FOUNDATIONS OF PUBLIC HEALTH

Public health is a science-based discipline that depends on the analysis of empirical data to guide decision making. Public health decisions also involve value judgments and questions that cannot be answered solely, or primarily, with data. The goal of the Foundations Studio is to equip students with a set of conceptual frameworks and analytic tools for making those judgments and answering those questions. Comprising concentrations on history, ethics and human rights, this studio views public health practice and policy through a wide-angle lens and encourages students to think broadly about the social, political, cultural, legal, and economic drivers of public health outcomes. The studio is designed to help students grapple with challenging issues of justice, equity, individual rights and liberties, and collective action; and to develop a critical capacity for thinking broadly and deeply about public health issues.

• W 5:30 p.m.-6:30 p.m.
• 2 points

RESEARCH METHODS & APPLICATIONS

Successful public health studies, policies, and interventions rely on evidence to guide their design, development, implementation, and evaluation. Because public health is not a simple, reactive, “take the pill three times a day” solution, but a purposeful approach to preventing disease and promoting health, the tools of scientific inquiry to document, measure, evaluate, and understand all the consequences of health interventions are essential. Learning to identify, gather, and interpret evidence is therefore crucial for public health practitioners. The Research Methods & Applications studio provides an introduction to scientific inquiry and evidence and their relationships to public policy. Using an integrated approach spanning multiple disciplines, students will be provided with a basic introduction to quantitative and qualitative measurement and data collection, tenets of epidemiologic study design, statistical inference and data analysis techniques, and the tools of science. Views on the differences between scientific and other types of inquiry and knowledge, classical models of how science and evidence can inform policy and programs, and sources of tension at the science- policy interface will be explored and discussed. The methods introduced in this course will provide a toolkit with which to help measure and estimate the relationships between the smaller pieces that comprise the complex and dynamic web of systems in public health.

• R 8:10 p.m.-9:10 p.m.
• 4.5 points

DETERMINANTS OF HEALTH

This studio is concerned with 
etiology
, or the “cause, set of causes, or manner of causation of disease or condition”. As such, we will explore the patterning (who/what) and determinants (why) of population health. The course will focus on determinants ranging from upstream features of the social and physical environment to downstream, proximal risk factors at the level of individual biology, as well as the interactions between them. While often we think about our health as a function of behaviors we can control and genetics we can’t, the reality is much more complex, involving dynamic interplay between biology and the environment over the life course. Where we live, what we are exposed to, and the social and economic positions we occupy are major influences on our health, becoming encoded in our biology and expressed in the diseases we develop (or avoid) and, ultimately, in our longevity. Identifying these factors and understanding their health consequences is central to public health. 

 

In this studio, students become acquainted with a) the major environmental issues that we face, b) the social factors such as race/racism, socioeconomic status and gender that influence health, and c) the underlying biological basis of human disease. In addition, students will be presented with the approaches used to address the health consequences of these determinants. 

• R 6:30 p.m.-7:30 p.m.
• 3 points

INTEGRATION OF SCIENCE & PRACTICE

INTEGR OF SCI & PRACT

The different studios in the Mailman Core teach a set of foundational perspectives, knowledge, and skills. But the practice of public health requires applying this education in a context characterized by uncertainty, risk, competing interests, conflicting values, and systems of oppression that perpetuate racism and drive inequities across multiple dimensions of society

 

The Integration of Science and Practice (ISP) uses case studies of actual events to help students analyze the complicated nature of public health practice. The course immerses students in the complex arena of public health decision-making and debate, placing them in the role of stakeholders and policymakers who must marshal both their core knowledge and disciplinary perspectives to explore different options and create and justify interdisciplinary responses to public health challenges. The cases also provide an opportunity to identify crosscutting themes and questions (e.g. knowledge gaps; used of evidence; trade-offs in public health decision making, inequities and inequalities; discrimination; public health ethics; politics; interest group agendas; funding and available resources; organization; public perception, etc.).

 

Fundamental to all the cases, ISP provides a structured space to explore systems of oppression, our relationship to these systems, and their impact on public health.

 

In the Fall semester these cases are based upon classic public health dilemmas, and links are made to their relevance to current public health issues. The cases serve as an archive of sorts, a library of examples to draw on as points of comparison when they encounter similar problems and issues in other classes or during their careers.  

• W 6:40 p.m.-8 p.m.
• Instructor: Marlyn M Delva
  Info
• 1.5 points

PUBLIC HEALTH PRACTICE SEMINAR

• F 11:30 a.m.-12:50 p.m.
• Instructor: Heather Krasna
  h-index: 5 Info
• 0.5 points

Case Studies in Public Health Practice a

Case Stud in PH Pract & L

• R 4:30 p.m.-8 p.m.
• Instructor: Helen de Pinho
  Info
• 1.5 points