About three years ago, the groundbreaking Doctor of Health Sciences program (DHSc) at Campbell University welcomed its inaugural class.
On Dec. 16, members of that charter class will receive their degrees during a ceremony in the John W. Pope Jr. Convocation Center as part of the Campbell University’s winter commencement.
Nineteen members of that charter class will walk the commencement stage.
“The first class did a really great job of breaking through the glass ceiling, if you will, of setting the precedent,” said Dr. Paige Brown, director of DHSc in the College of Pharmacy & Health Sciences since August 2023.
The 54-credit online DHSc program attracts students with myriad experiences, as well as diverse professional and personal backgrounds. The program since that first charter cohort continues to grow, expanding in numbers and diversity of backgrounds. Getting stronger.
“The program started at the right time, in the right place, and everything has worked great,” Brown says.
The DHSc gives post-professionals the necessary skills and abilities to help shape the future of health care and health-related organizations. Graduating students work in health care, academia and government relations, for example.
Students in the program complete 45 hours of core courses followed by nine hours in one of three concentrations — Health Administration, Rural Health or Interprofessional Education. Classes consist mostly of asynchronous work, with a touch of synchronous work focused on active learning.
Students, to graduate, complete a capstone project, consisting of a year of research culminating in a paper and presentation. Those presentations, Brown says, were impactful, passionate and eye-opening, resonating with the students, faculty and the respective communities.
Topics for the projects captured the program’s inherent diversity. One student authored, “Barriers and Motivators to Blood Donation Among Adults in Cumberland County, North Carolina.”
Other projects focused on mental health and interprofessional education, a specialty of Brown’s, as she is also the director of Interprofessional Education for the College of Pharmacy & Health Sciences.
Other projects included: “University Support of College Students Mental Health;” “How to improve Black, Indigenous and People of Color inclusion in clinical trials and health equity through Community outreach and inter professional education and collaboration; and “Examining the Quality of Care for African American Women: The Implementation of the H.E.R. Strength Initiative (Health for Everyone Restores Strength).”
Dr. David Coniglio was the first director of the DHSc program. With a growing demand for doctorally prepared health scientists, he says, Campbell has set up an interdisciplinary doctorate that provides graduates with the skills and abilities to shape the future of health care and health-related organizations.
“I believe this is the only DHSc program offering a concentration in Interprofessional Education, which is a vital and required component of health professions education,” Coniglio says. “Similarly, the concentration in rural health provides an avenue to explore that growing area of study with an institute of higher education that is located in a rural area.”
Dr. Sue Ann Forrest Swift is a member of that charter class who, for more than a decade, has worked in Raleigh as a healthcare lobbyist. The diversity inherent in the program, and which Coniglio and Brown talk about, also resonated with Forrest Swift, who earned her bachelor’s degree at Campbell.
“It’s one of the things that I enjoyed most about the program,” she says in a Campbell University video promoting the program. That extends to the faculty, consisting of two full-time professors and several adjunct instructors, Brown says.
“I think that’s certainly one of our greatest strengths, the diversity of the backgrounds of the faculty who participate in the program,” Brown says. “I think it also provides a great opportunity for working, busy professionals to expand their horizons and advance their degrees to help escalate their professional journeys.”
Forrest Swift wants to continue to advance in her career and to continue representing the best interests of patients across North Carolina.
“It was one of the program highlights for me, everyone coming together and talking about complex healthcare subjects in an environment that was warm, welcoming and open. I wanted the opportunity to learn from people with direct clinical experience, and this program allowed me to do that,” says Forrest Swift, who also wants to teach health policy.
“I think that’s super important, to have individuals with a health science background educating our lawmakers.”
Professors at Campbell, she says, care about her growth as a student, as a person and as a professional.
“I chose to pursue a Doctor of Health Sciences degree at Campbell because I had a fabulous experience with Campbell during my undergraduate studies. Our cohort was incredibly unique, diverse, and everyone had a different perspective to bring to the table.”
Said Coniglio, “I think I speak for all the faculty and staff in wishing them all the best for their future professional contributions to the health sciences.”