Courses in Health Science
Biology 2 for Health Studies Majors
This course is the second in a series of two biology courses and follows Biology 1 for Health Studies Majors. In Biology 2, students study biology at the organism, population and ecosystem level of organization. Topics covered include evolution, biodiversity, plant and animal structure and function, and ecology. This course includes a virtual laboratory component which compliments topics covered in the assigned readings.
Course Code: BIOL 1122
Prerequisites: BIOL 1121, PSYC 1111, and SOC 1502
Credits: 4
Human Anatomy & Physiology (Proctored course)
This course serves as an introduction to the global structure and function of the human body, as well as its systems and physiological processes that supports the functioning of the systems. Topics to be addressed include musculoskeletal, nervous, cardiovascular, endocrine and respiratory organ systems. The class will introduce students to the concept of connecting form to function and to evolutionary history. Students will gain a primary understanding of anatomical and physiological terminology; cell and tissue types; and basic biochemistry as it relates to human organ differentiation. Students will also learn how to search and find the most up to date and freely accessible research in the field of physiology/anatomy. They will be introduced to the basic study designs employed in physiological/anatomical and medical research.
Course Code: HS 2211
Prerequisites: BIOL 1122
Credits: 3
Oral Health
This course introduces the student to the general principles of oral public health and epidemiology. It will focus on some of the most common connections between oral health and overall health, while also reviewing a potential connection with COVID-19. This course also demonstrates techniques of oral disease prevention and control, and how community based oral health programs can make a difference.
Course Code: HS 2720 Prerequisites: HS 2211
Credits: 3
Infectious Diseases
This course provides an overview of the process by which disease is transmitted. Topics to be covered include the microbiology of viruses, bacteria and other infectious agents; host-parasite relations and coevolution; vectors of transmission; and social network models of transmission. These concepts are applied to real world case studies where students learn how to prevent the spread of disease, handle highly infectious patients, and deal with the social ramifications of interventions such as quarantines.
Course Code: HS 2212
Prerequisites: BIOL 1122
Credits: 3
Nutrition
This course provides a general background introducing the history of food, food preparation and food storage/preservation. Basic knowledge about food chemistry will be presented with respect to human energy balance and metabolism, macro- and micronutrient needs and food group functions, and the diseases of nutrient deficiency and excess intake. Particular emphasis will be placed on the role of diet in metabolic syndrome, the obesity epidemic in some societies, and the political and geophysical causes of famine in other contexts.
Course Code: HS 2611
Prerequisites: BIOL 1122
Credits: 3
Health Science 1: Health Education and Behavior (Proctored course)
Health is a multidimensional concept with both a concrete and a social definition. In this course concepts of health and illness are explored to examine the ways in which the environmental surroundings, as well as the conditions under which we are born, grow, work, play, and age, shape our personal, community and population health. The course also investigates the structural and intermediary determinants of health such as social environment, social capital, behavior, and biology.
Course Code: HS 2711
Prerequisites: BIOL 1122
Credits: 3
Health Science 2: Preventive Medicine & Social Determinants of Health
This course provides an opportunity for students to delve further into key topics including social inequalities and their potential impact on health, with emphasis on marginalized and stigmatized populations; the role of resource allocation in health care; public health programing and the role of the State in public health; the health care system as a social institution; and how the health care system interfaces with populations, communities, and individuals through key decision making processes and communications.
Course Code: HS 2712
Prerequisites: HS 2711
Credits: 3
Biochemistry
This course provides an introduction to the biochemistry of the central dogma as it relates to health science. Structure function relationships of macro and macromolecules will be explored as they relate principles of metabolism, enzymology, system response to environmental stimuli, and health and disease.
Course Code: CHEM 3212
Prerequisites: HS 2212
Credits: 3
Human Diseases
This course examines current understanding of human health and disease. Students will explore etiology, pathogenesis, diagnosis, treatment, outlook, and prevention of select diseases. Topics include conditions resulting from trauma; developmental, congenital, and childhood diseases; and diseases and conditions from each system in the human body.
Course Code: HS 3210
Prerequisites: HS 2211
Credits: 3
Epidemiology (Proctored course)
This course introduces student to basic concepts and methods of epidemiology and population health. In this course, students learn how to measure disease incidence, prevalence, risk, relative risk and related concepts. Students also learn how to design, analyze and interpret studies that deploy methodologies ranging from case-control, cohort and randomized control trials (RCTs). Problems that plague such studies are explored including attrition, censoring, biased sampling, model misspecification, confounding or lurking variables. Finally, disease transmission dynamics are addressed along with network models that attempt to describe them.
Course Code: HS 3311
Prerequisites: HS 2211
Credits: 3
Human Development in a Global Perspective (Proctored course)
This course provides a comparative analysis of the life course and stages from infancy through adolescence and adulthood, to old age and death. Various developmental processes are addressed, including socio-emotional, cognitive, and physical. Various perspectives are explored from the social scientific including an analysis of rituals and rites of passage and roles at various life states, to the biological where students study predictors of menarche, fertility, brain development as well as stages of physical and mental decline. Special emphasis on cross-cultural differences in human development are explored throughout the course.
Course Code: HS 3610
Prerequisites: HS 2712
Credits: 3
Health Systems and Structures
Globally, the world is moving towards Universal Health Coverage, a concept built around the practical attainment of the basic human rights of health for all. At the most basic level, a Healthcare System is the organization of both human and monetary resources, institutions, and service delivery outlets in order to meet the health needs of a population. These systems come in a variety of models which are influenced by the economic context, the values upon which the system is built and guided, and the socio-cultural context at the national and local levels. This course provides a comprehensive overview of the different models of Health Systems and Service Delivery Organization employed in various contexts around the world as a means of providing a holistic and balanced understanding of how health systems can and do function in different contexts.
Course Code: HS 3810
Prerequisites: HS 2712
Credits: 3
Community Health
Community Health is an evidence-based practice for preventing and reducing population-wide levels of public health problems such as crime, disease, and poverty (CDP). CDP are responsible for the rates of morbidity and mortality in every community in the world. The CTC uses a public health approach to address community-wide health and behavioral issues and this course provides students with the basic knowledge needed to help create and sustain CTC awareness. The course also examines the functions and structures of the communities and covers the five implementation phases of the CTC model which involves understanding the concept and role of key leaders and community work-groups.
Course Code: HS 3814
Prerequisites: HS 2712
Credits: 3
Internship
Students complete a formal, supervised internship in a government, private or nonprofit organization in which they gain real-world experience in one or more of the following areas: prevention of sickness and injury; detection and control of diseases; education of individuals, groups and communities to promote health and healthy lifestyles; policy and/or program development; advocacy for quality healthcare that is equitable and geographically accessible; research in any of these areas. Students complete and are graded on a written project paper due at the end of the internship experience.
Course Code: HS 3995
Prerequisites: 80 credits including the following 10 courses in the Health Science major are eligible to apply for the internship:
BIOL 1122 Biology 2 for Health Studies Majors, HS 2211 Human Anatomy & Physiology, HS 2212 Infectious Diseases, HS 2611 Nutrition, HS 2711 Health Science 1, HS 2712 Health Science 2, HS 3311 Epidemiology, HS 3610 Human Development in a Global Perspective, HS 4510 Biostatistics and HS 4810 Health Policy and Management
Credits: 6
Genetics (Proctored Course)
This course introduces students to a wide range of topics in the burgeoning field of genetics and evolutionary biology. Topics to be covered include the structure and function of DNA; Mendelian inheritance and deviations from this assumption; aspects of evolution including the neutral theory; selection; drift; and evolutionarily stable strategies; sexual versus asexual reproduction; behavioral genetics and the concept of heritability; and gene-by-environment effects. Through the use of educational technology, students explore their own analyses of these areas throughout the course.
Course Code: HS 4212
Prerequisites: HS 3311
Credits: 3
Psychopathology and Mental Health (Proctored course)
This course serves as an introduction to a wide range of mental health topics beginning with definitions of normality and abnormality with respect to human behavior, and including the concepts of stigma and othering. The social and genetic bases for major mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and major depression are also explored in depth. Students explore definitions of mental illness and how the existence of certain disorders remains a source of debate. Various perspectives and treatments are included such as Freudian/psychoanalytic, cognitive behavioral and psychopharmacology; mental health as a neglected global public health issue will also be covered with an emphasis on application of concepts to real world challenges at the individual, community and population levels.
Course Code: HS 4241
Prerequisites: HS 2211 and PSYC 1111
Credits: 3
Biostatistics (Proctored course)
Biostatistics provides an introduction to selected topics in statistics as they apply to biological and health issues. In discussing different forms of biological/medical/health data and the tools used to analyze them, students learn how to describe the central tendency and variation in data. They also unpack the relationship between sample statistics and population values (i.e. inference) and are introduced to concepts such as hypothesis testing, power analysis and study design, and sampling approaches.
Course Code: HS 4510
Prerequisites: MATH 1280 and HS 3311
Credits: 3
Health Policy & Management (Proctored course)
Health Policy today is determined by the goals and actions of health related decisions in a given society. As such, health policy can define the vision for the future by identifying priorities, roles and responsibilities, and affecting change, preferably towards the betterment of health for the population. This course examines the development and the use of health policy with specific emphasis on management, economics of care, the development of health systems and services, and health politics. In understanding constructions of health policy, students explore key aspects of health management, and gain a practical skillset for the integration and implementation of policy at various levels of health provision, care, and leadership.
Course Code: HS 4810
Prerequisites: HS 2712
Credits: 3
Bioethics
Bioethics focuses on the ‘reasonableness’ of human choices and actions that typically occur in health sciences practice, such as end-of-life decision-making, artificial reproduction / genetic manipulation, medical research practices and population-level allocation of health resources. The course begins with a general consideration of ethics before delving into medical practice and bioethics in particular. Students learn to debate ethical issues such as conflicts in honoring patient requests, when randomized trials are acceptable, how to think about rationing limited health or nutritional resources, and appropriate responses to patient requests to be informed about health and longevity prospects. One goal of this course is to raise awareness and inform students about the moral choices and decisions that are a part of health care careers.
Course Code: HS 4812
Prerequisites: HS 2712
Credits: 3
Research Methods in Health Science Part I
This course is the first of a two-course capstone sequence that is intended to allow students to demonstrate what they have learned throughout the Health Science program in an applied context. In this course, students learn the basics of planning and conducting research in the health sciences. Building on previous coursework, students will review research design, sampling techniques, and the ethics of health and medical research using human subjects.
Course Code: HS 4990
Prerequisites: 80 credits including the following 10 courses in the Health Science major are eligible to apply for the internship: BIOL 1122 Biology 2 for Health Studies Majors, HS 2211 Human Anatomy & Physiology, HS 2212 Infectious Diseases, HS 2611 Nutrition, HS 2711 Health Science 1, HS 2712 Health Science 2, HS 3311 Epidemiology, HS 3610 Human Development in a Global Perspective, HS 4510 Biostatistics and HS 4810 Health Policy and Management
Credits: 3
Research Methods in Health Science Part 2
This course is the second of a two-course capstone sequence intended to allow students to demonstrate what they have learned throughout the Health Science program in an applied context. In this course, students will use the knowledge gained during their coursework across the areas of the social and biological causes of illness, determinants of mental health and psychopathology, and disease prevention and health promotion to identify a topic in the health sciences. Using the identified topic, students will develop and pilot a research proposal that frames the research question(s), discusses the rationale for the question(s), includes a review of the literature on the topic, and describe the planned data collection and analysis activities.
Course Code: HS 4995
Prerequisites: HS 4990
Credits: 3