The PhD in Health Services Research and Health Policy at the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University is a full-time program that trains researchers in the fields of health policy, health economics, health management, and health services research.
Students take doctoral-level classes in the Department of Economics, the Department of Health Policy and Management, the Goizueta Business School, and elsewhere throughout the university. Many students also collaborate with faculty on research.
Following the completion of their coursework, students work on their independent research for their dissertation.
What You’ll Learn
Students in our program take classes in one of two tracks: Economics or Organizations and Management.
Economics Track
Students in the Economics track take graduate-level classes in the Department of Economics, alongside students pursing a PhD in economics. The economics track prepares students to apply economic theory to evaluate topics in health and health policy.
Organizations and Management Track
Students in Organizations and Management take advanced and doctoral-level courses in Emory’s Goizueta School of Business. The track prepares students to examine questions pertaining to access, quality, cost of health care and health outcomes. Students in this track will learn how theories and concepts from fields such as organizational behavior and technology management can be applied to medicine and health care organizations.
Core Courses and More
All students in the program take classes in statistical methods, research design, and health policy seminar. Students have room to take electives, which could be any graduate-level class at Emory or nearby universities (Georgia State, Georgia Tech).
Handbooks
Please review the HSRHP PhD and the Laney Graduate School Handbooks for additional information regarding degree requirements.
What Can You Do With a Graduate Degree in Health Services Research and Health Policy?
The program prepares students for a variety of research-focused careers in academia, think tanks, foundations, government agencies, pharmaceutical firms, and consulting. Graduates are employed at the American Cancer Society, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration, Trilliant Health, Flatiron, Carnegie Mellon, Washington University (St. Louis), the Urban Institute, Northwestern University, Harvard Medical School, and Emory Medical School.
We discourage applications from students who view a PhD as a credential or who want to focus exclusively on administration, management, or advocacy. There are other professional degrees that are better suited to those types of careers.
What Type of Research Will You Do in the Health Services Research and Health Policy PhD Program?
Students perform research on a wide variety of topics related to delivery of medical care, insurance, and the determinants of health. Some examples of the papers that students have published from their dissertations include:
Caregiver-Reported Quality in Hospices Owned by Private Equity Firms and Publicly Traded Companies. JAMA 2024. (Alex Soltoff, Ph.D. expected 2026)
Vertical integration of oncologists and cancer outcomes and costs in metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer. JNCI 2022. (Xin Hu, Ph.D. 2023)
Evaluating Medicaid Managed Care Network Adequacy Standards And Associations With Specialty Care Access For Children. Health Affairs 2023. (Allison Hu, P.D. 2023)
Heuristics in the delivery room. Science 2021. (Manasvini Singh, Ph.D. 2020)
The effect of Medicaid expansion on crime reduction: Evidence from HIFA-waiver expansions. Journal of Public Economics 2017. (Heifei Wen, Ph.D. 2015)
Effect of Medicaid disenrollment on health care utilization among adults with mental health disorders. Medical Care 2019 (Xu Ji, Ph.D. 2017).
Patterns of use and survival outcomes of positron emission tomography for initial staging in elderly follicular lymphoma patients. Leukemia & Lymphoma 2017 (Ashish Rai, Ph.D. 2015)
Are two heads better than one or do too many cooks spoil the broth? The tradeoff between physician division of labor and patient continuity of care for older adults with complex chronic conditions. Health Services Research 2016. (Kenton Johnston, Ph.D. 2015).
Admissions Requirements
Applicants should provide:
- Complete application
- 3 letters of recommendation
- A transcript from each post-secondary institution you have attended
- GRE scores: The Emory Code for the GRE is 5187. GRE scores are valid for 5 years. Scores in the 50th percentile or higher are recommended.
- Statement of purpose (500-1000 words): Please describe your previous research experiences or training that have led you to apply to this program. Include a discussion of your current research interests, how this program aligns with those interests, and your long-term goals after completing your doctoral degree.
- Graduate faculty identification: Please identify at least two Health Policy and Management Faculty members with whom you are interested in working.
- Resume/CV
Please note:
- TOEFL scores are optional
- Applicants do not need to have a master’s degree.
Visit Emory’s Laney Graduate School website to apply now.
You do not need to contact the program or faculty before applying. We give equal attention to all applications, regardless of whether applicants know faculty or have had prior contact with them.
Please contact the director, Ilana Graetz, ilana.graetz@emory.edu, or the program administrator, Kent Tolleson, ktolles@emory.edu if you have additional questions.
Key Dates and Info
September 15, 2025: Application opens for Fall 2026
October 22, 2025, 12:00-1:00 pm ET: Informational webinar for interested students.
December 1, 2025: Application deadline
February 2026: Offer letters sent to successful applicants
If you would like to learn more about our program, please review this PhD Webinar.
PhD Student/faculty social event at PlantHouse
Program faculty
Students have wide leeway to work with faculty at any Emory school or department. Most students work with the faculty on the list below.
Department of Health Policy and Management
Kathleen Adams (Ph.D. Economics, University of Colorado) Risk behavior, maternal and child health, insurance coverage, Medicaid policy.
Edmund Becker (Ph.D. Medical Sociology, Vanderbilt University) Provider and hospital quality measures.
Sarah Blake (Ph.D. Public Policy, Georgia State/Georgia Institute of Technology) Maternal and child health, reproductive health, implementation science.
Janet Cummings (Ph.D. Health Policy, UCLA) Mental health and substance abuse policy.
Steven Culler (Ph.D. Economics, University of Illinois) Health care services use and costs.
Benjamin Druss (M.D., New York University) Mental health and substance abuse policy.
Maria Dieci (Ph.D. Health Policy, UC Berkeley) Health economics, global health and development economics.
Laurie Gaydos (Ph.D. UNC Chapell Hill). Mixed-methods, women’s, reproductive, and maternal/child health.
Ilana Graetz (Ph.D. Health Policy, UC Berkeley) Health information technology, quality improvement.
David Howard (Ph.D. Health Policy, Harvard) Health economics, reimbursement policy, pharmaceutical markets.
Joseph Lipscomb (Ph.D. Economics, University of North Carolina) Health outcomes assessment and improvement.
Stephen Patrick (MD, Florida State University College of Medicine) Maternal and child health, substance use and prevention, Medicaid, child welfare.
Victoria Phillips (Ph.D. Economics, Oxford) Health economics, cost-effectiveness analysis.
Kenneth Thorpe (Ph.D. Public Policy, Rand Graduate Institute) Health care financing, insurance, and health care reform.
Courtney Yarborough (Ph.D. Public Policy, University of Georgia) Substance abuse policy, pharmaceutical markets.
Affiliated faculty in other departments at Emory
Puneet Chehal (Ph.D. Public Policy, Duke) Department of Family and Preventive Medicine. Medicaid and chronic illness in underserved populations.
Hui Shao (Ph.D. Health Services Research and Economics, Tulane) Pharmacoepidemiology, health economics, and comparative effectinvess.
Xin Hu (Ph.D. Health Policy, Emory) Department of Radiation Oncology. Organizational structure, cancer outcomes, and access to health care.
Xu Ji (Ph.D. Health Policy, Emory) Department of Pediatrics. Health care quality, health outcomes, access to health care.
Dio Kavalieratos (Ph.D. Health Policy, University of North Carolina) Department of Family Medicine and Palliative Care. End-of-life care, implementation science.
Sara Markowitz (Ph.D. Economics, CUNY) Department of Economics. Health economics, labor economics, maternal and child health.
Ian McCarthy (Ph.D. Economics, University of Indiana) Department of Economics. Health economics, industrial organization.
Patricia Santos (M.D. School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania). Structural barriers to care in underserved populations, cancer care and outcomes.
Regina Shih (Ph.D. Psychiatric Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health). Mental health, youth development, aging, dementia, and caregiving.
Current PhD Students
Lamont Sutton
Martha Wetzel
Alex Soltoff
Elizabeth Staton
Zhuoqi Yang
Cristian Ramos
Jiali Lu
Alumni
Graduates of the Emory HSRHP PhD hold diverse roles across academia, government, research, and industry. Many are faculty at top universities, while others work as health scientists, economists, and policy experts at the CDC, FDA, and research institutions. Some hold leadership positions in public health and private sectors, reflecting their strong foundation in research and policy.
Partial list of Alumni and current employment:
- Aileen-Yalin Huang – Senior Health Scientist, Centers for Disease Control & Prevention
LinkedIn
- Allison Hu – Postdoctoral Associate, Weill Cornell Medicine
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- Andrea Strahan – Health Scientist, Centers for Disease Control & Prevention
- Ashish Rai – Research Scientist, Harvard Medical School
Profile
- Daniela Franco-Montoya – Prevention Effectiveness Fellow, Centers for Disease Control & Prevention
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- Emily Johnston – Principal Research Associate in Health Policy, The Urban Institute
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- Gery Guy – Health Economist, Centers for Disease Control & Prevention
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- Hefei Wen – Assistant Professor, Harvard Medical School
Profile
- Jaeyong Bae – Research Fellow, Korea Institute for Health & Social Affairs
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- Joseph D Njau – Economist, Food & Drug Administration
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- Kelsey Drewry – Assistant Professor, Department of Surgery, Indiana University School of Medicine
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- Kenton Johnston – Associate Professor of Medicine, Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis
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- Kun Zhang – Associate Professor, Department of Philosophy, Carnegie Mellon University
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- Lindsay Allen – Assistant Professor, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University
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- Manasvini Singh – Assistant Professor, Social and Decision Sciences, Carnegie Mellon University
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- Ming-Jui Yeh – Assistant Professor, National Taiwan University
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- Protzel Berman, Pamela – Deputy Director, Division of Cancer Prevention and Control, CDC
- Ray Serrano – Director of Research & Policy, League of United Latin American Citizens
- Sanjula Jain – Chief Research Officer, Trilliant Health
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- Sonia Tetlow – Health Scientist, Centers for Disease Control & Prevention
- Susan Carlson – Epidemiologist, Centers for Disease Control & Prevention
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- Taylor Melanson – Senior Researcher, American Institutes for Research
Profile
- Xin Hu – Assistant Professor, Department of Radiation Oncology, Emory School of Medicine
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- Xu Ji – Assistant Professor, Department of Pediatrics, Emory School of Medicine
Profile
- Yidan Zhang – Health Economist, Applied Science, Research & Technology, Inc.
- Zachary Cahn – Economist, Food & Drug Administration
LinkedIn
- Zhuo Yang – Director/Principal Scientist, Health Economics and Outcomes Research, Merck
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