PhD in Health Economics
Los Angeles, USA
DURATION
2 Years
LANGUAGES
English
PACE
Full time
APPLICATION DEADLINE
15 Apr 2025
EARLIEST START DATE
Sep 2025
TUITION FEES
USD 2,354 / per credit
STUDY FORMAT
On-Campus
Key Summary
Introduction
Located in Los Angeles on the USC University Park Campus, the USC PhD program in health economics offers students the opportunity to help shape the future of health care through groundbreaking research and innovative policy solutions. Our multidisciplinary program offers rigorous training in microeconomics, econometrics, cost-effectiveness analysis, welfare economics, public finance, epidemiology and health status measurement. Students in the program work closely with our world-renowned faculty, gaining the practical research experience needed to launch their careers.
Our program offers numerous benefits to help position our students for future success. All of our PhD students are fully funded, including tuition remission and stipend, for up to five years through teaching and research assistantships or competitive fellowships. Many of our students participate in internships that offer real-world experience and networking opportunities in industry, policy analysis and consulting. Our department’s affiliation with the Leonard D. Schaeffer Center for Health Policy & Economics provides opportunities for students to work closely with distinguished faculty from across USC on impactful projects. Bolstered in part by our strong alumni network, our students are highly sought after for positions in academia, government and industry.
Admissions
Curriculum
The PhD in Pharmaceutical Economics and Policy requires 24 units of graduate-level courses numbered 500 or higher (excluding 794) and a minimum of 4 units of 794. Normally, a full-time graduate student course load is three full courses or their equivalent per semester, with a four-course maximum. Students must complete the following course sequence:
Year 1 – Fall
- PMEP 509 Research Design
- PMEP 547 Programming Methods for Empirical Analysis of Health Data
- PMEP 510 Foundations of Health Economics
Year 1 – Spring
- PMEP 535 Behavioral Science and Policy in Healthcare
- PMEP 539 Economic Assessment of Medical Care
- PMEP 551 Introduction to Health Econometrics
Year 2 – Fall
- PMEP 525 Pharmacoeconomics I
- PMEP 534 Health Economics I
- PMEP 552 Advanced Health Econometrics I
Year 2 – Spring
- PMEP 526 Pharmacoeconomics II
- PMEP 544 Health Economics II
- PMEP 553 Advanced Health Econometrics II
Exceptions to this course sequence will be considered on an individual basis.
Scholarships and Funding
Financial Aid
A limited number of fellowships and other special financial aid awards are available, on a competitive basis, to applicants who apply by December 1. Students applying for standard financial aid packages (teaching assistantships, tuition remission, living stipends) must apply by January 15 (11:59:59 pm Pacific Time). Teaching and research assistantship appointments provide a stipend plus full remission of tuition fees at 12 credits per semester. Other limited sources of support, including department research funds, may be available depending upon external grants awarded.
All financial awards are granted to excellent candidates based on competitive academic records.
Program Outcome
Doctoral students enrolled in the program will be able to:
- Demonstrate an awareness of the interdisciplinary nature of research in all areas of health economics and the ability to work across disciplines.
- Demonstrate a deep understanding of the microeconomic theory as it applies to the markets for health insurance and health care services.
- Demonstrate deep methodological skill and an understanding of contemporary research in their respective area of emphasis, and be able to apply innovative research practices to their research under the guidance of their faculty advisor.
- Demonstrate mastery of the methods used to conduct research in the area of patient-reported outcomes.
- Demonstrate the ability to synthesize and integrate data from diverse sources [e.g., national databases, paid claims data, electronic medical records, clinical trials] into an appropriate analytic database for their research.
- Demonstrate the mastery of the advanced statistical methods required to research non-experimental data.
- Launch an independent research agenda in their respective area of emphasis under the guidance of their faculty advisor which demonstrates the student’s ability to work independently and publish research results.
- Complete and orally defend an acceptable dissertation based on original investigation and supervised by their dissertation committee showing mastery of an area of emphasis, capacity for independent research, and a scholarly result.
English Language Requirements
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