Florence S. Downs PhD Program in Nursing Research and Theory Development

Tab section ofFlorence S. Downs PhD program in Nursing Research and Theory Development

NYU Rory Meyers College of Nursing is home to one of the first PhD nursing programs in the nation. The faculty is composed of some of the most lauded, published, and funded researchers in the profession. The College’s affiliations with hundreds of hospitals, private practices, clinics, professional journals, and other institutions provide a wealth of resources for PhD students.

The College’s PhD program in nursing research and theory development is designed to support students and guide them in achieving their academic and professional goals. The curriculum provides an excellent foundation in the philosophy of scientific inquiry, theory development in nursing science, quantitative and qualitative research designs, and methodological approaches to data management and analyses. Faculty members are dedicated to challenging and encouraging students to conduct groundbreaking original research and examine their own interests and passions for public service. There is a strong commitment by the faculty to conduct research that improves health and healthcare equity across the lifespan and mentor students committed to achieving the same goals.

Our PhD students come from all backgrounds and from all stages of personal and career development. However, they share one common thread: the excellence of their thought and dedication to the nursing field.


Why NYU Meyers?

Mentoring

  • Our faculty are experts in their field and in mentoring PhD students for successful research careers.
  • We facilitate networking and relationship building within nursing and related fields for long-term career development.
  • Our students graduate with an average of four peer-reviewed publications each, setting them up for highly attractive post-doctoral fellowships or faculty positions.
  • Alumni from our PhD program have become distinguished nursing leaders in the US and globally.

Resources

  • We are consistently at the top of NIH-funded nursing schools.
  • We guarantee all students four years of funding for tuition, stipend, and health insurance. That is above the rates of peer schools.
  • Students have access to statisticians, prominent guest speakers, and other resources through the Pless Center for Nursing Research.
  • Students have access to diverse patient populations across the New York metropolitan area and the globe through both public and private healthcare systems.
  • Students live and work in New York City, taking part in its culture and events and becoming involved in the multitude of opportunities within its healthcare ecosystem.   

Environment


Research areas

Adults & Aging - Domestic & International

  • Chronic diseases - prevention & management specializations in:
    • Heart disease
    • Diabetes
  • Geriatrics & care of older adults
  • Health Equity
    • Minority health
    • LGBTQ Health
    • Social determinants of health
  • Informatics for interventions
  • Infectious diseases - prevention & management specializations in:
    • HIV/AIDS
    • HCV
  • Mental health & wellness
    • Substance use
  • Palliative care  

Children, Youth, & Families - Domestic & International

  • Maternal-child health
  • Neonates
  • Children < 5
  • School-age children
  • Adolescents
  • Youth
  • Specialty areas for under-18 populations
    • Chronic disease prevention & management
    • Infectious disease prevention & management
    • Informatics for interventions
    • Addressing health equity in early life

Health Services Research - Domestic & International

  • Health systems
    • Structural disparities analyses
    • Community-based care delivery
    • Home health care
    • Hospital-based care
  • Health policy
  • Health workforce
    • Education
    • Simulation
    • Deployment (e.g. staffing)
  • Informatics for Health Systems
  • Interprofessional care
  • Occupational Health

Please review the Academic Bulletin.

Post-BS to PhD entry point

All applicants must meet the following criteria:

  1. A minimum grade point average of 3.0 from an NLN or AACN accredited Bachelor’s program in Nursing. 
  2. The ability to demonstrate professional performance or contribution to nursing as evidenced by research efforts, publications, presentations, membership in professional organizations, honors/awards, community service, or letters of recommendation. 
  3. As of Fall 2021, GRE scores are no longer required as part of the application for the Florence S. Downs PhD program in Nursing Research and Theory Development. Prospective students may still submit GRE scores if they have them as part of the application.

 

Post-Master’s entry point

All applicants must meet the following criteria:

  1. At least one degree (bachelors or master's) in nursing
  2. A minimum grade point average of 3.0 
  3. The ability to demonstrate professional performance/contribution to nursing as evidenced by research efforts, publications, presentations, membership in professional organizations, honors/awards, community service, or letters of recommendation
  4. As of Fall 2021, GRE scores are no longer required as part of the application for the Florence S. Downs PhD program in Nursing Research and Theory Development. Prospective students may still submit GRE scores if they have them as part of the application.


For students with international credentials

If your academic credentials are not in English and/or are from a foreign school with a grading system not based on a 4.0 overall GPA, we strongly suggest evaluation and translation. Educational Credential Evaluators, Inc (ECE) is the preferred service. ECE prepares evaluation reports that identify the United States equivalents of educational qualifications earned in other countries. To request an evaluation report, you must complete and submit an application form, along with all required documentation and all applicable fees. ECE will complete most evaluation reports in approximately 15 to 20 business days from the date they receive all required documentation and fees. They also offer one-day, five-day, and 12-day Rush Service and Express Delivery. Please visit the ECE website for more information.

 

Policies

Technical standards requirements

Applicants must meet the Technical Standards for Core Professional Nursing Competency Performance in order to be eligible for admission to, progress in, and graduate from the nursing program.

Criminal background check policy

Please be advised that prior to or during clinical learning experiences at an acute or community and/or school-based health care facility, that facility may require a criminal background check in order to meet the facility's clinical placement policy or requirements. Such checks may be conducted by the facility or the student may have to independently obtain a criminal background check that meets the facility's requirements. We do not conduct criminal background checks.

Equal opportunity statement

NYU Meyers does not discriminate due to race, color, creed, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender and/or gender identity or expression, marital or parental status, national origin, ethnicity, citizenship status, veteran or military status, age, disability, or any other legally protected basis. Prospective students of diverse ethnic and racial backgrounds are encouraged to apply for all of our programs.

 

Contact the Office of Admissions

For any questions regarding the PhD program, please contact NYU Meyer's Office of Admissions at nursing.admissions@nyu.edu or 212-998-5317.

PhD curriculum total program (46 credits)

Students must have the equivalent of three years of full-time study to earn a PhD in New York State. This requirement can be met by course load, course load, and equivalencies, or by maintenance of matriculation after finishing coursework and working at least 40 hours per week on a dissertation. See PhD handbook for rules and explanations of full-time status and below for the curricula.

Full-Time PhD Curriculum: Year One, Fall Semester (12.5 credits)

Course ID Course Name Course Credits, Semesters
NURSE-GN 3351 Contemp Design & Meth I 3, Fall

Students will examine and apply criteria used to develop and evaluate rigorous methodological designs. Current epistemological and methodological debates will be discussed. Both classic and alternative methodological approaches to answering research questions and generating evidence of significance to nursing science will be explored; the inherent strengths and limitations of various designs will be emphasized and analyzed. Design and sampling considerations for answering questions related to health disparities will be integrated throughout.

NURSE-GN 3361 PhD Forum I 0.5, Fall

This course is designed to introduce PhD students to a diverse array of career paths, trajectories, and scientific programs of research across nursing and other disciplines as they pertain to health. This course aims to build knowledge, skills and strategies pertinent to developing an academic research career. Additionally, students will critique pedagogical methodology pertinent to teaching nursing courses.

NURSE-GN 3358 Qualitative Methods for Health & Healthcare Research 3, Fall

This course is designed to introduce graduate students to the principles of qualitative research. Topics will include the foundations interpretive inquiry and qualitative methodology. The course will cover research design, data collection, data analysis, critique criteria and ethical considerations specific to qualitative research, and informed consent. Exercises will permit group interaction and hands-on practice in research design. Faculty will provide first hand experiences of the development and implementation of their studies. Students will be expected to research methodological issues and design a qualitative study using a selected qualitative methodology.

NURSE-GN 3350 Philosophical & Theor Perspetvs or Nursing 3, Fall

This course will provide participants with the opportunity to examine the historical development of the philosophy of science as it relates to the evolution of the discipline of nursing and the development of nursing knowledge, including theory development, and its application to nursing research and practice. Structure, components, assumptions, limitations, methodologies, and types of reasoning will be evaluated with regard to the development of nursing knowledge. The multiple paradigms of nursing and their implication for nursing research will be discussed. The interrelationships among philosophy, ethics, theory development, research, and practice will be analyzed as they relate to the discipline of nursing.

Full-Time PhD Curriculum: Year One, Spring Semester (12.5 credits)

Course ID Course Name Course Credits, Semesters
NURSE-GN 3352 Contemp Design & Meth II 3, Spring

Students will continue their examination of methodological rigor in the research processes of measurement, instrument design, data collection and analysis. Students will also explore alternative research approaches, including mixed methods designs and secondary analysis. The strengths and limitations of various approaches to data collection will be examined. Strategies for enhancing rigor and minimizing measurement error will be discussed. Special attention will be paid to the development of culturally relevant and sensitive measures and procedures for data collection with diverse populations.

NURSE-GN 3353 Synthesis of Evidence: Principles, Approaches, and Methods 3, Spring

This course will provide students a foundation to conduct a critical synthesis appraisal of the state of the science in the student’s area of research interest. Emphasis will include empirical literature across disciplines, with attention to variation in concept definitions. Students will gain skills in searching, critiquing, analyzing, synthesizing, and re-presenting or re-conceptualizing a focused body of empirical literature to form a current state of substantive knowledge. The students will engage in peer review by presenting and critiquing a current body of knowledge in their area of research interest. This knowledge base will include exploration into concept analysis, integrative and systematic reviews, meta-analysis and meta-synthesis. The course outcome will be preparation of a plan for a focused integrative review that will be further developed for the candidacy paper.

NURSE-GN 0002 Candidacy Examination
No description available
NURSE-GN 3362 PhD Forum II 0.5, Spring

This course is designed to introduce PhD students to a diverse array of career paths, trajectories, and scientific programs of research across nursing and other disciplines as they pertain to health. This course aims to builds knowledge, skills and strategies pertinent to developing an academic research career.

NURSE-GN 3357 Writing a Successful Research Grant 3, Spring

This course will vary from semester to semester depending on student and faculty interest. The course will focus on one area of nursing research. Topics may include: secondary data analysis; current controversies in data analysis; measures used in nursing research; conducting hospital based research.

Full-Time PhD Curriculum: Year Two, Fall Semester (10 credits)

Course ID Course Name Course Credits, Semesters
NURSE-GN 0001 Dissertation Related Elective
No description available
NURSE-GN 0001 Dissertation Related Elective
No description available
NURSE-GN 0001 Dissertation Related Elective
No description available
NURSE-GN 3363 PhD Forum III 1, Fall

This course is designed to enhance students’ socialization into the roles of scholar and researcher and assist students to develop the knowledge, skills and strategies necessary to develop a research career in nursing.

NURSE-GN 3325 Conceptual Approaches to Health Equity 3, Fall

Understanding and addressing health disparities in all of their complexity and promoting health equity requires applying a multidimensional research lens with studies grounded in theoretical frameworks appropriate to addressing questions of health disparities, health (in)equity, health inequalities, and minority health. This course will provide participants with a combined overview of the levels and domains of influence associated with the social determinants of health that contribute to health outcome differences between groups. Case exemplars will be drawn from current designated health disparity populations by the United States’ Office of Management and Budget–defined racial/ethnic minorities, socioeconomically disadvantaged populations, underserved rural populations, and sexual and gender minorities (which include lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and gender-nonbinary or gender-nonconforming individuals). The role of the health and social care workforces in mitigating and perpetuating these disparities will also be reviewed. Participants will learn how to integrate concepts associated with the social determinants of health into their research designs and select appropriate theoretical frameworks to structure their studies. Skill development will focus on learning how to conduct multilevel research capable of producing studies that produce more complete research knowledge reflective of the cumulative or interactive effects of multiple determinants of health.

Full-Time PhD Curriculum: Year Two, Spring Semester (9.5 credits)

Course ID Course Name Course Credits, Semesters
NURSE-GN 0000 Research Residency
No description available
NURSE-GN 0003 Teaching Residency
No description available
NURSE-GN 0001 Dissertation Related Elective
No description available
NURSE-GN 3313 Dissertation Proposal Seminar Nsg 3, Spring

Prerequisites: N41.3350, N41.3351, N41.3352, N41.3343, and N41.3325. This course is designed to provide guidance in the development of the PhD dissertation proposal. Emphasis is placed on understanding and defining the logical relations between elements in a proposal including the problem statement, conceptual/theoretical framework and research design and methodology. Teaching-learning strategies are designed to promote critical/analytical thinking and scholarly discourse.

Full-Time PhD Curriculum: Year Three, Fall Semester (3 credits)

Course ID Course Name Course Credits, Semesters
NURSE-GN 3313 Dissertation Proposal Seminar Nsg 3, Spring

Prerequisites: N41.3350, N41.3351, N41.3352, N41.3343, and N41.3325. This course is designed to provide guidance in the development of the PhD dissertation proposal. Emphasis is placed on understanding and defining the logical relations between elements in a proposal including the problem statement, conceptual/theoretical framework and research design and methodology. Teaching-learning strategies are designed to promote critical/analytical thinking and scholarly discourse.

Full-Time PhD Curriculum: Year Three, Spring Semester

Course ID Course Name Course Credits, Semesters
NURSE-GN 3400 PhD Advisement 1, Spring, Summer, Fall

Ongoing PhD advisement to maintain matriculation.

NURSE-GN 0004 Dissertation Proposal Review
No description available

Elective courses

Course ID Course Name Course Credits, Semesters
Graduate Elective 3
No description available

Access application for all graduate programs

 

Application deadlines

The application for Fall 2024 will be available September 15.

Fall 2024 Deadline: December 15, 2023

Please note: All application materials, including letters of recommendation, must be submitted by December 1st at 11:59 PM EST. Applications that become complete after this time may not be reviewed. 

Mandatory Interview Day: January/February 2024 (exact date TBD)


Application requirements

Access the application for our PhD program. All applicants to our PhD program are required to submit the following documents at the time of application:

  1. One (1) transcript from each post-secondary school attended. We can review applications with unofficial transcripts. Admitted students will be asked to submit official transcripts prior to beginning coursework at NYU Meyers.
  2. Resume.
  3. A two- to three-page personal statement.
  4. At least three (3) letters of recommendation.
  5. RN (and NP, when applicable) license and registration certificate.


Supplemental materials

Please attach the following original documentation to demonstrate professional performance/contribution to the nursing field:

  1. A list of research, writing/publications. Please submit no more than two papers that are most illustrative of your ability. If you are not published, you may submit papers from previous academic work and/or forward additional letters of recommendation.
  2. A list of professional organizations or student groups in which you are involved. Acceptable documentation includes program listings or letters from colleagues.
  3. A list of honors from professional societies; a duplicate copy of the honor is acceptable.

The above information should be uploaded to the online application. If you do not have any of the above documents, you can select "no" to the application question which asks if you have any of these supplemental materials. 

Important Notes

Applications are reviewed by a panel of professors from NYU Meyers. Qualified applicants will be contacted for an interview in January/February.

Applicants who have attended a post-secondary institution outside of the United States are required to upload one (1) transcript from each post-secondary school attended and submit one (1) official course-by-course evaluation of each foreign transcript directly to our office at the time of application. Your application will not be reviewed without these documents. Please mail your official course-by-course evaluation(s) to the Office of Student Affairs and Admissions (complete address listed above).

For applicants whose native language is not English, a copy of your latest TOEFL or IELTS score is required. Admitted students will be asked to submit official test scores prior to beginning coursework at NYU Meyers. We require a minimum TOEFL internet-based score of 100 on TOEFL with no less than 22 on the writing.

We encourage you to fill out a FAFSA form at the time that you apply.

Applicants are encouraged to apply early. All deadlines listed are 'in-office' deadlines, not postmark deadlines. It is always to the candidate's best advantage to apply early, especially when applying for financial aid. Should any of the dates listed fall on a weekend, the deadline will be the next working day.

After submitting your application, you may check on your admissions status using your application login. Should you have any questions about the admissions process, you are encouraged to call the Office of Student Affairs and Admissions at (212) 998-5317.

Application fee

The application fee is $85. Your application will not be processed until your application fee has been paid. Application fees are non-refundable and must be received by the stated application deadlines.

Fee Waivers

NYU Meyers waives fees for applications based on financial hardship or US military service/US veteran status. To request that the application fee is waived, please submit a request to nursing.admissions@nyu.edu before submitting your application. The request should include your full name and the program to which you are applying. We will notify you via email when your request for an application fee waiver has been approved. 

FAQ section of Florence S. Downs PhD Program in Nursing Research and Theory Development

Students should have a general idea of their area of research interest, to make certain that an appropriate NYU Meyers faculty member can mentor you. Acceptance into the PhD Program is dependent on a strong "match.” As students progress through the first year of full time study, however, their ideas evolve as they learn more about the research process.

Absolutely not! Seven years is the absolute maximum that is allowed, and is not encouraged. The college’s goal is to prepare graduates to conduct real-world research that benefits the profession and our patients. Many students can complete the PhD in fours years. Students work closely with advisors to ensure that barriers to completion are identified and addressed to ensure timely completion of the program.

Most students receive tuition and stipend support for a four-year period; however, the College encourages and offers resources for students to prepare proposals for predoctoral funding either through the National Institutes of Health or other organizations. Federal traineeships and loans are also available. Other funding sources include scholarship funds from private grants and gifts. The Nurse Faculty Loan Program (NFLP) provides an important option as well. The NFLP is a loan cancellation program with a post-graduation obligation.

The university requires all applicants interested in receiving financial aid to submit the Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) form. The college can assist PhD students with information about traineeships and scholarships.

New York University has a Postdoctoral and Transitional Program for Academic Diversity Fellowship and we have had several postdoctoral students placed here at the College through this fellowship. NYU Meyers faculty with grant funding will also hire qualified candidates into research-intensive post-doctoral positions. These positions are available based on current funding for faculty and inquiries can be made directly with them. We also accept individuals interested in developing an individual F32 application through NIH to support post-doctoral training.

The final application deadline for the fall semester (September) admission is December 15. This is a hard deadline. We will not be accepting applications after December 15.

The GRE is not required or considered for admission to the PhD program.

US-educated PhD applicants must hold a current professional United States nursing license. These PhD students must maintain their nursing license while matriculated at NYU Meyers. International students are not required to hold a US license to study in our program.

After submitting your application, you may check on your admissions status using your application login.

Applicants are notified of admissions decisions on a rolling basis. Typically the application review process takes between four and six weeks.

Applicants with an earned master’s degree must have earned a minimum grade point average of 3.0 from a NLNAC or CCNE accredited program. For baccalaureate students or those applying concurrently with the master’s program, the minimum grade point average is 3.5.

Hardware recommendations are the following:

  • Processor: Intel i7 (PC) or A1 (Apple) 
  • Memory: 16 GB 
  • Storage: 500GB SSD Drive

This hardware will allow you to efficiently run statistical and research software. 

If you are shopping for a new laptop, NYU Meyers highly encourages you to look at the offerings from the NYU Computer Store. The store has competitive pricing.