The University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Health Professions is one of eleven schools chosen to be a part of an international network for doctoral training in health leadership. NETDOC was formed by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to answer the need for doctoral-level leadership training for senior health professionals around the world. The partner schools share curricula, distance learning technology and school resources.
“The Department of Health Services Administration saw this as a great opportunity to develop relationships with other leading universities involved in providing executive education programs to leaders of diverse types of healthcare systems,” said Bob Hernandez, Dr. P.H., professor and director of doctoral programs in Health Services Administration at UAB. “UAB can establish global contacts that could facilitate our international capstone experience required of executive graduate students.”
UAB is one of 80 health services administration schools in the United States and Canada. The department ranked seventh in U.S. News & World Report this year. The department has one international student that flies in to Birmingham from China three times a year.
World-class experts may teach across universities while students can take courses or portions of courses from other schools regardless of their location. The network will enable schools to expand their access to faculty expertise throughout the world.
“We have the potential to collaborate with other universities involved in research projects examining health services research in unique settings,” said Hernandez. “Having these global contacts could also help us arrange alumni travel opportunities to study other healthcare systems.
NETDOC Partners include BI School of Management, Norway; King’s College London; EHESP School of Public Health, Rennes & Paris, France; London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine; University of California-Berkeley; University of Georgia; University of Minnesota; University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; University of Toronto; and University of West Indies-Mona.
For more information on NETDOC, visit http://www.sph.unc.edu/docglobal/.