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 PH 781: TOPICS IN BST
  TOPICS IN BST
• SPH PH 782: TOPICS IN CHS
  TOPICS IN CHS
• SPH PH 783: Topics in EH: Local and Global Public Health Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic
  This course provides a high-level overview of how the COVID-19 pandemic has and is affecting global and domestic health and changing civilization. It is co-taught by faculty from the BU Schools of Public Health and Medicine and other professionals actively confronting the COVID-19 pandemic on the frontlines. Initial sessions provide students with background on the emergence and natural history of SARS-CoV-2, epidemiologic and clinical aspects of COVID-19, and treatment options and prevention strategies including non-pharmacological approaches and vaccines. Subsequently, sessions will examine political, social, and economic factors influencing the COVID-19 pandemic, with particular focus on the disease vulnerabilities of certain subpopulations and health disparities that have been aggravated by the disease. Future prevention and control of COVID-19 will be considered throughout the course as well as strategies to optimize preparedness and response to future respiratory diseases of pandemic potential that might subsequently emerge. This course should be of interest to MPH students across all certificates and interested undergraduates. Students will receive current information on the impact of the pandemic on health and wellbeing, and they will engage in discussions with professionals who have ongoing experience with COVID-19.
• SPH PH 784: Topics in EP: Science in a Pandemic
  The SARS-CoV-2 outbreak has put pressure on science the likes of which few epidemiologists have ever experienced. Timelines are compressed, science is under scrutiny, the integrity of scientists are being questioned, the public has mixed trust in science and science itself is confronting its own limitations. The purpose of this course is to use the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak as a case study in how scientists should react to a massive public health emergency and to identify the lessons we can learn from how we have engaged so far in response to COVID-19.
• SPH PH 785: TOPICS IN GH
  TOPICS IN GH
• SPH PH 786: Special Topics: Grant Writing Doctoral
  Grant writing is an important skill for doctoral students to develop, particularly those interested in faculty careers (also relevant to folks interested in many other roles as well!). The purpose of this course is to support BUSPH doctoral students/candidates in writing grant proposals in a systematic fashion under faculty guidance and with peer input. The fall portion will focus on general grant writing strategies, while the spring portion will focus on proposal development. Upon completion of the grant writing course, the expectation is that participants will submit their proposal for funding. The focus is on NIH/AHRQ F-series and R36-type grants, though students are welcome to use the course to prepare a grant for a foundation or other source of funding. Participants are expected to involve their dissertation committee members in decision making and receive their input throughout the grant writing process.
• SPH PH 791: Special Topics in Biostatistics: Applied Causal Inference in Health Research
  Graduate Prerequisites: BS723 or BS730 and BS852 or equivalent; or EP854; or consent of instru ctor - This is an advanced statistics and epidemiology course, focused on application of causal inference methods in medical research. Topics covered include counterfactual outcomes, causal diagrams, mediation analysis, instrumental variable, and g-methods to deal with time-varying confounding. This course includes lectures, computer instructions, and discussion of reading material.
• SPH PH 792: TOPICS IN CHS
  TOPICS IN CHS
• SPH PH 793: TOPICS IN EH
  TOPICS IN EH
• SPH PH 794: Topics in Epidemiology
  TOPICS IN EP
• SPH PH 795: Topics in GH: Applications of Machine Learning in Global Health
  Every day, people from all over the world use digital devices to generate large amounts of text, image, video, and biological data. Researchers typically use machine learning algorithms to process these large datasets to identify patterns that could inform decisions about our health. In this course, we will study how researchers and institutions are using machine learning for public health purposes. Can your digital footprints be used to predict when you will die? Can machine learning algorithms determine the quality of care you receive at a hospital? Can your interactions with a social media platform indicate whether you have insomnia? These and similar questions will be explored in this course using real world examples and data. We will also learn how bias imbedded in the data (e.g., due to a lack of representation of certain populations) and algorithms can worsen existing health inequalities. Students will be introduced to machine learning algorithms in R and have many opportunities to apply these algorithms to various datasets. Students are required to have some familiarity with R but are not expected to be experts. Please reach out to Dr. Nsoesie at onelaine@bu.edu, if you have any questions.
• SPH PH 796: TOPICS IN HLPM
  TOPICS IN HLPM
• SPH PH 802: Environmental Justice: Social movement, Science and Policy
  For decades, low income and BIPOC communities have challenged scientists and public health professionals to confront polluters and prevent environmental exposures that affect people’s health where they live, work and play. And yet, exposure and health inequities affecting low-income and BIPOC communities of color have increased over time. According to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Environmental Justice is “the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income, with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies.” This course will engage students in examining the data that determines environmental justice populations, and analysis of watershed moments in the environmental justice movement beginning with the establishment of the US EPA in 1970. We will critically environmental policies and legal decisions in the context of the civil rights movement, and seminal studies of hazardous waste landfills and the racial and economic status of the surrounding communities. Finally, we will prepare students to evaluate environmental justice concerns using publicly available data on population characteristics and exposures used by agencies at the federal, state and local level.
• SPH PH 803: Community-Based Participatory Research: Theory and Methods
  This course provides an overview of history, theory and methods for working in partnership with communities to conduct research for action. Through a combination of lectures, discussion, case-studies, we will explore the history of research as a tool of colonialism and exploitation; the role of particular communities in revolutionizing research funding and infrastructure for the benefit of and in service to communities; theoretical, ethical, and methodological considerations for research partnerships among professionally trained and academic researchers and non-academic/professional researchers; and specific examples from local research initiatives. The course trains students in the skills to form research questions, consider the priorities and efforts of diverse steak holders to conduct anti-racist research, and to identify appropriate methods and procedures in response to such questions. The class is highly participatory and requires student discussion. Each session begins with a voluntary “check-in” where every student is invited to discuss key impressions and take-homes from the past week’s class and/or questions or observations from the assigned reading that students hope to discuss in the ~3-hour class period. This course may be of interest to MPH CAPDIE and SPH PhD students. It may also interest students at Wheelock, the School of Theology, and the School of Social Work.
• SPH PH 825: Analysis of Emerging Infections Using the One Health Approach
  Graduate Prerequisites: EP755 (ID Epi), or consent of instructors. - This class employs One Health, a public health approach emphasizing the interconnectedness of human health, animal health, and the environment, to provide an understanding of factors involved in the natural history of emerging infectious diseases (EIDs), and of approaches required for sustainable control and prevention of these diseases. The number of reported EIDs is steadily increasing and some EIDs (e.g., influenza, chikungunya, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus [MRSA] and, recently, SARS-CoV-2) have had enormous global public health impact. Localized outbreaks can often be quite severe, particularly in certain settings (e.g., Ebola in West Africa). EIDs are vector- borne and/or zoonotic, and a wide range of social, behavioral, and physical environmental factors contribute to their emergence. In this class, case studies of specific EIDs are used to illustrate the multi-factorial nature of disease emergence and spread. Emphasis is on understanding the natural history and pathogenesis of these EIDs, and the laboratory methods commonly used for their diagnosis and surveillance. At the course conclusion, students will be able to apply the principles they have learned to analyze and determine the factors involved in the emergence or re-emergence of an infectious disease; essential knowledge for determining appropriate control and prevention strategies.
• SPH PH 842: Research Theory and Design
  Graduate Prerequisites: SPH BS704 or EP713 or the equivalent as determined by the instructor. - This course focuses on the philosophy of science and the practice of research in public health. It compares and contrasts different approaches to scholarship and examines what makes some research interesting and important. The course will focus on developing research questions, objectives and aims in the context of what is already known/not known about an area of study. Students will develop the background and specific aims sections for a research proposal by the end of the course.
• SPH PH 843: Quantitative Methods for Health and Social Policy Research
  Graduate Prerequisites: For MS or Doctoral students who have completed BS704, EP713, PH842, an d BS720 or equivalent - How did freezes on non-essential medical care during the COVID-19 pandemic affect health outcomes for people with chronic diseases? How do state mask requirements affect the spread of COVID-19? At a time of record unemployment how does unemployment insurance affect food insecurity? In the wake of the killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, how do police killings of unarmed civilians affect mental health? In this course, you will learn quantitative methods concepts that underlie how we ask and answer these types of causal questions. We and will learn by conducting statistical analyses using real-world health datasets. The course will emphasize concepts including how to ask important questions, the assumptions that go into different statistical approaches, how to conduct statistical analyses, how to interpret and present results, and the limitations of each approach. The principal goal of this course is to prepare you to ask important questions and to use quantitative methods to answer them. The assignments are designed to support your knowledge and understanding. Your understanding and participation is critical to the success of the course. I encourage you to ask questions for your own benefit and that of your peers.
• SPH PH 844: Introduction to Qualitative Analysis for Public Health and Health Services Research
  Graduate Prerequisites: The MPH core courses in Epidemiology and Biostatistics and PH842 - Qualitative methods are increasingly used either independently or as part of mixed-methods designs to answer "how" and "why" questions that other research methods may not inform. In this course, students will learn to identify different types of qualitative methods and the types of research questions and problems for which they are appropriate; different approaches to the analysis of a variety of types of qualitative data and to critically assess examples of such methods used in the literature.
• SPH PH 845: Integrated Learning Experience for MPH
  The BU MPH Integrative Learning Experience (ILE) affords students the opportunity to synthesize foundational and certificate competencies. Students will integrate and apply the knowledge and skills obtained throughout the degree program. ILEs will be tied to the student's required functional certificate and will incorporate skills and content from their context certificate as appropriate. Students will only complete one ILE, regardless of the number of certificates they pursue. Students working to complete two functional certificates will meet with their faculty advisors and Career Services staff to determine which ILE option is best for their career interests. The ILE is a required, 0-credit component of the MPH. It is student-initiated and faculty guided. Students will register for PH 845 for the ILE in their last semester.
• SPH PH 851: Needs Assessment
  Graduate Prerequisites: Enrollment restricted to DrPH students and other degree candidates with consent of instructor. - 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 define public health problems; set a community agenda by prioritizing distinct public health problems; engage the community in assessing local capacity to address those problems; visualize those problems with Geographic Information Systems; and present the results of their assessment to audiences of decision makers and the public.