Decision Notification: mid-February
*Dates subject to change without notice.
We are committed to assisting all full-time PhD students for four years of tuition, fees, living stipend, and health insurance. You may be internal or external funding , depending on the options available. The doctoral program leadership will determine which funding is most appropriate for all incoming students. Students who choose part-time enrollment are responsible for paying for their own tuition, fees, and health insurance.
Learn more about the estimated cost of attendance by visiting the University’s Student Registration & Financial Services website.
View PhD program costs
Our doctoral graduates go on to take coveted leadership roles in academia, healthcare, government, and related fields, and are integral to the growth of our profession.
October 6 | 12:00pm PDT
Graduate Program Joint Information Session - San Francisco
October 7 | 7:00pm PDT
Graduate Program Joint Information Session - Los Angeles
October 8 | 4:00pm PDT
Graduate Program Joint Information Session - USC
October 9 | 6:00pm EDT
Graduate Program Joint Information Session - Atlanta
Karen Celestine, RN, CCN, BSN, MPH
Frequently asked questions, what is the difference between a phd and a dnp.
Approximately 6-12 applicants are accepted each year.
Please find our faculty’s research interests here .
Yes, you are encouraged to reach out to faculty who align with your research interests and may be a good mentor during your PhD program. The PhD application is about looking at faculty’s research interests and how they align with yours. In your application, you should highlight these connections.
Is there an admissions interview.
Competitive applicants will be invited to interview.
The PhD program starts in the fall semester, and it typically takes 3-5 years to complete the program.
Yes, you may apply to the PhD program with an international RN license. The license must be valid at time of application.
Program activities, stephanie acquaye selected as a 2024-2026 jonas scholar.
Jonas Nursing , a leading supporter of doctoral nursing education in the US, and the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN), announced that Stephanie Acquaye, BSN, RN , a current PhD student at Penn Nursing, has been selected as a Jonas Scholar for the program’s 2024-2026 cohort. This program aims to improve health care by expanding the pool of PhD and DNP-prepared nurses needed to educate the next generation of nurse leaders.
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Learn about our commitment to social justice and health equality and anti-racism.
Admissions at a glance.
Learn more about Admissions at Columbia Nursing, including important dates and deadlines, and how to apply to all of our programs.
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Explore the research areas of focus conducted by our faculty, postdocs, and students.
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Global opportunities for students.
Global opportunities for clinical practicum and research may be available for MDE and doctoral students at Columbia Nursing.
Doctor of philosophy, doctor of philosophy (phd), ignite your future with a columbia nursing phd.
The Columbia University School of Nursing PhD program is a full-time, research-intensive curriculum that prepares nurses for careers as nurse scientists who will conduct research across a broad range of populations and health conditions. Importantly, much of our research is focused on health disparity populations with the long-term goal of informing health policy and clinical practice across the lifespan.
Columbia Nursing provides three years (eight semesters) of funding for tuition, related fees, health insurance, and a stipend for full-time PhD students.
Our PhD program provides students with an understanding of the philosophical and theoretical underpinnings of nursing science and a strong foundation in research methods (design, statistics, measurement, quantitative and qualitative methods) for clinical, translational and health services research. All students are mentored by research advisors with active programs of research as they move toward independent research and assume the roles of doctorally prepared nurse scientists.
As a Columbia Nursing PhD student, you will learn to:
As part of Columbia University Irving Medical Center (CUIMC), Columbia Nursing enjoys a unique collaboration with the College of Physicians and Surgeons, the Mailman School of Public Health, and the College of Dental Medicine. CUIMC provides myriad opportunities for interprofessional collaboration in research .
The PhD curriculum builds on the foundation of nursing science by bringing together practice, policy, translational research, and leadership. The core courses provide the knowledge and skills necessary to conduct relevant and well-designed research studies. Electives strengthen an area of clinical interest or intensify understanding of a specific research or analytic method.
Both post-master's and post-BSN students admitted to the program will complete a minimum of 57 credits. The curriculum plan is designed to make it possible to complete the program in three years for those students with clearly defined plans for their dissertation research.
PhD courses are offered in three major areas:
Students must be registered as full-time for the duration of the program (typically three to four years). The minimum number of semester credits in required coursework is 37 (four semesters) for eligibility to progress to the qualifying exam. Six of the 37 credits required to be completed prior to the qualifying examination are elective courses tailored to the student’s dissertation topic and/or dissertation methods. The PhD program requires nine credits of elective courses. A minimum of 57 total credits is required for program completion.
Request a Sample Academic Program Plan
The qualifying examination helped me to combine the content I learned in my courses and my research interests so I could further articulate my research question. Performing a scoping review on my topic of interest immersed me in the current literature and was crucial to the development of my dissertation. This experience prepared me to successfully work independently through the rest of my Ph.D.
Kylie Dougherty, BSN, RN, M.Phil.
In addition to coursework, students must successfully complete a qualifying examination with written and oral components. The Master of Philosophy (MPhil) is awarded after successful completion of the qualifying examination and the student enters doctoral candidacy status.
Students are expected to successfully defend a dissertation reporting original research. Four dissertation credits are required each semester during the dissertation phase of study.
My advisor and the Columbia Nursing faculty provided me exceptional guidance throughout the PhD program to extend my learning beyond the classroom with the goal of becoming an independent nurse scientist. I learned valuable skills and knowledge to successfully obtain a NIH-funded predoctoral training award, present research findings at local, regional, and national conferences, and publish manuscripts in peer-reviewed journals with good impact factors.
Joseph Belloir, MSN, RN, PMHNP-BC
The coursework and research mentoring at Columbia Nursing helped prepare me for the next steps in my education and career post-PhD. In addition to structured coursework and educational seminars, the school provided beneficial informal support and resources. Feedback sessions with both peers and faculty were very helpful in preparing me to present posters and presentations at research conferences. The school also provided funds for travel to conferences where I presented my research. The grant writing workshop and mock reviews of grant applications provided me with tools and feedback needed to successfully apply for additional funding for my research. Finally, interdisciplinary research collaborations with faculty provided me with opportunities to work with researchers from several disciplines to complete my dissertation.
Melissa Beauchemin, PhD '19, MS '10, RN
The Columbia Nursing PhD student handbook provides information to aid doctoral students in planning coursework and proceeding through all phases of the program.
Request a PhD Student Handbook
Required courses (excluding electives).
Building upon the foundations provided in the quantitative and qualitative research method courses, in this course students examine advanced methods and frameworks frequently used in studying health policy, health services research problems and comparative effectiveness research. In addition to a critical review of the methods, the course examines the relationship among science, policy and healthcare delivery, and identifies critical questions shaping the future policy research agenda.
Interdisciplinary research is an approach to advancing scientific knowledge in which researchers from different disciplines work at the borders of those disciplines in order to address complex questions and problems. Successful interdisciplinary efforts require mastery of specific competencies. This seminar will introduce students to competencies in interdisciplinary research through a combination of readings, case studies, and lectures in each necessary aspect, chosen from fields essential to successful interdisciplinary research. It is intended to assist learners to understand why and how different professional disciplines must work together to generate and disseminate knowledge. We will examine: different conceptualizations of interdisciplinary; barriers to and facilitators of interdisciplinary research; approaches, benefits, and limitations of collaboration and team science; methods for measuring interdisciplinary collaboration; the intersection of translational and interdisciplinary scientific strategies; and individual researchers' experiences with and evaluations of their own interdisciplinary scientific projects. Learners will develop a set of skills to be effective members and leaders of interdisciplinary research teams.
The student works with a faculty member or other scientist who is conducting a research project. The specific nature of the experience depends on the nature and stage of the research, but might include search and review of relevant literature, data collection, data analysis and/or grant preparation.
This course is intended for PhD students who are engaged in relevant scholarly activities that are associated with dissertation research.
This foundational course will examine the philosophy of nursing knowledge including foundations of nursing theory, concept development, and its application to research. Students will explore approaches to the analysis and development of concepts and the application of nursing concepts and frameworks to clinical practice and research. Ideas, assumptions, events, people, and writings are examined for their influence, inter-relationships, and significance to nursing. Types of reasoning will be evaluated within the context of nursing and health. Major theories, frameworks, and concepts of nursing and health and their implication for research will be discussed. The focus of the course will be on development of critical thinking skills in analyzing key elements of philosophies, concepts, and conceptual frameworks.
In this foundational course students will study the links between theory and the psychosocial and biophysical measures used in nursing research. Students will employ the principles of classical test theory and item response theory to evaluate the reliability and validity of measurement. Application of computational techniques will be covered in the lab portion of the course. Course topics include types and uses of measures, item/scale development and validation, survey methods, reporting for publication, and the relationships between measurement and research ethics, cultural competency, and health disparities.
This course provides a foundation for quantitative research methods and design. Research process topics examined include: appraisal of the quality of existing evidence; identification of gaps in the literature; formulation of researchable questions and testable hypotheses; types of research variables; sampling designs and power analyses; and the uses, strengths, and weaknesses of various experimental and quasi-experimental research designs.
This course provides an in-depth examination of qualitative study designs and methods through a combination of theoretical discussion and hands-on practical experience. Topics include paradigm distinctions, theoretical perspectives, designs and methods, critique of research reports, and ethical issues in qualitative research.
The course is intended for PhD students who are engaged in relevant scholarly activities that are not associated with the required course sequence. Such activities must accrue more than 20 hours/week.
This course is intended to provide a hands-on introduction to delivering data visualizations to serve as a critical lens through which individual and population level health can be examined. The proposed course will combine concepts and theory in data visualization and exploration and practice to enable the student to gain the necessary knowledge to use graphics and statistics to explore the data, find and construct a narrative, and share findings in ways colleagues and decision-makes can readily understand and act upon.
This course is designed to provide the tools for the doctorally prepared nurse to evaluate, translate and integrate published research results into clinical practice. During the course, students will learn how to conceptualize clinical practice problems and transform them into answerable clinical research questions, how to search for the best clinical evidence, and how to assess clinical evidence using basic epidemiological, biostatistical and scientific principles. The course will culminate in a systematic review or meta-analysis of a body of research relevant to advanced practice nursing.
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A richer more reflective understanding of the PhD in nursing is that it is heavily grounded in the science and philosophy of knowledge. DNP programs, on the other hand, prepare nurses at the highest level of nursing practice to improve patient outcomes and translate research into practice .
PhD programs are attractive to nursing students everywhere, but how can these programs make themselves more accessible to busy professionals?
Review information on admissions, financial aid, and much more. USD's PhD in Nursing is designed to see you succeed and ensure you get the most out of your education.
The PhD program prepares the nurse scholar to develop and conduct scientific research that advances the theoretical foundation of nursing practice and healthcare delivery. The program is designed to prepare nurses for careers as research scientists, often in academic or governmental positions.
Doctor of Philosophy in Nursing (PhD) Our goal is to develop scholars of the discipline of nursing capable of building a program of research that advances nursing knowledge and contributes to the health of individuals, families, and communities.
The Columbia University School of Nursing PhD program is a full-time, research-intensive curriculum that prepares nurses for careers as nurse scientists who will conduct research across a broad range of populations and health conditions.