PhD Studentship: Reforming the Regulation of Healthcare Professionals in the United States

Applications are invited for a 3-year PhD studentship starting in January or April 2025.

About the Project

Award summary

100% fees covered and a minimum tax-free annual living allowance of £19,237 (2024/25 UKRI rate).

Overview

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.

Number of awards: 1

Start date: January or April 2025

Award duration: Three years

Application closing date: 3^rd November 2024

Name of supervisor/s: Prof. Cathal Gallagher and Dr Nkiruka Umaru

Eligibility Criteria

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.

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. 

The studentship covers fees at the Home rate (UK and EU applicants with pre-settled/settled status who meet the residency criteria). International applicants are welcome to apply but will be required to cover the difference between Home and International fees.

How to apply: Apply online via the above ‘Apply’ button.

Contact details: Informal enquiries should be addressed to Cathal Gallagher (c.t.gallagher@herts.ac.uk)

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