About the Department of Public Health and Primary Care
The Department of Public Health and Primary Care (DPHPC), comprising over 400 staff and graduate students, is one of Europe’s leading academic departments of population health sciences. Its vision is to generate high-quality, actionable evidence to improve the health and wellbeing of populations in the UK and worldwide and can support policy and practice. Distinctive for its multidisciplinary character and strengths across quantitative and qualitative methods, cohort studies, molecular epidemiology, public health, primary care, and health services research, the Department has been headed by Professor John Danesh since 2001. It leads and co-leads multiple national and international initiatives, cross-sectoral research partnerships and collaborations, and major research grants. Through its education and training activities, the Department makes a major contribution to building research and leadership capacity.
The Department provides excellent training and educational programmes in biostatistics, epidemiology, public health, and primary care, at both undergraduate and graduate levels, including training of Academic Clinical Fellows. Presently, there are about 57 doctoral students and approximately 80 Masters students. Students in the Department of Public Health and Primary care are typically supported by prestigious awards, such as studentships from the MRC, BHF, CRUK, Gates-Cambridge Trust, NIH-Cambridge Fellowships and GSK.
3 course(s) offered in the Department of Public Health and Primary Care
Cardiovascular Research - PhD
The BHF 4-year PhD programme aims to train the next generation of researchers to develop innovative approaches for preventing cardiovascular diseases. Cardiovascular diseases are a major cause of illness and death worldwide. Preventing these conditions before they develop is one of the most effective ways to improve health. However, doing this requires new approaches that combine insights from biology, population health and data science.
This PhD programme will train a new generation of researchers to tackle cardiovascular disease prevention by equipping a new generation of cross-disciplinary researchers to work at the intersection of three frontiers:
Population health – analysing large-scale health data from diverse populations to understand disease risk and prevention
Systems biology – studying the biological processes underlying disease across multiple levels, from cells to whole organisms
Artificial intelligence and data science – developing computational methods to integrate and interpret complex biomedical data.
The programme brings together leading scientists from the Universities of Cambridge, Edinburgh, Imperial College London and Oxford, working in partnership with our academic or industry partners, including EMBL-European Bioinformatics Institute, Wellcome Sanger Institute, AstraZeneca, Novo Nordisk, Genomics Ltd, Owlstone Medical, ThermoFischer Scientific and Flagship Pioneering. By combining interdisciplinary training with real-world collaboration, the programme seeks to equip students with the expertise and networks needed to become leaders in cardiovascular disease prevention research.
Population Health Sciences - MPhil
The MPhil in Population Health Sciences includes the academic disciplines of epidemiology, global health, health data science, infectious diseases, public health, and primary care research. In the first term, all students take five core modules in biostatistics, epidemiology, applied data analysis, public health and research skills. Students subsequently select at least six additional modules, either following a designated pathway in one of the named specialisation themes (epidemiology, global health, health data science, infectious diseases, public health, and primary care research) or following a more personalised pathway.
The course is open to postgraduates who wish to pursue a research, practice or leadership career in population health sciences.
Public Health and Primary Care - PhD
The Department of Public Health & Primary Care encompasses a broad range of themes (e.g. from Genetic Epidemiology to Behaviour and Health, from Health Services Research to Non-communicable Disease Epidemiology etc.) and methods (e.g. quantitative methods, qualitative research, systematic reviews, functional genomics etc.). PhD projects are typically available at each of the Units within the Department. Interdisciplinary research is also encouraged, whether within the Department or with other local or international collaborators.
2 course(s) also advertised in the Department of Public Health and Primary Care
MD (Doctor of Medicine) - MD
From the Faculty of Clinical Medicine
The MD degree is a doctorate, specific to the University of Cambridge, awarded to clinicians who undertake an extended period of scientific research into the science, art, or history of medicine. It provides an opportunity for doctors to receive recognition of research achievement within an approved academic programme.
The MD programme, on a par academically with the PhD, spans a maximum of six years on a part-time basis, allowing candidates to undertake their research alongside clinical or other responsibilities, at the end of which their thesis is examined by Viva. Any candidate working in a Cambridge University Health Partner institution will be assigned a University supervisor and will become a registered student of the University and a member of one of the Colleges. Any candidate intending to work at an institution outside Cambridge must already hold a Cambridge primary degree and must apply to take the MD by Special Regulations.
National Institutes of Health Oxford/Cambridge Programme NIH Ox/Cam - PhD
From the Department of Medicine
This innovative programme was established in 2002 as a collaboration between the University of Cambridge and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the US. Its aim is to train outstanding students in biomedical research, taking advantage of the excellent research environments in Cambridge and the US. Students work on collaborative projects organised by co-supervisors in Cambridge and the NIH, spending two years at each institution. Students have access to all NIH facilities and are paid by the NIH. The PhD is awarded by the University of Cambridge.