PhD
PPGSP/UFC established its own PhD course in 2015. Before that, it participated for six years in the first PhD in Collective Health of the State of Ceará, modality of Broad Association of Higher Education Institutions – a pioneering project, within a partnership between the Federal University of Ceará (UFC), the State University of Ceará (UECE) and the University of Fortaleza (UNIFOR).
Between 2015 and 2020, there were 26 graduates of the PhD in Collective Health in Broad Association of Higher Education Institutions (UECE/UFC/UNIFOR), advised by UFC faculty, and 23 graduates of the PPGSP/UFC PhD course.
The PhD in Public Health at the UFC considers the intrinsically interdisciplinary characteristics of Collective Health, welcoming students from different courses in health and related areas.
The course seeks greater responsiveness to the challenges of expanding the training of doctors in less favored Brazilian scenarios, especially in the North and Northeast regions of the country. It also represents a response to the need to offer programs that are in line with the training needs of professors, researchers and workers concerned with health needs.
The regular time for the PhD is forty-eight (48) months. The completion of PhD studies includes disciplines, modules and/or academic activities, expressed in units of credits, requires at least sixty (60) credits, each credit being equivalent to 16 hours.
The course is structured into two areas of concentration, with two sub areas of research each:
AREA 1 – EPIDEMIOLOGY AND HEALTH SURVEILLANCE
Sub Area – Epidemiology and surveillance of communicable diseases
Sub Area – Epidemiology and surveillance of non-communicable diseases/illnesses
AREA 2 – HEALTH EVALUATION
Sub Area – Health policy and technology assessment
Sub Area – Qualitative evaluation of services and programs
The students have the flexibility to establish their own complementary choices to the research project developed throughout the course. The curriculum of the PhD consists of three mandatory modules of epistemological foundation of the scientific field of Collective Health and Theoretical and methodological foundations for the thesis project, each composed of three credits (48 hours). All other modules are optional, preferably focused on each of the PPGSP/UFC concentration areas, with three credits each. In addition to the modules, the PhD course requires the completion of some activities: Advised Study, Teacher Training I e II, Foreign Language Proficiency and Comprehensive Exam.
PHD IN PUBLIC HEALTH CURRICULUM
COMPULSORY MODULES
| CODE | MODULE | CREDITS |
| SDP8001 | Seminars of Research Development | 3 |
| SDP8005 | The Field of Collective Health: History, Fundamentals and Settings | 3 |
| SDP8018 | Fundamentals on Collective Health Epistemology | 3 |
| SDP8999 | Thesis | 12 |
OPTIONAL MODULES
| CODE | MODULE | CREDITS |
| SDP8002 | Paper Writing Workshop I (Qualitative Research) | 3 |
| SDP8003 | Organization, Administration and Evaluation of Health Systems and Services | 3 |
| SDP8004 | Qualitative Methodology of Social Research in Health | 3 |
| SDP8006 | Special Topics in Evaluation of Health Interventions | 3 |
| SDP8007 | Advanced Topics in Collective Health Epistemology | 3 |
| SDP8008 | Epidemiology and Health Surveillance | 3 |
| SDP8009 | Statistics Applied to Epidemiology | 3 |
| SDP8010 | Paper Writing Workshop II (Quantitative Research) | 3 |
| SDP8011 | Teacher Training in Collective Health | 3 |
| SDP8013 | Epidemiologic Research | 3 |
| SDP8014 | Advanced Topics in Epidemiology and Surveillance of Noncommunicable Diseases | 3 |
| SDP8015 | Advanced Topics in Epidemiology and Surveillance of Communicable Diseases | 3 |
| SDP8016 | Informatics Applied to Epidemiology and Surveillance | 3 |
| SDP8017 | Qualitative Evaluation of Health Programs and Services | 3 |
| SDP8019 | Methods and Techniques in Qualitative Evaluation Research | 3 |
| SDP8020 | Health Evaluation: Paradigms, Methods and Techniques | 3 |
| SDP8026 | Food Environment | 3 |
ACTIVITIES
| CODE | ACTIVITY | CREDITS |
| SDP8012 | Advised Study | 3 |
| SDP8021 | Teacher Training I | 4 |
| SDP8022 | Teacher Training II | 4 |
| SDP8023 | Comprehensive Exam | 1 |
| SDP8024 | Foreign Language Proficiency | 1 |