When York University opened its new PhD program in global health last September, the world was still grappling with the aftershocks of COVID-19, a surge in drug-resistant infections and the ethical dilemmas posed by artificial intelligence (AI) in medicine.
In a country where most doctoral programs remain rooted in traditional academic structures, York is betting on a bold, interdisciplinary approach – one designed to break barriers between fields, countries and the worlds of research and real-world impact.
Global health is a sprawling, urgent field, and Canada – despite its strong public health system and international reputation – has only a handful of doctoral programs dedicated specifically to it. York’s PhD joins the ranks of programs at the University of Toronto and McGill University, but its structure is intentionally flexible. Each student works with a supervisor to craft a research plan targeting a specific, real-world challenge. The goal is clear: produce research that doesn’t just sit on a shelf, but informs policy and practice.
“The program cultivates critical and solutions-focused inquiry that unites expertise across multiple disciplines,” says Godfred Boateng, professor of global health in York's Faculty of Health and Canada Research Chair in Global Health and Humanitarianism. “We want our graduates to become leaders who can bridge gaps between research, policy and front-line practice.”
The inaugural cohort is as diverse as the field itself. Rupsha Mutsuddi, a doctoral researcher who previously designed dementia care programs, says the program’s flexibility has allowed her to blend her design background with new research directions. Her doctoral work uses an interdisciplinary approach to focus on using human-centred design to improve the quality of life for people living with dementia in global communities, and builds on her master's thesis that examined the development of supportive technologies in augmented reality to help daily life for people living with dementia.
“Bringing my experience as a designer to the field of global health has been a relatively smooth process due to the support of knowledgeable faculty and supportive peers,” she says. “I’m looking forward to growing and learning more in the next few years.”
Naeema Hassan, a PhD candidate in the global health program, came to York after a career in health-care consulting and public sector projects. She is now investigating how AI can be managed responsibly in health systems – especially in countries with limited resources. She is building on her undergraduate studies in global health and is focused on prioritizing health equity through health care innovations.
“These experiences inspired me to think critically about the governance of digital tools, particularly artificial intelligence, as the digital age continues to transform health care globally,” she says. Her research zeroes in on a pressing concern: ensuring that new technologies don’t deepen existing health inequities.
The program’s impact is already clear: members of the inaugural cohort have earned several major research awards for their doctoral work. Six students – Joanne Ong, Babatunde Odugbemi, Kathirvel Soundappan, Michael Davies-Venn, Naeema Hassan and Mutsuddi – received the Dahdaleh Global Health Graduate Scholarship, supporting projects that range from digital health equity to humanitarian health systems. Mutsuddi was also awarded the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) doctoral dissertation award for her research on human-centred design and dementia care. Odugbemi and Soundappan received the Canadian Antimicrobial Network Trainee Scholarship for their work on antimicrobial resistance.
Weekly seminars at the Dahdaleh Institute for Global Health Research connect participants with professionals from organizations such as the World Health Organization and Médecins Sans Frontières, grounding their work in the realities of global health practice.
Interdisciplinary research brings valuable opportunities but also requires students to navigate the languages and expectations of multiple fields – and finding supervisors with the right expertise can be complex.
Funding is competitive, and international research partnerships – especially in lower-income regions – require time, trust and careful negotiation. Boateng says these collaborations are essential for research that aims to make a difference, even if they require navigating regulatory environments, building relationships and working through resource constraints.
“We’re training the next generation of problem-solvers,” Boateng says. “But we’re also learning from them about what global health can and should look like in the 21st century.”
Learn more about the Global Health PhD Program at York.