Courses

The course descriptions below are correct to the best of our knowledge as of June 2010. Instructors reserve the right to update and/or otherwise alter course descriptions as necessary after publication. The listing of a course description here does not guarantee a course’s being offered in a particular semester. The Course Rotation Guide lists the expected semester a course will be taught. Paper copies are also available in the BUSPH Registrar’s office. Please refer to the published schedule of classes for confirmation a class is actually being taught and for specific course meeting dates and times.

• SPH MC 815: Sexual and Reproductive Health Advocacy: Culture, Science, and Politics
  This course prepares students to design, lead, or collaborate in advocacy efforts around sexual and reproductive health policy in the United States, with attention to the global context in which the policies are developed and have their impact. Students focus on an array of issues related to sexual health and the regulation of women’s fertility, and use multiple frameworks--public health science, law, social history, religion and politics--to frame and argue their positions for purposes of advocacy. Students develop skills in critical analysis, argument, writing and presentation to audiences that range from public officials to the readers of popular press.
• SPH MC 840: Women and Health Policy: Gender, Evidence, and Politics
  This course provides an opportunity to link theory, experience, and policy-making in the field of women’s health. Topics explored during the first half of the course include: what women in the U.S. need, want and receive with respect to health care services and preventive education; the role of women as health activists, consumers and providers; the meaning of gender, race, class, and culture in the provider-patient relationship; the assumptions and agendas that have shaped the field of women’s health; and the implications of that history for policy-making today. During the second half of the course, case studies are used to consider whether or not the questions currently being asked in women’s health are the right questions and whether or not resources are being directed appropriately. Topics examined in depth include mammography, lesbian health, hormone replacement therapy, physical disability, depression and aging. Students complete the course with sharpened skills for making arguments and promoting their ideas orally and in writing to audiences as diverse as legislators, the media, private foundations, public health policy-makers, and the general public. this class carries SB concentration credit.
• SPH MC 845: Perinatal Health Services
  This seminar will focus on the contribution of perinatal health services and policies to improving birth outcomes and maternal well-being and reducing racial/ethnic disparities. This seminar will not address the identification of underlying causes or risks for poor birth outcomes, but rather the amelioration of known risks through organized public health programs and policies. A wide range of current prenatal health initiatives will be examined, including the CDC’s preconception and health care initiatives; comprehensive prenatal care (including home visiting) and centering pregnancy initiatives; community-based Healthy Start initiatives; the March of Dimes’ prematurity prevention campaign; interconception and internatal care interventions; women’s health and MCH life-course initiatives, child and family allowances, and European reproductive health practices and policies. The special emphasis of this course will be on the practical implementation and delivery efficacious perinatal health services.
• SPH MC 850: Seminar in MCH Programs & Policies
  This seminar examines the history of state, federal and international MCH programs and policies, their underlying ethical and policy assumptions, and conflicting population perspectives with a cross-cutting focus on MCH racial/ethnic health disparities reduction. The course will assist students to better articulate their own views about these perplexing MCH dilemmas and improve their skills in writing MCH policy memos and journal articles. Required for MCH-based DrPH students; other interested students admitted by permission of Instructor.
• SPH MC 871: Advanced Topics in MCH
  This course addresses timely topics in maternal and child health at an advanced level. It allows students to build on their prior coursework and/or experience and knowledge of the field, focusing on a particular topic in more depth than is available in introductory courses. Topics vary each semester; for information regarding the current offerings, please refer to the print or web-based School of Public Health schedule.
• SPH MC 931: Directed Studies in Maternal and Child Health
  Directed Studies provide the opportunity for students to explore a special topic of interest under the direction of a full-time SPH faculty member. Students may register for a 1, 2, 3, or 4-credit directed study by submitting a paper registration form and a signed directed study proposal form. Directed studies with a non-SPH faculty member or an adjunct faculty member must be approved by and assigned to the department chair. Students are placed in a section by the Registrar’s Office according to the faculty member with whom they are working. Students may take no more than eight credits of directed study, directed research, or practica courses during their MPH education.
• SPH MC 932: Directed Research in Maternal and Child Health
  Directed Research provide the opportunity for students to explore a special topic of interest under the direction of a full-time SPH faculty member. Students may register for 1, 2, 3, or 4 credits. To register, students must submit a paper registration form and signed directed research proposal form. Students are placed in a section by the Registrar’s Office according to the faculty member with whom they are working. Students may take no more than eight credits of directed study, directed research, or practica courses during their MPH education.
• SPH PH 506: International Health and the World Health Organization
  Principles of International Health is designed for students with an interest in the theory and practice of health management in developing countries. There are no prerequisites: students with a background in international relations, politics, and economics will all find that the course touches on issues relevant to their main field of study. The course is divided into six topics, including nutrition, maternal and child health, and infectious diseases. Policy issues involving research into the causes of illness and the treatment of disease in the developing world will also be discussed.The course will be directed and partly taught by Dr Philip Jenkins, who has worked on public health issues at the World Health Organization for eighteen years. There will also be many specialized guest lectures by international experts from the World Health Organization or other health-care organizations based in Geneva and field-trips to some of these organizations. This course is for undergraduates enrolled through the Geneva Internship Program only.
• SPH PH 510: Introduction to Public Health
  Students will gain an understanding of public health as a broad, collective enterprise that seeks to extend the benefits of current biomedical, environmental, social, and behavioral knowledge in ways that maximize its impact on the health status of a population. The course will provide a public health perspective that will assist the student in identifying and addressing an ever expanding list of health problems that call for collective action to protect, promote and improve our nation’s health, primarily through preventive strategies. The course includes an active learning component and is intended for both graduate and undergraduate students regardless of one’s program of study. It does not carry degree credit for MPH students. PH510 is a requirement for obtaining a minor in public health and is appropriate for undergraduates and others who are not in an SPH degree program.
• SPH PH 511: Pathogens, Poverty, and Populations: An Introduction to International Health
  This course will introduce students to issues of public health importance in developing countries. For each disease or public health problem considered, the class will explore its epidemiology, natural history, risk factors and contributing causes, and responses of the public health community at local, national, regional, and international levels. The course includes six sections: Core Concepts, Child Health and Nutrition, Infectious Diseases, Women’s Health and HIV/AIDS, Chronic and Non-communicable Diseases, and Concluding Sessions. PH511 is appropriate for undergraduates and others who are not in an SPH degree program. Students who complete PH511 as undergraduates should not also take IH703.
• SPH PH 709: The Biology of Public Health
  This course, designed for students who have little or no background in the biological sciences, provides a foundation in the biological mechanisms and principles underlying major public health problems. Selected public health problems are explored from a biological perspective in order to provide fundamental information about infectious and non-infectious agents of disease, disease transmission, biological defense mechanisms, co-evolution of man and microbes, the effects of nutritional deficiency and excess, effects of respiratory exposures, the biology of cancer, aging, and other topics. Each student completing this course should be able to knowledgeably participate in a discussion of public health problems with a basic understanding of the terminology, the underlying biological mechanisms of major public health problems, the biological impact of disease, and the major biological issues that influence the success of interventions. This course, or its equivalent, or SPH EH710, Physiology, are required pre-requisites for SPH EH768, Introduction to Toxicology.
• SPH PH 771: Topics in Public Health
  Varies by semester; see printed course descriptions and printed course schedules on School of Public Health web site, http://sph.bu.edu/registrar
• SPH PH 825: The Role of Human and Environmental Factors in Emerging and Re-emerging Infectious Diseases
  The goal of this course is to give students a basic understanding of the human and environmental factors involved in the natural history of emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases. Specific infectious diseases, including avian influenza, SARS, dengue, chikungunya, and enterohemorrhagic E. coli, will be employed as models to illustrate the involvement of these factors. Major emphasis will be placed on understanding the pathogenesis of the specific infectious diseases under discussion, as such an understanding is essential for appreciating how any disease emerges or re-emerges. At the conclusion of the course, students will be able to apply the principles they have learned to analyze and determine the factors involved in the new emergence or re-emergence of an infectious disease; knowledge which is ultimately essential for determining appropriate disease control and prevention strategies.
• SPH PH 850: Social and Cultural Factors Affecting the Health of Populations
  This course explores the roles of social and cultural factors as determinants of public health and examines social epidemiology concepts and approaches. Seminar participants explore how social science disciplines are useful in analyzing and solving public health challenges. Students will develop an overview of available research on the socio-economic, racial/ethnic, and gender gradients in health domestically and internationally. Structural violence as a social force will be emphasized. In addition, the course emphasizes the relationships among methodological strategies, theory development, and the evolution of social policy.
• SPH PH 851: Needs Assessment
  This course examines the processes by which local and regional health status and services can be assessed and analyzed. Students will learn approaches to: quantitatively and qualitatively defining public health problems; setting a community agenda by prioritizing distinct public health problems; engage the community in assessing local capacity to address those problems; visualizing those problems with Geographic Information Systems; and presenting the results of their assessment to audiences of decision makers and the public.
• SPH PH 852: Research Methods for Public Health Practice
  This course introduces students to the principles underlying the types of scientific studies that inform health programs methods such as cross-sectional surveys, qualitative studies, and randomized controlled trials. Issues related to sampling, instrument selection , variable construction , research ethics and community involvement will among those explored in the course. Instruction is primarily through discussion of the advantages and limitations of real life studies that have informed health programming,and through a student project to design a feasible study to address an issue of interest to the students. In this way students will learn about the advantages and limitations of various study designs. The goal of the course is to enable participants to review scientific studies and critically assess their relevance to their area of public health practice.
• SPH PH 853: Health Program Development and Management
  This course provides an applied, practitioner-oriented survey of major topics involving the management and finance of public health organizations and programs. The goal is for students to develop an understanding of the underlying conceptual frameworks, theoretical structure, principal issues involved, and knowledge and skills required in the management and financing of governmental and non-profit organizations which provide, and oversee the provision of, public health services. The course draws upon the theories of public sector management, economics, public finance and expenditure, financial and managerial accounting for governments and non-profits and financial administration.
• SPH PH 854: Program and Policy Evaluation
  Evaluation research is critical to the advancement of public health knowledge and the improvement of program services. This course focuses on the theory and practice of program evaluation and the development of student evaluation skills and their implementation in practice. Students will use case study materials. Students will learn to conceptualize the entire evaluation process from the development of program logic, through evaluation design, measurement, sample size calculation and an analysis plan. In addition, students will learn about cost-effectiveness analysis and meta-analysis for policy development. PH854 is a summer-long course.
• SPH PH 856: Law & Ethics for Public Health Leaders
  Law, ethics, and human rights often either determine or heavily influence both the range of choices open to public health policymakers and the means available to achieve public health goals. Using case studies, including rationing flu vaccine, responding to catastrophes such as Hurricane Katrina, protecting and promoting women’s health and reproductive rights in developing countries, and regulating research to prevent exploitation of subjects in resource poor countries, students will recognize and integrate legal, ethical, and human rights concepts into public health policy development.
• SPH PH 857: Health Economics and Financial Management for Public Health
  This course is an applied, practitioner-oriented survey of major topics in health economics and the financial management of public health organizations and programs. It will provide students with a brief introduction to the theoretical and conceptual underpinnings of health economics and financial management, but the focus will be on practical application to health care market issues, resource allocation policy problems, financial and managerial accounting, performance measurement, and economic evaluation of public health programs.

Note that this information may change at any time.

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