PhD Studentship: Reforming the Regulation of Healthcare Professionals in the United States
Overview
- Qualification type: PhD
- Subject area: Healthcare law
- Location/Campus: College Lane, Hatfield
- Start date: January or April 2025
- Closing application date: 3 November 2024
- Duration: 3 years, full-time
Project outline
The consequences of inadequate healthcare discipline in America are severe. In the absence of meaningful governmental regulation to stop bad actors from practicing, the private sector has layered its own standards and governance structures on most healthcare professionals: however, these private regulators – insurance panels, hospitals, and specialty boards – are heavily influenced by their own self-interests when disciplining practitioners.
The crisis of American State Board regulation has not been well-recognized in legal scholarship. To the extent that self-regulation creates bias in favour of accused practitioners in American disciplinary procedure, that bias is also inherent in the academic literature about the American medical disciplinary system. External voices, especially from academics trained in law and regulation, are desperately needed in the academic debate about misconduct.
In collaboration with colleagues in the US, we have developed a working model for the professional regulation of physicians based on that employed by the UK’s General Medical Council (GMC) and MPTS (Medical Practitioners’ Tribunal Service), which we have based on a pilot study limited to a single US state. In service of our goal of reforming healthcare regulation in the US, we next seek to examine other regulated professions across the wider US. This studentship will examine the severity of outcomes between medical disciplinary hearings in the UK and USA, respectively, and examine how disciplinary tribunals across these jurisdictions compare in their approach to resolving matters of professional discipline among healthcare practitioners.
Supervisors
- Principal supervisor: Prof. Cathal Gallagher
- Second Supervisor: Dr Nkiruka Umaru
Entry requirements
- Applicants must have obtained, or expect to obtain, a UK honours degree at 2.1 or above (or equivalent for non-UK qualifications), and/or a master’s degree in a relevant discipline, such as law, political science, psychology or sociology.
Eligibility
- International applicants are welcome to apply but will be required to cover the difference between Home and International fees.
- Applicants whose first language is not English require an IELTS score of 6.5 overall with a minimum of 5.5 in all sub-skills.
How to apply
Applicants should email the following documents:
- A completed application form
- Two academic references - to be send direct from the referee to the Doctoral College
- Copies of qualification certificates and transcripts
For international applicants
- English Language qualifications (if applicable). International students from countries where English is not the official first language should have a minimum IELTS score of at 6.5 or equivalent. This could be waived if you have already studied in the UK or in a mainly English speaking country such as the USA or Australia and hold a degree from one of those countries.
Please send completed applications via email to the Doctoral College using the following format in the email subject line: “Reforming the regulation of healthcare professionals in the United States studentship”
- Interviews are likely to take place on week commencing 18 November 2024
- For informal enquires please email Cathal Gallagher
Funding information
The studentship covers fees at the home rate and a minimum tax-free annual living allowance of £19,237 (2024/25 UKRI rate).
(UK and EU applicants with pre-settled/settled status and meet the residency criteria). International applicants are welcome to apply but will be required to cover the difference between Home and International fees.