MPH Program
Grant Writing in Public Health (3 credits)
PBHL 503
Grant Writing in Public Health is an elective course for the Master of Public Health (MPH) program of study. This course introduces students to the principles and procedures for writing grant proposals to fund nonprofit organizations engaged in public health programs.
Management, Leadership, Assurance and Health Services (4 credits)
PBHL 600
Explores critical elements of the assurance from the premise that effectiveness of program delivery and the assurance role itself requires understanding of organizations, leadership and change, in economic, strategic, and systemic context. Applies management concepts and theories through an integrated model of the management process. Extends, applies, and integrates previously developed concepts and theories with those of strategy, planning, accounting, financial management, and information systems.
The Management of Healthcare Outcomes (3 credits)
PBHL 601
This course allows students to develop an appreciation of theory and the application of analysis of health outcomes through examination of such topics as quality of care, medical error, and evidence-based medicine, as well as gaining familiarity with data sets reporting on health services outcomes and tools for their analysis.
Public Health Advocacy and Activism (3 credits)
PBHL 604
Public Health Advocacy and Activism is an elective course for the Master of Public Health (MPH) program of study, Concentration in Health Management and Policy. This course provides distinct, specialized training in the leadership skills, tools and techniques needed to undertake effective advocacy related to public health.
Strategy, Innovation and Change Management (3 credits)
PBHL 605
Strategy, Innovation and Change Management is a required course for the Master of Public Health (MPH) program of study, Concentration in Health Management and Policy. This course prepares students for management responsibilities in delivering new health services. The course focuses on developing strategies to adopt innovative services and management techniques.
The Evolution of U.S. Health Policy (3 credits)
PBHL 607
The Evolution of US Health Policy is an elective course for the Master of Public Health (MPH) program of study, Concentration in Health Management and Policy. It is a graduate seminar in the evolution of the U.S. health system, a course that is essentially a history of 20th century health policy in the U.S., how it adapted to internal and external forces, with an emphasis on the cyclic interest -- and disinterest -- in universal health care insurance coverage.
Comparative Historical Perspectives on Gender, Race, Ethnicity (3 credits)
PBHL 615
This course will explore the history of concepts of gender, race, ethnicity and social class and probe the biology, sociology and constructed meanings of these deeply situated ideas. A particular emphasis will be placed on how changing definitions and understandings of these concepts affect the development and implementation of social policy and public health policy.
History & Contemporary Dev. Soc. Justice (3 credits)
PBHL 618
This course will cover direct and indirect links between public health policies, political circumstances, and social and economic conditions and their affects on health of individuals and populations using the human rights framework. Students will be introduced to key concepts of social justice and human rights documents and concepts. Social justice and its association to race, ethnicity, gender and socioeconomic class will be covered to ensure that the students have a broad understanding of key concepts and are able to apply them in research methods, program development, policy analysis, and in leadership positions. In addition, emerging and global perspectives of social justice will be covered.
Public Policy and Advocacy (3 credits)
PBHL 650
Public Policy and Advocacy is arequired introductory course about making policy in the fields of public health and health care: understanding what it is, who makes it, and how and when it’s made successfully. It is designed to help prepare students to be leaders in the fields of public health and health care.
Legal Aspects of Public Health (3 credits)
PBHL 651
This course will cover legal and policy issues in the implementation of public health programs. It will emphasize underlying themes that frame these efforts. While legal material will be covered, the course will not assume prior knowledge of the legal system, and basic legal concepts and foundations of the regulatory process will be explained.
Public Policy and Advocacy (4 credits)
Block X-EMPH
This course is one of the core courses of the Executive Master of Public Health Program. It covers the theory and practice of making policy in public health and in health care: what it is, who makes it, and how and when it’s made successfully. It is also about U.S. health policy itself – some critical policy issues and some history. It aims to (1) introduce students to public policy theory, (2) highlight several examples of critical health policy issues, (3) build skills in critical, reflective thinking, and (4) provide a current and historical context for understanding selected health policy issues that the nation confronts.
DrPH in Social Justice Program
Health and Human Rights
PBHL 802
Health and wellbeing are intricately associated with fundamental human rights. When human rights such as the right to food, housing, health, and social services are violated, then such violations can lead to circumstances of ill-health, low self esteem, poor functioning, and risky behavior. This course will cover direct and indirect links between public health policies, political circumstances, and social and economic conditions and their affects on health of individuals and populations using the human rights framework. Students will be introduced to key human rights documents and concepts, and will learn how to carry out human rights impact assessments in the context of a variety of case scenarios. Important domains of the health and human rights associations such as gender disparities, racism and child health will be covered to ensure that the students have a broad understanding of key concepts and are able to apply them in research methods, program development, policy analysis, and in leadership positions.
Health Systems Policy Analysis: Comparative Health Systems
PBHL 851
This course examines alternative approaches to the organization, delivery and financing of health services (both health care and public health) in national health systems, and to the reform of existing systems. The course focuses on a comparison of the structural components and reform history of a variety of health systems globally. The accumulation of knowledge about common and disparate characteristics in these health systems will form an analytic framework that will serve as the prism through which to explore how and to what end different nations have organized their health systems, and how one might evaluate the performance of those systems. This framework will also be the basis for the conceptualization and graphic depiction of an “ideal” system design at the conclusion of the course.
Applied Health Economics: Technology Assessment and Economic Evaluation
PBHL 853
Social justice and healthcare intersect in areas of access to care, quality of care, health production, health disparities and medical care decision-making. This course will examine social justice issues in healthcare from the context of applied economics. The goal is to understand how economic analysis and methodologies can be applied to evaluating health care problems and fostering health policy solutions.
Politics of Food and Gender
PBHL 854
This course will examine the global food crisis and community nutrition in the context of maternal and child health. Using current events and news stories at the outset, students will be introduced to the complex and diverse nature of the politics of food and agriculture, and how these dynamics manifest in the health and wellbeing of young children and their families. The students will be introduced to the concepts of maternal and child health, community nutrition, and the human rights framework for public health. While the course will begin with global issues in the beginning of the semester, students will move on to learn how US policy related to health, nutrition and poverty have an impact on the health. The course will end with tangible examples of community nutrition interventions that focus at a local level.
Health Services Research
PBHL 855
This course will introduce students to components of research design, measurement, data analysis, and assessment applicable to Health Services Research (HSR). Classical research design strategies and corresponding methodologies will be presented to equip students to propose and/or undertake health services research. This course is recommended for students who will be carrying out policy research, social science research or program impact evaluation related to health care delivery systems, public health practice and/or population health. It is also relevant to those who will apply the results of HSR done by others.
Violence, Trauma, Adversity in Public Health
PBHL 856
This course will focus on the public health policy and practice aspects of trauma violence and adversity. The course will begin by laying a foundation of trauma theory and then will examine the impact of emerging knowledge on individuals, communities and systems. The course will examine trauma informed models, which have been applied to individuals, communities and systems and will analyze the policy and practice implications of these models as well as the translation from research to practice.