The distinctive mission of the Ph.D. in Public Health is to train graduate students to conduct original research on the determinants of health status of populations, and the translation of such knowledge to improve strategies for preventing disease and disability. Graduates of the Ph.D. program will be prepared for independent and collaborative research careers, and to teach at advanced levels of instruction. Students enrolled in the Ph.D. in Public Health must concentrate in either Global Health or Disease Prevention.<br><br>The focus of the Ph.D. concentration in Disease Prevention is to train excellence in research to discover insights into how human behavior, social constraints, and other contextual factors influence strategies to prevent disease in populations that are vulnerable to risk factors. The program emphasizes the ecological model of disease prevention, with research hypotheses emerging through multi-layered analysis of determinants of health status, including individual, interpersonal, organizational, community, and overarching policy. Students generate the hypotheses for their research in the nexus of risk factors, health behavior, and vulnerable populations. <br><br>The specific learning objectives of the Concentration in Disease Prevention are: <br><br>Demonstrate knowledge of the major theoretical underpinnings of strategies for disease prevention. <br><br>Explain the relationship between theory and research methods focused on understanding the association of risk, behavior, and vulnerability with respect to disease pathways. <br><br>Analyze interrelationships among the determinants of illness and maladaptive health behaviors using theories of health behavior.<br><br>Formulate research hypotheses in the intersection of health risk factors, health behavior, and health promotion and policies toward disease prevention. <br><br>Compose research proposals and conduct original research resulting in discoveries that contribute to improved understanding of the role of behavior and health promotion strategies in mitigating the vulnerability to health risk factors in specific populations, with the goals of applying the knowledge to disease prevention.