13 PhD Degree Programs in San Francisco USA

The Quantitative Biosciences Consortium (QBC) brings together under one umbrella five PhD graduate programs at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) to advance education and innovative research at the interface of the biological sciences and the quantitative sciences.

We believe another world is within our grasp. Systematic research of counter-hegemonic knowledge and practices has gained supreme relevance with the world in crisis. Our PhD program will equip you with the necessary skills to participate in the "nowtopian" task of constructing social scientific knowledge that looks beyond capitalism, hierarchy, and ecological disaster. Our graduates are trained for professional careers in academia, policy, social-political journalism, advocacy, and community, legal, and environmental organizations. Our faculty have a wide range of research interests, among them urban social movements, agri-food studies, politics and filmmaking, post-structuralist philosophy, gender equality, forced migration and refugees, radical oral history, and psychoanalytic time.

The mission of the PhD in East-West Psychology at CIIS is to explore the convergence of Eastern, Western, and Indigenous psychologies and spiritualities in the spirit of dialogue and integral inquiry. Our students engage in research subjects that explore the meaning of this convergence for a diverse, multicultural, and peaceful world. Our graduates are prepared for professional careers in academia and research, activism and organizational leadership, and spiritual counseling or coaching. Our faculty have a wide range of research interests, among them: Asian wisdom traditions, yoga studies, Integral Yoga, traditional Chinese medicine, Depth and archetypal psychologies, Western religious and esoteric traditions, folklore and mythology, ecopsychology, indigenous psychospiritualities, plant medicines, non-ordinary states of consciousness, and transpersonal and existential psychologies.

CIIS’ Ecology, Spirituality, and Religion Ph.D. offers a nurturing community engaged in revitalizing relationships to Earth while exploring the intersections of world religions, Indigenous traditions, eco-spirituality, eco-justice, and eco-feminism.

CIIS’ Integral and Transpersonal Psychology Ph.D. is one of the few programs in the world that offers an online Ph.D. in whole-person approaches to psychology. It is a research-oriented program dedicated to systematic knowledge-building and the advancement of transpersonal psychology.

The Ph.D. in Women’s Spirituality is a rigorous transdisciplinary online program building students towards thought-leadership and propelling change. The program explores varied spiritual, ecological, and political perspectives rooted in care for the Earth, each other, and the Sacred. Through your coursework and unique research, you will explore transpersonal and embodied ways of knowing holding womanist, feminist, Indigenous and decolonial lenses. Our graduates pursue a unique interdisciplinary curriculum which prepares them for professional careers in academia and research, teaching and education, coaching and counseling, media, and entrepreneurship. Our innovative and diverse faculty pursue research interests in the three areas of the curriculum: Women and World Religions; Feminist and Ecofeminist Philosophy and Activism; and Women's Mysteries, Sacred Arts, and Healing.

CIIS’ Clinical Psychology department provides advanced and specialized training in clinical psychology that combines the principles of integral education with the clinical efficacy of contemporary psychodynamic psychotherapy. In the exploration of depth psychology, students will focus on the psyche, human development, personality formation, and individuation, and explore the subtle, unconscious, and transpersonal aspects of human experience.

The Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (PMHNP) plan of study in the Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) program prepares registered nurses (RNs) with a baccalaureate or master's degree as Advanced Registered Nurse Practitioners (ARNPs) in the PMHNP role. A post-graduate PMHNP certificate program is available for the doctorally prepared nurse.

The School of Nursing and Health Professions offers a Doctor of Nursing Practice degree with a variety of track options providing one-of-a-kind opportunities for interprofessional collaboration.

The Doctorate of Education (Ed.D.) in Organization and Leadership is a unique program for working professionals who see themselves as educational leaders transforming their organizations through a learning perspective.

CIIS’ Human Sexuality Ph.D. is an interdisciplinary program in critical sexuality studies, exploring the intersections of power and sexuality. Through coursework, students undergo an analysis of power structures by exploring the many socio-cultural organizations of sex and gender that influence societies. Graduates of our Human Sexuality Ph.D. program are prepared for professional careers in research, education, clinical and organizational settings, advocacy, policy, and more. Our faculty have a wide range of research interests, among them social and economic justice issues for the LGBTQ community, feminist conversations on power and gender, the biopolitics of HIV-prevention, reproductive journeys of transgender and nonbinary people, bioethics of sexual reorientation interventions, and bisexual representations in film and media.

The mission of our Transformative Studies Ph.D. program is to develop transdisciplinary scholars committed to exploring leading-edge issues in innovative ways that combine scholarship, creativity, and self-inquiry. We invite students to take a systems view of a topic of interest, interrogating its context and complexity. From there, students will design a dissertation drawing on a wide range of qualitative and theoretical research approaches. Our graduates are trained for professional careers as both thought and action leaders who work in fields such as broadcasting, coaching, academia, and policy. Our faculty have a broad range of research interests, among them systems thinking as a catalyst for personal and social change, consciousness, education reform, creativity and improvisation, personal growth, leadership development, future studies, coaching, and spiritual intelligence.

CIIS’ Philosophy, Cosmology, and Consciousness Ph.D. program is dedicated to reimagining the human species as a mutually enhancing member of the Earth community. The heart of the program is its focus on knowledge that is transformative—of ourselves and of our civilization. Our program attracts intellectually engaged individuals who are to varying degrees dismayed by what they see happening in modern societies and who are striving to find meaningful ways to develop their gifts to serve the future of the world. Our students pursue a unique interdisciplinary curriculum which prepares them for professional careers in academia, writing and research, consulting, counseling and coaching, and entrepreneurship. Our faculty have established international reputations and a wide range of research interests in fields such as: evolutionary and archetypal cosmology, philosophy, religious studies, Jungian and transpersonal psychology, ecology, and the evolution of consciousness.