Dr. Susan Burke accepted her Health Sciences PhD at UNBC's Convocation on May 27.

UNBC’s PhD in Health Sciences was launched in 2012. It is interdisciplinary in nature and directly addresses the needs of health science researchers and professionals in B.C. and beyond.

Dr. Susan Burke is the first student to complete the PhD Health Sciences at UNBC. She accepted her parchment at UNBC’s College of Arts, Social and Health Sciences Convocation in Prince George on May 27.

The program format is standard for the doctoral level, where the student completes course work and undertakes research of an original and innovative nature that is at the forefront of the student’s interest. 

Students in the Health Sciences PhD come from backgrounds in both research and practice and they have diverse and interesting areas of research ranging from social policy to basic science.

Dr. Burke wrote her dissertation on cognitive dissonance in social work and her research provides suggestions on how social workers can increase health by reducing dissonance in the workplace. Cognitive dissonance is defined as a state of tension that occurs when a person holds two cognitions (ideas, attitudes, beliefs, behaviours) that are psychologically inconsistent with one another.