Courses for the Master's Degree Program
Core Courses
| HRP 256 (syllabus in pdf) |
Economics of Health and Medical Care (Same as BIOMEDIN 256) |
Institutional, theoretical, and empirical analysis of the problems of health and medical care. (Bhattacharya) 5 units, Autumn. |
| HRP 391 (syllabus in pdf) |
Political Economy of Health Care in the United States (Same as MGTECON 331, PUBPOL 231) |
Economic tools and institutional and legal background to understand how markets for health care products and services work. Moral hazard and adverse selection. Institutional organization of the health care sector. Hospital and physician services markets, integrated delivery systems, managed care, and pharmaceutical and medical device industries. Public policy issues in health care, medical ethics, regulation of managed care, patients; bill of rights, regulation of pharmaceuticals, Medicare reform, universal health insurance, and coverage of the uninsured. International perspectives; how other countries; health care systems evolved, and what the U.S. can learn from their experiences. (Kessler, Bundorf) 4 units, Spring. |
| HRP 392 (syllabus in pdf) (course instructions) |
Analysis of Costs, Risks, and Benefits of Health Care (Same as MGTECON 332, MIS 432) |
Principal evaluative techniques for health care, including utility assessment, cost-effectiveness analysis, cost-benefit analysis, and decision analysis. Emphasis is on practical application with major effort devoted to a group project presented at the end of the quarter. Guest lectures by experts from the School of Medicine, pharmaceutical industry, health care plans, and government. (Garber, Owens) 4 units, Autumn. |
| HRP 261 www.stanford.edu/~kcobb/hrp261/ |
Intermediate Biostatistics: Analysis of Discrete Data |
The 2x2 table. Chi-square test. Fisher's exact test. Odds ratios. Sampling plans; case control and cohort studies. Series of 2x2 tables. Mantel-Haenszel. kxm tables. Matched data logistic models. Conditional logistic analysis with application to case-control data. Log-linear models. Generalized estimating equations for longitudinal data. Cell phones and car crashes – the case cross-over design. Special topics: Generalized additive models, classification trees, bootstrap inference. (Sainani) 3 units, Win. |
| HRP 262 www.stanford.edu/~kcobb/hrp262/ |
Intermediate Biostatistics: Regression, Prediction, Survival Analysis (same as STATS 262) | Methods for analyzing longitudinal data. Topics include: Kaplan-Meier methods, Cox regression, hazard ratios, time-dependent variables, longitudinal data structures, profile plots, missing data, modeling change, MANOVA, repeated-measures ANOVA, GEE, and mixed models. Emphasis is on practical applications. Prerequisites: basic ANOVA and linear regression. (Sainani) 3 units, Spring. |
| HRP 283 | Health Research Services Core Seminar | Presentation of research in progress and tutorials. Three units are required. (Core Faculty) 1 unit, Autumn, Winter, Spring. |
| HRP 299 | Directed Reading | Aspects of preventive medicine, public health, social aspects of disease and health, economics of medical care, occupational or environmental medicine, epidemiology, international health, or related fields. Prerequisite: consent of instructor. (Staff) 1-18 units, Autumn, Winter, Spring, Summer |
| HRP 399 | Research (Thesis) | Qualified students undertake investigations sponsored by individual faculty members. A total of at least 15 units of thesis research must be taken over at least two quarters. (Staff) |
Approved Electives
| HRP 206 | Topics in Quantitative Methods: Meta-Analysis (same as STATS 211) | Meta-analysis is a quantitative method for combining results of independent studies, and enables researchers to synthesize the results of related studies. Examples from the medical, behavioral, and social sciences. Topics: literature search, publication and selection bias, statistical methods (contingency tables, cumulative methods, sensitivity analyses, non-parametric methods). Project. (Olkin) 3 units, Winter. |
| HRP 209 | FDA's Regulation of Health Care | Open to law or medical students; graduate students by consent of instructor. The FDA’s regulatory authority over drugs, biologics, medical devices, dietary supplements. The nature of the pharmaceutical, biotech, medical device, and nutritional supplement industries (Greely) 3 term units, not offered 2007-08. (Note: The Law School uses a different calendar then the rest of the University) |
| HRP 210 | Health Law and Policy (same as LAW 313) | Introduction to the American health care system and its legal and policy problems. Topics: special characteristics of medical care as compared with other goods and services, difficulties of assuring quality care, the complex patchwork of the financing system, and ethical problems the system raises. (Greely) 3 term units, Autumn semester. (Note: The Law School uses a different calendar then the rest of the University.) |
| HRP 314 | Health Law and Policy II | Second of two-course sequence. This class will focus on ethical issues and on public health. Specific issues will include end of life, reproductive rights, research ethics, food and drug administration, and public health law. The class is open to law or medical students, and to graduate students from other parts of the University by consent of the instructor. Completion of Health Law and Policy I is recommended but not required. (Greely) 3 semester units, not offered 2007-2008. (Note: The Law School uses a different calendar then the rest of the University.) |
| HRP 211 | Advanced Issues in Health Law and Policy: Genetics and Law (same as LAW 368) | Legal, social, and ethical issues arising from advances in the biosciences. Focus is on human genetics; also advances in assisted reproduction and neurosciences. Topics include forensic use of DNA, genetic testing, genetic discrimination, eugenics, cloning, pre-implantation genetic diagnosis, neuroscientific methods of lie detection, and genetic or neuroscience enhancement. (Greely) 3 term units, not offered 2007-08. (Note: The Law School uses a different calendar then the rest of the University.) |
| HRP 212 | Crosscultural Medicine | Interviewing and behavioral skills to facilitate culturally relevant health care across all populations. Explicit and implicit cultural influences operating in formal and informal medical contexts. (Corso) 3 units, Spring. |
| HRP 214 | Scientific Writing | Step-by-step through the process of writing and publishing a scientific manuscript. How to write effectively, concisely, and clearly. Preparation of an actual scientific manuscript. Students are encouraged to bring a manuscript on which they are currently working to develop and polish throughout the course. (Sainani) 2-3 units, Winter. |
| HRP 216 | Analytical and Practical Issues in the Conduct of Epidemiologic Research | This course provides a broad foundation in methods related to clinical and epidemiologic research, including study designs, common study biases, measurement principles, sample size estimation, questionnaire design, development and assessment of diagnostic tests, clinical trials, introduction to multivariate analysis, and interpretation of study results. (Popat) 3-4 units, Autumn. |
| HRP 223 | Epidemiologic Analysis: Data Management and Statistical Programming | The skills required for management and analysis of biomedical data. Topics include importing and exporting data from multiple database systems, visualizing and cleaning data, data management for multicenter projects, and data security. Introduction to applied statistical programming relevant to epidemiologic and clinical research. No previous programming experience required. (Balise) 2-3 units, Autumn. |
| HRP 225 | Design and Conduct of Clinical and Epidemiologic Studies | This course provides a broad foundation in methods related to clinical and epidemiologic research, including study designs, common study biases, measurement principles, sample size estimation, questionnaire design, development and assessment of diagnostic tests, clinical trials, introduction to multivariate analysis, and interpretation of study results. (Popat) 3-4 units, Autumn. |
| HRP 226 | Advanced Epidemiologic and Clinical Methods | Emphasis is on principles of measurement, measures of effect, confounding, effect modification, and strategies for minimizing bias in epidemiologic studies. Data management principles are included. (Popat) 3-4 units, Winter. |
| HRP 230 | Cancer Epidemiology | Descriptive epidemiology and sources of incidence/ mortality data; biological basis of carcinogenesis and implications for epidemiologic research; methodological issues relevant to cancer research; causal inference; major environmental risk factors; genetic susceptibility; cancer control, examples of current research; critique of literature. Prerequisite: HRP 225, or instructor consent. (West) 2-3 units, Winter. |
| HRP 251c | Statistical Analysis in Educational Research: Applied Multivariate Analysis | Advanced regression methods. Multivariate analysis of variance, discriminant analysis, factor analysis, correlation analysis. Data compression: principle components analysis, clustering, multi-dimensional scaling, latent structure models, structural equation models. Intensive use of computer packages. (Olkin) 4 units, not offered 2007-08. |
| HRP 251 | Design and Conduct of Clinical Trials | This course covers the rationale for Phase 1-3 clinical trials, the recruitment of subjects, techniques for randomization, data collection and endpoints, interim monitoring and reporting of results. Emphasis is placed on both the theoretical underpinnings of clinical research and practical aspects of conducting clinical trials. (Henderson, Lavori) 3 units, Spring. |
| HRP 252 (syllabus in pdf) |
Outcomes Analysis (Same as BIOMEDIN 251) | Introduction to methods of conducting empirical studies which use large existing medical, survey, and other databases to ask both clinical and policy questions. Econometric and statistical models used to conduct medical outcomes research. How research is conducted on medical and health economics questions when a randomized trial is impossible. Problem sets emphasize hands-on data analysis and application of methods, including re-analyses of well-known studies. (Bhattacharya) 3 units, Spring. |
| HRP 351 | Innovation and Management in Health Care | The workings of the major institutions such as hospitals, health insurance companies, HMOs, Medicare and Medicaid, federal regulators, and the medical establishment. National health expenditures and alternative models for healthcare financing and delivery. Trends in treatment innovations provided by biopharmaceuticals, medical devices, and surgical procedures; delivery innovations facilitated by information systems and new processes. Policy and business challenges raised by these innovations and the health care ecosystems they promote. (Chess, Zenios) 4 units, Winter. |
| MS&E 252 | Management Science and Engineering: Decision Analysis 1 | Coherent approach to decision making, using the metaphor of developing a structured conversation having desirable properties, and producing actional thought that leads to clarity of action. Instruction is Socratic, with computational issues covered in problem sessions. Emphasis is on creation of distinctions, representation of uncertainty be probability, development of alternatives, specification of preference, and role of these elements in creating a normative approach to decisions. Evaluates information gathering opportunities in terms of value measure. Relevance and decision diagrams represent and clarify inference and decision. Principles are applied to decisions in business, technology, law, and medicine. (Howard) 3-4 units, Autumn. |
| MS&E 292 | Health Policy Modeling | Primarily for master’s students; also open to undergraduates and doctoral students. The application of mathematical, statistical, economic, and systems models to problems in health policy. Areas include: disease screening, prevention, and treatment; assessment of new technologies; bioterrorism response; and drug control policies. (Brandeau) 3 units, Winter. |
| MS&E 352 | Management Science and Engineering: Decision Analysis III | How to organize the decision conversation, the role of the decision analysis cycle and the model sequence, assessing the quality of decisions, framing decisions, the decision hierarchy, strategy tables for alternative development, creating spare and effective decision diagrams, biases in assessment, knowledge maps, uncertainty about probability. Sensitivity analysis, approximations, value of revelation, joint information, options, flexibility, bidding, assessing and using corporate risk attitude, risk sharing and scaling, and decisions involving health and safety. Prerequisite: 252. (Howard) 3-4 units, Winter. |
