Our Program

Global health challenges, including climate change, infectious diseases and pandemics, and chronic non-communicable diseases, do not recognize borders. Public health crises or disease outbreaks in a remote part of Africa or South Asia, for example, could reach and threaten the health and well-being of people in Canada or other parts of the globe within days, if not hours. The health of the world's population is intertwined with broader issues, including wealth disparity, environmental degradation, government policy, and human rights.

York University's PhD program in Global Health, in the Faculty of Graduate Studies, will examine these and other issues with a focus on preparing the next generation of health leaders with the knowledge and skills to improve health for people worldwide by helping to create conditions that allow for greater health equity. Our program aims to produce agents of change who will fulfill leadership and advocacy positions in education, research, health systems, and business in both the private and public sectors locally, nationally, and internationally.

The PhD in Global Health centers on the following four tenets :

1. Critical, interdisciplinary, and solutions-oriented research. Specifically, to support the infusion of ideas within and across disciplines and sub-disciplines in the natural, health, and social sciences that are relevant to global health; and to critically engage with status quo approaches to conceptualizing, inquiring on, and addressing global health problems.
2. An Independent Learning Plan (ILP). For this four-year doctoral degree, students will be supported in developing an individualized ILP comprised of tailored course selections, a milestone examination, equitable research partnerships, and a dissertation.
3. Varied dissertation products. We support students in developing a variety of dissertation products, from a monograph or manuscript-based thesis to a draft law or treaty, or a multimodal professional portfolio.
4. Novel cotutelle options. While the PhD in Global Health is already interdisciplinary, we have structures in place to support a cotutelle with another program at York University, or another university, to support dual/joint degrees.