Epidemiology: Global Health (Ph.D.)
Offered by: Epidemiology and Biostatistics (Faculty of Medicine & Health Sciences)
Degree: Doctor of Philosophy
Program Description
This option will provide enhanced training in global health to graduate students registered in the Ph.D. in Epidemiology; Global Health degree program at McGill. Students will become familiar with topics of global health relevance and incorporate this into their core coursework and thesis research. The thesis must be relevant to global health and approved by the Global Health Coordinating Committee. Contextualizing the core training students receive in epidemiology and in their respective substantive discipline within the global health research domain will enhance their academic experience. Graduates of this option will be prepared to pursue further training in global health or to undertake a variety of career opportunities in global health in Canada or internationally.
Note: For information about Fall 2025 and Winter 2026 course offerings, please check back on May 8, 2025. Until then, the "Terms offered" field will appear blank for most courses while the class schedule is being finalized.
Thesis
A thesis for the doctoral degree must constitute original scholarship and must be a distinct contribution to knowledge. It must show familiarity with previous work in the field and must demonstrate ability to plan and carry out research, organize results, and defend the approach and conclusions in a scholarly manner. The research presented must meet current standards of the discipline; as well, the thesis must clearly demonstrate how the research advances knowledge in the field. Finally, the thesis must be written in compliance with norms for academic and scholarly expression and for publication in the public domain.
Required Courses (22 credits)
| Course | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| EPIB 681 | Global Health: Epidemiological Research. | 3 |
Global Health: Epidemiological Research. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. A review of selected epidemiological research focussing on global health and disease topics. Research will be mostly from developing countries and research methods will be highlighted. Case studies will be used to illustrate specific applications and challenges. | ||
| EPIB 701 | Ph.D. Comprehensive Examination. | 0 |
Ph.D. Comprehensive Examination. Terms offered: Summer 2025 The comprehensive examination is a written examination. The objective is to assess the degree to which students have been able to assimilate and apply the principles of epidemiologic research. Examinations held twice yearly. | ||
| EPIB 702 | Ph.D. Proposal. | 0 |
Ph.D. Proposal. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Essential skills for thesis writing and defence, including essential elements of research protocols, formulation of research objectives, the design, and strategies. | ||
| EPIB 703 | Principles of Study Design. | 2 |
Principles of Study Design. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. This course will provide an overview of the concepts and principles underlying epidemiologic study design. Focus will be on the importance of appropriately formulating the research question, identifying the target population, defining the relevant entities, and on how these factors affect the validity of study findings. Examples from the published literature will be extensively used to illustrate the crucial points and will be discussed in class. | ||
| EPIB 704 | Doctoral Level Epidemiologic Methods 1. | 4 |
Doctoral Level Epidemiologic Methods 1. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Estimation of epidemiologic effect measures and their confidence intervals in a variety of different study designs. Emphasis on analysis of sample data sets using regression models, graphical and tabular presentation of results, causal interpretation of effect estimates, writing reports for scientific publications, and sensitivity analyses for violated assumptions. | ||
| EPIB 705 | Doctoral Level Epidemiologic Methods 2. | 4 |
Doctoral Level Epidemiologic Methods 2. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. The course has a conceptual and analytical causal inference perspective. The nature of specific study biases resulting in non-causal components in the observed association between exposure and outcome are discussed, including endogenous selection bias, measured and unmeasured confounding, and measurement error. Methods to recover the causal effect with such biases are presented. Causal mediation analysis is discussed. Models for survival analysis are discussed as well as the problem of- and some solutions to missing data. A brief overview of genetic epidemiology principles is covered. | ||
| EPIB 706 | Doctoral Seminar in Epidemiology. | 3 |
Doctoral Seminar in Epidemiology. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. This course aims to provide an opportunity to students who have completed the Epidemiology course series in the Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Occupational Health, to optimize their training in ways that will be helpful to their thesis research and to the development of their career as epidemiologists. The content of this interactive course and the delivery of the material is primarily determined by students based on the knowledge gaps that they identify. The course will allow students to expand their methodological tool box, explore controversies in epidemiology, and gain experience synthesizing and communicating complex concepts to an informed audience. | ||
| EPIB 707 | Research Design in Health Sciences. | 3 |
Research Design in Health Sciences. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Lectures and discussions and student oral and written presentations with the aim of providing guidance and experience in the development of objectives, background and methods for both the formulation of, and the constructive peer criticism of, research protocols in the health sciences. | ||
| PPHS 511 | Fundamentals of Global Health. | 3 |
Fundamentals of Global Health. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. This exciting and interactive course aims to give students the opportunity to broaden their understanding and knowledge of global health issues, including global burden of diseases, determinants of health, transition in health and drivers of such transition, challenges in healthcare delivery in resource-limited settings, and the variety of agencies and actors engaged in addressing global health challenges. The course consists of lectures, case studies, debates, discussions and small group work. | ||
Complementary Courses (9 credits)
6 credits of coursework at the 500 level or higher, with a minimum of 3 credits in biostatistics, and 3 credits in epidemiology. Courses must be chosen in consultation with the student's supervisor and/or the degree program's director or adviser.
3 credits of coursework at the 500 level or higher from this list, or any other course approved by the Global Health Option Committee that have not been taken to satisfy other program requirements.
| Course | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| GEOG 503 | Advanced Topics in Health Geography. | 3 |
Advanced Topics in Health Geography. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. A critical review of current themes and trends in health geography, with emphasis on geographical perspectives in public health research. Topics include the social and environmental determinants of chronic and infectious disease, health and health-related behaviours. Seminars focus on critical appraisal of conceptual and methodological approaches in health geography research. | ||
| NUTR 501 | Nutrition in the Majority World. | 3 |
Nutrition in the Majority World. Terms offered: Fall 2025 Current nutrition-related issues in the Majority World, emphasizing young children and other vulnerable groups. The integration of a life science and social science perspective. The multiple causes, consequences, policies, and interventions related to current nutrition. | ||
| PPHS 525 | Health Care Systems in Comparative Perspective. | 3 |
Health Care Systems in Comparative Perspective. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Comparative perspective to illustrate processes involved in the development and evolution of health care systems around the world. Countries examined will represent different welfare state regimes, health care system typologies, levels of development and wealth. | ||
| PPHS 527 | Economics for Health Services Research and Policy. | 3 |
Economics for Health Services Research and Policy. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Key health policy topics in developed economies using analytic frameworks and tools from economics. Major topics include health insurance, health care financing, and the roles of individuals and public and private institutions in the health care system. | ||
| PPHS 529 | Global Environmental Health and Burden of Disease. | 3 |
Global Environmental Health and Burden of Disease. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. This course presents the grand challenges in global health from environmental and occupational risks along with the multi-disciplinary methods used to identify, control, and prevent them. It will introduce students to knowledge and skills in core disciplines of environmental health and approaches to environmental risk recognition, control and prevention in a global context. | ||
| SOCI 513 | Social Aspects HIV/AIDS in Africa. | 3 |
Social Aspects HIV/AIDS in Africa. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Examination of the social causes and consequences of HIV/AIDS in Africa. Gender inequality, sexual behaviours, marriage systems, migration, and poverty are shaping the pandemic as well as how the pandemic is altering social, demographic and economic conditions across Africa. | ||
| SOCI 519 | Gender and Globalization. | 3 |
Gender and Globalization. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Focus on the diverse forces of globalization that impact the lives of men and women. Critical analysis of key theories and concepts implicated in the intersection of globalization processes with gender dynamisms. | ||
| SOCI 545 | Sociology of Population. | 3 |
Sociology of Population. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. The classic literature of sociology of population. Drawing reciprocal linkages between social and population processes: Historical, family and labour force demography, demographic and fertility transitions, mortality, ethnic and race relations, gender, macro-structural interaction theory, and the relation of population and the environment. | ||