Outline: Global Health
PLEASE NOTE
Information on this site pertains to MD students who matriculated in 2006-07 or later. All other students should refer to their Guide to the Scholarly Concentrations for more specific information.
Director
Brian Blackburn, MD
Objectives and Goals
Global Health is an application area in the Scholarly Concentration program. The goals of our program are to expose students to the primary issues in the field of of Global Health, and give them the tools to begin addressing these through hands-on field research. Some specific goals include:
- Giving students an understanding of the spectrum of challenges—from political, to sociological, to biomedical—that limit provision of health care to the world’s poorest people.
- Provide students with insights into problem-solving for complex international health issues.
- Foster mentored hands-on experience in the field that applies knowledge attained in this application to real world problems of the world’s poorest people.
Requirements
Coursework
Students who pursue Global Health in addition to their 6 units of foundation coursework, are required to complete 6 units of Global Health coursework, including at least one of the following four courses; the remainder may be drawn from other Global Health-related courses (see Course Work section):
HRP 225: Design and Conduct of Clinical and Epidemiologic Studies
Intermediate-level. The skills to design, carry out, and interpret epidemiologic studies, particularly of chronic diseases. Topics: epidemiologic concepts, sources of data, cohort studies, case-control studies, cross-sectional studies, sampling, estimating sample size, questionnaire design, and the effects of measurement error. Prerequisite: A basic/introductory course in statistics or consent of instructor.
Units: 3-4
HRP 240: Rethinking Global Health (MED 230)
Challenges for those seeking to improve global health: contending with a dynamic balance between infectious and chronic non-communicable disease that differs across and within countries; issues relating to the proximate and more removed causes of disease and illness, including nutrition, infrastructure, governance, economic development, and environmental changes; diverse proposed responses with arguments for particular courses of action appealing to cost-effectiveness, egalitarian, and rights-based principles. Course goal is to begin to make sense of these challenging issues, requiring data and evidence derived via multiple methodologies, critical thinking, and sound reasoning.
Units: 3
HUMBIO 129S: Global Public Health
The class is an introduction to the fields of international public health and global medicine. It focuses on resource poor areas of the world and explores major global health problems and their relation to policy, economic development and human rights. The course is intended for students interested in global health, development studies, or international relations, and provides opportunities for in-depth discussion and interaction with experts in the field.
Units: 4
MS&E 185: Global Work
Issues, challenges, and opportunities facing workers, teams, and organizations working across national boundaries. Topics include geographic distance, time zones, language and cultural differences, technologies to support distant collaboration, team dynamics, and corporate strategy. Limited enrollment.
Research
All students in the Application must complete at least one quarter of international research; four quarters are preferred.
Other
Participation in Application break-outs, where students will present their ideas for projects, faculty will be available to discuss opportunities, and students completing projects will present their work, its pros and cons, and future opportunities in their research site.
