committee.

During the second term of the didactic year, a required course (Professional Goals and Objectives; course number 390.801) will provide each student with an opportunity for at least one detailed discussion with his/her advisor regarding career objectives, mentoring arrangements and thesis development.  In addition, this course will initiate the structured process of considering and choosing among a variety of research topics for career development and thesis requirements.

A thesis committee must be established within 3 months of completing the first didactic year, and each PhD student will use this committee for research oversight through completion of the thesis. PhD students are required to have 5 member committees.  PhD students are strongly encouraged to have all 5 members of their committee serve for the preliminary oral exam.  While BSPH only requires a 4 member committee on the final oral examination, GTPCI strongly encourages all 5 members of the thesis committee to attend.

The preliminary doctoral oral examination should ordinarily take place no later than September following the completion of the didactic year and comprehensive written examination.  The research proposal should be presented in writing in a detailed format to members of the Thesis Committee about three weeks before the oral examination.  The purpose of this examination is to determine whether the student has both the ability and knowledge to undertake significant research in his/her general area of interest.  Discussion of the specific research proposal may serve as a vehicle for determining the student’s general knowledge and research capacity, but this examination is not intended to be a defense of a specific research proposal.

When the student’s academic advisor and the GTPCI Research Review Committee agree that a written draft of the dissertation work is acceptable, the student may proceed to schedule the “oral defense” of his/her thesis.  If the Committee of Thesis Readers agree by unanimous vote that the candidate “passes” his/her oral thesis defense, the Committee will then recommend to the GTPCI Advisory Board and the Graduate Board of the University, the awarding of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.   Alternatively, the Committee may recommend a ScM degree in Clinical Investigation if the scope and depth of the research accomplishments are insufficient for the doctoral degree and the candidate is unable or unwilling to extend his/her thesis work in an effort to qualify for a doctoral degree, and the completed work fulfills requirements for the ScM degree.

Characteristics of an Acceptable PhD Doctoral Dissertation

A doctoral student is expected to undertake a dissertation project which will represent a novel and substantial contribution to the chosen field of endeavor.  The project must be of the student’s own design, and the student must be largely responsible for its completion.   Ideally, the thesis project will focus on a single, important research issue.   In unusual circumstances, the thesis project may consist of a series of smaller related studies designed to address a particular clinical or methodological problem.

A doctoral dissertation must adhere to the published University guidelines for such a document.  As a general guide, the completed doctoral dissertation should consist of two or more units which would be publishable in peer-reviewed journals.  For example, the Introduction chapter could be publishable as a rigorous and comprehensive review of the research problem, and individual chapters describing research results should be published as original papers in scientific journals.  For dissertations which are more methods-oriented, chapters describing new research methodologies or data collection instruments might also be considered as publishable units.  Acceptance of the thesis in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the PhD does not require that manuscripts be submitted or accepted for publication.  However, in the opinion of the Thesis Committee, at least two parts of the thesis must be suitable for publication if submitted to peer-reviewed journals, and prior acceptance or publication will be taken as substantial evidence in favor of this requirement. 

The criteria to be applied by the Committee of Thesis Readers in evaluating a thesis are:  the originality and publication potential of the research, the candidate’s understanding of the details of the methodological and analytic work, the magnitude of the candidate’s contribution to his/her chosen field of research, and the final quality of the written thesis document.

All thesis submissions MUST adhere to the formatting guidelines outlined by the Bloomberg School of Public Health.  University policy stipulates that “previously published material must be incorporated into a larger argument that unites the whole work.  A common thread linking the various parts must be identified and made explicit as the papers are joined into a coherent unit. Introductory, transitional, and concluding sections, as well as a bibliography must be included. Proper credit must be given to co-authors and to the publisher.  Written evidence that permission has been granted by the publisher must accompany the dissertation.  Discrete, unlinked papers are not acceptable."

Thesis Progress Documentation

The BSPH requires all doctoral programs to document students’ thesis progress and thesis committee meetings after successful completion of the Preliminary Oral Exam and to continue periodically until completion of the Final Oral Exam.  To comply with this policy, GTPCI requires documentation of each thesis degree student’s progress as follows: 

 Thesis Committee Meeting Report Form

1) Students must convene with their thesis committee within 6 months after completion of the preliminary oral exam and then every 12 months thereafter.  A minimum of 3 members must be present for the meeting.  Thesis Committee members may participate by teleconferencing if necessary to achieve a quorum.

2)  It is the student’s responsibility to organize the required meeting of the Thesis Committee.  

3) It is the student’s responsibility to present the report form at the meeting, obtain committee member signatures, and return the form to the GTPCI Program office. 

4) The Program will notify each student and Academic Advisor via e-mail one month prior to the due date.  

Thesis Research Documentation Form

1) The form will be distributed for completion to students during the December and May monthly GTPCI Research Forum. 

2) Students who are absent from the Research Forum will be notified via e-mail to complete the form and return it to the GTPCI Program Office.  

II. Master of Science in Clinical Investigation

 Policy

The ScM is a thesis-requiring degree which can be awarded to PhD candidates who cannot fulfill the full set of requirements for a PhD because of curtailed time available, unanticipated research difficulties, or late shifts in thesis projects.  Requirements include: 

·70 credit hours of course work including a year of full-time coursework

·comprehensive examination

·continuous registration for the Research Forum following the didactic year

·evidence of original research productivity as evidenced by submission of an acceptable Master’s thesis

The written thesis must be based on original research, worthy of publication, and acceptable to the program’s Advisory Council and a Committee of Thesis Readers.  The document may consist of one or more original manuscripts derived from the student’s research and submitted to peer-review journals, or a traditional thesis document with sections on background and introduction, literature review, methods, results, discussion and a copy of all study-related instruments.  GTPCI candidates are not ordinarily accepted for this track initially, but may transfer into it by mutual agreement after matriculation.  Students matriculating into the ScM degree program may not transfer into the MHS degree program.

Procedures

Students who transfer to, or remain in the ScM track, must establish a thesis committee within 3 months of completing the first didactic year.  Each ScM student will use this committee for research oversight through completion of the thesis.  ScM students are required to have 4 member thesis committees. If a 5 person thesis committee was previously appointed while the student was a PhD candidate, all 5 members should be asked to continue to serve as a programmatic thesis committee for the ScM degree, and all should be appointed as “thesis readers” as required by the BSPH, even though school policy requires only 4. 

ScM students can choose 1 of 2 formulas for submission of their thesis results.  The first will consist of 1 or more thesis-related manuscripts derived from the student’s research which have been submitted to peer-reviewed journals, supplemented by an expanded description of study methods and results as well as a copy of all study-related instruments.  Review articles alone do not fulfill this requirement.  The second option will be the submission of a “traditional” thesis document with sections on background and introduction, literature review, study methods, results, discussion, and a copy of all study-related instruments.  Within four weeks of receiving the student’s thesis, the Committee of Readers will confer to determine whether the student’s research meets the thesis requirement for the award of the ScM in Clinical Investigation.

All thesis submissions MUST adhere to the formatting guidelines outlined by the Bloomberg School of Public Health.  University policy stipulates that “previously published material must be incorporated into a larger argument that unites the whole work.  A common thread linking the various parts must be identified and made explicit as the papers are joined into a coherent unit.  Introductory, transitional, and concluding sections, as well as a bibliography must be included.  Proper credit must be given to co-authors and to the publisher.  Written evidence that permission has been granted by the publisher must accompany the dissertation.  Discrete, unlinked papers are not acceptable."

PhD students who are advised or elect for valid reasons to transfer to the ScM program must receive approval from their thesis committee and the Program Director.  From the term the ScM transfer is effective, the Program provides students with tuition for up to 4 additional non-summer terms to complete the ScM requirements, after which students will be responsible for their own tuition costs.  However, the maximum duration of student enrollment may not exceed 4 years from original matriculation into the PhD/ScM program.

III. Master of Health Science Degree

Policy

The MHS degree in Clinical Investigation is a non-research requiring degree which is awarded to GTPCI candidates who specifically apply for this non-research track and fulfill the following requirements:

·70 credit hours of course work

·MHS capstone experience

·pass the comprehensive exam 

These students will take the GTPCI didactic curriculum (exclusive of thesis preparation courses 390.701-702, for which 390.721-722 will be taken).

The GTPCI Advisory Council strongly advises all MHS candidates to complete coursework as rapidly as possible so that the benefits can begin to accrue in clinical research activities.  Full-time pursuit of the MHS degree is preferred and students are normally expected to successfully complete all required coursework and the comprehensive exam within one academic year.  In some extenuating circumstances exceptions may be considered; therefore, MHS applicants who do not intend to devote full-time to the curriculum must submit a detailed plan to complete the required coursework over a two-year period (which can include summer terms.)  The plan must be approved by the GTPCI Admissions Committee and Advisory Council prior to admission and accepted part-time students will be expected to adhere to the course plan submitted at the time of admission.  Full-time MHS applicants will receive priority during the admissions process.

MHS candidates are assigned a faculty advisor whose role is to provide general academic and career advice and monitor the student’s academic performance.

GTPCI thesis-degree students may not transfer into the MHS track, nor receive an MHS degree even though they may have satisfied the nominal requirements.

GTPCI MHS students who have successfully completed a minimum of 16 credits consecutively, 1^st through 4^th term, may formally request a transfer into the PhD track with the approval of their academic advisor.  Requests should be made to the GTPCI Program Director or Associate Director, who will either grant the transfer or determine that the application must be reviewed and approved by the GTPCI Curriculum and Academic Standards Committee.

Procedures

When the coursework requirements are completed satisfactorily and the comprehensive exam has been passed, the Program Director will recommend for Advisory Council approval of the award of the MHS degree.