Courses

The listing of a course description here does not guarantee a course’s being offered in a particular term. Please refer to the published schedule of classes on the MyBU Student Portal for confirmation a class is actually being taught and for specific course meeting dates and times.

• SPH EP 912: Directed Research in Epidemiology
  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 EP 980: FT Continuing Study in Epidemiology
  Graduate Prerequisites: For Doctoral Students who have completed coursework. Doctoral students who have completed all academic course requirements, must register for Continuing Study every Fall and Spring semester until they have successfully defended their dissertation and graduated from SPH. Students are certified full-time and charged for student health insurance, the equivalent of two credits of tuition, and all relevant fees.
• SPH EP 985: PT Continuing Study in Epidemiology
  Graduate Prerequisites: For Doctoral Students who have completed coursework. Doctoral students who have completed all academic course requirements, must register for Continuing Study every Fall and Spring semester until they have successfully defended their dissertation and graduated from SPH. Students are certified part-time and charged for the equivalent of two credits of tuition, and all relevant fees.
• SPH GH 722: Supply Chain Management for Improved Health System Performance
  Supply chains are a key aspect of almost every public health program. While often overlooked, the global COVID-19 pandemic made evident that efficient supply chains and their management determine whether life-saving health technologies reach the people who need them most. This dynamic, seven-week course has a strong experiential component to enhance learning including simulations and interviewing subject area experts about current supply chain management innovations and challenges. You will learn not only how to manage product delivery through complex systems but also how to design and develop markets so that the right technologies are developed, affordable, and consistently available where they are needed most. Through a mix of practical training and real-world engagement, the course introduces core supply chain building blocks – system design, assessment, quantification, procurement, inventory control, and logistics management information systems – anchored in both global and domestic health contexts. A certificate in supply chain management at the end of the course is an additional benefit and qualification in your curriculum.
• SPH GH 743: Implementing Health Programs in Developing Countries: Making Programs Work
  Graduate Prerequisites: For advanced MPH students (>16 credits completed). Recommend completion of GH744 prior to taking GH743, but not required. As professionals working in different settings, we often end up running programs we did not design, which are under-financed and face enormous implementation challenges. In this practice-based course, students will work with a specifically identified health program that is currently being implemented. They will conduct systems analyses, undertake problem solving exercises, and propose solutions to real implementation challenges in the field. Ultimately, they will be able to prioritize the interventions necessary to effectively run a complex health program in such diverse situations as urban slums and dispersed rural areas in a variety of settings and be prepared to plan the actions to effectively run those programs. This course is directed towards students in the health management emphasis area and is not suitable for students in their first semester of studies. Students who will particularly benefit from this course are both U.S. and international students who plan to manage programs in different settings, including in low-and middle-income countries.
• SPH GH 744S: Program Design for Global Health
  Students cannot take both GH744 and GH887. Developing a structured approach to program design is an important skill for public health professionals. GH744 is a practice-based course that provides an opportunity to learn and apply the key steps of program design. The course invites students to work with an international or national non-governmental organization to design a public health program. The non-governmental organization will orient student consultant teams with a scope of work that will contain guidelines for developing a program for the organization and identifying prospective donors for funding. To complete the scope of work, each team will identify and describe a relevant public health problem and apply evidenced based solutions to address the problem(s). Course work will also sharpen the knowledge and the skills required for working effectively in a team and students will learn to reflect on individual and team performance. Students will also document their knowledge and skills in program design. Strongly recommend students take GH745: Monitoring and Evaluation of Global Health Programs to obtain critical monitoring and evaluation skills that will be used in this course. Class Notes: Can't also take GH887; GH744 requires a significant out of class commitment. Students should not register for other courses that meet in the same weeks.
• SPH GH 745: Monitoring and Evaluation of Global Health Programs
  Graduate Prerequisites: (SPHPH717) or instructor permission. - here is consensus within the public health community that inadequate project monitoring and evaluation (M&E) represents a major constraint in programmatic efforts to address the problems we face. The absence of sound M&E processes in large numbers of public health projects, despite continued evidence of their value in assessing and improving project performance, suggests that many project planners and managers may not yet have the necessary skills or understanding to develop and operate such systems. This course is designed to help address this need. This course provides a detailed analysis of program monitoring and evaluation with an emphasis on public health and nutrition-related projects. By reading relevant literature and using case studies, students will gain an understanding of the language and tools of program evaluation. The course will focus both on theory and practical application, and will consist of presentations, discussions, and applied exercises involving the preparation and critiquing of monitoring and evaluation plans. The course has a optional, non-credit lab.
• SPH GH 750: Gender, Sexuality, Power, and Inequality in Global Health
  This course explores the socio-cultural, economic and political contexts in which people live their lives and how these, and local and large-scale forces of structural violence (inequity, marginalization and gender discrimination) impact health and development around the world. Course readings and discussions examine how these forces constitute immediate and fundamental risk factors and must therefore be considered and addressed as part of any effort to improve global public health. Students will identify a public health problem related to gender, sexuality, and/or sexual health and rights in a country of their choice and write a policy brief that identifies the determinants of that problem, analyzes the national response to that problem, and makes recommendations to strengthen the national response. Course format: seminar with topics introduced by professor and guest lecturers.
• SPH GH 755: Managing Disasters and Complex Humanitarian Emergencies
  The incidence and severity of public health emergencies due to violent conflict and natural disasters is rising and are increasingly devastating to individuals, communities and their property. In recent years the world has witnessed the devastating effects of earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, typhoons, the COVID-19 pandemic, including ongoing and protracted wars around the world. This course exposes students to various aspects of disasters and humanitarian emergencies globally. Course readings and discussions explore the causes and consequences of disasters and humanitarian emergencies including population displacements. Students learn immediate rapid response, long-term public health interventions and disaster risk reduction and preparedness. Given the ever-changing nature of humanitarian emergencies, course readings and lectures are supplemented with weekly discussions of the most current events in the field. Experts share their experiences on how to prepare for personal involvement of living and working in humanitarian relief situations.
• SPH GH 760: Foundations in Global Health
  Global health is oen of the most vibrant, complex, and rapidly evolving fields in public health. This highly interactive course blends data-driven analysis with real-world case studies, hands-on excercises, and critical reflection. You’ll learn not only how to interpret global trends in morbidity and mortality, but also how to uncover their root causs and explain their implications for communities – especially those in low-and-middle-income countries. Students critically analyze the historical and current power imbalances, including the enduring legacy of colonialism and the manifestations of modern-day neocolonialism, that continue to shape global health institutions and national policies. Students gain hands-on skills to design and implement sustainable, evidence-based, multi-sectoral interventions to address key global health challenges ensuring that programs and policies are not just well-intended but truly effective. This course provides students the opportunity to apply these foundational skills to develop cross-cultural awareness and resourcefulness in solving problems that they encounter in their professional careers.
• SPH GH 762: Essentials of Economics and Finance for Global Health
  This course provides an introduction to health economics, with an emphasis on evaluating costs and cost-effectiveness of public health interventions and programs in resource-constrained settings, such as developing countries. The course does not assume prior training in economics, and provides a foundation in the concepts, theory, and methods of health economics. However, the course emphasizes skills needed to complete applied evaluations in real-world settings, with practical applications of quantitative frameworks on both problem sets and exams.
• SPH GH 765: Global Mental Health
  Mental health is relatively new to the global health agenda. At the 54th World Health Assembly in 2001, the WHO and health ministers from around the world made an impassioned argument that mental health disorders be systematically measured and addressed in all countries. Since then critical progress has been made in understanding the global burden of mental illness and the challenges faced by those in need of care in low and middle-income countries or in contexts marked by armed conflict or natural disasters. Likewise, the role of culture in defining ways in which mental illness manifests has been incorporated into international diagnostic manuals. Nevertheless, change has been slow and many who need mental health services continue to go without diagnosis or treatment and confront ongoing stigma and discrimination. Class sessions and assignments provide students with a chance to explore the critical role played by the social, cultural, and economic context in shaping mental health and illness.
• SPH GH 766: Sexual and Reproductive Health in Disaster Settings
  Disasters (natural and armed conflicts) pose various negative health outcomes to affected populations. In the wake of a disaster these populations are especially vulnerable to exploitation, rape, forced marriages, forced pregnancies and other types of human rights abuses. War time male-directed sexual violence has also been increasingly noted among those recruited into militia, detained by armed groups and those going about their daily tasks. This course will expose participants to sexual and reproductive health of populations in disaster settings. The contextual factors and consequences affecting populations’ sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) in humanitarian emergencies will be explored. Participants will learn how to plan for and implement a set of priority activities known as Minimum Initial Service Package (MISP), and transition from the MISP to comprehensive SRH services which is implemented when the situation is relatively stable. Reproductive health coordination which is an integral part of SRH in emergencies will be analyzed. Disaster risk reduction, advocacy and funding for reproductive health in crises situations will be discussed.
• SPH GH 770: Poverty, Health, and Development
  Graduate Prerequisites: Having a working knowledge of Excel software is helpful, but not required. Poverty, development, and health status remain enduring issues of our time, both in low income and high income countries alike. The goal of this course is to introduce students to the basic concepts and interrelated nature of poverty and development (including the dynamics and measures of poverty, inequality, and global burden of disease). We will then focus on a number of important cross-cutting health challenges that relate closely to levels of poverty and development, such as child health, maternal health, HIV and AIDS, women's empowerment, and climate change. The course draws on a variety of teaching methods, including large and small discussions, student-led workshops, guest lectures, and interactive exercises, as well as a set of team-based activities concentrated on one of the cross-cutting health challenges. Students will gain a deep knowledge of the interwoven nature of changes in poverty, inequities, and health status, and by the end of the class will be experts in at least one of the major topic areas, as they advance their skills in teamwork, engaging their peers on a specific health-related topic, conducting research and in-depth analysis, and disseminating their findings.
• SPH GH 773: Financial Management for Health Programs
  Health care managers must be prepared to talk about financial issues, analyze and interpret data, and make decisions using financial information. This course develops competencies in cost analysis, pricing, budgeting, and reading and interpreting financial reports in domestic and international health settings. In addition to using principles of differential and full cost analysis, students gain skills in breakeven analysis and calculating mark-ups. Examples are drawn from hospitals, clinics, and programs implemented by non-governmental organizations.
• SPH GH 795: Global AIDS Epidemic: Social & Economic Determinants, Impact, & Responses
  Graduate Prerequisites: The MPH core course in social and behavioral science. AIDS is one of the most important pandemics and human development challenges of our time. This course explores the determinants and impacts of the AIDS pandemic, including poverty, inequality, and human rights violations, examines best practices in prevention and treatment, and movements for positive policy changes globally. Students will explore the relationship between human rights, gender and vulnerability to HIV; examine effective multi-sectoral responses; and evaluate the benefits and limitations of major multi- and bi-lateral AIDS initiatives. Students will also examine the major debates in the AIDS field and explore different, at times contradictory, perspectives. Students will write a policy brief focused on an HIV-related problem in a country of their choice. Students will identify the determinants of that problem, analyze the legal, policy and programmatic response to that problem, and make recommendations to improve the national response.
• SPH GH 801: How to License a New Vaccine
  Vaccines are one of public health's most powerful tools. Vaccines have controlled many of the worst childhood infectious diseases, including bacterial meningitis, measles, diphtheria, and pertussis. Smallpox has been completely eradicated - and polio may soon follow. But where do vaccines come from? The goal of this course is to open the black box and give students a hands-on introduction to the challenging but fascinating process of clinical development, using the development of a new vaccine as the case study. The class is designed as an extended and competitive simulation -- essentially a game with pedagogic purpose. The students assume the role of clinical development teams at a hypothetical pharmaceutical company working to advance the development of a new vaccine. Each year, the class will select a vaccine candidate to enter development. Over the subsequent sessions, the students will advance their vaccine with the ultimate goal of securing licensure by FDA. In this course, students will acquire a deep understanding of clinical development and the regulatory process, will learn about contemporary and historical aspects of vaccine development, clinical epidemiology, and infectious diseases. By the end of the course, students will have a solid understanding of what it takes to bring a vaccine to market, while honing their skills at working in teams, giving professional presentations, and providing and responding to constructive feedback.
• SPH GH 805: Controversies in Global Control and Eradication of Infectious Diseases
  Graduate Prerequisites: (SPHPH717) - Control of infectious diseases and especially pandemics has become urgent public policy. This course focuses on active controversies regarding past and current eradication/control campaigns for infectious diseases. We consider the biological, epidemiological, sociological, political, ethical, and programmatic features that allowed the smallpox eradication campaign to succeed, as a template for understanding control of other infectious diseases. Current candidates for global eradication/elimination campaigns that will be covered include polio, measles, malaria, lymphatic filariasis, onchocerciasis, and dracunculiasis, and any new outbreaks that may be occur during the semester. We will explore and discuss how basic and clinical scientific findings from the primary scientific literature drives our understanding of disease transmission and mitigation strategies. Source material will consist of focused readings of the primary scientific literature, podcast interviews of global program leaders (e.g. GAVI, BMGF), policy memos and group presentations with class discussions. The goal is to inform students of the elements of infectious disease control involving different pathogens, in varied populations, and to achieve an understanding of the rationale behind different control program designs. We will also discuss the role of vaccination and vaccine hesitancy. This will prepare the student to more meaningfully participate in the important policy debate around infectious disease control. This is an advanced level seminar course.
• SPH GH 806: Using Digital Technologies to Improve Health Outcomes
  Located at the crossroads of technology, informatics and public health, digital health (clinical and public health practice supported by digital devices and services) emerged from its pilot stage in the early 2010s to become a central component of modern public health practice. In this course, you will learn how to design, develop, implement and evaluate digital health tools, including AI Chatbots, ODK and DHIS2. You will also learn about the current state of the field, what career paths are available to digital health specialists, and how a background in digital health can be useful to all public health practitioners. This course is suited for any students who are familiar or interested in learning more about how technology intersects with the health sector.
• SPH GH 811: Applied Research Methods in Global Health
  Graduate Prerequisites: SPHPH717 or consent of instructor. - The objective of this course is to teach student teams how to collect and analyze data to answer research questions and evaluate health interventions. Student teams will conduct a research study with multiple research methods including a cross-sectional survey and their choice from a variety of qualitative methods. The scope of the research questions addressed will be limited to minimal risk research conducted with students on the Boston University Medical Campus in the space of a semester. Each team will design a questionnaire, administer it, and enter and analyze the data using R. In conjunction with the cross-sectional survey, each team will also use some form of qualitative method, such as in-depth interviews or focus group discussions. The student teams will integrate the results of the cross-sectional survey and the qualitative research and present a report with findings and recommendations to their peers and faculty members. Students completing the course will have the skills to be able to collect and analyze data in a wide variety of settings.