Global Public Health (GPH-GU)
GPH-GU 1005 Advanced Introduction to Bioethics (3 Credits)
Typically offered Fall
Advanced Introduction to Bioethics - Open
only to Graduate Students in Bioethics or Philosophy or by Permission of
Instructor. This seminar is intended to introduce students to the central
methods and concerns of contemporary bioethics. We will consider topics
including the grounds for respecting human (and other) life, the concepts
of well-being and autonomy, decisions about future people, and justice in
distribution of scarce medical resources. Students will develop familiarity
with these concepts as well as the conventions and standards of bioethical
debate.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 1006 Advanced Introduction to Environmental Ethics (3 Credits)
Typically offered Spring
Advanced Introduction to Environmental Ethics - This course situates theoretical developments in practical ethics broadly and in environmental ethics specifically. The course builds on the theoretical materials by examining a series of cases including ethics and agriculture, corporate responsibility and environmental injustice, and the environmental health consequences of war.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 1165 Research Ethics (3 Credits)
Typically offered Summer term
The course will examine the scandals that launched the field of research
ethics and consider the ethical principles that arose in reaction. We will
be especially concerned with the nature and limits of informed consent, as
the central principle of research ethics. We will ask: what makes consent
valid? What kind of understanding is required for consent to count as
'informed'? How should we distinguish research and clinical care; what
clinical responsibilities to researchers have, in designing and conducting
studies? What does it take to justify research when consent is impossible;
as in the case of children or incapacitated patients? When, if ever, is it
acceptable to use deception in research? What else is required, beyond
informed consent, to justify research? In particular, what sorts of social
goals should research promote, and what social harms must it avoid?
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 1210 Justice in Health & Healthcare (3 Credits)
This course surveys philosophical theories of justice, applying them to
population bioethics with particular focus on environmental health justice.
Case studies will include environmental racism and injustice in the United
States as well as environmental and global justice dimensions of climate
change, food systems, pollution, and infectious disease.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 1230 Advanced Introduction to Public Health Ethics (3 Credits)
This course examines the ethical foundations of public health and ethical
issues that arise in the context of public health work. Topics will
include, for example, balancing individual autonomy and community health,
rights to health and healthcare, culturally respectful global health
interventions, and the risk of generating stigma through public health
campaigns. We will also discuss the ethics of public health research,
exploring topics such as privacy considerations in data gathering and
informed consent in a community health context.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 2022 SAS for Beginners: Data Management and Exploration (1 Credit)
This 5-session (2 hours per session), 1-credit course will introduce students to Statistical Analysis System (SAS®) software and provide an opportunity to gain basic knowledge of this commonly-used software by working with data from the real-word (e.g. data related to the COVID-19 outbreak). The course will cover data management, descriptive analysis, and data visualization. Students will complete problem sets after each class to reinforce skills introduced during that class, create a fact sheet as a culminating assignment that requires students to analyze the real-word public health data and present their findings. All the learning materials
will be taught and performed using SAS standard version (version 9.4) and
SAS OnDemand for Academics.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 2025 Reproductive Ethics (4 Credits)
This course surveys central issues in the ethics of human reproduction. Topics include whether (and when) procreation is permissible; the nature and extent of parental responsibility; the morality of abortion; the ethics of gamete donation; whether we can harm people by bringing them into existence; commercial surrogacy; genetic selection and disability; the impact of our reproductive choices on future generations; genetic engineering and enhancement. The course will introduce students to fundamental moral notions (e.g., harm, interests, rights, autonomy, respect), philosophical conceptions of personal identity, and the standards of bioethical debate.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 2026 Neuroethics (4 Credits)
Typically offered occasionally
Neuroethics has two branches: the neuroscience of ethics and the ethics of
neuroscience. The former is concerned with how neuroscientific technologies
might be able to shed light on how we make moral decisions, as well as on
other philosophical issues. The latter is concerned with ethical issues
raised by the development and use of neuroscientific technologies. Topics
include whether neuroscience undermines deontological theories; whether our
moral reasoning is inherently biased; whether there is a universal moral
grammar; the extended mind hypothesis; the ethics of erasing memories; the
ethics of mood and cognitive enhancements; "mind‐reading" technologies;
borderline consciousness; and free will and addiction.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 2027 Moral Indeterminacy (4 Credits)
It seems impermissible to kill one innocent person to save five other
innocent people from being killed. At the same time, many people have the
intuition that it may be permissible to kill one innocent person to save,
e.g., one million people. Suppose that there is something to these
intuitions. Is there a precise threshold when the act of killing an
innocent person changes from impermissibility to permissibility, or is the
boundary fuzzy? Is the source of this indeterminacy due to semantic
vagueness in the term 'permissibility' or lack of adequate knowledge about
what counts as permissible? Or does the indeterminacy stem from vagueness
in the world? What is the difference between vagueness and indeterminacy?
How should we go about deciding what to do when faced with a case of moral
indeterminacy? In this seminar, we shall critically review some of the
most popular philosophical approaches to vagueness including semantic,
epistemological, and ontological approaches; consider whether the source of
moral indeterminacy may be different from non-moral indeterminacy; and
apply these insights to normative issues such as the defensibility of
threshold deontology and the problem of incommensurability in population
ethics.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 2028 Nonconsequentialism (4 Credits)
Nonconsequentialism is a type of normative theory according to which the
rightness or wrongness of an act is not determined solely by consequences.
In particular, it holds that even when the consequences of two acts are the
same, one might be wrong and the other right. In this course, we shall
examine factors (prerogatives) that permit an agent to act in ways that do
not maximize the good, and factors (constraints) that limit what an agent
may do in pursuit of the good. We shall discuss topics such as the moral
difference between harming and not-aiding; intending and foreseeing harm,
i.e., the Doctrine of Double Effect; whether constraints are absolute; and
how nonconsequentialists should address issues such as aggregation and the
so-called paradox of deontology. We shall also investigate how one might be
able to provide a plausible, theoretical foundation for
nonconsequentialism.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 2029 Controversies & Politics (4 Credits)
While medicine may aspire to objectivity, it remains a human practice that is often shaped by our personal values and political commitments. In this course, we will examine some of the ways in which medicine is 'value-laden', and in which our political commitments may inform our medical practices. We will ask questions like: how do we define health and disease? How do we draw the line between mental illness and mere mental difference? What role should a medical professional's personal values play in their practice? Should doctors have a right to refuse to perform medical procedures that violate their personal moral commitments? To what extent should medical systems accommodate patients' religious and cultural practices? We will address these questions, among others, by reading work from philosophy, political theory, and by examining case studies.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 2030 Introduction to Global Health (2 Credits)
This course introduces students to public health from a global perspective,
advancing students' understanding of the dynamic nature of global
opportunities and threats and how they are affected by globalization. The
course uses an ecological model of health to illustrate the impact of
education, socioeconomic status, the environment, and political will on the
global burden of disease. It introduces the primary actors in global health
governance and financing and examines current and future priorities in
global health, emphasizing the importance of intersectoral collaboration in
addressing complex challenges. The course also presents the human rights
and ethical dimensions of global public health, including decolonization.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
Prerequisites: Must be in the plan GUUMPHMPH.
GPH-GU 2032 End of Life (4 Credits)
Central to philosophical discussions about the end of life is a well-known argument about the rationality of fearing death. That argument raises several puzzles about our asymmetrical attitudes concerning time, and about the badness of death. In addition to the value of death, this course will address related topics from among the following: definitions of death; personal identity; dementia and moral status; the meaning of life; the coherence and desirability of immortality; assisted death, advance directives, and end-of-life care; whether one can be harmed by being born. The general aim of the course is to strengthen your skills in analytical thinking and in substantive philosophical debate of these issues.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 2085 Autonomy, Capacity, and Consent (3 Credits)
This course investigates the nature of and relationship between autonomy,
decision-making capacity, and informed consent. It divides into three
parts. The first part asks: what is it to act autonomously and why is
autonomy important? The second part asks: what is required to have
decision-making capacity, understood as the ability of subjects to make
their own medical and health-related decisions, and what is its
relationship to autonomy? The third asks: what is consent, and why is it
important? Although the focus of the course will be on general moral,
metaphysical, and legal questions such as these, it will also consider a
range of case studies arising in medical, research, and public health
settings.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 2105 Thinking Critically and Ethically in Public Health (1.5 Credits)
This course is an introduction to critical thinking, ethics, and writing for public health professionals, who need to communicate public health content and identify communication strategies for different audiences. At the heart of such communications is persuasive writing. The first module introduces students to core reasoning skills such as what counts as a good reason for one's belief, what is an argument, the difference between a deductive argument and an inductive argument, and so on. Public health professionals are also often involved in devising policies that should be guided by sound ethical principles. The second module introduces students to key ethical theories and ethical issues that illustrate how the
promotion of public health can conflict with autonomy, privacy, and social
justice.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 2106 Epidemiology (3 Credits)
Typically offered Fall
Epidemiology is the study of the distribution and determinants of health and disease in different human populations and the application of methods to improve disease outcomes. As such, epidemiology is the basic science of public health. This course is designed to introduce students in all fields of public to the background, basic principles and methods of public health epidemiology. Topics covered include: measures of disease frequency; epidemiologic study designs, both experimental and non-experimental; understanding bias; and measures of effect and association. In addition, students will develop skills to read, interpret and evaluate health information from published epidemiological studies and mass media sources.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: Yes
GPH-GU 2110 Health Care Policy (1.5-2 Credits)
Typically offered Fall
This course introduces students to key concepts, principles and practices
in the field of health policy and management. The course will examine
issues that concern quality, costs, access to healthcare and public health
services for individuals and populations. The course emphasizes the need
for leaders in today’s world of public health to understand central issues
in both policy and management and, importantly, how these interact. The
overall goal of the course is to provide information for students to build
an understanding of the fundamental ideas, issues, and problems currently
debated in health policy and management and to provide a foundation for
practice in a range of careers in public health and health care policy and
management.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 2112 Public Health Management and Leadership (1.5-2 Credits)
Typically offered occasionally
The overall goal of the course is to provide information for students to
build an understanding of the fundamental ideas, issues, and problems
currently debated in public health management and to provide a foundation
for practice in a range of careers in public health and management.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 2115 Introduction to Principles of Nutrition in Public Health (3 Credits)
Typically offered Fall
This course will cover the basic concepts of the science of nutrition
detailing the nutrients, food sources, function and nutritional
requirements. The course will integrate the nutritional needs of
populations, both nationally and globally, with emphasis on undernutrition,
over nutrition and the double burden of malnutrition. The principles of
nutritional needs will be applied to promoting health in vulnerable
populations.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 2120 Foundations of Global Health (3 Credits)
Typically offered Fall
This course prepares students to critically examine public health issues
from a global perspective. It will help you to understand how processes of
socioeconomic development and globalization influence the health of
populations throughout the world. This course prepares students to
critically examine public health issues from a global perspective. It will
present the state of the art in addressing global health problems, and
introduce you to the primary actors involved in setting global health
policies and in developing global health programs and services. The course
will also touch upon the ethical dimensions of global public health,
including conflicts between individuals, communities, and nations. The
course is organized around four modules, three of which (Governance, Health
Threats, & Opportunities), provide a critical lens for understanding global
health today, and a fourth (Skills Building) that provides an introduction
to the leadership skill sets required to address them.
Pre-requisites: none
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 2125 Nutrition Education and Promotion Initiatives in Public Health (3 Credits)
Typically offered Spring
This course will examine the role of nutrition education as a means of
promoting, maintaining and improving the health and wellness of community
populations. Using evidence based approach; the course will integrate
skills obtained through practice and experience with external evidence from
systematic research regarding nutrition education. Students will acquire
the skills and knowledge to effectively identify, assess and adapt
nutrition education materials and programs.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 2126 Healthcare Claims Data Analysis (3 Credits)
This course will introduce students to the richness, complexities, and
limitations of healthcare claims data and how the data may be deployed to
answer a variety of real-world population health questions. Topics covered
in the course include an introduction to claims data and how it is used in
population health analysis and quality of care measurement, data basics,
claims coding, and how claims data is used in business, academic research,
and to inform policy. Students will work hands-on with claims data to
complete course assignments and a project.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 2128 Writing and Communications for Public Health Policy and Management (3 Credits)
Writing, presenting, and facilitating are core competencies in public
health policy and management. Without the ability to produce clear,
concise, and engaging writing you will have trouble convincing others of
your point of view. Equally important are your facilitation and
presentation skills. In this class we will develop the skills required to
write compelling public health and policy documents. We will explore ways
to present your material so your audience can grasp its importance. We will
discuss tactics for facilitating discussions, practice the technique of
active listening, and learn strategies for how to "read a room." This class
will include brief lectures, discussion, role plays and student-centered
learning.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 2130 Global Health Diplomacy (3 Credits)
Typically offered occasionally
Many of the geopolitical forces that shape global health (global disease
burden and our collective response to it) lie outside of the health sphere.
This course will explore the ways in which global health is influenced by,
and can influence, other global forces including foreign policy,
trade/economic policy, environmental policy, and security policy in a
globalizing world. Effective responses to current and future global health
challenges require that public health professionals (particularly those
working in policy or at a policy-level) understand these dynamics and how
best to leverage them in order to achieve better health outcomes globally.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 2132 Stress and Health in Communities (3 Credits)
This course is designed to review theories and research examining the role
of stress in health. The course will review basic concepts and models of
stress and the mechanisms by which stress may influence health outcomes.
Through these concepts and models, this course will cover a range of
topics, including the neurobiological underpinnings of stress and health
and socio-ecological stressors and their influence on racial/ethnic health
disparities. A key aspect of the class will be to critically evaluate
and discuss the research on stress and health through the critique of
studies' methods, data, and conclusions. This course will foster an
interdisciplinary approach to comprehensively understanding stress and
health in communities.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 2135 Dissemination and Implementation Science in Health Care and Public Health (3 Credits)
Dissemination and implementation (D&I) science studies how evidence-based
interventions in health care and public health can be spread and integrated
into practice. This course introduces foundational elements of D&I science
and teaches the essential skills required to apply D&I methods effectively
to overcome barriers to dissemination, implementation, sustainability and
spread of evidence-based health care and public health programs and policies.
Students will learn how to develop and evaluate solutions to overcoming
barriers to implementing evidence-based interventions. The course uses case
studies to provide examples of ways in which these methods can be applied
in real world settings.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 2136 Fundamentals of Global Health and Development (3 Credits)
This course offers an in-depth exploration of the global health architecture and how it functions, focusing on governance and financing mechanisms aimed at advancing global health initiatives and addressing pressing global challenges like non-communicable diseases, pandemics, natural disasters, and conflicts. It will provide a comprehensive- understanding of the primary actors and how their organizations function at various levels (i.e., global, regional, country, and community). The course will also explore the influence of social, political, and commercial health determinants and colonialism's legacy on health and health systems in different regions of the world. Finally, the course will examine how these factors influence the ability of countries to build resilient health systems and improve health outcomes.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 2140 Global Issues in Social & Behavioral Health (3 Credits)
Typically offered Fall
This course begins by examining social, psychological, and cultural factors
that have an impact on public health in community, national, and global
contexts. These factors include population characteristics, individual
beliefs and behaviors, and policies that affect public health problems and
their solutions. The second half of the course introduces students to
methods that public health professionals use to address the social and
behavioral determinants of health. These methods include theories and
perspectives drawn from the social/behavioral sciences, interventions and
policies designed to alleviate health disparities, and methods to evaluate
interventions and disseminate the results.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 2145 Introduction to Public Health Systems: Management and Policy Issues (3 Credits)
Typically offered Fall
This course introduces students to key issues, concepts and practices in
the field of public health management and policy. We examine the
organization, management and performance of public health departments and
systems. The course emphasizes the need for leaders in today’s world of
public health to understand central issues in both public health policy and
management and, importantly, how these interact. The overall goal of the
course is to promote students’ understanding of, and ability to analyze,
fundamental issues and ideas that are central to public health systems and
to develop students’ skills for a range of careers in public health
management and policy.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 2152 Introduction to Agent-Based Modeling (3 Credits)
How do local (micro-scale) interactions between individuals generate global
(macro-scale) societal patterns--of disease, of conflict, of inequality?
Agent-based modeling (ABM) is a powerful new way to address such questions
computationally. In ABMs, software individuals and the interactions between
them are explicitly represented, and these local interactions generate the
global patterns we wish to explain, and to alter through policy, epidemics
being prime examples. This course introduces students to ABMs from
epidemiology, public health, and social science. It teaches students to
build, analyze, extend, test, and present simple models in NetLogo. No
prior programming is required. Final projects will be tailored to students’
interests and technical levels.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 2153 Global Environmental Health (3 Credits)
Typically offered Fall and Spring
Environmental health sciences represent the study of biological, physical,
and chemical agents that affect the health of both communities and workers.
This course provides students with an introduction to key areas of
environmental health. Students gain an understanding of the interaction of
individuals and communities with their environment, the impact of
environmental agents on human health, and specific applications of concepts
of environmental health including exposure assessment and engineering
controls. The impact of global environmental issues on health equity will
be considered, as well as scientific, political, legal, and economic
perspectives on global environmental health. Emphasis is placed on issues
in environmental health that transcend national boundaries.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 2154 Adolescent Health and Development (3 Credits)
This course will provide an overview of adolescent health and development.
Drawing from a range of disciplines, students will critically examine the
state of the evidence on adolescent health and learn about the main health
issues and considerations to promote healthy development in this age group.
Course topics include: healthy biological and psychological development;
the social contexts of adolescent development, including race/ethnic
identity development; nutrition, body image and weight stigma and
discrimination; adolescent sexuality development; HIV and other sexually
transmitted infections; mental health, tobacco and alcohol use; youth
violence; and adolescent health in emergencies, such as COVID-19.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 2155 Public Health Policy (3 Credits)
Typically offered Spring
This course explores policy tools and regulatory mechanisms that can be
used to improve the public's health. It examines issues related to
evidence, stakeholders, and the processes involved in policymaking and
implementation. Students will learn to evaluate government and other
institutions’ policies and formulate apt policy solutions to public health
problems, such as those resulting from tobacco, alcohol, and food
consumption. We will discuss the government’s ability to shape health
policy and limitations on the same in the context of firearms, injury
prevention, and the labeling and marketing of products that cause harm. The
course brings in current events so students gain a practical and current
understanding of public health policy issues.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: Yes
GPH-GU 2160 Qualitative & Field Methods (3 Credits)
Typically offered Fall and Spring
This course is devoted to flexible forms of inquiry suited to the local context of global public health research. Sometimes known as ?action research?, ?rapid assessment, and ?community-based participatory research? these approaches share a commitment to working closely with and in communities to identify health risks and effective interventions for ameliorating them. Although field research may include surveys and other forms of quantitative research, the emphasis in this class will be on qualitative methods with mixed method approaches included where appropriate. The focus will be on introducing the basic content/skills of on-the-ground field research under challenging conditions, i.e., shortages of time and resources as well as cultural/ linguistic differences. There are additional aspects to learning these methods (e.g., data analysis) that require much more time and skill development than is possible in this brief introductory course. Interested students are strongly advised to take additional coursework in qualitative methods.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 2182 Statistical Programming in R (3 Credits)
R is one of the most popular programming languages in statistics and data science. This course will introduce various R programming topics, including R objects, data visualization, data import & export, data manipulation, creating functions and iterations for statistical simulations, and writing high-quality reports with R Markdown. The course will focus on public health datasets as illustrations to best meet the practical needs of GPH students but is also open to those of other backgrounds. By the end of the course, students will be able to comfortably program in R for effective data preprocessing, analysis and presentation. This course does not require prior experience in programming or statistics and serves as a foundation for other courses in biostatistics, epidemiology, and data science.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 2183 Introduction to Statistical Programming in R (2 Credits)
R is one of the most popular programming languages in statistics and data
science. This course will introduce various R programming topics, including
data visualization, exploration, and transformation, via illustrations with
public health datasets. Students will learn how to program in R effectively
and efficiently for data analysis with popular R packages including dplyr,
tibble, readr, and ggplot2. By the end of the course, students will be able
to write R codes from scratch for data visualization, exploratory analysis,
transformation, and import & export. This course does not require prior
experience in programming or statistics and serves as a foundation for
other courses in biostatistics, epidemiology, and data science. Students
are recommended to take the follow-up course: Intermediate Statistical
Programming in R.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 2184 Intermediate Statistical Programming in R (2 Credits)
R is one of the most popular languages in statistics and data science. This
course is the follow-up of GPH-GU 2183 Introduction to Statistical
programming in R, and covers intermediate R programming topics that include
organizing and modifying data, operating on various data object types,
creating functions and iterations for statistical simulations, and writing
high-quality reports with R Markdown. The course will focus on public
health datasets as illustrations to best meet the practical needs of CGPH
students but is also open to those of other backgrounds. By the end of the
course, students will be able to comfortably program in R for effective
data preprocessing, analysis and presentation. This course serves as a good
preparation for courses in biostatistics, epidemiology, and data science.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 2190 Essentials of Public Health Biology (3 Credits)
Typically offered Fall
This course introduces MPH students with minimal formal training in biology
to the biological and molecular context of public health. The course
provides an overview of: a) basic biological principles and mechanisms
relevant to public health practice; and b) biomedical technology as applied
in public health. The course covers basic principles of genetics,
immunology, microbiology, and cell biology in the context of global public
health. Areas covered include infectious diseases, genetic and chronic
diseases, allostatic load, environmental factors affecting health, and
prevention and treatment strategies.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 2205 Gun Violence in America: Public Health, Politics, andPragmatism (3 Credits)
More Americans have been killed with guns since 1968 than died in all the
wars since the country's founding. Addressing this crisis means solving
tenacious problems of both public health and politics. In this course we
will examine the main causes of firearm injury, the political actors that
have influenced America's public policy response, and the ways all of this
connects to the underlying beliefs and behaviors that define American's
relationship with guns.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 2211 Environmental Justice and Global Health (3 Credits)
Environmental Justice - A Global Outlook (3)
Environmental Justice has implications for public health practice both
locally and globally because marginalized groups such as people of color
and people of low socioeconomic status continue to be exposed to greater
numbers of environmental hazards in their homes, in their jobs, in
their communities, and in the food they eat, relative to the society at
large. This course will explore the links between the environmental justice
movement and civil rights. Students will examine the political response to
the movement, both locally and globally, through legislative and regulatory
actions.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 2213 Public Health Nutrition (3 Credits)
Typically offered Fall
Introduction to the concepts, principles, and scope of practice of public health nutrition. The course emphasizes the distinction between population-based and individual-based approaches to prevention and alleviation of diet-related conditions, and the societal, economic, environmental, and institutional barriers to improving the nutritional status and health of diverse population groups.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 2217 Food Policy for Public Health (3 Credits)
Typically offered Fall
Food and its many aspects has become a mainstay of public health policy,
popular discourse, and national debate. This course examines current policy
issues related to the modern food environment locally, nationally and
internationally. The course provides background into how the U.S.
government (federal, state, and local) can act in the area of food policy
and it delves into topics related to nutritional guidelines, food programs,
food safety, labeling, marketing, and pricing. We will additionally explore
issues related to the food industry, the global nutrition transition, and
agricultural and environmental food production concerns.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 2218 Assessing Community Health Needs (3 Credits)
Typically offered Fall
Community health assessments comprehensively identify the assets and needs
of a defined group. When conducted in tandem with community members,
community health assessments provide a window into how a community sees
itself, the systems and patterns it functions by, and its assets and needs.
Public health practitioners can use this information to work with a
community to utilize its strengths to address mutually acknowledged needs.
In this course, students will work in teams to conduct a community
assessment of an assigned United Health Fund district within New York City.
The focus of the course will be on introducing the basic content/skills of
on-the-ground field research, collecting, analyzing, and summarizing data.
Specifically, students will use primary data (surveys, in-depth interviews,
observations) and secondary data (public data sets) collection along with
systems thinking to describe and understand the health, demographics, and
socio-economic profile of the community. Students will survey and/or
interview community leaders, community based organization representatives,
health practitioners, and/or community residents. Students will summarize
the findings and offer recommendations in a final report and presentation.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 2219 Application of Implementation Science Frameworks to Address Diseases in Global Populations (3 Credits)
In order to improve health outcomes for diverse populations, evidence-based
interventions (EBI) or evidence based practices (EBP) must be sustainable
and incorporated into routine care in global settings. Students will
explore several implementation science frameworks using examples from low
and middle-income countries (LMICs). Then, through a guided series of
critical thinking interactive workshops/activities apply the framework
(e.g. RE-AIM, CFIR, EPIS...etc.) to address distinct diseases in global
population(s), by selecting an EBI/EBP and explore its application to a
global health challenge. At the end of the course, students will be able to
critically evaluate and assess the utilized framework and articulate the
strengths and deficiencies inherent within that framework to address the
stated problem.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 2220 Applying Systems Thinking to Global Health Practice (3 Credits)
Typically offered not typically offered
This course provides an overview of the state-of-the-art concerning the
Global Burden of Disease, the Disease Control Priorities, Universal
Health Coverage and Health Systems Analyses. Students apply systems thinking and evaluation methods in designing policies to accelerate progress toward
the health related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), by categorizing
health related targets within the SDGs according to mortality, incidence/prevalence of disease, risk factors, cost effective interventions and health system platforms. For each of these dimensions, students analyze concepts, methods, information sources and existing data for countries with differing burdens of disease.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 2222 Clinical Ethics (3 Credits)
Typically offered Spring
Theoretical and practical medical ethics, combined with observation in a clinical setting.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 2224 Introduction to Urban Health and Equity (3 Credits)
This course will introduce students to urban health and its broad
determinants. The course will combine readings, classroom lecture and
discussion to provide an overview of urban health and health equity. As an
emerging interdisciplinary area of research, practice and policy, we will
draw on the work of experts and experience from all regions of the world
and examine the challenges a focus on cities raises as a subnational focus
when global health governance has historically worked with national
governments. We will also look specifically at NYC as a global city that
has been committed to advancing urban health and health equity through a
health in all policies approach and alignment of its strategic plan OneNYC
with the SDGs to examine its successes and challenges.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 2225 Psychometric Measurement and Analysis in Public Health Research and Practice (3 Credits)
Typically offered Fall
*Students will examine the principles of measurement and testing as applied
to public health research and practice, including the technical
interpretation of test scores using the classical test model. Content of
the course will consider individual measures of constructs and behaviors
measured in public health research and practice. Students will examine and
deconstruct principles and techniques used in psychometric studies to
establish levels of reliability and validity and will utilize statistical
software to conduct analyses. *
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 2227 Psychiatric Epidemiology (3 Credits)
Psychiatric epidemiology is the study of the distribution and determinants of mental disorders at the population level. This course provides an overview of: (1) the history of this subfield of epidemiology; (2) approaches to classification of mental health conditions and (descriptive and analytic) study design and how they have evolved over time; (3) our current understanding of the burden and causes of mental disorders globally; (4) the important role of culture and context in the classification, prevalence, and correlates of mental health conditions; and (5) how epidemiologic findings have informed public health intervention. The course emphasizes critical evaluation of methodological approaches in psychiatric epidemiology, challenges and current debates, and future directions for this field of study.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 2230 Global Non-Communicable Disease Prev & Control (3 Credits)
Typically offered Spring
This course will focus on the considerable and increasing burden of disease due to chronic diseases, mental health, substance use (alcohol, tobacco, other drugs), risk factors (obesity, lack of physical activity), and injuries within the developing world. It will present methods for measuring the burden of non-communicable disease, review approaches to program and service development to modify risk factors, present lessons learned from successful developing country programs, and discuss implications for health services development and international development policies.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 2231 Public Health Communication for Mobilization and Impact (3 Credits)
This course provides students with guided practice on effective
communication of topics of public health import with a focus on in-person
modalities and social media channels. By the end of the course, students
will be able to confidently and effectively pitch an idea to funders- in
one minute, move an audience within a Ted-like health talk, gladly be
video'd by a NYTimes health reporter, even generate thousands of Instagram
"likes" using public health memes. In short, students will learn the
concepts and process essential to becoming excellent speakers and
presenters – a treasured useful skill of the global public health
professional. This has two dimensions: First, student master presentation
skills through studied organization and deliberate regular practice.
Second, students present for impact, i.e, in the context of
population-level, human-rights approaches to health and disease.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 2232 Detection and Control of Waterborne Pathogens (3 Credits)
Waterborne pathogens are the etiologies of a range of diseases – including
gastroenteritis, poliomyelitis, hepatitis, Legionnaire's disease, and
intestinal worm infections – and play an important role in the global
burden of disease. This course will introduce students to fundamental
principles of water-related infectious diseases, including the detection
and enumeration of waterborne pathogens and indicator microorganisms; the
burden of disease and mode of transmission of different classes of
microorganisms; pathogenesis; and engineering controls to reduce
transmission. The course will have a global perspective, and include water
treatment options in low-resource settings.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 2235 Biostatistical Consulting (3 Credits)
This course will provide an introduction to biostatistical consultation.
Students will learn about ethical principles, professional standards for
communication and interaction, interpretation of a scientific or public
health problem and its translation into a statistical framework, execution
of the required tasks (e.g., design, analysis plan, data analysis,
interpretation), and clear communication of the results. Students will
participate in mentored group consultations with investigators from across
NYU. Students will read and discuss literature on the art and science of
biostatistical consulting. Students will write up summary reports for two
projects and present one to the class. Some projects may turn into an
applied practice experience or thesis. This PhD level course may be taken
by MS/MPH students who have sufficient background.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 2236 Criminalization and Public Health in the U.S. (3 Credits)
This course offers a historical review and critical analysis of criminalization in the United States (US) from a public health perspective. Students will examine the development of US carceral structures, with an emphasis on those related to mental health and drug use, and how these structures impact individual, family, community, and population health. Critical race theory, criminology, social theory, and other theoretical frameworks will be used to investigate the policies, norms, and practices defining criminalization in the US today, and the social movements for change. [Trigger warning: Course readings include graphic depictions of violence.]
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 2242 Crisis and Emergency Risk Communication (3 Credits)
This course covers key concepts of crisis and risk communication theory and
its practical application to emergent and catastrophic public health
events. Crisis and emergency risk communication is among the central
strategies by which government officials and community and organizational
leaders promote critical protective actions to their constituents and
stakeholders. This course will use a series of case studies to illustrate
the principles, strategies, and tactics of effective risk communication.
The course will also explore the shifting locus of authority as new media
channels emerge and the information landscape continues to evolve, often
moving away from centralized mass media brokers and towards more
decentralized and informal models of information sharing and seeking.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 2244 Health Care Management Science (3 Credits)
This course is designed to equip students with a fundamental understanding
of health system management and transformation including delivery models,
value-based care, population health, policy, change management, and
continuous quality improvement. It will introduce basic contextual
knowledge about healthcare systems and quantitative models for improving
healthcare system performance. Students will learn through the combination
of interactive didactics, assigned reading, expert guest speakers, and
completing a group capstone quality improvement project in a healthcare
setting.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 2248 Teams and Strategy in Public Health Management (3 Credits)
This course aims to equip learners with two interrelated domains that
leaders and managers in public health organizations often have to focus on
to improve organizational performance: teams and strategy. This course
helps learners answer the question: "Why do some teams and organizations do
better than others?" You will learn how to recognize suitable approaches to
analyze team conditions and improve team performance, prioritize
organizational activities and resources to create advantage or value for
stakeholders, and communicate and implement strategic plans. Overall, this
course will provide learners with useful theories, frameworks, and
perspectives as well as improve their critical analytical skills around the
effective use of teams and strategy to maximize organizational performance.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 2250 Health and Human Rights (3 Credits)
Typically offered Fall
This course approaches global health and justice from international human rights and humanitarian law. The course is designed to provide public policy and public health students with the basis for literacy about human rights and humanitarian law. Through lectures, case studies and practical training, students will be able to gain knowledge and skills to determine how rights violations impact health, and how to engage in using the human rights approach to improve health outcomes. Topics, including HIV/AIDS, sexual and reproductive rights, the right to health in war and disasters, access to medicines and the ethical obligations of public health professionals, will be used to illustrate practical applications of human rights to global health.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 2255 Substance Use and Public Health (3 Credits)
Typically offered Summer term
This course covers the broad group of licit and illicit substances with psychoactive effects used in the US and globally. Over the course the semester, we will review the epidemiology and effects of substance use on biologic, psychological, social function and public health as well as history, trafficking, regulation, treatment and controversies. In addition, pharmacological properties and effects of licit and illicit substances are reviewed and linked to health, economic, and societal problems. Best clinical practices in prevention and treatment and controversies over management of substance use disorders (SUDs) will be discussed, along with ethical issues of interest to health providers and public health practitioners.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 2265 Climate Change and Global Public Health (3 Credits)
Typically offered Spring
This course is about Climate Change i.e. Global Warming! Climate Change has
been cited as the most significant public health challenge of the 21st
century. We will intensively cover climate change science, public health
response to disasters and altered distribution of diseases especially
arthropod-borne, ecological consequences, fossil fuel air pollution, global
food and health security, and government policy options. Examples of
climate challenges will be covered including severe weather storms,
flooding, drought, heat wave mortality and morbidity, ocean acidification,
sea level rise, and loss of biodiversity. Renewables such as wind and
solar energy will be assessed by States. Climate Denialism is covered with
the text,"The Madhouse Effect."
*GPH-GU 2240** Perspectives in Global Mental Health* (3)
Common mental disorders such as depressive, anxiety and substance use
disorders are leading causes of disease burden globally and are associated
with serious functional impairment, reduced quality of life, unemployment
and homelessness and exacerbate risk for medical illness. Yet they tend to
get lost on the global health agenda. Lack of familiarity with
interventions, measurement challenges, and stigma are, in part, to blame.
This course provides exposure to this increasingly relevant public health
challenge from a global perspective, with a particular focus on the
epidemiology, risk factors and consequences, individual- and
population-level approaches to treatment and prevention, and delivery of
care for mental health problems in different settings and cultural contexts
worldwide.
Pre-requisites: GPH-GU 2106 or 5106
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 2270 Translating Research to Practice: Adapting and Implementing Evidence-Based Public (3 Credits)
Typically offered Spring
Evidence-based public health is now recognized as the foundational gold
standard for developing programs and interventions to improve population
health. In practice, many challenges exist to identifying appropriate
evidence-based interventions and adapting them to perform as intended in
new settings. This course will examine approaches for selecting, adapting,
and implementing evidence-based public health interventions. The framework
presented in the course will help prepare students to adapt and implement
programs that are theory-based, evidence-based, community-based, and
reality-based.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 2272 Value-Based Healthcare (3 Credits)
Value-based healthcare is a healthcare delivery model in which providers,
including hospitals, physicians, and other practitioners are paid based on
patient health outcomes. Under value-based care agreements, providers are
rewarded for helping patients improve their health, reduce the effects and
incidence of chronic disease, and live healthier lives, in an
evidence-based way. The class will explore how value-based care is being
used in an attempt to attenuate wide disparities in health care outcomes,
high costs, and increasing levels of provider burnout. There will be a
focus on Medicaid, duals, and vulnerable populations, and the use of care
management, integrated behavioral health and programs that address social
service needs to provide better "value" for those populations.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 2274 Outbreak Epidemiology: Re-emerging and Emerging Infectious Diseases (3 Credits)
Over the last 20 years, we have witnessed a number of local as well as
large-scale, multi-state and multi-country disease outbreaks and pandemics
of re-emerging and emerging diseases – including measles, H1N1, Zika,
Ebola, SARS, MERS, and currently SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19). In light of the
emergence and re-emergence of these infectious disease outbreaks, the
overall objective of this course is to introduce students to the essential
elements of outbreak investigations in both local, national and global
settings. The course covers three broad content areas that include
understanding and detecting infectious diseases, investigating outbreaks,
and communication and prevention of future outbreaks.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 2275 Nutrition Epidemiology for Public Health (3 Credits)
Typically offered Spring
This course provides in-depth knowledge of the principles and challenges
inherent to the discipline of nutritional epidemiology. In addition to
covering fundamentals of nutritional epidemiology such as collection,
analysis, and interpretation of data on dietary intake and nutritional
status within diverse population groups, the course will place strong
emphasis on methodological considerations in study design and pertinent
statistical issues, including measurement error. The course emphasizes
critical evaluation of dietary assessment methods and the results of
research studies associating intake of foods, nutrients and dietary
patterns with the risk of chronic diseases. Importantly, the course
addresses the translation of scientific findings into nutritional
recommendations and policies. Students in Public Health Nutrition should
take GPH-GU 2115 prior to taking this course.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 2276 Public Health Financial Management (3 Credits)
This course introduces financial and accounting principles for public
health and health care. Topics covered include accounting theory,
budgeting, resource management, financial planning, and third party
reimbursement. Students are presented with the basic foundations of
financial management before progressing to demonstrate how health care
managers can apply financial management theory and principles to help make
better decisions that promote the financial well-being of public health and
health care delivery organizations.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 2278 Global Cancer Epidemiology (3 Credits)
Cancer is a major public health concern globally, surpassing rates of
cardiovascular disease in adults <75 years. It is a multifactorial disease
with genetic, environmental and modifiable lifestyle risk factors. This
course provides an overview of: a) the global and national burden of
cancer; b) risk factors including genetic, early life risk factors and
modifiable factors: tobacco, excess adiposity and diet (carbohydrates,
processed foods, sugar-sweetened beverages, and alcohol); and c) cancer
surveillance and policy as it relates to primary and secondary prevention
of cancer. Students will discuss landmark studies in cancer epidemiology
with an emphasis on population studies in the US and Europe. Students will
also gain an understanding of cancer biology and important mechanisms that
underlie carcinogenesis.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 2280 Environmental Health Assessments and Interventions (3 Credits)
This course will introduce students to the fundamentals of conducting an
environmental health assessment of a contaminated site and propose
interventions to reduce human exposure and disease. Students will learn and
be able to apply the fundamentals of conducting environmental air, soil and
water sampling for hazardous chemical, physical and biological agents. In
addition, a variety of environmental remediation methods and public health
interventions will be introduced. Special focus will be on environmental
hazards in low and middle-income countries with numerous case studies
presented and discussed.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 2282 Health Economics (3 Credits)
This course introduces microeconomics and economic evaluation concepts that
are used to understand and analyze the organization, financing and delivery
of public health and health care services. Topics covered include the
demand for health and health care, cost of delivering services, market
structure, economic evaluation, and cost-effectiveness analysis. The course
also compares the structure and performance of public health and health
care systems around the world in terms of equity and health outcomes.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 2285 Global Women's Health Programs - Analyzing/Evidence to Improve Women's Lives (3 Credits)
Typically offered Spring
This course introduces the student to the
major health issues facing women in low resource countries and how to
analyze existing programs geared towards improving women's health. Students
will learn how biological, environmental, and societal issues affect
women's health, the outcomes of pregnancy, and child survival. Topics
include reproductive and obstetric health, women's rights, gender-based
violence, access to health education, family planning, female genital
cutting, and the public health interventions proven to positively impact
these issues. Students will intensively evaluate and analyze the
interventions created to improve the lives of women and identify key
elements that constitue an effective global women's health program.
Students will learn the necessary skills to generate solutions to the
complex circumstances affecting the health of women globally.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 2286 Introduction to Data Management and Statistical Computing (3 Credits)
Typically offered Spring
There is a gap between data collection and statistical analysis. Data
management and manipulation is an essential component of public health
practice necessary to fill this gap. The course will focus on command-based
programming for modifying and managing data, and developing processes,
procedures and documentation for reproducibility and efficiency. By the end
of the course students will be able to comfortably create datasets, access
existing datasets, create variables, clean data, merge data sets, create
samples from larger data sets, label data and variables, create and debug
code. Students will be exposed to the basics of several statistical
packages (Stata, SAS, R, and Tableau). This course is intended for students
who have no or minimal experience using statistical software.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 2292 Public Health Law (3 Credits)
Typically offered Spring
Many of public health's greatest successes have been based on the
successful use of the law. Therefore, an understanding of the fundamentals
of public health law and the legal foundations of public health is
essential to appreciating the tools available to government to address
public health threats. This class will examine the government’s authorities
and also the legal limitations on government enacting law to improve
population health at the federal, state, and local levels and by the
executive, legislative, and judicial branches. We will additionally analyze
core public health issues in the context of this legal framework.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
Prerequisites: GPH-GU 2294.
GPH-GU 2294 Designing and Managing Organizations in Public Health (3 Credits)
This course has two overall goals. The first is to increase your
effectiveness in leading individuals and teams within and across
organizations, sectors and agencies that seek to improve public health. The
course's second goal is to prepare you to effectively design organizations
and master organizational processes to impact population health. This
course prepares to achieve your objectives by providing you with
fundamental frameworks and tools developed from the behavioral and social
sciences and tested by leaders in organizations across the public,
non-profit, and for-profit sectors.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: Yes
GPH-GU 2317 Social Epidemiology (3 Credits)
Typically offered Spring
This course explores the subdivision of epidemiology that elucidates the
ways in which social identities, processes, arrangements and structures
shape the population distribution of health and disease, and produce social
inequalities in health. This course rests on the premise that the study of
the determinants of health at multiple levels, and their interrelationships, is essential in order to better explain, potentially predict, and hopefully improve the health of populations. This course is intended to provide an overview of the major areas of inquiry, key theories, seminal findings, methodological challenges/solutions and ongoing debates. By the end of the course students will understand the theoretical, substantive, and methodological parameters of social epidemiology, and be able to evaluate its strengths and limitations.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 2319 Grant Writing to Fund Public Health Research (3 Credits)
Typically offered Spring
A hands-on approach to grant writing including development of skills in locating potential funding sources and the use of appropriate grant-writing style & technique. Students are guided through the development of a grant proposal, from locating sources of funds; through development of program objectives, background, & methods; to the peer review process.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 2320 Data Utilization in Public Health Practice (3 Credits)
Typically offered Fall and Summer terms
Data Utilization in Public Health Practice (3 credits)
Public health practice typically demands competencies in identifying,
extracting, analyzing, interpreting and disseminating information from
large surveys, administrative data sets, government reports, qualitative
studies, and other data sources. This course will develop these
competencies through rigorous evaluation of existing data resources
(including their strengths and limitations for answering specific public
health questions) and best practices in data utilization for situational
assessment; monitoring; policy, program and strategy development; and
surveillance of health outcomes through real-world case studies and
assignments. The course will also provide students with basic skills in
data analysis and visualization using Microsoft Excel and an interactive,
online mapping software (Carto).
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 2321 Cost Effectiveness Analysis for Public Health (1.5 Credits)
Typically offered not typically offered
Policymakers, faced with competing health priorities and limited resources,
routinely make difficult but necessary decisions. Cost-effectiveness
analysis (CEA) is increasingly considered in public health decision making
to set priorities among competing interventions, programs and policies and
inform investment and disinvestment decisions in the health sector. Suited
for MPH and PhD students, this 1.5-credit course provides an introduction
to CEA—the most applied method in health economic evaluation—and
covers its theoretical
foundations, methodological principles and real-world applications over 7
weeks. Through lectures, discussions, and assignments, students will build
their technical knowledge and skills to conduct and critique CEA studies
and take part in discussions of planned cost-effectiveness research.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 2324 Infectious Disease Epidemiology (3 Credits)
The course will provide an overview of the principles and methods of
applied infectious disease epidemiology. Students enrolled in this course
will learn the terminology associated with infectious disease epidemiology,
factors that impact infectious disease transmission dynamics (i.e.
vaccination and immunity), the methods used to conduct infectious disease
surveillance, and control measures to reduce or eliminate the burden of
certain infectious diseases in our population. In addition, the course will
cover topics such as assessment of vaccine field effectiveness, molecular
epidemiology and laboratory diagnosis of key infectious diseases. Finally,
the course will cover the risk factors, transmission dynamics and control
measures for key infectious diseases in global and domestic settings.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 2326 Public Health Communication for Impact (3 Credits)
This course provides students with guided profession practice on how to
effectively communicate topics of public health import in-person and via
social media. By the end of the course, students will be able to
confidently and effectively pitch an idea to funders, move an audience at a
conference, know how to prepare for a TV interview and even generate
substantial social media following.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 2336 Critical Reading of the Biostatistical Literature (3 Credits)
This 3 credit course will provide an introduction to critical reading and
reviewing of the biostatistical literature. Each class meeting will focus
on an article with substantial biostatistical content that will be selected
by a student in the class, who will prepare questions that will be
distributed prior to class for consideration by students, and will prepare
slides that will clearly summarize the main points in the article and will
help guide the discussion. The class instructor must approve of the
selected article and will offer guidance in its selection. Students will
read the article prior to class and prepare a written review that addresses
the design, analysis, interpretation and conclusions of the article, and
that responds to the guiding questions sent by the leader. Class
participation is expected and is essential.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 2338 Machine Learning in Public Health (3 Credits)
This course provides students with a strong foundation in machine learning
relevant to public health and biomedical applications. Topics include the
data generating process, model selection and evaluation, generalized linear
models, common supervised and unsupervised machine learning algorithms such
as support vector machines, decision trees, random forests, neural
networks, and k-means, and ethics and communication. Students will learn
methods for optimal and proper implementation of machine learning, such as
assessment of assumptions about the data generating process, feature
generation, treatment of missing data, and reduction of bias. Students will
gain familiarity with the potential power of machine learning in public
health, as well as its particular challenges inherent to public health
applications.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 2342 Global Issues in Public Health Nutrition (3 Credits)
Typically offered Spring
This course addresses major global nutrition issues that we face today.
Food insecurity, and all forms of malnutrition, underweight, obesity and
micronutrient deficiencies are leading risk factors of mortality and
comorbidity worldwide. The course is developed in the context of the United
Nations System, through the lens of the Sustainable Development Goals
(SDGs) and the 2030 Agenda. We will discuss climate change, conflict, and
economic downturn as determinants of food insecurity that are worsening
non-communicable disease prevalence. Next, we understand malnutrition, its
major determinants and its interconnections with the food systems. Students
will design a solution for these issues, using the systems approach and
principles from social entrepreneurship in the the global landscape.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 2343 HIV/AIDS Public Health Promotion (3 Credits)
Students will examine the evolution of the HIV epidemic in the United
Kingdom (U.K.) and the United States (U.S.) throughout the last four
decades using a public health lens with an emphasis on population-based
health promotion strategies and responses of the respective health system
within each country. Students will learn about the history of the disease
in the U.K., U.S and within a global context, the biomedical aspects of the
disease including HIV testing, and treatment, the epidemiology of the
disease, the socio-bio-behavioral drivers of the disease, and HIV/AIDS
public health policies and calls to action both within the U.K. and the
U.S. Students will examine, analyze, apply, and evaluate theoretical
paradigms and research, drawn from public health and interrelated
disciplines with regard to HIV prevention, treatment, and care as it is
manifested in the across all segments of the population. The course
utilizes a biopsychosocial framework for understanding illness and health
promotion and emphasizes theory-based HIV prevention and care. The course
uses an experiential learning approach; students engage with to local AIDS
service organizations, health care facilities, and thought leaders, all
with an eye to bring an end to the AIDS epidemic.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 2344 Maternal and Child Nutrition in Public Health (3 Credits)
Typically offered Fall
This course is concerned with the study of nutritionally-related
determinants of health and disease in maternal, infant, and child
populations. Biological, physiological, and psychological aspects of
reproduction (maternal) and growth and development (infants and children)
will be discussed, with particular focus on how they are influenced by
nutrition. Methodological issues encountered in research (e.g. data
collection and analysis) will also be incorporated into lectures and
discussions. After completion of this course, students should understand
the important immediate and long-term roles that nutrition plays in
reproductive and pediatric health.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 2347 Tackling Global Health Disparities through Implementation Science Research (3 Credits)
Students will examine and review the epidemiology and drivers of the global
burden of non-communicable diseases as well as two ‘chronic’ infectious
diseases (tuberculosis and HIV). Students will explore solutions through an
implementation science research framework. ‘Real life’ case studies will be
used to allow students to fully grasp how to design, implement and evaluate
effective interventions in low resource settings and among vulnerable
populations. The course will focus on the use of alternative research study
designs as well as the potential for mobile health interventions to improve
disparities in access to care through task-shifting and task-sharing among
front-line health providers to reduce health disparities.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 2349 Program Planning and Evaluation (3 Credits)
Typically offered Fall
This course will introduce the major principles, concepts and methods used
to plan, monitor and evaluate public health interventions and programs.
Emphasis is placed on helping students develop the essential skills
required in developing program plans, monitoring program implementation,
and conducting evaluations for public health practice.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 2353 Regression I: Linear Regression and Modeling (3 Credits)
Typically offered occasionally
Regression models are one of the most important statistical techniques used
in public health. This course focuses on data analysis that use linear
regression models for continuous outcomes. The first part of this course
introduces simple and multiple linear regressions, principles of ordinary
least square regression models, model assumptions, and inferences about
model parameters. The second part of the course focus on important
practical matters, such as prediction, variable selection, moderated
effects, and mediation. These two parts together provide the foundations
for more advanced statistics modeling. Examples are drawn from broad areas
of public health research. All the analyses will be taught and performed
using Stata and/or R statistical software.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 2354 Regression II: Categorical Data Analysis (3 Credits)
Typically offered Fall
Regression models are one of the most important statistical techniques
used in public health. This course focuses on data analysis that use linear
regression models for continuous outcomes. The first part of this course
introduces simple and multiple linear regressions, principles of ordinary
least square regression models, model assumptions, and inferences about
model parameters. The second part of the course focus on important
practical matters, such as prediction, variable selection, moderated
effects, and mediation. These two parts together provide the foundations
for more advanced statistics modeling. Examples are drawn from broad areas
of public health research. All the analyses will be taught and performed
using Stata statistical software.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 2355 Analysis of Epidemiologic Data Using SAS (3 Credits)
Public health research and practice often require the use of statistical
software to analyze data. This course is designed to give students
practical and direct experience with using Statistical Analysis System
(SAS®) software to analyze public health-related data. Throughout the
course, students will work with a data set and learn how to generate
descriptive, bivariable, and multivariable statistics. They will also gain
additional skills in organizing statistical findings in tables and figures
and instruction in writing Methods and Results sections, similar in style
to those presented in peer-reviewed journal articles. These skills will
prepare students for future analytic projects by strengthening their
analytic capacity and building expertise in a well-known, versatile
statistical program used both in all areas of public health practice.
Pre-requisites: GPH-GU 2106 OR GPH-GU 5106 and GPH-GU 2920
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 2357 LGBTQ Health Disparities (3 Credits)
Typically offered Spring
This course examines the core interdisciplinary theories, knowledge,
research, and methods evidenced in in understanding LGBTQ health
and disparities evidences in the LGBTQ population. The course introduces
students to the main conceptual frameworks for the study of LGBTQ
individuals, communities, and populations across the lifespan and overviews
existing knowledge about LGBTQ health in the United States and globally.
The course highlights research design, measurement, ethics, and analysis
issues in population research in LGBTQ health.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 2359 Applied Practice Experience Seminar (2 Credits)
Typically offered Fall and Spring
This course complements the internship applied practice experience by
providing a structured and supportive environment to reinforce the
internship goals of developing public health competencies, gaining valuable
work experience, and cultivating professionalism. Students complete the
internship in the summer or fall of their final year in the program, and
enroll in the course in the fall. The internship and course fulfill the
Applied Practice Experience requirement for the following MPH
concentrations: Community Health Science & Practice, Environmental Health
Sciences, Global Health, Public Health Policy & Management, and Public
Health Nutrition.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 2360 Integrative Learning Experience Seminar (2 Credits)
Typically offered Fall and Spring
A key goal of the MPH program is to enable students to synthesize
principles, concepts, and competencies learned through coursework and the
Applied Practice Experience. This course provides a structured and
supportive environment to help students achieve this goal and to develop
professionalism. Students prepare a professional report, poster, and
critical reflection paper, comprising the MPH Integrative Learning
Experience. Students enroll in the course in their final spring semester.
The course fulfills the Integrative Learning Experience requirement for the
following MPH concentrations: Community Health Science & Practice,
Environmental Health Sciences, Global Health, Public Health Policy &
Management, and Public Health Nutrition.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 2361 Research Methods in Public Health (3 Credits)
Typically offered Spring
This course is a review of research and original writings related to public
health. Students will learn to apply research methodology to problems in
public health. This course provides an introduction to the fundamentals of
research study design and methods. It serves as an introduction to
quantitative and qualitative approaches to research, as well as ethical
issues in conducting research. Through the mix of texts, articles from the
public health literature and course work, students will build skills for
conducting research and critically evaluating research designs and research
findings.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 2363 Causal Inference: Design and Analysis (3 Credits)
Causal inference seeks to study the causal effect of certain treatment/exposure/intervention on some outcome of interest. It has been
widely used in public health, biomedical research, social sciences,
educational research, economics, etc. The course will introduce some
fundamental and advanced causal inference methods and will emphasize their
applications in public health, biomedical research, and social sciences.
Topics include the potential outcomes framework, treatment effect models,
design and analysis of randomized experiments, methods for adjusting for
overt bias in observational studies, sensitivity analysis for hidden bias
in observational studies, detection of hidden bias, and methods for
controlling for hidden bias. Each topic will be illustrated with extensive
real-data public health examples.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 2368 Applied Survival Analysis (3 Credits)
This course will provide an introduction to the analysis of survival data,
i.e., data subject to incomplete observation due to censoring. Topics
include estimation via the Kaplan Meier estimator, comparison of survival
data via the log rank and related tests, and regression modeling of
survival data using the Cox proportional hazards model and accelerated
failure time model. Parametric modeling of survival data will also be
covered. Additional topics may include left truncation, competing risks,
and multivariate survival data. Examples in Stata, SAS and R will be
provided and assignments will involve analysis of survival data.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 2372 Applied Bayesian Analysis in Public Health (3 Credits)
Bayesian analysis is one of the two major statistical paradigms; the other
is Frequentist analysis. The course will briefly review the theory behind
Bayesian methods and will focus on the practical implementation to
public-health and biomedical data. Topics include comparison of Bayesian
and Frequentist analyses, Bayesian inference of various one-parameter
models and normal models, Markov Chain Monte Carlo algorithms, Bayesian
(generalized) linear regression models, and Bayesian hierarchical models.
Data analysis with the R software will be emphasized in the course. Upon
successful completion of the course, students will be able to formulate
Bayesian models for data analysis in public health and biomedicine, and
will be able to implement the Bayesian inference using R.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 2374 Advanced Epidemiological Methods I: Evaluation of Epidemiological Studies (3 Credits)
Typically offered Fall of odd numbered years
This course provides an overview of reproductive health policies and practices in the United States. For each topic presented, students will take a critical look at the major policies that affect the provision and access to health care and the resulting health outcomes and disparities. Students are asked to review the trends in reproductive health care practice in the United States and have the opportunity to identify and practice health education skills that can impact health care outcomes.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 2380 Data-Driven Decision Making in Global Public Health (3 Credits)
This course develops skills and competencies in making data-driven decisions to improve global public health outcomes, especially in high disease-burden environments. It is based on a framework of enabling environment, supply, demand, and quality factors that affect the effective coverage of services that would prevent outcomes such as under-5 mortality, neonatal mortality, and maternal mortality. The class will introduce decision support platforms developed by UNICEF, WHO, and the World Bank that help public health professionals choose between available strategies and interventions in a high burden country to reduce adverse health outcomes.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 2387 Survey Design, Analysis, and Reporting (3 Credits)
This course will provide students with a comprehensive understanding of
survey design, analysis and reporting. The course starts with secondary
data analysis and transitions to primary data collection and. Secondary
data analysis covers hypothesis testing using nationally representative
samples (e.g., NHANES, BRFSS, NHIS, YRBSS) with complex sampling designs,
weighted and nested (multilevel) data analysis. Primary data collections
includes questionnaire development, scale development, and data analysis of
survey data using Stata (e.g., regression modeling, factor analysis, item
response theory). Survey administration, study design and sampling,
development of web-based surveys using Qualtrics, creating codebooks and
managing data are covered through an experiential learning process.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 2405 Health Communications: Changing Social Norms in Theory and Practice (3 Credits)
Typically offered Spring
The course provides an introduction about the theory, design, implementation, and evaluation of health communication programs. Several resources are used to allow students to acquire practical knowledge and skills in health communications planning and implementation. Case studies, resources, research tools and examples of different media channels are reviewed and analyzed to explore how to reach different target audiences with the most effective health communication interventions.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 2415 Community-Based Health Interventions (3 Credits)
Typically offered Spring
Identification and evaluation of programs designed to reduce health risks among individuals and communities, with a focus on factors influencing the design of interventions, choice of methods, ways to assess the magnitude of change effected by the intervention, and ethical issues raised by the interventions.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 2425 Continuous Quality Improvement (3 Credits)
This course encourages students to think creatively about what it means for
a healthcare organization to make quality the highest priority. We will
explore the current forces driving the push toward quality outcomes and
accountability at all levels and settings of healthcare, while focusing on
the philosophy of continuous improvement through team work and statistical
thinking. Students will use structural tools for analysis, decision making
and performance measurement.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 2435 Advanced Health & Human Rights (3 Credits)
This course will build on the introductory Health and Human Rights course
by focusing on additional topics, methodologies and debates in the field.
Through a case study approach and group projects, students will weigh the
relative costs and benefits of using a rights-based approach in a public
health context, as well as explore how public health policies, programs and
practices can impact human rights. Students will acquire an in-depth
knowledge of international human rights as applied to public health through
real-world application. Students will write a grant proposal on a health
and human rights intervention or research study and present on this topic
at the end of the semester.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 2440 Emerging Diseases and Bioterrorism (3 Credits)
Typically offered Spring
The emergence of new pathogens and drug resistance, as well as increased transmission opportunities caused by human migration, political instability and breakdown of healthcare infrastructure, has led to a rising prevalence of infectious disease. This course aims to provide training in the biology, epidemiology and control of emerging diseases. It will provide the necessary skills to analyze the interplay between human host and pathogen in both evolutionary ecology and statistical epidemiology frameworks. There will be a discussion of ?Darwinian Medicine?. Specific bioterrorism pathogens will be discussed, as well as methods of identification and predictive modeling of a bioterrorism incident. In addition to lectures, class time will include practical data handling. Discussion of both methodological and substantive epidemiology papers from the recent literature will be led by the students.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 2450 Intermediate Epidemiology (3 Credits)
Typically offered Spring
This course will develop an understanding of epidemiologic concepts and methods that will be a backbone to in depth training in specialty areas. It will provide a technical and conceptual training in study design, multivariant analysis, sample size calculations and other key epidemiologic techniques. It will build on the basic core course.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 2480 Longitudinal Analysis of Public Health Data (3 Credits)
Typically offered Spring
This course covers modern methods for the analysis of repeated measures,
correlated outcomes, and longitudinal data, including the unbalanced and
incomplete data that are characteristic of public health research. There
are four widely available methods for dealing with dependence: robust
standard errors, generalized estimating equations, random effects models
and fixed effects models. This course examines each of these methods in
some detail, with an eye to discerning their relative advantages and
disadvantages. Different methods are considered for quantitative outcomes
and categorical outcomes. The course uses Stata statistical software and
gives students hand-on experience working with real data.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 2500 Topics in Public Health: (3 Credits)
Typically offered occasionally
This course will describe fundamental and advanced concepts of Artificial
Intelligence with a focus on their applications in Public Health Management
and Consulting. The course will cover traditional and modern approaches and
technologies empowering Artificial Intelligence, fundamental and advanced
concepts of data and models, and essential topics of Artificial Intelligence applied in Public Health Management and Consulting, including Surveillance and Population Health, Resource Optimization and Efficiency, Decision-Making and Stakeholder Collaboration, and Human-Centered Innovation.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 2501 Special Topics: Data Science and Machine Learning in Public Health Practice and Research (1 Credit)
This 5-session (2 hours each session), 1 credit course will introduce and
encourage thinking around new datasets and methods in epidemiology and
public health. The entire data science pipeline, from data gathering,
processing, analysis and communication will be considered. Content along
each part of the pipeline will include summaries of current and best
practices from the literature, discussion of select exemplar research
papers and methods in terms of their appropriateness in public health, and
approaches to address methodological challenges. Content will be related to
both infectious diseases such as COVID-19 as well as non-communicable
diseases. The workshop format will be highly interactive with significant
time devoted to discussion. Students will be encouraged to spend time
before sessions reading identified papers. Students will also be encouraged
to bring their own dataset to the course or use publicly available ones to
develop their own data science project, and time in the course will be
allotted for discussing specific challenges they face in their project. The
main outcomes will be exposure to current research and practice in data
science and health, an understanding of tradeoffs, challenges and possible
approaches. We will spend the last module on discussion and potential
design of future research regarding ethics in artificial intelligence (AI)
specific to the public health context.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Pass/Fail
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 2502 Special Topics: Outbreak Epidemiology: Re-emerging and Emerging Infectious Diseases* (3 Credits)
Over the last 20 years, we have witnessed a number of local as well as
large-scale, multi-state and multi-country disease outbreaks and pandemics
of re-emerging and emerging diseases – including measles, H1N1, Zika,
Ebola, SARS, MERS, and currently SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19). In light of the
emergence and re-emergence of these infectious disease outbreaks, the
overall objective of this course is to introduce students to the essential
elements of outbreak investigations in both local, national and global
settings. The course covers three broad content areas that include
understanding and detecting infectious diseases, investigating outbreaks,
and communication and prevention of future outbreaks.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 2503 Special Topics: Through the COVID-19 Magnifying Glass: An Examination of Racial and SES Disparities (1 Credit)
This 5-session (2 hours each session), 1 credit, course will examine the
racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic health disparities in COVID-19
infections, hospitalizations, and mortality. Session 1 will provide an
overview of our current understanding of the biology, clinical
manifestations, and epidemiology of COVID-19. Students' understanding of
COVID-19 health disparities will be centered in the pre-existing and
entrenched health disparities in Session 2 with Session 3 specifically
examining COVID-19 infections, hospitalizations, and mortality disparities.
Session 4 will explore disparities in the impact of COVID-19 mitigation
strategies. Finally, Session 5 will end the course with a discussion of
best practices to addressing COVID-19 health disparities in the US.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 2504 Special Topics: Introduction to Clinical Trials: COVID-19 as a Case Study (1 Credit)
This 5-session (2 hours each session), 1 credit, course will introduce
students to the many facets of clinical trials, including their
justification and structure, along with many real examples drawn from the
over 800 COVID-19 clinical trials worldwide that have been registered as of
May 5, 2020 (https://www.covid19-trials.com/). The course will cover
designs and methods for the various phases of clinical trials. For each
class, students will read reports on clinical trials from the medical
literature that exemplify designs and issues discussed in class. Students
will develop a full clinical trial design during the course.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 2505 Special Topics: Social Network Data Analysis with R, with Application to COVID-19 (1 Credit)
This 5-session (2 hours each session), 1 credit, course will introduce
students to social network data analysis with demonstrations in R. The past
decade has witnessed a surge of the network data generation in the areas of
technological, biological, social, and informational. This course will
provide an introduction to networks. It will cover the descriptive analysis
of network, network visualization, network models, and community detection.
Various concepts and visualizations will be demonstrated using the R
language. As a final project, the student will analyze a real network
dataset from the COVID-19 pandemic and write a report.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 2506 Special Topics: Statistical and Epidemiological Evaluation of COVID-19 Studies (1 Credit)
Pre-requisites: none.
This 5-session (2 hours each session), 1 credit, course will examine the
rapidly evolving research on COVID-19 and engage students in its critical
evaluation. An introduction to infectious disease epidemiology and modeling
will be provided, as well as to the wide array of publicly available data
sources for COVID-19, including databases and social media, and their use
in COVID-19 research. Students will discuss research reports in the media
and scientific publications and their interpretations in light of the
design and data analysis of the underlying studies. Using what they have
learned in the course, students will write a report or op-ed type article
or develop a video presentation incorporating an infographic or data
visualization that critically evaluates a particular COVID-19 topic.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 2507 Special Topics: The Impact of COVID-19 in Global and Environmental Health (1 Credit)
This course is designed to introduce students to the breadth and depth of
expertise of the faculty in the Global and Environmental Public Health
Program. It will not only provide students with an overview of the ongoing
research and projects faculty are engaged in but will also highlight how
COVID-19 has impacted their work. It will explore the implications of the
pandemic on the future global health and what it means for the next
generation of public health practitioners. The course will touch on a
diverse set of topics, including urban health, climate change, community
engagement, and health disparities in the context of COVID-19.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 2509 Special Topics: Public Health Policy and Management Challenges (1 Credit)
This course introduces students to public health policy and management
challenges related to the COVID-19 pandemic from the perspective of experts
in the field. The course includes an overview of the impact of COVID-19 on
public health and healthcare systems, a description of misinformation
issues and government responses, community and primary care challenges, and
a critical assessment of the responses of public health and healthcare
systems to the crisis.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 2510 Special Topics: Healthcare Claims Data Analysis (3 Credits)
Typically offered not typically offered
This course will introduce students to the richness, complexities, and
limitations of healthcare claims data and how the data may be deployed to
answer a variety of real-world population health questions. Topics covered
in the course include an introduction to claims data and how it is used in
population health analysis and quality of care measurement, data basics,
claims coding, and how claims data is used in business and academic
research. Students will work hands-on with claims data to complete course
assignments and a project.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 2512 Special Topics: Applied Spatial Statistics for Public Health (1 Credit)
This 5-session (2 hours each session), 1 credit, course will survey topics
on the statistical analysis of data collected in space, with application to
public health. Topics include defining geostatistical, areal and point
processes, visualizing spatial data, spatial covariance functions, prediction and kriging, conditional autoregressive models, intensity functions, and K functions. Through In-class labs, students will learn to analyze spatial data in practice. Using what they have learned in the course, students will write a group report about a spatial data analysis.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 2513 Special Topics: Advanced Epidemiological Methods: Evaluation of Epidemiological Studies (3 Credits)
The goal of this advanced course in epidemiology is to provide students
with the ability to evaluate a body of evidence on key public health
issues. To achieve this goal, students will apply their extant knowledge of
study design and analytic approaches used in epidemiology to critically
evaluate the strengths and limitations of the methods reported in the
scientific literature. The course will provide skills in conducting
systematic literature reviews and meta-analyses. By reviewing the
epidemiologic literature on key topics in public health, students will be
able to (1) evaluate issues impacting the internal and external validity of
the evidence presented in these studies; and (2) apply the knowledge and
skills gained in the course to developing and writing empirical papers and
systematic reviews as well as grants and research proposals.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 2520 Issues in Global Pediatr Pediatric Oral Health (3 Credits)
Typically offered Spring
Children in disadvantaged communities of developing countries have rates of untreated oral diseases that range from 32-90%. In over forty of the least developed countries, many communities have no basic or emergency care for their populations. This course will allow the student to: a) understand the epidemiology of oral diseases in children, b) understand and develop ways to meet the challenge of untreated oral diseases in disadvantaged communities, c) identify significant issues that affect the oral health of children worldwide and proposed ways to improve the oral health of children, and d) acquire the skills necessary to develop oral health promotion strategies directed at children across the world.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 2686 Thesis I: Practice and Integrative Learning Experiences (2 Credits)
Typically offered Fall
This course (part of a two-semester series; Thesis I and Thesis II)
introduces the thesis as the culminating experience for MPH candidates in
the Biostatistics (BIO), Epidemiology (EPI), and Social and Behavioral
Science (SBS) tracks, and allows students to develop skills in conducting
public health research, analyzing and interpreting data and presenting
study findings. The thesis is intended to reflect the training students
have received in the MPH program and demonstrate their ability to
integrate, synthesize, and apply the knowledge and skills from coursework
and practicum experiences to a real world public health problem or issue
that is relevant to their major field of interest. In Thesis I students
will also have the opportunity to reflect on their practice experiences,
most often in the site from which the thesis is drawn. The course provides
students with the knowledge and skills to develop and refine research
questions, conduct a comprehensive review and analysis of the literature
relevant to the topic of interest, select a theory or organizing framework,
outline the methods, formulate a plan for data collection and analysis, and
develop an annotated outline of the project.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 2687 Thesis II: Practice and Integrative Learning Experiences (2 Credits)
Typically offered Spring
This is the second course in a two-semester series that continues work on
the culminating activity, the thesis, for Biostatistics (BIOS-MS and
BIOS-MPH), Epidemiology (EPI-MPH), and Social and Behavioral Sciences
(SBS-MPH) concentrations. The focus of this course is on completing the
proposed thesis and preparing for the presentation of the final thesis.
Students will work closely with their thesis advisor during the semester,
but the course instructor will provide structural guidance on several
remaining sections (results, discussion, structured abstract) of the
thesis. The thesis should demonstrate the student's ability to think
critically, synthesize foundational and concentration competencies, provide
understanding and insight into a substantive area of inquiry, and convey
ideas effectively to an intended audience.
Pre-requisite: GPH-GU 2686
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 2930 Epidemiological Methods and Design (3 Credits)
Typically offered Fall
This 3-unit course will cover in-depth, advancedmethods for modern epidemiologic study design, sampling, quantitative measurement, including reliability and validity, and statistical analysis appropriate for selected study designs relevant to global health research and practice. Considerations regarding the responsible conduct of research in international settings will be integrated throughout the course. This doctoral-level lecture/seminar course is offered to graduate students with a basic knowledge of epidemiologic and biostatistical principles, including causal inference, standard study design, confounding, bias, validity, and commonly-used analytical methods.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 2960 Theories in Public Health, Practice, Policy & Research (3 Credits)
Typically offered Fall
The ‘intervention imperative’ in public health has traditionally overshadowed theory development (Connelly, 2005; Potvin et al., 2005). Consequently, many public health practices and interventions are predicated upon unexamined or under-theorized assumptions about etiology. As the scope of public health expanded beyond infectious diseases, its theoretical foundations extended beyond biomedical ‘germ theory’ explanations to include behavioral psychology. By the late 20th century, these foundations grew to incorporate multi-factorial etiologies and systems approaches borrowing from social science theories and methods. This course examines an array of paradigms, theories and conceptual models used in public health. These will be roughly categorized into the following domains: a) biomedical; b) psychological; c) organizational; d) socio-cultural; and e) structural /critical. Specific public health problems—HIV/AIDS, cancer and mental disorders—will be examined using relevant theories. Emphasis will be on adopting a comparative, critical and integrative (biopsychosocial) perspective on theories and key concepts in public health practice, policy and research.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 2995 Biostatistics for Public Health (3 Credits)
Typically offered Fall and Spring
This course covers basic probability, descriptive and inferential
statistics, and the role of biostatistics in the practice of public health.
Specific attention will be given to common probability distributions in
public health and medicine, t-tests, Analysis of Variance, multiple linear
and logistic regression, categorical data analysis, and survival
analysis. Statistical
topics are presented conceptually with little derivation, and applications
are demonstrated using common statistical software. The course can be taken online or in-person.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 3000 Perspectives in PublicHealth: Doctoral Seminar I (1.5 Credits)
Typically offered Fall and Spring
The Global Public Health Doctoral Colloquium is a forum in which prominent and up and coming researchers present their work on pressing topics related to global public health. It offers doctoral students and faculty a chance to hear from their colleagues, while engaging in a dialogue about current research.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Pass/Fail
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 3010 Perspectives in Public Health: Doctoral Seminar II (1.5 Credits)
The Doctoral Colloquium II is a forum in which builds on part I, in which
distinguished faculty and researchers present their work on important
topics in public health. It addition to engaging in a dialogue about
current research and scholarship, student learn some about various
methodology used in public health research; they develop foundational
skills that are required for their doctoral program including literature
reviews, aspects of manuscript writing, revising and submission of
manuscripts, research dissemination and learning about pre-doctoral grant
funding.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Pass/Fail
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 3015 Doctoral Research (1.5-6 Credits)
This course is to be taken by GPH PhD students when conducting research to be used for their dissertations or when working on their dissertations. Students take 1.5-6 credits of this course per semester for a total of 33 credits as part of their degree requirements.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Pass/Fail
Repeatable for additional credit: Yes
GPH-GU 3020 Evidence-Based Public Health & Systematic Review Best Practices (0 Credits)
raining scholars in evidence-based Public Health (PH) practice is
essential as practitioners seek to develop high-quality, community-based
interventions and implementation plans, create and evaluate PH policies,
and seek guidance in the decision-making process. Thus, evidence-based PH
relies on the most current high-quality information. This course will
focus on significant evidence-based PH skills including literature
searching, critical appraisal of PH outcomes, data management and
publication through the use of applicable informatics tools and discussion.
After completion of this course, doctoral students will have a strong
foundation for conducting literature reviews and participating in the
research process in academia or when practicing in the field of PH.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Pass/Fail
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 3030 DrPH Public Health Leadership Seminar I (1.5 Credits)
The DrPH Public Health Leadership Seminar serves as a vehicle for
co-creating with DrPH students a community of learning and action to
facilitate application of learnings from their courses and real-life
challenges as public health leaders in an experiential peer-learning
platform. The seminar will introduce students to public health leaders at
local, national, and global levels and to expert researchers, practitioners
and policy makers speaking on critical public health issues. It will also
offer structured activities to strengthen students' leadership skills at
the personal, organizational, national and global levels in order to manage
the process of organizational change needed to advance population health
and health equity in public health programs and policy.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 3031 Introduction to Global Health (2 Credits)
This course introduces students to public health from a global perspective,
advancing students' understanding of the dynamic nature of global
opportunities and threats and how they are affected by globalization. The
course uses an ecological model of health to illustrate the impact of
education, socioeconomic status, the environment, and political will on the
global burden of disease. It introduces the primary actors in global health
governance and financing and examines current and future priorities in
global health, emphasizing the importance of intersectoral collaboration in
addressing complex challenges. The course also presents the human rights
and ethical dimensions of global public health, including decolonization
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 3035 DrPH Public Health Leadership Seminar II (1.5 Credits)
The DrPH Public Health Leadership Seminar is a two-semester course sequence
that serves as the vehicle for co-creating with DrPH students of a
community of learning and action. The seminar introduces students to public
health leaders at local, national, and global levels and to expert
researchers, practitioners and policy makers speaking on critical public
health issues. The seminar also serves as a platform for students to apply
learnings from their courses and real-life challenges as public health
leaders into an experiential peer-learning platform – the Action Learning
Set, with the goals of strengthening leadership skills at the personal,
organizational, national and global levels and developing the ability to
manage organizational change and advance population health and health
equity.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 3040 Intervention & Prevention Science (3 Credits)
Typically offered Spring
The findings from clinical, health services, and social science research cannot change population health outcomes unless health care systems, organizations, and professionals adopt them in practice and communities are receptive to them (Eccles et al 2009). This doctoral-level course provides students a set of frameworks for understanding the basis for health promotion and disease prevention interventions; reviews critical elements in planning, implementing, and evaluating such interventions; identifies challenges in scaling up interventions; and reviews the state of the art in knowledge about translating research findings into large-scale programs and policies.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 3050 Methods in Community Health Research (3 Credits)
Typically offered Fall
Research in communities and natural (non-laboratory) settings requires
flexibility and
adaptability, especially when conducted in global sites where conditions
are dynamic and often uncontrolled. This 1.5 credit doctoral -level course
will explore approaches to conducting research with and in communities
experiencing health disparities, in particular, the Community
Based Participatory Research (CBPR) approach. Participants will become
familiar with the historical, theoretical and philosophical perspectives
that have informed CBPR. The course will review research methods utilized
in conducting community health research including qualitative methods such
as ethnographic observation and in-depth interviews (individual or focus
group), use of quantitative surveys in combination with qualitative data or
other data sources such as analyses of clinical or administrative data,
geospacial methods (GIS) and Photovoice (Mixed Methods). Students will have
the opportunity of interviewing collaborating community and academic
partners. This course assumes the student has had previous coursework in
research design and data collection in both quantitative and qualitative
methods.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 3110 Advanced Public Health Policy & Management (3 Credits)
This course provides students with an opportunity to study advanced public
health policy and management topics, develop research questions and apply
research methods in public health policy and management. Each topic is
introduced through specific applications and methodological approaches from
the health policy and management scholarly literature. Class discussions
focus on the applications of advanced research methods to address specific
key research questions developed by students. Topics addressed include
public health policy and management applications to evaluate different
research design approaches and hands on application of key statistical
methods.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 3152 Advanced Agent-Based Modeling (3 Credits)
Agent-Based Modeling is a computational method for studying how
interactions between agents generate global statistical regularities.
Agents represent autonomous entities that are relevant to the phenomenon of
interest such as individuals, households, and organizations. The course
introduces the application of ABM in the context of epidemiology, public
health, and the social sciences. The course trains students in using and
developing models of various levels of complexity. From simple toy models
that offer insight on the fundamental mechanisms of a phenomenon (such as
the spread of an infectious disease) to realistic models that are
calibrated to real-world observations and used for evaluating scenarios and
interventions.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 3175 Design, Conduct, and Analysis of Cohort Studies (3 Credits)
Cohort studies are critical to understanding the natural history of disease
and making causal inferences about risk factors for disease. This course
provides a comprehensive look at the design, conduct, and analysis of
cohort studies. Emphasis is places on the conceptual framework underlying
cohort studies and the need to assess longitudinal relationships with
time-varying exposures and outcomes. The course will teach students basic
and advanced concepts in cohort study design, data analysis techniques, and
interpretation of study results. The course will also introduce students to
the conduct of cohort studies, with an emphasis on recruitment, retention,
quality assurance, and quality control.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 3185 Health Services and Policy Research (3 Credits)
This course introduces key concepts and ideas in health services and policy research. Health services research is a multidisciplinary field of study that seeks to understand how economic, social, individual and structural factors are related to health care access, utilization, quality and costs. Insights from health services research are critical to inform health policy decisions across sectors and populations. Topics addressed in this course include health care quality, population health, health care costs, survey and administrative data sources used in health services and policy research, experimental and observational study designs, data management and comparative effectiveness research.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 3200 Dissertation Proposal Seminar (3 Credits)
Typically offered Fall and Spring
This course provides doctoral students with a learning context taught in
the form of a workshop to fully develop the dissertation proposal,
including the delineation of the format of the dissertation, the
dissertation rationale, significance and aims, the conceptual framework
guiding the work, and the methodological approaches to be utilized in the
dissertation proposal. Each student’s dissertation proposal will be
discussed and workshopped throughout the course of the semester in in
class, and it is expected that throughout the course each student will work
closely with their dissertation Chairperson in refining the content and the
details of the study. This course will guide students from conceptual
clarity to the completion of a full draft of the written proposal. Each
student will complete a draft of the proposal by the close of the semester.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 3205 Introduction to Intervention Optimization (3 Credits)
Intervention optimization is an approach for developing behavioral
interventions (broadly defined) so as to achieve maximum public health
impact. This course will provide a survey of innovative intervention
optimization strategies, with an emphasis on the engineering-inspired
multiphase optimization strategy (MOST). Through the lens of principles of
behavior change, students will critically examine methods of intervention
development; contrast methods to define/develop intervention components;
and consider how to balance effectiveness against implementation
constraints (e.g., cost, time). Students will develop a detailed,
theoretically- and evidence-informed approach for an intervention in their
area of interest.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 3210 Qualitative Analysis: Interviewing and Mixed Methods Approaches (3 Credits)
This course is designed for students who are willing to engage in focused,
hands-on training for in-depth interviewing and mixed methods research to
answer critical public health questions. It aims to provide a detailed "how
to" of in-depth interviewing as a standalone or mixed methods approach.
During this process, you will examine the epistemological, theoretical, and
practical application of qualitative methods and learn how to carry out an
independent interview study, including data collection and analysis.
Students will share experiences, transcripts, and constructive criticism as
they embark their field work. Through readings and discussions, the class
will critically examine a number of aspects and approaches to doing,
analyzing, and disseminating in-depth interview and mixed methods research.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 3215 DrPH Dissertation Preparation (1.5 Credits)
his course provides an overview of the DrPH dissertation proposal and
final dissertation process, preparing students for their culminating work
product. To prepare for the dissertation work, students will critically
examine their dissertation topics by completing a literature review and
developing an outline for their dissertation proposal. This course will
help students develop their dissertation topics using evidence-based
decision making utilizing information, theories, and frameworks relevant to
the specific field of their dissertation work.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 3220 Experimental Study Designs in Epidemiology (3 Credits)
Experimental study designs are key to evaluating public health
interventions. This course covers quasi-experimental and experimental study
designs used in epidemiology. Topics include the definition and history of
clinical trials; study designs, including quasi-experimental, phase I-IV,
cross-over, adaptive trials, and pragmatic trials; internal and external
validity; controls, randomization, and masking; ethical issues; data
analysis principles; monitoring of accumulating safety and efficacy data;
and interpretation of results. Students will critically evaluate
quasi-experimental and experimental studies, analyze trial data, and
develop trial designs.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 3225 Statistical Inference (3 Credits)
This course will provide an introduction to the fundamentals of probability and statistics that are the foundations of analytical methods in public health research. Topics to be covered include axioms of probability, common distributions (normal, binomial, Poisson), expectations, variances, convergence theorems, parameter estimation (method of moments, maximum likelihood, Bayesian methods), confidence intervals, hypothesis testing (likelihood ratio, Wald and score tests), bootstrap methods, permutation testing. All theoretical material will be motivated with problems from epidemiology, biostatistics, environmental health and other public health areas. Background in algebra and calculus is required. This is a doctoral level course and is open to Masters students who have the requisite background.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 3235 Biostatistical Consulting (3 Credits)
This course will provide an introduction to biostatistical consultation. Students will learn about ethical principles, professional standards for communication and interaction, interpretation of a scientific or public health problem and its translation into a statistical framework, execution of the required tasks (e.g., design, analysis plan, data analysis, interpretation), and clear communication of the results. Students will
participate in mentored group consultations with investigators from across NYU. Students will read and discuss literature on the art and science of biostatistical consulting. Students will write up summary reports for two projects and present one to the class. Some projects may turn into an applied practice experience or thesis. This PhD level course may be taken by MS/MPH students who have sufficient background.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 3240 Organizational Theory and Behavior in Health Care (3 Credits)
This course introduces key concepts and ideas in organizational theory and
behavior in health care. The purpose of this course is to familiarize you
with theories, methods and approaches that are characteristic of both
"micro" organizational behavior and "macro" organizational theory. We will
explore classic and contemporary theories and empirical research on OB and
OT and learn how to assess the assumptions, strengths, weakness, and their
application in health care settings. Throughout the course, special
emphasis is placed on comparing alternative theoretical perspectives and
research strategies, and on identifying issues for organizational research
in the health care sector
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 3248 Teams and Strategies in Public Health Management (3 Credits)
This course aims to equip learners with two inter-related domains that leaders and managers in public health organizations often have to focus on to improve organizational performance: teams and strategy. This course helps learners answer the question: "Why do some teams and organizations do better than others?" You will learn how to recognize suitable approaches to analyze team conditions and improve team performance, prioritize organizational activities and resources to create advantage or value for stakeholders, and communicate and implement strategic plans. Overall, this course will provide learners with useful theories, frameworks, and perspectives as well as improve their critical analytical skills around the effective use of teams and strategy to maximize organizational performance.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 3260 Complex Systems, Disasters, and the Social Ecology of Health (3 Credits)
Much of a population's health and well-being is dependent upon numerous
complex systems, ranging from biological systems, through social and
cultural systems, to public health and medical systems, to critical
infrastructure and lifeline systems, to larger environmental and ecological
systems. This course will explore the systems that contribute to a social
ecology of health, considering the theoretical approaches for studying such
systems, and examining methodological approaches for studying complex
adaptive systems and their relationship to health. A major aspect of the
course will be to employ disaster case studies as a means of understanding
such complex systems. This course will be particularly valuable for
students interested in systems thinking as it relates to public health
research.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 3275 Advanced Epidemiological Methods II: Practical Applications in Epidemiology (3 Credits)
The goals of this advanced course in epidemiology are to (1) provide
students with knowledge of advanced epidemiologic methods and (2) an
opportunity to apply these methods. To achieve these goals, students will
be introduced to advanced epidemiologic analytic approaches currently
employed to address common challenges in epidemiologic research that extend
beyond the scope of traditional methods. Next, the course will provide
skills in conducting advanced epidemiologic analyses. By combining
epidemiologic knowledge with advanced epidemiologic methods, students will
be able to (1) determine when to use these methods in their own research;
and (2) conduct and interpret these analyses themselves.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 3294 Designing and Managing Organizations in Public Health (3 Credits)
This course has two overall goals. The first is to increase your effectiveness in leading individuals and teams within and across organizations, sectors and agencies that seek to improve public health. The course's second goal is to prepare you to effectively design organizations and master organizational processes to impact population health. This course prepares to achieve your objectives by providing you with fundamental frameworks and tools developed from the behavioral and social
sciences and tested by leaders in organizations across the public, non-profit, and for-profit sectors.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 3338 Machine Learning in Public Health (3 Credits)
This course provides students with a strong foundation in machine learning
relevant to public health and biomedical applications. Topics include the
data generating process, model selection and evaluation, generalized linear
models, common supervised and unsupervised machine learning algorithms such
as support vector machines, decision trees, random forests, neural
networks, and k-means, and ethics and communication. Students will learn
methods for optimal and proper implementation of machine learning, such as
assessment of assumptions about the data generating process, feature
generation, treatment of missing data, and reduction of bias. Students will
gain familiarity with the potential power of machine learning in public
health, as well as its particular challenges inherent to public health
applications.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 3347 Tackling Global Health Disparities through Implementation (3 Credits)
Students will examine and review the core concepts of implementation science research in global health with a particular focus on tackling global health challenges in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC). Key concepts of implementation science research including 'what it is" and 'how to do it' will be reviewed. Students will review how to develop a practical approach to designing global health interventions as well as understanding the continuum from their implementation through to evaluation through a global health and implementation science research lens. This course will introduce important aspects of implementation research including: conceptual frameworks, research design, and evaluation and will provide a practical approach to understanding these concepts through their
application to 'real life' examples of implementation research programs in
the global health context.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 3353 Regression I: Linear Regression and Modeling (3 Credits)
Regression models are one of the most important statistical techniques used
in public health. This course focuses on data analysis that use linear
regression models for continuous outcomes. The first part of this course
introduces simple and multiple linear regressions, principles of ordinary
least square regression models, model assumptions, and inferences about
model parameters. The second part of the course focus on important
practical matters, such as prediction, variable selection, moderated
effects, and mediation. These two parts together provide the foundations
for more advanced statistics modeling. Examples are drawn from broad areas
of public health research. All the analyses will be taught and performed
using Stata and/or R statistical software.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 3354 Regression II: Categorical Data Analysis (3 Credits)
Regression models are one of the most important statistical techniques used in public health. This course focuses on data analysis that use linear regression models for continuous outcomes. The first part of this course introduces simple and multiple linear regressions, principles of ordinary least square regression models, model assumptions, and inferences about model parameters. The second part of the course focus on important
> practical matters, such as prediction, variable selection, moderated effects, and mediation. These two parts together provide the foundations for more advanced statistics modeling. Examples are drawn from broad areas
> of public health research. All the analyses will be taught and performed using Stata statistical software.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 3368 Applied Survival Analysis (3 Credits)
This course will provide an introduction to the analysis of survival data, i.e., data subject to incomplete observation due to censoring. Topics include estimation via the Kaplan Meier estimator, comparison of survival data via the log rank and related tests, and regression modeling of survival data using the Cox proportional hazards model and accelerated failure time model. Parametric modeling of survival data will also be covered. Additional topics may include left truncation, competing risks, and study design. Students may select any software package to use for assignments; examples in Stata, SAS and R will be provided. Assignments will involve analysis of survival data from Public Health and biomedical studies.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 3372 Applied Bayesian Analysis in Public Health (3 Credits)
Bayesian analysis is one of the two major statistical paradigms; the other
is Frequentist analysis. The course will briefly review the theory behind
Bayesian methods and will focus on the practical implementation to
public-health and biomedical data. Topics include comparison of Bayesian
and Frequentist analyses, Bayesian inference of various one-parameter
models and normal models, Markov Chain Monte Carlo algorithms, Bayesian
(generalized) linear regression models, and Bayesian hierarchical models.
Data analysis with the R software will be emphasized in the course. Upon
successful completion of the course, students will be able to formulate
Bayesian models for data analysis in public health and biomedicine, and
will be able to implement the Bayesian inference using R.
Pre-requisites: GPH-GU 3353 and GPH-GU 2184.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 3374 Advanced Epidemiological Methods I: Evaluation of Epidemiological Studies (3 Credits)
The goal of this advanced course in epidemiology is to provide students
with the ability to evaluate a body of evidence on key public health
issues. To achieve this goal, students will apply their knowledge of study
design and analytic approaches used in epidemiology to critically evaluate
the strengths and limitations of the methods reported in the scientific
literature. The course will provide skills in conducting systematic
literature reviews and meta-analyses. By reviewing the epidemiologic
literature on key topics in public health, students will be able to (1)
evaluate issues impacting the internal and external validity of the
evidence presented in these studies; and (2) apply the knowledge and skills
gained in the course to develop and write empirical papers and systematic
reviews as well as grants and research proposals.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 3450 Intermediate Epidemiology (3 Credits)
This course will develop an understanding of epidemiologic concepts and
methods that will be a backbone to in depth training in specialty areas. It
will provide a technical and conceptual training in study design,
multivariate analysis, sample size calculations and other key epidemiologic
techniques. It will build on the basic core course. This course is the
second course in a three course sequence on the theory and practice of
epidemiology and is intended for masters- and doctoral-level students. The
course consists of two components: lecture and lab sessions. Lectures will
cover key epidemiologic methods and concepts in greater detail. Lab
sessions will include review and practice of fundamental data analytic
techniques employing STATA.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 3555 Bioethics Practicum (2-4 Credits)
Typically offered Fall, Spring, and Summer terms
Prerequisite: One semester in the Program, or a minimum of three courses. .
Grading: School of Global Public Health Pass/Fail
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 3960 Theories in Public Health Practice & Research (3 Credits)
The 'intervention imperative' in public health has traditionally
overshadowed theory development. Consequently, many public health practices
and interventions are predicated upon unexamined or under-theorized
assumptions. As the scope of public health widened from infectious
diseases, its theoretical foundations extended beyond biomedical 'germ
theory' explanations to include behavioral psychology.
By the late 20th century, these foundations grew to incorporate
multi-factorial etiologies and systems approaches borrowing from social
science theories and methods. This course examines an array of theories and
conceptual models used in public health. They are roughly categorized into
the following domains: a) biomedical; b) psychological; c) socio-cultural;
d) organizational/community; and e) structural /critical. Theoretical
perspectives on specific public health problems as well as topics of
interest to students in the class will be examined and discussed. Emphasis
will be on adopting a comparative, critical and integrative perspective on
theories and key concepts in public health practice, policy and research.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 5010 Foundations for Epidemiology and Biostatics (0 Credits)
This course builds foundational skills that you will utilize as you work
towards your degree. It consists of three modules. The Basic Math section
covers basic math components that are utilized within the topics of
Epidemiology and Biostatistics. The Biostatistics section covers
fundamental statistical concepts that will help prepare you for
Biostatistics. The final section looks at fundamental concepts that will
help prepare you for Epidemiology. Both Epidemiology and Biostatistics,
as well as other methodology courses in the curriculum, are fields that use
samples from the population to look for trends, relationships, and
associations. Findings are then used to make inferences about the
population from which the sample was taken. The skills offered in this
course provide a refresher of the basic knowledge needed to succeed in
Epidemiology and Biostatistics and other courses are you complete your
degree.
Grading: Class does not print on the transcript
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 5030 Introduction to Global Health (2 Credits)
This course introduces students to public health from a global perspective,
advancing students' understanding of the dynamic nature of global opportunities and threats and how they are affected by globalization. The course uses an ecological model of health to illustrate the impact of education, socioeconomic status, the environment, and political will on the global burden of disease. It introduces the primary actors in global health governance and financing and examines current and future priorities in global health, emphasizing the importance of intersectoral collaboration in addressing complex challenges. The course also presents the human rights and ethical dimensions of global public health, including decolonization.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 5106 Epidemiology (3 Credits)
Typically offered Fall and Spring
Introduces students to the field of public health epidemiology, emphasizing the sociocultural factors associated with the distribution and etiology of health and disease. Methodological skills including the calculation of rates, analysis of vital statistics, and programming data using a basic statistical package are covered.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: Yes
GPH-GU 5110 Health Care Policy (1.5-2 Credits)
Typically offered Fall and Spring
This course introduces students to key concepts, principles and practices
in the field of health policy in the United States and other national
health systems. The course will examine issues that concern quality, costs,
access to healthcare and public health services for individuals and
populations. The course emphasizes the need for leaders in today's world of
public health to understand central issues in health policy. The overall
goal of the course is to provide information for students to build an
understanding of the fundamental ideas, issues, and problems currently
debated in health policy and to provide a foundation for practice in a
range of careers in public health and health care policy.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 5112 Public Health Management and Leadership (1.5-2 Credits)
This course introduces students to key concepts, principles and practices
in the field of public health management and leadership. This course
provides information for students to build an understanding of the
fundamental ideas, issues, and problems currently debated in health
management and to provide a foundation for practice in a range of careers
in public health and health care management. The overall goal of the
course is to prepare students to increase their effectiveness in managing
and leading individuals and teams in public health and health care
organizations.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 5115 Introduction to Principles of Nutrition in Public Health (3 Credits)
This course will cover the basic concepts of the science of nutrition
detailing the nutrients, food sources, function and nutritional
requirements. The course will integrate the nutritional needs of
populations, both nationally and globally, with emphasis on undernutrition,
over nutrition and the double burden of malnutrition. The principles of
nutritional needs will be applied to promoting health in vulnerable
populations.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 5121 Foundations of Global Health (3 Credits)
This course prepares students to critically examine public health issues
from a global perspective. It will guide students to understand how
processes of socioeconomic development and globalization influence the
health of populations throughout the world. It will explore the current key
challenges in global health and present the state of the art in addressing
global health problems, introducing the primary actors involved in setting
global health policies and the architecture of global health governance and
financing. The course will also touch upon the human rights and ethical
dimensions of global public health, including conflicts between
individuals, communities, and nations.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 5130 Food Marketing and Communications (3 Credits)
With this course our intention is to familiarize students with the interplay between public health nutrition and marketing—from historical, theoretical, analytical, and practical perspectives. To that end, students will characterize the underlying trends of past and present marketing campaigns from major food companies and examine how these marketing strategies have evolved over time and affected consumers' perceptions, purchases, and eating behaviors. We will spend time discussing knotty issues entangled with food marketing and how these concerning practices play out today and perpetuate health inequity through structural racism.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 5140 Global Issues in Social and Behavioral Health (3 Credits)
Typically offered Fall and Spring
This course begins by examining social, psychological, and cultural factors
that have an impact on public health in community, national, and global
contexts. These factors include population characteristics, individual
beliefs and behaviors, and policies that affect public health problems and
their solutions. The second half of the course introduces students to
methods that public health professionals use to address the social and
behavioral determinants of health. These methods include theories and
perspectives drawn from the social/behavioral sciences, interventions and
policies designed to alleviate health disparities, and methods to evaluate
interventions and disseminate the results.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 5150 Emergency Preparedness for Healthcare Organizations (3 Credits)
The healthcare system is uniquely challenged by large-scale disasters,
which are on the increase in the United States and throughout the world.
Every setting of healthcare, from hospitals to outpatient clinics may be
affected by acute emergencies and disaster events. Therefore, as public
health professionals, healthcare professionals, emergency managers, or
other professionals in charge of ensuring a safe patient care environment,
it is essential to become familiar with the current disaster management
paradigm (mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery) as it pertains
to the healthcare environment. This course is designed to provide students
with disaster management capabilities that will have applicability in their
current or future employment.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 5152 Introduction to Agent-Based Modeling (3 Credits)
How do local (micro-scale) interactions between individuals generate global
(macro-scale) societal patterns--of disease, of conflict, of inequality?
Agent-based modeling (ABM) is a powerful new way to address such questions
computationally. In ABMs, software individuals and the interactions between
them are explicitly represented, and these local interactions generate the
global patterns we wish to explain, and to alter through policy, epidemics
being prime examples. This course introduces students to ABMs from
epidemiology, public health, and social science. It teaches students
without prior programming experience to build, analyze, extend, test, and
present simple models in NetLogo.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 5153 Global Environmental Health (3 Credits)
Typically offered Fall, Spring, and Summer terms
Environmental health sciences represent the study of biological, physical,
and chemical agents that affect the health of both communities and workers.
This course provides students with an introduction to key areas of
environmental health. Students gain an understanding of the interaction of
individuals and communities with their environment, the impact of
environmental agents on human health, and specific applications of concepts
of environmental health including exposure assessment and engineering
controls. The impact of global environmental issues on health equity will
be considered, as well as scientific, political, legal, and economic
perspectives on global environmental health. Emphasis is placed on issues
in environmental health that transcend national boundaries.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 5170 Introduction to Public Health (0 Credits)
This course provides an introduction to foundational principles, concepts,
and methods in public health. Topics include: the history of public health;
public health values and principles; core functions of public health; the
role of biostatistics and epidemiology in measuring population health; the
use of evidence; environmental, social, and behavioral influences on
health; and globalization and health
Grading: School of Global Public Health Pass/Fail
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 5171 Global Public Health Informatics (0 Credits)
Typically offered Fall and Summer terms
Public Health Informatics is a new field that is concerned with the
systematic application of information and computer sciences to practice,
research and learning. This course is created to ensure that graduates of
the program have working knowledge of information resources available for
program planning, surveillance and data management and working knowledge in
the use of evidence-based public health information tools that ensure use
of current best practices and for lifelong learning.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Pass/Fail
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 5175 Readings in the History & Philosophy of Public Health I - (0 Credits)
Typically offered Fall
This non-credit bearing course introduces students to important public
health readings exploring the field of public health in global perspective
from the 19th century to the present. In advance of each course session,
the instructors will post discussion questions based on the assigned
readings. Students are expected to come to class prepared to discuss the
questions. All MPH students are required to complete 3 of these non-credit
bearing courses prior to graduation. The successful completion of three or
more of these course sessions will lead towards achieving this critical
content as described by ASPPH for the 21st century MPH: "History and
philosophy of public health as well as its core values, concepts,
functions, and leadership roles.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Pass/Fail
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 5180 Readings in The History & Philosophy of Public Health II (0 Credits)
Typically offered Spring
This non-credit bearing course will require students to read and discuss important global public health books exploring the evolution of the field of public health in global perspective from the 19th century to the present. All MPH students will be required to complete 3 of these non-credit bearing courses prior to graduation. For each of these course sessions, a book will be discussed in a public lecture by its author; students are expected to read the book in advance, responding with a “forum” posting on the "NYU Classes” website one week in advance of the lecture, including a question raised by the book about public health. Questions will be collected and forwarded to our author-speakers in advance of their public lectures. The lecture and Q&A will be chaired by a member of the GIPH faculty and will last for two hours. Students are expected to sign up for/ complete the reading and written response/ attend the lecture for at least three books in the history of global public health over the semesters in which they are earning their graduate degrees. The successful completion of three or more of these course sessions will lead towards the achieving this critical content as described by ASPPH for the 21st century MPH: “History and philosophy of public health as well as its core values, concepts, functions, and leadership roles.”
Grading: School of Global Public Health Pass/Fail
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 5185 Readings in the History & Philosophy of Public Health III (0 Credits)
Typically offered Spring
This non-credit bearing course introduces students to important public
health readings exploring the field of public health in global perspective
from the 19th century to the present. In advance of each course session,
the instructors will post discussion questions based on the assigned
readings. Students are expected to come to class prepared to discuss the
questions. All MPH students are required to complete 3 of these non-credit
bearing courses prior to graduation. The successful completion of three or
more of these course sessions will lead towards achieving this critical
content as described by ASPPH for the 21st century MPH: "History and
philosophy of public health as well as its core values, concepts,
functions, and leadership roles.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Pass/Fail
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 5190 Essentials of Public Health Biology (3 Credits)
Typically offered Fall and Spring
This course introduces MPH students with minimal formal training in biology
to the biological and molecular context of public health. The course
provides an overview of: a) basic biological principles and mechanisms
relevant to public health practice; and b) biomedical technology as applied
in public health. The course covers basic principles of genetics,
immunology, microbiology, and cell biology in the context of global public
health. Areas covered include infectious diseases, genetic and chronic
diseases, allostatic load, environmental factors affecting health, and
prevention and treatment strategies.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 5210 Global Health Disaster Preparedness & Response (3 Credits)
Large-scale disasters and catastrophes, also referred to as mega-disasters
or hyper-complex emergencies, are of such magnitude that they affect an
entire country- either directly or indirectly and require multi-national or
international response capabilities to recover. Incidents or events such as
pandemics and climate change that impact more than one country or region
are also considered global disasters. In this course, students will define
and characterize major catastrophic threats, assess data for mitigation
purposes, conduct risk assessments for public health impact and structural
and non-structural damages, identify recovery strategies and assess role of
memorialization on community recovery. Students will prepare a Disaster
Plan and appropriate Plan Annexes. This is an online course
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 5213 Public Health Nutrition (3 Credits)
Public Health Nutrition involves the application of food and nutrition
knowledge, policy, and research to improve the nutritional status and
health of populations. This course emphasizes the distinction between
population-based and individual-based approaches to prevention and
alleviation of diet-related conditions, and the barriers to improving the
nutritional status and health of diverse population groups. The course will
discuss the social, behavioral, and food- and nutrition-related factors
that affect health both nationally and globally. Lectures will integrate
nutritional science, applied practice and nutrition research, and their
application to initiatives and programs designed to improve the nutritional
status of populations.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 5218 Assessing Community Health Needs & Resources (3 Credits)
Community health assessments comprehensively identify the assets and needs
of a defined group. When conducted in tandem with community members,
community health assessments provide a window into how a community sees
itself, the systems and patterns it functions by, and its assets and needs.
Public health practitioners can use this information to work with a
community to utilize its strengths to address mutually acknowledged needs.
In this course, students will work in teams to conduct a community
assessment of an assigned United Health Fund district within New York City.
The focus of the course will be on introducing the basic content/skills of
on-the-ground field research, collecting, analyzing, and summarizing data.
Specifically, students will use primary data (surveys, in-depth interviews,
observations) and secondary data (public data sets) collection along with
systems thinking to describe and understand the health, demographics, and
socio-economic profile of the community. Students will survey and/or
interview community leaders, community based organization representatives,
health practitioners, and/or community residents. Students will summarize
the findings and offer recommendations in a final report and presentation.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 5220 Applying Systems Thinking to Global Health Practice (3 Credits)
Typically offered Spring
This course provides an overview of the state-of-the-art concerning the
Global Burden of Disease, the Disease Control Priorities, Universal Health
Coverage and Health Systems Analyses. Students apply systems thinking and
evaluation methods in designing policies to accelerate progress toward the
health related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), by categorizing health
related targets within the SDGs according to mortality,
incidence/prevalence of disease, risk factors, cost effective interventions
and health system platforms. For each of these dimensions, students analyze
concepts, methods, information sources and existing data for countries with
differing burdens of disease.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 5232 Disease Elimination and Eradication Strategies for Infectious Diseases in LMICs (3 Credits)
Students will examine the core principles of disease elimination and
eradication (E&E) - with a focus on challenges in low-resource settings -
and co-develop a draft strategy in a specific country. Students will
analyze case studies to better understand lessons learned, challenges
faced, and effective interventions needed to achieve disease E&E. The class
will provide an introduction to ethical issues in disease E&E, political,
social, behavioral, and environmental/climate factors, health system
strengthening, the integration of disease E&E programs with existing health
systems, and communication and advocacy. Different thinking models
(systems, design, strategic & evaluative) will be introduced to help
students in their development of interventions to reduce and eventually
eliminate disease in a given geography.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 5240 Budgeting for Sustainable Health Returns on Investment (3 Credits)
This course develops budget and resource management competencies and
skills. Students will identify, apply and evaluate existing methods and
tools that were developed and implemented by the World Bank, UNICEF, WHO
and other agencies to support analysis of additional costs, returns on
investment, budget requirements and fiscal sustainability. Case studies,
readings and datasets are based on real life applications to equity focused
approaches and health system strengthening for the Millennium Development
Goals (MDGs). Students will synthesize additional costs, budgets,
sustainability, and returns on investment, and propose priority analytic
tools to be applied or further developed for budget and resource management
for the health related targets of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 5250 Health & Human Rights (3 Credits)
This course approaches global health and justice from international human
rights and humanitarian law. The course is designed to provide public
policy and public health students with the basis for literacy about human
rights and humanitarian law. Through lectures, case studies and practical
training, students will be able to gain knowledge and skills to determine
how rights violations impact health, and how to engage in using the human
rights approach to improve health outcomes. Topics, including HIV/AIDS,
sexual and reproductive rights, the right to health in war and disasters,
access to medicines and the ethical obligations of public health
professionals, will be used to illustrate practical applications of human
rights to global health.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 5270 Management of Public Health Disasters (3 Credits)
This course introduces basic principles and practices of public health
disaster management. Students explore threat and hazard identification,
mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery, and will apply their new
skills and knowledge to address a wide range of natural and man- made
disaster events of concern to public health. The course includes
legal/ethical considerations, psychological impacts of disasters, community
resiliency, planning for the needs of vulnerable populations, and other
topics relevant to disaster management. For the culminating project for
this course, students develop a disaster plan for their local department of
health or for their workplace. Students also complete (no-cost) on-line
FEMA ICS certification training as part of this course.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 5271 Translating Research into Practice: Adapting and Implementing Evidence-Based Public (3 Credits)
Evidence-based public health is now recognized as the foundational gold standard for developing programs and interventions to improve population health. In practice, many challenges exist to identifying appropriate evidence-based interventions and adapting them to perform as intended in new settings. This course will examine approaches for selecting, adapting, and implementing evidence-based public health interventions. The framework presented in the course will help prepare students to adapt and implement programs that are theory-and evidence-based, community-based, and reality-based.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 5275 Nutrition Epidemiology for Public Health (3 Credits)
The course provides in-depth knowledge of the principles and challenges
inherent to the discipline of nutritional epidemiology. In addition to
covering fundamentals of nutritional epidemiology such as collection,
analysis, and interpretation of data on dietary intake and nutritional
status within diverse population groups, the course will place strong
emphasis on methodological considerations in study design and pertinent
statistical issues, including measurement error.The course emphasizes
critical evaluation of dietary assessment methods and the results of
research studies associating intake of foods, nutrients and dietary
patterns with the risk of chronic diseases. Importantly, the course
addresses the translation of scientific findings into nutritional
recommendations and policies.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 5288 Perspectives in Migrant Health & Human Rights (3 Credits)
Typically offered occasionally
This course is a forum where public health and related practitioners
share their professional experiences and insights working with a range of
migrant populations. Through an online learning environment, students will
examine current trends in the field of migrant health and human rights,
with a focus on gaining practical skills and engaging in critical
self-reflection. The course will enhance students’ abilities to think
critically and analytically about current problems and challenges
confronting the field, and will complement conceptual and theoretical
coursework, emphasizing the processes of implementing migrant health and
human rights programming from practitioners’ and migrants’ perspectives.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 5292 Public Health Law (3 Credits)
Many of public health's greatest successes have been based on the successful use of the law. Therefore, an understanding of the fundamentals of public health law and the legal foundations of public health is essential to appreciating the tools available to government to address public health threats. This class will examine the U.S. government's authorities and also the legal limitations on government enacting law to improve population health at the federal, state, and local levels and by the executive, legislative, and judicial branches. We will additionally analyze core public health issues in the context of this legal framework.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
Prerequisites: GPH-GU 2294.
GPH-GU 5296 Public Health Innovation and Entrepreneurship (3 Credits)
This course helps current and future public health practitioners develop
skills to create innovative, sustainable, and scalable solutions that
address public health challenges. Student teams explore gaps in the
availability, accessibility, acceptability, adequacy, and appropriateness
of health-related goods and services in target communities and propose
innovations that would narrow those gaps and improve health outcomes. Then,
using a stepwise, structured approach, the teams develop and refine a
business model for the innovation through stakeholder interviews designed
to maximize product-market fit and minimize failure risk.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 5312 Global Perspectives in Reproductive Health & Human Rights (3 Credits)
This course examines reproductive health from a human rights perspective
both nationally and
internationally. After a review of the intersection of reproductive health
and human rights, topics to be covered include: the demographic transition
and declining birth rates; the rights of women with HIV infection and other
vulnerable populations; men’s influence on reproductive rights; viewing
traditional practices through a human rights lens; and current reproductive
rights.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 5319 Writing Grants and Funding Proposals for Health-Related Programs (3 Credits)
This course introduces the principles and foundational skills of grant
writing. This includes skills in locating potential funding sources,
understanding the process and procedures of assembling a complete proposal,
leveraging the diverse professional roles involved in completing a proposal
(principal investigator, co-investigator, consultant, pre-award specialist,
research associate, etc), and using appropriate grant-writing style &
technique. Students are guided through the development of an U.S. National
Institutes of Health (NIH) grant proposal, taking a team science approach.
Student teams will develop a mock NIH proposal, from locating appropriate
NIH Institutes through development of program objectives, background, &
methods; to the peer review process.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 5320 Data Utilization in Public Health Practice (3 Credits)
Typically offered Fall
Data Utilization in Public Health Practice (3 credits)
Public health practice typically demands competencies in identifying,
extracting, analyzing, interpreting and disseminating information from
large surveys, administrative data sets, government reports, qualitative
studies, and other data sources. This course will develop these
competencies through rigorous evaluation of existing data resources
(including their strengths and limitations for answering specific public
health questions) and best practices in data utilization for situational
assessment; monitoring; policy, program and strategy development; and
surveillance of health outcomes through real-world case studies and
assignments. The course will also provide students with basic skills in
data analysis and visualization using Microsoft Excel and an interactive,
online mapping software (Carto).
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 5342 Global Issues in Public Health Nutrition (3 Credits)
This course addresses major global nutrition issues that we face today.
Food insecurity, and all forms of malnutrition, underweight, obesity and
micronutrient deficiencies are leading risk factors of mortality and
comorbidity worldwide. The course is developed in the context of the United
Nations System, through the lens of the Sustainable Development Goals
(SDGs) and the 2030 Agenda. We will discuss climate change, conflict, and
economic downturn as determinants of food insecurity that are worsening
non-communicable disease prevalence. Next, we understand malnutrition, its
major determinants and its interconnections with the food systems. Students
will design a solution for these issues, using the systems approach and
principles from social entrepreneurship in the the global landscape.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 5349 Program Planning & Evaluation (3 Credits)
This course will introduce the major principles, concepts and methods used
to plan, monitor and evaluate public health interventions and programs.
Emphasis is placed on helping students develop the essential skills
required in developing program plans, monitoring program implementation,
and conducting evaluations for public health practice.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 5359 Applied Practice Experience (2 Credits)
This course complements the internship applied practice experience by
providing a structured and supportive environment to reinforce the
internship goals of developing public health competencies, gaining valuable
work experience, and cultivating professionalism. Students complete the
internship in the summer or fall of their final year in the program, and
enroll in the course in the fall. The internship and course fulfill the
Applied Practice Experience requirement for the following MPH
concentrations: Community Health Science & Practice, Environmental Health
Sciences, Global Health, Health Policy, Management, and Public Health
Nutrition.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 5360 Integrative Learning Experience (2 Credits)
A key goal of the MPH program is to enable students to synthesize
principles, concepts, and competencies learned through coursework and the Applied Practice Experience. This course provides a structured and supportive environment to help students achieve this goal and to develop professionalism. Students prepare a professional report, poster, and critical reflection paper,
comprising the MPH integrative learning experience. Students enroll in the
course in their final spring semester. The course fulfills the Integrative
Learning Experience requirement for the following MPH concentrations:
Community Health Science & Practice, Environmental Health Sciences, Global
Health, Public Health Policy & Management, and Public Health Nutrition.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 5361 Research Methods in Public Health (3 Credits)
This course is a review of research and original writings related to public
health. Students will learn to apply research methodology to problems in
public health. This course provides an introduction to the fundamentals of
research study design and methods. It serves as an introduction to
quantitative and qualitative approaches to research, as well as ethical
issues in conducting research. Through the mix of texts, articles from the
public health literature and course work, students will build skills for
conducting research and critically evaluating research designs and research
findings.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 5380 Data-Driven Decision-Making in Global Public Health (3 Credits)
Typically offered Spring
This course develops skills and competencies in making data-driven
decisions to improve global public health outcomes, especially in high
disease and malnutrition-burden environments. It is based on a framework of enabling
environment, supply, demand, and quality factors that affect the effective
coverage of services that would prevent outcomes such as under-5 mortality,
neonatal mortality, maternal mortality and stunting. The class will
introduce decision support platforms developed by UNICEF, WHO, and the
World Bank that help public health professionals choose between available
strategies and interventions in a high burden country to reduce adverse health and nutrition outcomes.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 5405 Health Communications: Changing Social Norms in Theory and Practice (3 Credits)
This course provides an introduction to the theory, design, implementation,
and evaluation of health communication programs. Several resources are used
to allow students to acquire practical knowledge and skills in health
communications planning and implementation. Case studies, resources,
research tools and examples of different media channels are reviewed and
analyzed to explore how to reach different target audiences with the most
effective health communication interventions.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 5410 Results-Focused Strengthening of Health Systems in LMIC Countries (3 Credits)
This course covers elements that are necessary for developing impactful
global public health programs in Low and Middle Income Countries (LMIC),
including but not limited to: a comprehensive overview of health systems
and their specific components; an explanation of how the health system
functions in different country settings; and an overview of crosscutting
system-wide supply and demand bottlenecks and evidence-based strategies to
address these. Assignments use practical country case studies and analyses
of data sets on health system bottlenecks, strategic shifts, and enabling
environments as well as estimations of resource requirements, cost
effectiveness, and financing needs for health system strengthening.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 5415 Community-Based Health Interventions (3 Credits)
Community-based health interventions are a major public health strategy for
promoting population health. This course introduces the principles,
methods, and applications of community-based interventions. Theoretical and
conceptual frameworks shaping community health programs are examined, with
a focus on the social ecological model and community participation. Major
evidence-based strategies are identified, and case studies provide examples
of applications, including challenges and factors influencing success.
Challenges to evaluating and sustaining community-based health
interventions are examined. Assignments prepare students to identify
effective intervention strategies and develop a theory of change to address
a specific public health issue.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 5420 Monitoring and Management of Public Health Programs for Equity (3 Credits)
Typically offered occasionally
This course develops skills and competencies for key steps in program
monitoring and management to improve equity of global public health outcomes, namely situation analysis of equity, modeling effects of management decisions,
monitoring changes in equity outcomes, and evaluating equity modeling,
monitoring and outcomes. For each of these steps, students learn and apply
core concepts, measures, and analytic tools concerning equity of outcomes,
bottlenecks in coverage of interventions, and out of pocket health
expenditures. The class will introduce databases, methods, and tools
developed by UNICEF, World Bank, IHME and WHO, that help public health
professionals reduce inequity in health & nutrition outcomes in LMICs.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 5995 Biostatistics for Public Health (3 Credits)
Typically offered Fall and Spring
GPH-GU 5995 Biostatistics for Public Health (3)
This course covers basic probability, descriptive and inferential
statistics, and the role of biostatistics in the practice of public health.
Specific attention will be given to common probability distributions in
public health and medicine, t-tests, Analysis of Variance, multiple linear
and logistic regression, categorical data analysis, and survival analysis. Statistical
topics are presented conceptually with little derivation, and applications
are demonstrated using common statistical software. The course can be
taken online or in-person.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 9130 Global Health Diplomacy (3 Credits)
Many of the geopolitical forces that shape global health (global disease
burden and our collective response to it) lie outside of the health sphere.
This course will explore the ways in which global health is influenced by,
and can influence, other global forces including foreign policy,
trade/economic policy, environmental policy, and security policy in a
globalizing world. Effective responses to current and future global health
challenges require that public health professionals (particularly those
working in policy or at a policy-level) understand these dynamics and how
best to leverage them in order to achieve better health outcomes globally.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 9153 Global Environmental Health (3 Credits)
Environmental health sciences represent the study of biological, physical,
and chemical agents that affect the health of both communities and workers.
This course provides students with an introduction to key areas of
environmental health. Students gain an understanding of the interaction of
individuals and communities with their environment, the impact of
environmental agents on human health, and specific applications of concepts
of environmental health including exposure assessment and engineering
controls.The impact of global environmental issues on health equity will be
considered, as well as scientific, political, legal, and economic
perspectives on global environmental health. Emphasis is placed on issues
in environmental health that transcend national boundaries
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 9202 Aging, Health, and the Environment: A Global Perspective (3 Credits)
this course will contrast U.S. and international
approaches to aging, health, and environmental risk. The world population
is growing older: by 2050 the global population of those over 60 years old
will reach nearly 2 billion. Italy, in particular, has the largest
proportion (21.4%) of elderly citizens in all of Europe. There are several
environmental risk factors that affect the aging process, including
disasters, climate change, and pollutants. We will cover theories and
principles of gerontology, climate change, disasters, and the built
environment with the goal of understanding how environmental risk factors
shape the aging process. Lastly, we will consider how Italian approaches to
aging and health, including those of policymakers and local stakeholders,
differ from the U.S. model
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 9211 Environmental Injustice: From Local to Global (3 Credits)
Environmental justice has implications for public health practice both
locally and globally because marginalized groups such as people of color
and people of low socioeconomic status continue to be exposed to greater
numbers of environmental hazards in their homes, in their jobs, in their
communities, and in the food they eat, relative to the society at large.
This course will explore the links between the environmental justice
movement and civil rights. Students will examine the political response to
the movement, both locally and globally, through legislative and regulatory
actions. The first half of this course will focus on the history of
environmental injustice and cover seminal readings, regulations and laws.
The second half will focus on local and global air, water, food and land
based environmental exposures.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 9224 Introduction to Urban Health and Equity (3 Credits)
This course will introduce students to urban health and its broad determinants. In order to achieve healthier urban communities worldwide we must improve the built,
socioeconomic and physical environments in cities. The course will combine
readings, classroom lecture and discussion to provide an overview of urban health and health equity. As an emerging interdisciplinary area of research, practice and policy, we will draw on the work of experts and experience from all regions of the world and explore why cities are proving to be such an effective level of government
to achieve results for health and health equity. We will also examine the importance of advancing health and health equity in cities in order to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
*This is equivalent to GPH-GU 2224*
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 9232 Disease Elimination and Eradication Strategies for Infectious Diseases in LMICs (3 Credits)
Students will examine the core principles of disease elimination and
eradication (E&E) - with a focus on challenges in low-resource settings -
and co-develop a draft strategy in a specific country. Students will
analyze case studies to better understand lessons learned, challenges
faced, and effective interventions needed to achieve disease E&E. The class
will provide an introduction to ethical issues in disease E&E, political,
social, behavioral, and environmental/climate factors, health system
strengthening, the integration of disease E&E programs with existing health
systems, and communication and advocacy. Different thinking models
(systems, design, strategic & evaluative) will be introduced to help
students in their development of interventions to reduce and eventually
eliminate disease in a given geography.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 9265 Climate Change and Global Public Health (3 Credits)
This course is about Climate Change i.e. Global Warming! Climate Change has
been cited as the most significant public policy challenge of the 21st
century. We will intensively cover the climate change science, public
health impacts, ecological consequences, fossil fuel air pollution, global
food and security, and policy options. Adaptation strategies to control
outcomes of storm flooding, increased ozone and heat waves, drought, and
threats to biodiversity will be covered. Mitigation by 100% renewables with
texts on wind and solar energy will be assessed. Policy solutions will be
evaluated from city governments, States, Countries, to Global treaties such
as UN Framework Convention on Climate Change-Conference of the Parties
Paris Agreement. Climate Denialism is reviewed with the text, "The Madhouse
Effect."
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 9285 Global Women's Health Programs: Analyzing Evidence to Improve Women's LIves (3 Credits)
This course introduces the student to the major health issues facing women
in low resource countries and how to analyze existing programs geared
towards improving women's health. Students will learn how biological,
environmental, and societal issues affect women's health, the outcomes of
pregnancy, and child survival. Topics include reproductive and obstetric
health, women's rights, gender-based violence, access to health education,
family planning, female genital cutting, and the public health interventions proven to positively impact these issues. Students will intensively evaluate and analyze the
interventions created to improve the lives of women and identify key elements that constitute an effective global women's health program. Students will learn the necessary skills to generate solutions to the complex circumstances affecting the health of women globally.
This is equivalent to GPH-GU 2285
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 9325 Behavioral and Communication Strategies for Global Epidemics (3 Credits)
This course focuses on the integration of three public health disciplines
for emergency action: epidemiology, behavioral health/ intervention
research and public health communication to provide students with a
knowledge base and foundation of skills to be able to design and implement
strategies in disease prevention and response in outbreak situations,
with a focus on the reemergence of Polio and Ebola.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 9343 HIV/AIDS Public Health Promotion (3 Credits)
Students will examine the evolution of the HIV epidemic in the United
Kingdom (U.K.) and the United States (U.S.) throughout the last four
decades using a public health lens with an emphasis on population-based
health promotion strategies and responses of the respective health system
within each country. Students will learn about the history of the disease
in the U.K., U.S and within a global context, the biomedical aspects of the
disease including HIV testing, and treatment, the epidemiology of the
disease, the socio-bio-behavioral drivers of the disease, and HIV/AIDS
public health policies and calls to action both within the U.K. and the
U.S. Students will examine, analyze, apply, and evaluate theoretical
paradigms and research, drawn from public health and interrelated
disciplines with regard to HIV prevention, treatment, and care as it is
manifested in the across all segments of the population. The course
utilizes a biopsychosocial framework for understanding illness and health
promotion and emphasizes theory-based HIV prevention and care. The course
uses an experiential learning approach; students engage with to local AIDS
service organizations, health care facilities, and thought leaders, all
with an eye to bring an end to the AIDS epidemic.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 9345 Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response: A Global Perspective (3 Credits)
This course examines global approaches to public health emergency preparedness, response, and recovery by visiting an international site exposed to or vulnerable to significant catastrophic events. There is a particular emphasis on governmental and non-governmental response, recovery, and policy systems; critical decision-making inflection points; and issues associated with risk communication, coordination of public health and medical resources, and the public’s trust in political and scientific authority. The course will also review broad principles of surveillance, mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery from various hazards, and cover both US and international emergency management and public health frameworks.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
GPH-GU 9500 Topics in Public Health: Current Issues in Latino Health (3 Credits)
This course provides an overview of selected current research issues and
theories concerning the mental and physical health of Latino populations in
the United States. Topics addressed include: the heterogeneity and health
status of Latino groups; conceptual and methodological issues related to
Latino health; acculturation and identity theory; the association between
health and various stressors, including discrimination and immigration;
access to health care; and neighborhoods and health. The course highlights
the need to integrate cultural issues in theory and research.
Grading: School of Global Public Health Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No