Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D) in Health Infrastructures and Learning Systems (HILS)

The U-M Medical School Department of Learning Health Sciences Health Infrastructures and Learning Systems (HILS) Program empowers health professionals and scholars to innovate, lead and transform health systems. Taking a scientific, data-driven and multidisciplinary approach to learning health systems, we aim to make continuous improvement at scale routine. Our work builds on multiple fields and disciplines, including: Data science and informatics. Implementation science. Quality improvement and patient safety. Statistics. Policy and ethics. Behavioral and social sciences. The HILS program is housed in the Department of Learning Health Sciences, the nation’s first basic science department focused on continuous systems-level learning. Many prospective HILS students have looked at other programs — public health, healthcare improvement, quality improvement, implementation science, medical informatics, or business or healthcare administration. While there is overlap, the HILS program takes a unique approach. Drawing on many disciplines, HILS students learn methodologies to Design, implement and evaluate continuous improvement within and across systems. Build ongoing improvement into health infrastructures. Improve the health of individuals and populations and enable sustainable change. HILS graduates are equipped to develop innovative solutions for complex healthcare challenges. Our alumni lead initiatives designed to improve outcomes at all levels – not only clinical outcomes but processes of care, health justice, and health equity outcomes as well.