The list of Doctor of Public Health (DrPH) programs in the United States: A descriptive review

Abstract

Purpose of Review This study aims to identify all current, available DrPH institutions and programs in the United States and its territories for providing the most recent list of CEPH-accredited, ASPPH-affiliated, and non-CEPH/ASPPH DrPH institutions and programs. A comprehensive search strategy was designed to describe the following three steps: 1) CEPH-accredited programs from the CEPH webpage, 2) ASPPH-affiliated programs from the ASPPH Academic Program Finder, and 3) manual web search to identify all active institutions and programs that recruit students. Recent Findings We use the following main outcome measures: 1) numbers of CEPH-accredited, ASPPH-affiliated, and non-CEPH/ASPPH DrPH institutions and programs, 2) geographical distribution of DrPH institutions, 3) classification of the DrPH program, and 4) institutional structure, mode of instruction, and enrollment type. We found a total of 40 CEPH-accredited institutions (with 78 programs), 33 ASPPH-affiliated institutions (with 60 programs), and 2 non-CEPH/ASPPH institutions (with 3 programs). After making a cross-reference across three search processes, as of July 2022, we concluded that the total number of all available DrPH institutions in the United States and its territories was 42, with 83 programs. Summary This study set out to gain a better understanding of the DrPH programs and their essential information across the nation for prospective DrPH students, DrPH alumni, DrPH faculty, policymakers, and stakeholders. More research on this topic needs to be undertaken to analyze the pattern of evolution for DrPH programs and to suggest the desired distribution of DrPH programs.