Resumen

CARDONA, Álvaro  y  G, Álvaro Franco. Public health as a scientific discipline: support for academic programs. Rev. Fac. Nac. Salud Pública [online]. 2005, vol.23, n.2, pp.107-114. ISSN 0120-386X.

The main purpose of this paper is to argue that public health doctorate programs carried out by Colombian universities should be supported by the perspective of public health as a scientific discipline. As so public health has identified its own study objective, has a theoretical framework and has built a set of methodological procedures to guide and develop research, and is permanently opened to incorporate new scientific findings. Some of the most relevant historical milestones in the conformation process of public health as a scientific discipline are taken into account and a proposal of the core issues for a public health doctorate program is presented.

Palabras clave : Public health doctorate programs; scientific discipline.