Doctor of Philosophy

A Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated as PhD, was a academic degree. Those with PhDs were addressed as "doctors", despite not typically having any connection to medicine.

At some point before 2265, Dr. Elizabeth Dehner had earned a PhD.

Background information
As a psychiatrist – a medical specialist, unlike a psychologist – Dr. Dehner most probably had an MD as well. (This would be consistent with the many people today who hold doctorates in both medicine and a related field.)

While Dr. Dehner's degree was the only one explicitly referred to as a PhD, it seems likely that most non-medical doctors had PhDs. For example, Dr. Leah Brahms, Dr. Kila Marr, and Dr. Telek R'Mor were in professions (engineering, biology, and astrophysics, respectively) that, at least in "our" 21st century Earth, award the PhD for their doctoral/terminal degrees. The same is likely for other doctors who were clearly not physicians, such as Dr. Daystrom.

Dr. Dehner's file actually misspells the term, using P.H.D. rather than the correct PH.D. (Philosophy being one word)