Doctor of Medical Science

Program information

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  Admissions criteria

  • Preferred applicants must hold a master's degree in a healthcare-related field from an accredited institution with a cumulative graduate GPA of 3.0 or higher. Candidates who do not hold a master’s degree but have completed a minimum of 40 post-baccalaureate graduate credits, and those with a graduate GPA below 3.0, are encouraged to submit an application, particularly if they have significant relevant professional experience. All applications are reviewed holistically, considering academic achievement, professional experience, leadership potential, and overall qualifications
  • The application includes official transcripts, a current curriculum vitae (CV) or résumé, a personal statement, and two letters of recommendation. The personal statement should describe the applicant's professional goals, interest in doctoral study, and how the DMS program supports their career aspirations.
  • Applicants should demonstrate an interest in advancing healthcare leadership, education, administration, policy, law, or evidence-based practice

  Please note:

  • As part of this review, the Admissions Committee may invite selected applicants to participate in an interview.
  • Foreign-trained graduates may be considered for admission if they meet all applicable University of Detroit Mercy admission requirements.
  • International applicants are held to the same academic and professional standards as U.S.-trained applicants.
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  Curriculum

  The Doctor of Medical Science (DMS) program requires 30 graduate credit hours. Students complete a set of core doctoral courses, concentration coursework, and two doctoral capstone courses. Students are required to select one concentration based on their professional goals.

  DMS Core Courses

  All DMS students complete the following core courses:

  DMS 7000 Statistical Methods and Data Analysis
  This synchronous online course equips DMS students with both research-methods foundations and the statistical skills necessary to design studies, analyze data, and interpret results for research and quality-improvement projects. Students will formulate research questions, identify study designs (experimental, observational, mixed-methods), and utilize valid, reliable data-collection instruments. Using SPSS, students perform descriptive statistics, hypothesis testing (t-tests, chi-square), analysis of variance (ANOVA), correlation, and regression analyses. This course covers the selection of statistical tests aligned with specific research designs. Through hands-on exercises, students import, clean, and transform datasets; execute statistical procedures; and interpret SPSS output. Emphasis is placed on linking analytic results to the research question and problem of practice, drafting results sections for scholarly manuscripts, and ensuring ethical data handling.

  DMS 7100 Medical Seminar
  This asynchronous online seminar, augmented by monthly synchronous sessions, engages DMS students in the latest leadership and healthcare administration developments impacting healthcare providers. Students will refine their critical thinking and communication skills through lectures, facilitated discussions, and analysis of real-world scenarios. By the end of the course, students will demonstrate the ability to translate evidence into actionable strategies that enhance healthcare delivery.

  DMS 7200 Healthcare Policy and Ethics
  This asynchronous online course gives DMS students a comprehensive overview of the U.S. healthcare system policy, legal environments, organizational, advocacy, and ethical practices driving care. Students explore the structure of public and private payers and regulatory frameworks at the federal and state levels (HIPAA, EMTALA). Students will examine how legislation impacts access, quality, and costs, and consider the ethical implications of policy decisions on vulnerable populations. This course also addresses emerging health policy and law trends, including value-based care models, telehealth regulation, population-health initiatives, and ethical decision-making frameworks in complex care environments.

  DMS 7300 Evidence-Based Medicine
  This asynchronous online course empowers DMS students to integrate evidence‐based medicine into clinical decision-making to optimize patient care. EBP integrates current, high-quality research evidence, provider expertise, and patient values and preferences to guide clinical decision-making. This course will teach students to formulate focused clinical questions, appraise medical literature, and integrate high- quality evidence into decision-making. Emphasis is placed on developing skills to implement and evaluate evidence-based interventions, adapt guidelines to diverse patient populations, and lead quality-improvement initiatives within complex healthcare environments.

  Doctoral Capstone Sequence

  All DMS students complete a doctoral capstone sequence that allows them to apply program concepts to a meaningful healthcare problem.

  DMS 7910 Capstone I
  This asynchronous online course, the first in a two-part series, guides students in completing their capstone research project. During this course, students will work closely with their faculty advisor to gather and synthesize recent literature on a relevant issue encountered in the clinical, academic, or administrative settings. Students will draft the introduction, literature review, and method sections of the capstone report.

  DMS 7920 Capstone II

  This asynchronous online course, the second in a two-part series, guides students in completing and assembling the final components of their capstone project. By the end of the term, each student will submit a polished, advisor–approved manuscript that fully conforms to Detroit Mercy's DMS program guidelines.

  Leadership and Healthcare Administration Concentration

  The Leadership and Healthcare Administration concentration prepares students to lead teams, improve organizational performance, and address complex challenges in healthcare delivery.

  Healthcare Leadership and Administration Concentration courses include:

  HSA 7780 Quality Improvement
  This course introduces health professionals to the knowledge, skills, methods, and tools necessary for improvement and innovation in health care. It integrates that knowledge with methods used to implement proposed program and system improvements. Quality improvement includes the variation and measurement of processes, outcomes, customer knowledge, and the evaluation of health care improvement efforts. This doctoral course builds advanced capability in systems redesign, equity-focused quality improvement, and evaluation under real-world constraints. Students are prepared to identify improvement opportunities and to use planning theory to design and implement them.

  HSA 7050 Population Health
  This course presents the science of epidemiology in relation to the health of specific populations. Managerial epidemiology is presented as the structuring of health care services and health promotion activities to meet the needs of specific populations based on evaluation and analysis of scientific evidence. This course examines epidemiology as it applies to population health. It shows how managerial epidemiology guides the design of health care services and health promotion to meet defined population needs using scientific evidence. During the course, doctoral students will integrate risk stratification, geospatial analysis, equity measurement, and policy translation into assessing population needs and patient outcomes.

  HSA 7090 Human Resources in HCO
  A behavioral approach to management in health care organizations by examining current theories and their application to the management of human resources. Specific managerial theories and methods, such as motivation theory, group dynamics, organizational change, communication, labor relations, and human resource management, are the focus. This doctoral course builds advanced skills in workforce analytics, labor strategy, culture and safety, equity-centered HR, and legal risk.

  HSA 7150 Leadership in HCO
  This course provides a behavioral approach to leadership by examining current theories and their application to the functions of leadership. It explores how leaders across the spectrum of health services organizations lead and manage. Various leadership theories and models will be examined, including trait, behavioral, and contingency theories. Leadership competencies for health care managers in the current and future health care environment will be identified and analyzed. This doctoral course builds advanced capability in strategy execution, change leadership, culture and safety, and workforce engagement. Attention will be given to contemporary leadership challenges in the health care environment. Leadership assessment and outcomes evaluation will be explored.

  HSA 7010 Accounting Principles in the Healthcare Profession

  Selected topics in financial accounting and financial management focus on interpreting accounting information and what it means. The course provides an overview of the basic accounting process and financial management techniques. This course develops the financial judgment needed to steward health systems and payer-provider enterprises. Students will build and defend models for capital allocation, margin management, and value-based payment during this doctoral course. Emphasis will be placed on interpreting and analyzing financial statements, understanding costs and cost behavior, and financial planning.

  Healthcare Law Concentration

  The Healthcare Law concentration prepares students to understand the legal, ethical, regulatory, and compliance issues that shape healthcare practice. This concentration is developed in collaboration with Detroit Mercy Law.

  Concentration courses may include:

  LAW 2251 Public Health Law
  In this course, students will learn what is a public health issue, what legal options are available to resolve public health issues, the ever-evolving scope and limits of government power, and whether and how the law and constitutional theories can ensure justice and fairness.  Students will explore constitutional theories, administrative, statutory, tribal, and common law, and international treaties used to resolve public health problems.  Contemporary issues including pandemics and epidemics, substance abuse & the opioid crisis, health insurance, and disaster preparedness will be critically examined to learn how the legal system has addressed, resolved, or failed to resolve those matters.  Students will also analyze the competing interests of the government, public and private entities, individuals and human rights that impact the application and development of public health law.

  LAW 3782 Healthcare Negotiation Strategies and Tactics
  During the course, students will consider the most salient topics that health care professionals are likely to face, and how to negotiate good outcomes within legal and policy constraints.

  LAW 3390 Medical Malpractice
  Students will explore the laws and policies that influence medical malpractice litigation and the law governing medical malpractice cases.  Students will become familiar with calculating the statute of limitations, the timing for filing Notices of Intent and Complaints, and the damage caps that limit verdicts in Michigan cases.  Students will compare Michigan's law governing medical negligence with that of other states.

  LAW 7050 Healthcare Law LFP
  This course introduces students to the foundations of American healthcare law, including federalism, individual rights, fiduciary relationships, the administrative state, markets and regulation, and equity and distribution. Students will gain a comprehensive understanding of the most important features of American health care law.

  LAW 4402 Bioethics and Law Seminar
  Explores the four moral foundations of bioethics and how to analyze potential conflicts among them when the application of one value conflicts with another value.