Recommended Courses
Fall
PUBLIC HEALTH 181: Poverty and Population
This course seeks to provide an understanding of the relationships between population growth, poverty, women's autonomy, and health. It explores the political "fashions" underlying changing paradigms among demographers, and economists, and development specialists.
PUBLIC HEALTH 204E: Multicultural Competence in Public Health
This class will focus on developing a functional understanding of cultural competence and will initiate the student in developing culturally competent tools.
PUBLIC HEALTH 217C: Aging and Public Health
The purpose of this course is to provide an overview of research, practice, and policy in the area of aging and public health. Topics will include the epidemiology of aging; race, class, gender, and aging; nutrition and the elderly; and current health policy surrounding aging.
PUBLIC HEALTH 221B: Understanding and Overcoming Health Care Disparities
Students will construct a framework to formulate explanations for health care disparities and to construct responses that have the potential for a policy-oriented, and therefore widespread, response.
PUBLIC HEALTH 290: Asian American Culture and Health
The course examines the state of Asian American health, the historical, structural, and cultural contexts of diverse Asian American communities, and role of race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status in the production of unequal outcomes between Asian Americans and other racial/ethnic groups as well as across different Asian American subgroups. A major thrust of this course is that in order to understand the health of Asian Americans, it is imperative to understand the social and cultural context of their everyday lives.
Spring
PUBLIC HEALTH 112: Global Health: A Multidisciplinary Examination
This course examines health at the individual and community/global level by examining the interplay of many factors, including the legal, social, political, and physical environments; economic forces; access to food, safe water, sanitation, and affordable preventive/medical care; nutrition; cultural beliefs and human behaviors; and religion; among others.
PUBLIC HEALTH 116: Seminar on Social, Political, and Ethical Issues in Health and Medicine
An interdisciplinary approach to health and medicine administered through the Health and Medical Apprenticeship Program (HMAP). Guest lecturers will speak on the social, political, and ethical aspects of health and medicine; students will then discuss and present analyses of the reading materials as well as issues raised by the speakers.
PUBLIC HEALTH 202B: Ethnic and Cultural Diversity in Health Status and Behavior
This course focuses on ethnic and cultural diversity in health behavior as a basis for public health programs. Consideration of U.S. ethnic minority groups and cultural groups in non-Western societies. Health status and behavior examined in context of relevant social and anthropological theory (social class, acculturation, political economy).
PUBLIC HEALTH 204F: Culture, Public Health Practice, and Eliminating Health Disparities
By the end of the course students will be able to describe the concepts of culture, race, racism, ethnicity, cultural competence, cultural humility, health disparities and their use in public health theory and practice; identify and describe the application of these concepts in local public health practice; and demonstrate an understanding of these concepts and their application in public health practice through the completion of a group project.
PUBLIC HEALTH 212C: Health and Social Policy in Mexico and Latin America
Critical issues in health and social welfare policies and structures in Latin America. Themes are examined from a multidisciplinary perspective including demography, epidemiology, family structure, environmental influences, occupational health, and migration.
PUBLIC HEALTH 212D: Global Health Core Course
The course will review the main contributors to the global burden of disease and discuss current interventions and possible approaches for the future. The focus is on developing countries with the most challenging large-scale health problems, where physical and systems infrastructure as well as human resources are poorly developed.
PUBLIC HEALTH C217D: Biological and Public Health Aspects of Alzheimer's Disease
This course will survey the field of Alzheimer's disease (AD) from a biological and public health perspective by reading original research papers in the fields of medicine, neuroscience, and epidemiology.
PUBLIC HEALTH 221: Mental Health Policies, Programs, and Services
This course provides a foundation for understanding mental illness and mental health services and the evolution and current state of our thinking about them. It presents the most frequent varieties of mental illness and addresses their frequency of occurrence, and it addresses the social disability from mental illness and the societal response to mental illness.
PUBLIC HEALTH 255A: Social Epidemiology
This course is designed to introduce students to the field of social epidemiology and its role in understanding the social determinants of population health and health disparities.
PUBLIC HEALTH 255E: Structural Inequalities and Reproductive Health
This course will address the role that structural inequalities assume in shaping reproductive health disparities. We will examine relevant epidemiological research, review and critique public health interventions, and discuss how research in this area can inform policy.
PUBLIC HEALTH 281: Public Health and Spirituality
This course presents a brief introduction to the emerging field of spirituality and health. Topics include highlights and overviews of the rapidly emerging scientific evidence base, public health relevance, collaborations with faith-based organizations, and other practical applications.
Courses subject to availability. To read a full description of each course, please refer to the course schedule.
*Students are highly encouraged to take courses outside of the School of Public Health