PhD in Personal Health Informatics
The PhD in Personal Health Informatics — offered in collaboration with the Bouvé College of Health Sciences — will prepare you with the technical expertise you need to be a transformational leader in health. This interdisciplinary program will enable you to collaborate with partners throughout Boston’s vibrant health care community as you explore innovations that empower patients to live healthy lives.
Become a top leader in the field
Career prospects across industry and academia
This program will prepare you for research, academic positions, or a career at the intersection of health, information technology, and data science. Career prospects include:
- Tenure-track faculty
- Postdoctoral research scientist
- Health informatics consultant
- Data scientist
- Public health analyst
Research opportunities with world-class faculty
Northeastern is a world-class, R1 research institution, meaning you’ll have opportunities to collaborate with leading thinkers in state-of-the-art facilities as you produce and defend original, relevant research contributions.
Internships: Collaborate with industry leaders
You’ll gain industry exposure, build important connections, and form new perspectives on the impact of your work through internship opportunities at forward-thinking companies like:
- Samsung Digital Health
- US Veterans Administration Healthcare
- Philips Healthcare
- Microsoft Research
Graduate assistantships and fellowships
Northeastern University and Khoury College of Computer Sciences offer a number ways to help finance your PhD education, including funding packages and fellowships. Financial support varies based on program and research funding availability.
Learning outcomes
Students graduating with a PhD in Personal Health Informatics will:
- Apply leading theories of health behavior change and leverage them in the design of automated patient- and consumer-facing health interventions.
- Design PHI interventions for a range of populations using state-of-the-art technologies.
- Create rigorous evaluation studies for PHI interventions that meet medical research standards.
- Produce and defend original PHI research.
- Learn to articulate research results orally and in writing.
Campus location
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Boston
Located in the heart of Boston, Northeastern’s oldest campus is home to a vibrant community of students, researchers, and faculty working across disciplines to build a better world through CS.
Applications and admissions
Deadline: December 15 for fall admission
Virtual information sessions
The Khoury PhD Admissions Committee will hold virtual information sessions in fall 2025. Six sessions focus on specific research areas, and faculty presenters will discuss specific research opportunities in those areas. One session will focus on Khoury College’s efforts to support applicants from underrepresented groups in computing. These sessions allow applicants to share their concerns about the application process and get connected to resources and support. Attendees will also be provided a special code that will waive the program application fee.
Advance registration is required.
How to apply
Our PhD Apply page has everything you need to know about applying to the PhD in Personal Health Informatics program at Khoury College, including:
- Admissions requirements
- Deadlines
- Resources and contact information
Have questions?
Contact the graduate admissions team
Meet our faculty
Get to know the engaged, experienced professors who are here to support you every step of the way.
Stephen Intille
Stephen Intille is a professor at Khoury College, jointly appointed with the Bouvé College of Health Sciences. Using ideas from ubiquitous computing, user-interface design, pattern recognition, behavioral science, and preventative medicine, he develops technologies that measure and motivate health-related behaviors.
Institutes and Centers
Where engaged students, expert faculty, experienced research scientists, and industry and government partners work together to solve big challenges.
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