Curriculum

The MHDS program consists of 13 required courses and one elective course over five consecutive trimesters. Students complete didactic coursework within the first 16 months of the program while also pursuing an independent capstone project under the guidance of an assigned faculty mentor. All required courses are taught in the evenings to accommodate students with daytime commitments. The MHDS program features a diverse combination of pedagogical approaches, including traditional classroom didactics, interactive didactics, hands-on laboratory sessions, journal clubs, project sessions work and immersed experiential learning within embedded research and operational teams.

In this hybrid program, courses are primarily taught online through a remote-learning platform and interactive videoconferences in the evenings. Online learning is supplemented by one 2-day (Thursday-Friday) in-person session during each term. In this session, students are introduced to the program and coursework, meet with faculty mentors, attend networking events and learn how to use various software programs. In addition, during the final term, students give an in-person presentation to Cedars-Sinai leadership about the results of their capstone project.

The MHDS faculty believes it is vital to expose students to a wide range of learning experiences. Success in health delivery science requires a strong theoretical basis and pragmatic experiential learning to solidify classroom theory. In addition, students learn specific software programs, including statistical, data visualization, decision analysis and spreadsheet software that is taught in laboratory sessions. We accept a limited number of students per year into this highly competitive program.