Applies concepts learned in Survey Design and Data Collection through small group interactions
This course is designed to provide students with an overview of key child health status indicators, and major causes of child health and disease at the individual and population levels. By studying examples of significant child health problems and solutions in a range of populations in the United States and internationally, students will learn how to define and assess a child health problem, and become familiar with public health intervention strategies and their potential impact. In addition, students will gain an understanding of how social and environmental conditions contribute to patterns of morbidity and mortality, as well as individual risk within a population and health disparities across populations.
The course content is organized into three modules: (1) Poverty and Social Adversity; (2) Physical Environment and Safety; and (3) Lifestyle and Behaviors. Within each module, key child health problems and programmatic solutions are studied, followed by an in-class exercise at the completion of the module. The format combines lectures and discussion with team-based learning. In addition, some class sessions take place at program sites, where students participate in field-based learning. Assignments include readings (available on Courseworks) to provide background for each session. Students are divided into learning groups (6-8 members), which meet at the start of each class to integrate the out-of-class readings into each session.
It is estimated that two-thirds of deaths worldwide are attributable to non-communicable diseases (NCDs), with cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes mellitus, and chronic lung disease comprising the largest burden of NCDs. However, chronic diseases, including NCDs, have until recently received little attention in humanitarian settings, leaving prevention, care and treatment needs largely unaddressed among some of the most vulnerable populations. The rising numbers of refugees requiring health services, the protracted nature of modern displacement, and the changing demographics of populations living in fragile states have created compelling new health needs and challenges. It is unclear what chronic disease interventions are effective and feasible in such settings, how best to deliver them, and how well interventions are adhering to clinical best practice. As a result, there are increasing calls for a better understanding of chronic diseases and their interventions in humanitarian settings and protracted crises.
This course will introduce students to an overview of chronic diseases in protracted crises, including armed conflict and political instability. The course will utilize a combination of lectures, case studies, interactive class discussions, small group exercises and presentations by expert practitioners. Chronic diseases that will be explored include cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer, chronic respiratory disease. This course will also address chronic disabilities, HIV, tuberculosis and mental health within the spectrum of chronic diseases. An emphasis will be placed on understanding the contextual factors (including forced migration, natural emergencies, armed conflict, political instability and fragile states) that constrain the response to chronic diseases. Using a social and political determinants of health framework, students will gain an understanding of the main topics related to chronic diseases, including access to health care and the health care system, and case studies examining strategies and interventions for promoting health and health outcomes. The needs of vulnerable population sub-groups, including women, children, older persons and forced migrants will receive particular attention in each session. Students will be equipped with both the knowledge and skills to develop and evaluate a program to address chronic diseases, adapted to specific contexts and integrated into national and global humanitarian response systems.
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The global movement to realize lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) rights has both gained traction and faced significant pushback in recent years: although global normative and legal frameworks have evolved in some ways to recognize the rights of sexual and gender minorities, LGBTI people around the world are experiencing progress, setbacks, and scapegoating. The course will apply concepts of equity, access, inclusion, and human rights to interrogate how and why sexual and gender minorities are often excluded from humanitarian and development interventions despite the compounding oppressions that they face. Drawing upon the practice of public health and human rights work from humanitarian crises and low- and middle-income countries around the world, this course will explore how practitioners and advocates can best understand the evolution of LGBTI human rights in a variety of contexts; students will also probe how to become effective and supportive partners and allies to grassroots movements and organizations. Through a series of case studies, students will examine how LGBTI people are challenging the gender binary in societies around the world, including biases inherent in the structures of humanitarian and development work, and how such activists, advocates, and artists are mobilizing to ensure their inclusion in decision-making fora and their access to health and other services. Students will also consider and develop strategies to support local activists in these movements; these activists embody the intrinsic vulnerability of being sexual and gender minorities in countries where those identities are criminalized, the courage of those determined to change their societies, and the cunning to seize upon the societal jolts that humanitarian and development work can, sometimes, provide.
While the collection of qualitative data is widespread and growing in public health research, the credibility and quality of data analysis suffers from an absence of system and rigor in recording, organizing, categorizing and interpreting qualitative findings. Focusing in particular on interview data, this course introduces a variety of approaches to qualitative data analysis, and encourages their application through hands-on group work and homework assignments.
This is the final seminar in the sequence for the DNP student. This seminar will continue to foster the student’s clinical decision-making process while incorporating evidence-based practice for the provision of primary care to pediatric patients across settings. Utilizing the clinical encounter format and CUSON DNP Competencies in Comprehensive Care as a framework, the student will analyze clinical decisions, appraise and apply evidence for best practice.
Increasing demand for transparency and accountability, particularly with respect to donor-funded humanitarian programs, has heightened the need for skilled evaluators. To this end, students in this course will become familiar with various forms of evaluation and acquire the technical skills necessary for their development, design and execution through lectures and discussion, exercises, guest presentations and real world examples. Specifically, students will discover evidence-based methods for identifying stakeholders, crafting evaluation questions, designing instruments, sampling and data gathering to achieve good response rates, analysis and synthesis of information for report-writing and case studies.
This course will provide an overview of the regulatory and legal aspects that govern and shape global health, including both hard and soft law instruments. Many reforms and innovations in global health law have occurred in response to crisis and advocacy (such as the Doha Declaration, the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control and the PIP Framework). Yet, not all instruments have been equally effective in achieving their goals. The course will examine how these legal instruments shape global health and responses to disease as well as the context in which these reforms arose and will critically consider these instruments in their political context to understand how different interests have shaped the effectiveness and impact of law on global health. Topics covered would include: human rights, justice and global health, pandemic response (the international health regulations and the pandemic influenza preparedness framework), corporate power, trade law and global health (including the TRIPS Agreement and tobacco control), non-communicable diseases and law (including the framework convention on tobacco control and the international code on breastmilk substitutes), equity and the ongoing pandemic accord negotiations, and using global health law to address rising threats such as antimicrobial resistance and climate change. Through lectures, case studies, and critical discussions, students will gain foundational knowledge, assess the impact and limitations of global health laws, and develop skills for identifying areas for reform and advocacy.
This course aims to give students 1) an overview and foundational understanding of key global health law instruments and how they operate 2) a critical understanding of the shortcomings and strengths of the instruments and 3) the ability to identify areas for reform and advocacy efforts to improve global health outcomes. Readings for this course will consist of interdisciplinary global health law scholarship, legal scholarship and public health policy research.
Public health research, particularly service-based research, is a challenging enterprise. Its execution requires grounding in scientifically-based, standardized approaches to research design and implementation, as well as flexibility and skill in adapting those techniques to the unique needs of any program, organization, setting, or population. Many of us have had experience with "studies" that did not adequately collect data needed to initiate, evaluate, and/or improve whatever health problem or issue it was supposed to. This course provides students with the requisite skills for conducting successful service-based research, including fundamental concepts and components of research design, the development of research questions and hypotheses, and decision-making strategies for study data collection protocols and materials. In this course, students will also actively engage in qualitative and quantitative data collection, becoming familiar with field considerations, pre-testing, interviewing techniques, and the design, preparation, and use of topic guides for in-depth interviews/focus groups, and structured questionnaires for in-person, self-administered, and on-line surveys. By the conclusion of the course, students will have a complete, self-designed questionnaire, and will be able to plan and execute a sound research study.
Migration is a complex social phenomenon which deeply affects human life. Immigrants face difficulties adjusting to destination environments and are potentially exposed to adverse policies and experiences such as discriminations and stigma, affecting their well-being, regardless of reasons for migration. Understanding migration and its impact on health is important for disease prevention, preserving the health and rights of migrants and assuring the well-being of the communities of which they are a part.
This course will identify and analyze the economic, institutional, socio-political and cultural factors affecting the health and well-being of immigrants in the US. It will assess past and existing policies and programs to ascertain the extent to which they respond(ed) to the needs of the populations. Students will explore structural factors affecting the health of immigrants, and think critically about programs and policies that address important immigration issues.
Adverse Childhood Experiences and Trauma Informed Care: An Inter-professional Service Learning Experience Children who experience safe, stable, and nurturing childhoods that foster resilience undoubtedly experience better lifelong health and well-being. The 1998 landmark study, Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), demonstrated that when adults recall negative experiences, they had significantly higher rates of poor lifelong physical and emotional health. It is through the exposure of the developing brain to this constant toxic stress that results in changes to brain infrastructure, ultimately reducing executive function and increasing the risk of poor lifelong health and well-being outcomes.
Despite adversity and presence of ACEs, research has shown that positive childhood experiences can have long-lasting protective effects on adult well-being and health. Designed for second-year students, this service learning course will explore (1) the scientific evidence underlying the impact of childhood adversity on health and social functioning across the lifespan, and (2) strategies to address both the causes and consequences of ACEs. Students will integrate the knowledge gained in the classroom by participating in a field service experience by collecting information and/or data from health, human services and social science providers about organizational needs and training related to trauma. Students will receive in-class training and support and will work in teams. This course will be open to students from other CU professional schools, including but not limited to The School of Nursing and the School of Social Work.
The goals of this course are to provide students with a knowledge and understanding of clinical pharmacology, pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic principles with application to neonatal and pediatric patients. The prevention and treatment of various disease states affecting neonatal and pediatric patients will be explored. This course will review pharmacotherapeutics including appropriate use, therapeutic medication monitoring, adverse medication reactions, precautions and contraindications, and medication safety as it affects the neonatal and pediatric population.
The objective of this course is to examine key issues in global reproductive health (RH) in order to equip students with the knowledge and skills necessary to engage in this field. Topics of study will include global architecture and power structures affecting global reproductive health and public health responses, the reproductive health of adolescents, fertility and infertility, abortion, maternal health, STIs, HIV, violence, men and gender, and the intersection of reproductive health with economic empowerment, and climate change. The course will examine the global framing of reproductive issues, explore programmatic responses, critique the measurement of key indicators and factors that influence RH outcomes, identify accountability mechanisms with the potential to shape global RH, and engage in current debates within the field and movement.
There are no pre-requisites, and students from across Mailman, and from other graduate schools at Columbia, are encouraged to register.
This practicum focuses on the delivery of episodic illness care to children and adolescents in the ambulatory settings and on planning and managing the care of hospitalized children. The Pediatric Clinic is the main clinical setting. Here the student will learn how to assess children with common episodic illnesses, to develop and discuss differential diagnosis, to manage the care of children with minor illnesses, and to work with other health professionals collaboratively. When the illness requires hospitalization, the student will design and implement a plan of care, including discharge plans and teaching. Students utilize their knowledge of common child and adolescent illnesses and the information presented in M6630 and M8670 to assess and develop plans of care for all children and adolescents.
In this 7 week course, students analyze the policy and program factors influencing the provision of reproductive health services (or lack thereof) for people affected by armed conflict and natural disasters. Specifically students will study the history of reproductive health service delivery in conflict-affected settings, review internationally-established guidelines for meeting the RH needs of refugees and war-affected populations, assess enabling and impeding factors in selected global trouble- spots, describe a reasoned programmatic approach to a particular situation, discuss the current situation of the field and future directions for RH services in complex emergency settings.
The design, implementation and evaluation of health interventions in complex emergencies requires a particular professional orientation and skill set. Students gain a greater understanding of the use of qualitative and quantitative methods tailored for this purpose. The course particularly emphasizes the complementary roles of qualitative and quantitative approaches to investigation. By the end of the class, students should be competent in a range of skills including sampling strategy, designing surveys, running focus groups and participative activities, calculating morbidity and mortality rates, and analyzing narrative text. Through group work, lectures, case studies and participatory assignments, students will develop a diverse skill set relevant to their future work in a range of field settings.
This course examines a range of historical and current issues relating to the politics, policies and provision of abortion in the United States. Students will engage with a wide range of texts and resources and will hear from experts in the field. In the seven sessions, students will analyze real-time policy debates and developments in the courts, review recent social science research and messaging research from reproductive health, rights, and justice experts and discuss the role that research plays in public policy with experts themselves. This course will examine the history of abortion in the United States to better understand how provision has changed over time as laws have evolved and how abortion has become so politically fraught. It will delve into recent research studies on abortion access and examine how various laws have impacted abortion access, how immigration status impacts access to care, and how abortion access impacts economic outcomes across the lifecycle. We will examine polling on abortion attitudes to discern the current state of public opinion, how it is measured and what we can glean from it. Students will learn more about the range of abortion methods currently offered, and will hear from abortion providers about how those procedures have evolved, how those procedures are (or could be) impacted by public policy, and how medical advances are and will continue to change abortion. Lastly, it will review how states are experimenting with policies that expand access to sexual and reproductive health care and allow students to imagine what inclusive, effective policies could look like at the state, federal and international level.
Contemporary armed conflicts and complex humanitarian emergencies create significant mental health burdens and psychosocial suffering that damages health and well-being, limits development, and enables cycles of violence. Taking a multidisciplinary approach, this course examines the sources of psychosocial vulnerability and resilience in situations of forced migration and analyzes what kinds of emergency psychosocial and mental health interventions are most effective, appropriate, and scalable. It reviews broadly the current state of knowledge and practice, surveys practical tools of holistic psychosocial and mental health support in emergency settings, and analyzes the current limitations of the field. The course probes how issues of culture and power shape understandings and measures of mental health and psychosocial well-being, and it invites critical thinking about the implications of the “Do No Harm” imperative in regard to psychosocial and mental health supports. It also encourages thinking about how psychosocial support relates to wider tasks of humanitarian relief, economic and political reconstruction, protection, and peace building.
Each year there are 146 million births, 57 million deaths, and the world population grows by 89 million people – about 243,000 per day or 10,000 an hour. This has an impact on the people and nations of the world--public health; economies; national security, environment, etc. in countless ways. This course focuses on the determinants of these changes and their consequences for the future health and well-being of the human population. This is also an introduction to how demographers study the determinants and consequences of population trends. The course provides an understanding of the field of demography, the study of human populations, and how they change by birth, death, and migration and ultimately shape population health. The course builds on an overview in the CORE to demonstrate demographic issues and methods in public health. The course presents population issues and policies in global contexts as well as in the United States.
The objective of this course is to provide students with an understanding of the sources and content of international human rights law including who the law protects (rights-holders), who it obligates (duty-bearers), and how human rights are enforced in law and practice. The course will situate the human rights regime within the broader corpus of international law to protect rights in different contexts, including international humanitarian law, international criminal law and international refugee law. Key challenges and contemporary debates in international human rights law will be explored, including the relationship and relative importance of civil and political rights versus economic, social and cultural rights, and the role of the law in holding non state actors accountable for human rights abuses, including corporations, armed groups and religious fundamentalists. The course will profile and discuss how the law has evolved and adapted over time to serve as a dynamic tool to protect individuals. In so doing, we will explore the historical role of civil society in shaping and influencing the development of the law.
The course will begin with an overview of the origins and sources of international human rights law and the political factors that shaped its content and that continue to feature in contemporary debates around human rights. Session two will introduce students to the key global and regional mechanisms that seek to enforce human rights in law and practice. Subsequent sessions will explore a limited number of rights in more detail including the right to life, looking at both its civil and political rights dimensions, as well as economic and social rights to food, health and adequate housing that are critical to living a life of dignity. The right to be free from torture and cruel and inhuman treatment will also be explored and situated in the context of contemporary debates around its application to the private sphere including healthcare settings. The final two sessions will focus on the challenge of human rights protection in the context of conflict and displacement. Students will examine the international refugee regime as well as efforts that have been made to develop a framework to protect those who are internally displaced as a result of conflict. The final session will review basic concepts of international humanitarian law – who it protects and who it obligates – and also examine the increasingly important relationship between IHL and the evolving system of international criminal
Reproductive health has been so mired in controversy that evidence and scientifically based rational arguments often go unheeded. This course offers public health students entrée to analytic tools and concrete skills needed to intervene in this logjam. While reproductive health is particularly fraught, other public health issues are similarly held captive by political contention.
This course will explore the role of the public health professional in advocacy, with a specific focus on advocacy related to reproductive health. We will examine the various strategies that public health professionals employ to achieve their advocacy goals as well as specific methods and skills vital to effective advocacy. Students will develop an understanding of the varied contributions different actors can make to effective advocacy, with an ongoing emphasis on the role of the public health professional as evidence based expert, skilled technician, policy analyst, leader, and collaborator in advocacy movements.
The Capstone Paper requires students to demonstrate their abilities to think and communicate clearly, reflect on their new knowledge and training, and make professional contributions to their main fields of interest, with guidance from faculty capstone readers. It serves as the final piece of evidence that the student is prepared to practice as a public health professional. The value of a well-researched and well-written Capstone Paper extends far beyond the MPH degree. Effective organizations depend upon staff members who can design needs assessments, programs, evaluations, and strategic plans, and document them in writing. Policy advocates seek professionals to articulate complicated public health evidence and ideas in briefs, articles, reports, and monographs. Doctoral programs look for students who can conceptualize, analyze, and communicate complex, interdependent health circumstances. Capstone Papers stand as concrete examples of students’ mastery of substantive areas, as well as proof of their competencies in key public health skills.
The department will share the Capstone handbook with students, which includes details about the options to meet the Capstone paper requirement.
Abortion is healthcare and it is crucial for public health students to learn about abortion access in the United States and its significant impact on health outcomes. Abortion has become a complex topic, fraught with political interference and intersects with numerous aspects of healthcare, including reproductive rights, maternal health and social justice. Students will explore the real-word implications of abortion policy through readings, data analysis, vigorous class discussion and guest speakers. Understanding the medical, legal and ethical dimensions of abortions will allow students to develop a comprehensive understanding of reproductive health and the factors that influence it on the ground. By studying abortion, starting from the basics, students will explore the boarder implications of healthcare systems, policy development and overall well-being of individuals and communities. With this knowledge, students will be able to contribute to the development of evidence-based strategies, interventions and advocacy that address reproductive needs and promote equitable access to safe and comprehensive care. This course includes a combination of lectures, workshops, conversations with guest speakers, and small group discussions. Students will engage with a range of materials: articles, reports, podcasts, books and film. Assignments include a communications project developing a media piece such as a podcast or radio interview and a storytelling project.
This full-semester, lab course and strengthens your consulting, problem solving, and communication skills through work on a semester-long project with a company that is based in Africa. Students will work with companies that are enrolled in the Entrepreneurship and Competitiveness Africa. Known as EC-Africa, this program is offered by CBS Executive Education and equips African entrepreneurs with the skills, tools, and contacts to professionalize and grow their businesses in today’s global environment. Each company enrolls a team of two or three senior staff — CEO, founder, managing director, CFO, COO, or other leaders. The companies are all looking to scale. Each company is unique in industry and size, and typically ranges from $1M to $15M in annual revenue, and 10 to 500 employees. To learn more about the EC-America program and the enrolled companies, check out the EC-Africa website (https://business.columbia.edu/ecp)
The class is valuable not only for students who are going to work in management consulting after their MBA, but for everybody who wants to apply their learning from the MBA to the benefit of a company as well as those who want to sharpen their entrepreneurial skills. Through MCL, companies get access to CBS MBA students to work on a critical project. In return, MBA students experience a structured approach to learn 1) rigorous problem solving and project management skills, 2) client interactions, and 3) application of knowledge and skills learned in their coursework. The structure of the MCL course is very different than a normal class. The class is almost entirely project-based, and students are grouped into teams of three depending on their expertise.
The projects with companies from EC Africa, will also provide insights into opportunities and challenges for firms in Africa. Africa is the world’s second-fastest growing region – after emerging Asia – according to the African Development Bank Report. 1.3 billion people live in Africa and according to the United Nations, the population is expected to increase to 2.5 billion by 2050. The working-class population in Africa is growing by 2.7 percent each year (compared to 1.3 percent in Latin America and 1.2 percent in Southeast Asia). McKinsey projects that by 2025 two-thirds of the estimated 303 million African households will have discretionary income and consumer spending will reach $2.1 trillion.1 Not surprisingly, many firms and investors are viewing Africa as having tremendous of potential – but there are also uniq
Climate science informs us that global emissions of greenhouse gas emissions must be rapidly and dramatically reduced if humanity is to avoid catastrophic climate change. After three centuries of rising emissions, the entire global economy must now decarbonize in the coming three decades. Fortunately, most of the technologies and investment capital necessary to reduce and eventually eliminate emissions exist or are in development, but the urgency to implement those solutions is critical.
This course provides an overview of climate change, its effects on business, and how businesses can (and should) respond. The course covers emissions sources and their impact on climate change, followed by an exploration of the policy landscape, including current legislation, carbon markets, and climate justice. The course then evaluates current and evolving mitigation technologies, reviews the tools of climate finance, and considers strategies for reducing emissions to net zero. Finally, the course introduces the role of businesses in addressing climate change, including net-zero goals, actions they can take to mitigate their impact, and the perspectives of shareholders.
Throughout the course, the business case for climate action is emphasized, highlighting the economic benefits of taking action to address climate change.
Program evaluation is an essential competence in public health. Across all areas of public health, stakeholders pose questions about effectiveness and impact of programs and interventions. This course will examine principles, methods and practices of evaluating health programs. A range of evaluation research designs and methods will be introduced and strategies to address challenges in real world program settings will be emphasized. The course will incorporate examples of evaluations of actual health programs and opportunities to learn through professional program evaluation experiences of the instructor. The combination of lectures, textbook readings, examples, discussions, in-class exercises, and an extensive applied group assignment to design an evaluation for a real program will help students gain evaluation skills and an appreciation for the art and science of program evaluation. The goal is for students to learn competencies required of an entry-level program evaluator, including design and implementation of evaluation studies and interpretation and communication of evaluation findings.
The Master's Thesis is the capstone requirement of all students in all tracks of the MPH program of the Department of Sociomedical Sciences (SMS). The thesis is intended to reflect the training you have received in the MPH program and demonstrate your ability to design, implement, and present professional work relevant to your major field of interest.
Writing the thesis is an essential experience that could further your career development. Employers seek in potential employees with a MPH degree the ability to write articles and reports, and want to see evidence that you can design studies, analyze data, write a needs assessment, and/or design a health program. If you plan to continue your academic studies, developing expertise and demonstrating your ability as a writer are two important skills required of doctoral candidates. A well-written paper is a great asset that you can bring with you to a job interview or include in an application for further study. The thesis ought to demonstrate your ability to think clearly and convey your thoughts effectively and thereby provide an example of your understanding and insight into a substantive area in which you have developed expertise.
This seminar uses the new scholarship on sexuality to engage with ongoing theoretical conversations and activism in human rights, gender, and health. Pressed by the increasing recognition of the importance of sexuality in a wide range of rights and advocacy work (for example, HIV/AIDS, sexual and reproductive health, and sexual violence), theorists and advocates alike have struggled with complex, sometimes fluid and elusive nature of sexuality. What is this sexuality" in need of rights and health? How does it manifest itself across a range of persons and cultures? And how can culturally and historically situated work about sexuality inform and improve legal and advocacy interventions? The seminar also turns a critical eye on recent scholarship, in light of current issues raised by policy interventions and advocacy in many countries and cultures. Finally, the seminar aims to promote dialogue and exchange between academic, activist, and advocacy work."
Many advisors mistakenly equate years of practice with competence, overlooking the need for specialized training in family enterprises. Research highlights a troubling misalignment: while family firms prioritize relational concerns as key drivers of business operations, strategy, decision-making, and work roles, advisors often focus on structural and cognitive aspects. This misalignment can lead to ineffective or even damaging outcomes for both the family and the business. The primary objectives of this course are to identify and build the skills related to the profession of advising family enterprises to increase the potential for creating long-term value for clients and advisors and to create awareness around the biggest risks and mistakes advisors may encounter while advising family enterprises, exploring the concept of code of ethics. This course aims to bridge the gap between advisors' general practices and the specific needs of family enterprises by providing specialized education and firsthand cultural experiences. As culture plays a significant role in shaping the decision-making process of enterprising families, particularly in terms of individualism and collectivism, this class offers a unique opportunity to explore the profound impact of these factors on the identity of such families. By immersing ourselves in Italy, we will witness collectivism in action, gaining invaluable insights into its influence within families and among advisors. Moreover, this international trip provides a platform to experience firsthand the contrasting dynamics of transactional and relational environments, enhancing our understanding of the multifaceted nature of business relationships. By the end of this course, participants will have explored and experienced the core of advising family enterprises as a profession, including appreciating specific skills, interpersonal and value-based competencies, and concrete behaviors showing professionalism to be better prepared to appreciate and navigate the complexities of family enterprises. Travel to Italy will take place during spring break, March, 15-21, 2026. The 2025-2026 Global Immersion Program mandatory fee for all classes is $2100 and provides students with double occupancy lodging, ground transportation and some meals. It does not cover roundtrip international airfare. We expect students will arrive into Milan and depart from Florence. Attendance both in New York and in-country and regular participation are a crucial part of the learning experience and a
Mexico is the U.S. largest trading partner and also the largest economy in the Spanish speaking Latin America. Its strategic position, offers a complex and dynamic business environment with rich opportunities resulting from its geographic proximity to the United States, and its pivotal role in the Latin American innovation ecosystem. These opportunities are accelerated by the changing geopolitical forces shaping global trade, and the rapid adoption of technology and artificial intelligence across financial services, e-commerce, healthcare, education, among other sectors. Mexico, however, has faced hard-to-solve challenges limiting its growth and development potential, including chronic inequality, weak legal institutions, high corruption levels, insecurity, among others, that plague other emerging economies. The objectives of this course are twofold. First, to develop an informed perspective of the critical partnership between the United States and Mexico resulting from their geographic proximity, shared border and security concerns, cultural and social ties, deep economic integration, common environmental challenges, and collaboration in the promotion of regional stability. Second, to analyze the challenges and opportunities facing new and growing entrepreneurs in emerging markets, with focus on the Mexican business and innovation ecosystems as a laboratory that is relevant for many emerging economy settings. The class will assess a combination of established business models with emerging tech-enabled companies and will provide direct opportunities to interact with business leaders, founders, financiers and other important figures in Mexico. This three-credit course meets weekly for half a term in the Spring 2026 in New York, followed by a one-week immersion in Mexico, March 14-21, 2026, including company meetings, field trips and the trip extension to Oaxaca that will allow students to immerse into a rich cultural, gastronomical and art journey. Mexico City and Oaxaca are both UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The 2025-2026 Global Immersion Program mandatory fee for all classes is $2,100 and provides students with double occupancy lodging, ground transportation and some meals. It does not cover roundtrip international airfare. Attendance both in New York and in-country and regular participation are a crucial part of the learning experience and as such attendance is mandatory. Students who miss the first-class meeting may be removed from the course. No program fee refunds will be given after the add/drop period has
This course will prepare graduate students in political science and economics who have completed their basic formal and quantitative training for research in formal political theory. The specific substantive focus of the course will depend on the distribution of students’ interests, but topics will include electoral and legislative institutions, autocratic politics, political behavior, persuasion, and conflict. The topics should be of broad relevance for graduate students interested in political economy across the social sciences.
The course will be conducted primarily in seminar format, complemented by frontal instruction. For each topic, we will focus on a small number of relatively recent articles and working papers. Students will also present on topics related to their own research.
Europe is at the forefront of climate policy globally. It has ambitious goals, concrete plans, and is working hard on the implementation. It is also facing significant challenges, from high energy costs to sluggish economic growth. Germany, Europe’s largest economy, has been in a recession for 2 years. This class will explore climate through the lens of green industrial policy in Europe, with an eye toward hard-to-abate sectors like steel and cement, the challenges facing companies in these sectors, and the opportunities a push into clean and low-carbon technologies provides.
Climate change represents one of the most significant challenges of our time, fundamentally driven by human activities and amplified by the rapid pace of industrialization and economic growth. At its core, climate change is as much a technological problem as it is an environmental one – enabled by outdated methods of energy production, inefficient resource management, and unsustainable infrastructure. At the same time, technology holds immense promise for solutions for mitigating emissions and adapting to the impacts of a warming planet.
American Innovation in Climate Tech is a spring semester elective course designed for Columbia Business School students to explore the cutting edge of innovation in climate technologies. It aims to provide students with exposure to a range of industries and companies at the forefront of innovation. We will explore the latest breakthroughs and emerging technologies for addressing climate impacts in energy generation, alternative fuels, grid modernization, mobility, decarbonized materials, agriculture, and carbon management. By analyzing recent advancements and engaging directly with industry leaders, entrepreneurs, and project developers, students will gain practical insights into how new technologies are developed, piloted, and commercialized.
Prerequisites: G6215, G6216, G6211, G6212, G6411, G6412. Students will make presentation of original research in Microeconomics.
Prerequisites: G6215, G6216, G6211, G6212, G6411, G6412. Students will make presentations of original research in Microeconomics.
This course, offered as part of the programming by the Heilbrunn Center for Graham & Dodd Investing, is part of Columbia Business School’s portfolio of immersion experiences focused on domestic destinations. In addition to the Heilbrunn Center’s New York–based courses and events as well as the annual trips to Omaha for Berkshire Hathaway’s annual meeting, the contents and the discussions have been designed as a complementary initiative and bring a new focus to the growing and vibrant community of fundamental and value investors in the Richmond and Charlottesville area.
The SMS Master’s Capstone course is required for all students in the Master of Science (MS), Accelerated Master of Public Health (MPH), and 4+1 MPH programs of the Department of Sociomedical Sciences (SMS). For MS students, the culminating high-quality written manuscript of this course involves original research or program evaluation based either on primary data collected by the student or secondary analysis of available data. For Accelerated and 4+1 MPH students, the culminating high-quality written manuscript of this course involves comprehensive review of the literature. The student’s work must focus within the field of sociomedical sciences and demonstrate integration of the coursework and training from the master’s program. Based on each student’s methods and areas of study, they will be matched with a faculty sponsor who will provide supervision and mentoring throughout the course.
This Global Immersion course provides students with knowledge, insights, and experiences with respect to Israel’s innovation ecosystem. What is the “secret sauce” that propelled Israel to its present leadership position, a global innovation and entrepreneurship hub often referred to as “startup nation,” that hails the highest concentration of startups and unicorns per capita? The course's in-class meetings and its one week visit to Israel will provide background and hands on exposure to some of the key drivers, including leadership, politics, economics, geography, and culture. Students will gain an understanding of Israel's unique circumstances and achievements through a combination of academic learnings, guest speakers, business and government leaders that will share first hand experiences and perspectives, and on-the-ground exposure to Israeli businesses, cultural and historical sites. This Global Immersion course begins with six 1.5-hour sessions, followed by a one-week study trip to Israel. The course's pedagogy combines current examples, presentations, guest visits by leaders from business and government. Travel to Israel is planned for March 14-21, 2026. The 2025-2026 Global Immersion Program fee for all classes is $2100 and provides students with double occupancy lodging, ground transportation and some meals; unless an increased fee is otherwise specified in the course description. It does not cover roundtrip international airfare. Attendance both in New York and in country and regular participation are a crucial part of the learning experience and as such attendance is mandatory. Unexcused absences are highly frowned upon and will have negative consequences on class grade, and students who have expected conflicts should not apply for this course. Students who miss the first class meeting may be removed from the course. No program fee refunds will be given after the add/drop period has closed. Please visit the Chazen Institute website to learn more about the Global Immersion Program, and visit the Global Immersion Policies page to review policies affecting these courses. The ongoing conflict in the region over the past two years has fortunately culminated in a recent cease fire, of which the US was instrumental in brokering and enforcing. Nevertheless, it is possible that if the security situation deteriorates, we will have to cancel and offer an alternative travel plan. At present, Columbia's travel insurance provider categorizes Israel and th
In recent years, the global public health field has begun to move away from a focus on individual behavior change to one that focuses on “structural and environmental approaches” for health research and intervention. But what are “structural and environmental approaches,” and why the shift? Understanding the definitions, history and evolution of such approaches is important for global public health researchers and practitioners, providing a new way of thinking about improving the health of people locally and globally, in addition to exploring how structural and environmental interventions can be effectively evaluated. The purpose of this course is to provide students with an introduction to the concept of structural and environmental approaches, an understanding of why such approaches are essential for the future of an effective global health agenda, and a historical overview of the transition in the field from a focus on individual behavior change, to a focus on cultural context, and finally to one of social structural approaches. The class will also include a life course framework into structural approaches for global health and perspectives on the digital environment. This course fits into the MPH curriculum in the Department of Sociomedical Sciences by increasing students’ knowledge and skills of key perspectives and approaches to health research and intervention that incorporate social science theories into global public health interventions.
We will use the tools of behavioral economics and psychology to better understand consumer financial decisions and the consumer finance industry. We will examine markets for borrowing (mortgages, credit cards, peer-to-peer lending, payday loans), saving (401(k)s, strategies to promote saving, optimal asset allocation), and insurance (including life, health, and longevity). We will emphasize both how people do and how people should make financial decisions, and the implications for financial services firms. The goal of the course is to not only understand consumer finance, but to emphasize how the lessons from psychology and economics can be used to improve business decisions, foster innovation, and enhance public policy.
Disparities in health and illness related to social and economic inequality in the U.S. Theoretical and empirical research on factors linked to class, gender, racial and ethnic differences that have been hypothesized to explain the generally poorer health and higher rates of mortality among members of socioeconomically disadvantaged groups. Concepts, theories and empirical evidence will be examined to expand our understanding of the impact of structural factors on health behavior, lifestyles and outcomes.
To prevent and control the spread of disease, public health professionals choose from a continuum of possible approaches ranging from persuasive to coercive. At one end of the spectrum, public health seeks to induce voluntary actions or behaviors by appealing to reason and providing information and education. At the other end, it forces people to take actions or refrain from taking actions through the use of laws and regulations. In the middle lies an ethically ambiguous gray area of manipulation, psychological and emotional pressure, incentives, and “nudges.” The difficulty of choosing among these approaches was dramatically apparent during the COVID pandemic. The polarizing debates over issues such as mask mandates and recommendations, travel restrictions, school and business closings, and vaccine mandates illustrated the challenges of using both coercive and persuasive approaches.
This course will explore the uses of coercion and persuasion in public health from the standpoints of ethics, policy, and law. We will analyze a broad range of public health practices ranging from less to more forceful. We will address questions such as: When, if ever, is coercion ethically justified? What principles should guide its application? How should social factors such as race, class, and gender influence our evaluation of coercive measures? What alternatives to coercion are available for achieving a given health outcome? What ethical problems may persuasive public health measures raise? In addition to seminar-style discussion, students will participate in a variety of in-class group activities and exercises that will enable them to critically engage with the course materials.
Public health policy is always the product of controversy. Most typically such conflicts are played out in terms of a clash among scientific considerations. But even when not explicit, the controversies entail political tensions and ethical concerns. In this course we will examine the political and ethical dimensions of public health policy, focusing on issues of justice and liberty. Four domains of public health will be examined: the prevention of diseases associated with personal behavior, protection against occupational hazard, epidemic control, and access to health care.
Students will write one short paper based on the readings in Part I and a final term paper of 20-25 pages based on a subject of your own choosing and a conference with Professor Bayer. This course will provide students with an opportunity to examine the underlying ethical tensions in public health. Students will be able to identify the conflicting values at stake and will have the opportunity to learn about how ethical debates unfold and are (sometimes) resolved.
Critical reading, lectures, in class analysis and debate and a final paper will be used by students to achieve the above learning objectives (competencies).
This course provides the opportunity to manage the symptoms of cancer and its treatments with expert supervision and collaboration in the clinical setting. Learning is facilitated by expert clinicians in oncology/hospice/home/long term care areas. Evidence based practice will be promoted in issues related to quality of life, identification and prevention of complications of treatment and patient and caregiver stress.
This seminar examines the political development, foreign policy, and historical trajectory of modern Ukraine, with particular attention to its evolving relationship with Russia and the West. The course is divided into three sections: (1) historical foundations of Ukrainian statehood; (2) thematic issues such as nationalism, governance, and Euroatlantic integration; and (3) the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian war. Students will explore the origins, progression, and implications of the war, while considering potential paths toward resolution.
Our objective is to look at a public health approach to chronic diseases in which prevention rather than treatment is emphasized. Although chronic diseases are numerous, our focus will be on those that are strongly correlated with obesity and for which the creation of opportunities for physical activity are important elements of our prevention agenda. Obesity has replaced smoking as the number one avoidable risk factor for mortality in the United States, and given the increased availability of funding for public health interventions in this domain, focusing our attention on the set of issues is an idea whose time has come. Often, prevention approaches in public health focus on the individual and on changing individual risk behaviors. In this course, by contrast, we will focus heavily on social and environmental factors that affect the choices individuals make about exercise, diet, and taking advantage of preventive services that promote health and prevent disease. Questions are intended to demonstrate that our success in promoting health behaviors will depend in large measure on the social and physical environment of the community. Moreover, interventions to reduce the risk of chronic disease have to consider the social resources that are available - or that can be created - in each setting where health promotion programs and policies are to be implemented. At the core of our efforts this semester, therefore, we will be examining the relationship between individuals, their health seeking and/or risk taking behaviors, and the manner in which their social and physical environment function as part of the problem or as the potential source of a solution.
This half semester course provides students with the opportunity to perform due diligence on early-stage social ventures
(nonprofit and for-profit ventures with a social or environmental mission). This course is designed for MBA students
interested in impact investing, social entrepreneurship, or philanthropy. The objective of the course is for students to
learn both the theory of investing in early-stage social ventures and the practice of evaluating early-stage social ventures
through a due diligence process. This course is not designed for the evaluation of larger, well-established social
enterprises.
Students are placed in teams to evaluate social entrepreneurs from the Columbia University community who have applied
for funding from the Tamer Fund for Social Ventures. The course is a combination of in-class lectures and discussion, and
practical application of class lessons outside of the classroom. Major topics covered include: the due diligence process,
assessing venture pitches and teams, due diligence in emerging markets, due diligence of non-profits, impact
measurement and management, and valuations and deal structure.
During the course, each student team completes detailed due diligence on their assigned social venture, including
diligence on applicants, the social venture and the sector. The course concludes with student teams submitting a written
due diligence report and a recommendation for funding to the Investment Board of the Tamer Fund for Social Ventures.
Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) has received growing attention over the past several decades as international, domestic, funding agencies and researchers have renewed a focus on an approach to health that recognizes the importance of social, political and economic systems to health behaviors and outcomes. The long-standing importance of this approach is reflected in the 1988 Institute of Medicine’s (IOM) landmark report The Future of Public Health and many other publications. The report indicates that communities and community-based organizations are one of six potential partners in the public health system and that building community-based partnerships is a priority area for improving public health. CBPR is not a method but an approach to research and practice that involves the active collaboration of the potential beneficiaries and recognizes and values the contributions that communities and their leaders can make to new knowledge and to the translation of research findings into public health practice and policy. CBPR - as it is often referred - is a collaborative approach to research that recognizes the value of equitably involving the intended beneficiaries throughout all phases of research and program planning, implementation, and evaluation. CBPR is also an important approach to advance health and social equity and is essentially a way to promote and operationalize health and social equity in research settings. This course will provide an examination of the relevant literature in CBPR with a focus on the history, theoretical framework and application of CBPR within public health programs and research, with special emphasis on the role of CBPR in advancing health and social equity.
Behavioral and environmental factors are major determinants of today's most pressing health issues. Community-level behavior change and health promotion interventions are promising strategies to address these issues on a large scale. This course will provide an overview of program planning, implementation, and evaluation – essential public health services and fundamental competencies for professionals working in the field of public health. Although the PRECEDE-PROCEED model will be used as the framework for the course structure and individual assignments, other planning models will also be presented and discussed. By the end of the course, students will develop a deep understanding of the complex processes involved in organizing public health programs, and learn the skills necessary to create a program and evaluation plan in a local community.
The Philippines is Asia’s rising tiger. It is among the world’s fastest-growing economies with average annual growth of 6 to 7% per year. After a dip in GDP growth during 2020 due to Covid, the economic growth rebounded to 7.6% during 2022. Average annual GDP per person has risen dramatically over the past two decades, from below US$ 1,000 per person in 2000 to US$ 3,500 by 2022. Philippines is on track to become one-trillion dollar economy by 2033. The central bank, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, is well managed and follows a sound monetary policy. The long-term prospect for the country is contingent upon improvement in governance, reducing income inequality, tackling corruption and a better regulatory environment. After losing its way for the past few decades, Philippines seems to be on the right path. We will develop a strong foundation in understanding Philippines’ history, economy, industry and competitive position, before we visit the country. The Global Immersion Program is structured to create this depth through readings and classroom discussion. This course will travel to the Philippines March 14-21, 2026 to Manila, Philippines’ business hub and an island that is yet to be confirmed. The 2025-2026 Global Immersion Program mandatory fee for all classes is $2100 and provides students with double occupancy lodging, ground transportation and some meals. It does not cover roundtrip international airfare into Manila and out of the second location. Attendance both in New York and in-country and regular participation are a crucial part of the learning experience and as such attendance is mandatory. Students who miss the first class meeting may be removed from the course. Please note all international travel involves risk. We do not control the cities and companies we visit. We try our best to plan a safe trip with positive experience. However, if your tolerance for risk or uncertainties is low, GIP is not for you. No program fee refunds will be given after the add/drop period has closed. Please visit the Chazen Institute website to learn more about the Global Immersion Program, and visit the Global Immersion Policies page to review policies affecting these courses.
Survey research is increasingly important for studying structural and social determinants of health, patient-centered care, or to address other evidence needs where first-hand information from individuals themselves are needed—often required—data sources. The course introduces students to principles for designing, conducting, and evaluating survey research that are standard practices in the field. Students who complete the course will learn how to develop and implement a survey, create and evaluate measures, and write up methods and results. Throughout the course, emphasis will be placed on applying survey research methods to answer research questions within public health. Students will develop a survey-based project based on their own research interests.
Global Immersion: South Africa’s Ongoing Transformation MBA SP2026 B8778 – 3 Credits – Prof. Brett House Course Description – Word Limit version (332 words) South Africa has transformed itself into an economic and political power, with membership in the G20 and BRICS, and a dynamic business ecosystem. This forward-looking course will consider the opportunities created by South Africa’s multiple identities, the implications of its particular history, its current challenges, and its position between advanced and emerging markets. Students will develop an intimate understanding of South Africa’s commercial environment and extract insights on creating impact in a range of economic landscapes. The course will delve into South Africa’s ongoing post-apartheid transition, the role of natural resources in South Africa, developments in the country’s new-economy sectors, prospects for innovation and entrepreneurship, and the possibilities created by integration with the African continent. The class will travel to Johannesburg and Cape Town during March 14–21, 2026; the first mandatory in-country meeting will be dinner on March 14 in Jo’burg. The 2025–26 Global Immersion Program mandatory fee for all courses is $2,100 and provides students with double occupancy lodging, ground transportation, and some meals; roundtrip international airfare is not covered. Attendance in New York and in-country, as well as regular participation, are crucial parts of the learning experience; hence, full attendance is mandatory. Students who miss the first in-class meeting may be removed from the course. No program fee refunds will be given after the add/drop period has closed. Please consult the Chazen Institute website to learn more about the Global Immersion Program (GIP). Note that all international travel involves some risks and uncertainties as we do not control the sites that we visit. We draw on our expertise and experience to make every reasonable effort to create a positive and safe learning environment in New York and in-country. The primacy of our safety objective may at times require changes to or deviations from pre-announced programming. If your tolerance for risk or uncertainties is low, the GIP is not the right choice for you.
Learning Objectives: (1) To understand and experience the process of investing in early stage startups and how that differs between the US and Japan (a) Sourcing deals from the startup ecosystem (b) Conducting diligence (c) Valuing startups (d) Negotiating term sheets (financial and governance terms) (e) Managing a portfolio post investment (2) To understand the investing landscape: players and resources (3) To understand the structural differences between venture capital and angel investing. This course covers many of the same topics as Foundations of VC and therefore students will not be able to take them both for credit. The course will travel during spring break March 14-21, 2026 to Tokyo, Japan. Global Immersion Program classes bridge classroom lessons and business practices in another country. These three credit classes meet for half a term in New York prior to a one week visit to the country of focus where students will meet with business executives and government officials while working on team projects. Upon return from the travel portion of the class, students may have one wrap up meeting at Columbia Business School. The 2025-2026 Global Immersion Program fee for all classes is $2100 and provides students with double occupancy lodging, ground transportation and some meals; unless an increased fee is otherwise specified in the course description. It does not cover roundtrip international airfare. Attendance both in New York and in country and regular participation are a crucial part of the learning experience and as such attendance is mandatory. Students who miss the first class meeting may be removed from the course. No program fee refunds will be given after the add/drop period has closed. Please visit the Chazen Institute website to learn more about the Global Immersion Program, and visit the Global Immersion Policies page to review policies affecting these courses.
Business School offers important windows into the functions of business and into ways of conceptualizing challenges and opportunities. It also offers valuable cross-cutting tools for analysis, decisions, and leadership. But there’s more…: Very successful and admired business leaders think even more fundamentally and broadly about the economic, political, and social context of business decision making. They understand that the ‘corporation’ is a legal and social construct, not just an economic construct. Support for business corporations has not been and is not absolute and requires business leaders to examine the role of their business and business generally in the broader society — business and society. In contemporary language, what is the ‘purpose’ of business? For whom should the corporation be run? Answers to these questions and others shape business, business careers, and attitudes toward business.
Addressing such cross-cutting questions requires that we examine the business corporation and its role in society through multiple perspectives. In particular, we will study business and society through the lenses of the evolving business organization,
finance and investors, employees, corporate governance, privacy and big data, social movements, social justice, and climate change. To accomplish these views, we will draw on leading CBS faculty and their ideas. In each case, we will complement these ideas with the
experience of leading business practitioners as teaching partners. The introductory and closing sessions will feature longer conversations with a business leader on the role of business in society. Conducting the course in this way brings both ‘business and society’
and Columbia Business School’s ‘ideas, talent, and network’ to center stage.
You will also be co-creating this course with the teaching team. Your presence, preparation, and participation are vital to a successful class experience. The syllabus presents questions and readings to get you ready for our class discussion and analysis.
All of us on the teaching team look forward to working with you!
Among the more durable axioms of public health is this: context matters. For ethnography, this is not only an article of faith, but its raison d’etre: ethnography was invented to take context’s measure in order to understand what we’re observing. For our purposes, ethnography refers to both a method – that recursive process of participating, observing, writing/recording and reflecting, in (usually) unfamiliar spaces – and the product of that method – the often lengthy, discursive book- or feature-length documentary that results. Ethnography is distinctive among qualitative research methods in part because of its time commitment, its insistence upon extended experience felt and witnessed, rather than elicited and recounted. It is also experience examined, cross-examined, renewed and re-examined. To navigate as an ethnographer requires negotiated access (sometimes negotiated repeatedly), shifting measures of immersion and reflection, mastery of a mixed toolkit of inquiry, and an acquired ease with uncertainty. If ethnographers commonly find themselves nagged by an aching sense of inadequacy at what they’ve learned, they are nonetheless bent on wresting from it some provisional reconstructions and analyses. Setting aside such signature anxieties, we can also say that ethnography is documentary infused with theory and argument; it is gesture caught, phrased and interpreted. If capturing culture (that staged and enacted document) is its objective, then a certain “talent for the makeshift” (Auden) is essential. Although writing (really: rewriting) remains its preferred medium, it is one rapidly being joined by visual technologies as well, although that variation will not be explored here). This, then, is an intensive seminar in the nuts and bolts of reading and doing such work – and of the reflexivity required to do it well.
This fall our substantive focus will be ethnographies of madness and its treatment, with special attention to emerging work by service users and/or people with direct experience with psychosis – primarily in North America, but touching on experience elsewhere as well.
The root causes of health inequities are numerous and community-or population-specific. They relate to individual, social, and political determinants of health. Because of its multisectoral and multidisciplinary nature, health communication has emerged as an essential discipline in our quest to achieve health and racial equity both in the U.S. and globally. Among others, the ever increasing socioeconomic divide in the US and in a variety of countries, the persistence of social discrimination in our society (e.g., racism, gender bias, bias toward low-income groups or the LGBTQI+ community, xenophobia, and other forms of implicit and/or institutional bias) as a key barrier to health and well-being, the “empathy crisis”, as well as the disproportionate burden of the COVID-19 pandemic among marginalized, vulnerable and underserved groups have demonstrated that making health communication programs work requires the active participation of affected individuals, communities, and multiple professional sectors in the design of health communication interventions. This involves a diversity-minded, system-driven, and population-specific approach to the development of health communication interventions. This approach also includes a systematic effort to rebuild trust among many groups and stakeholders and address barriers that prevent people from leading healthy and productive lives as well as message design strategies that are based on storytelling and cultural humility principles. This course focuses on a review and critical analysis of health communication approaches and strategies that are inclusive of marginalized, vulnerable and underserved populations and seek to improve health and social outcomes among these groups. The course discusses the role of health communication in the health equity movement, and will prepare students to design effective health communication interventions to reach and engage a variety of groups in support of health and racial equity.
New media, including online and digital media technologies, are introducing significant change in contemporary societies and lifestyles. Recent examples include the rapid and powerful diffusion of social media and mobile technologies. The emergence of new media and the online revolution intersect with public health in many ways, raising new questions and affording new opportunities for intervention. Public health professionals of the 21st century must attend to and leverage these trends.
This course will introduce and contextualize the role of new media in public health and prepare students to utilize new media tools when designing interventions. The student learning experience is designed to demonstrate new media technologies through a blend of online and classroom modalities, allowing students to take the perspectives of technology users, designers, implementers, and researchers. The course will introduce examples of new media in public health through demonstrations, guest speakers, and literature, and synthesize significant lessons across examples. Students will also engage in design of a new media technology-based project. While learning about the practice of designing and implementing new media tools for public health, the students will take a critical social science perspective, drawing on literature from social informatics and social science of technology. The course is intended for MPH students, particularly those completing certificates in Health Communication, Public Health Informatics, or Health Promotion Research and Practice. This
is a required course for the Health Communication certificate.
This seminar is designed for pre-doctoral students from the Departments of Sociomedical Sciences, Epidemiology, Biostatistics, and Population and Family Health who have been accepted to the T32, on Social Determinants of HIV, a training grant sponsored by the National Institute of Mental Health of the National Institutes of Health. Students in this T32 program are required to take this 2-year seminar (1 credit per semester). The seminar will highlight structural interventions designed to reduce the impact of HIV among underrepresented populations, professional development issues; funding mechanisms such as diversity supplements, diverse research careers for doctoral students in public health, and guest speakers who are experts in HIV structural interventions and social determinants of health. Students will lead many of the seminar discussions and they are given the opportunity to present their work in progress. Graded on a pass/fail basis.
This seminar is both a critical survey of empirical evidence on foreign aid, trade, and investment and an introduction to modern quantitative research methods used in international political economy. Substantively, the seminar will examine the relationships between economic instruments and human rights, conflict, public opinion, and other topics. It will introduce students to cutting-edge debates in the field. How can the international community best promote human rights? What international factors lead to economic growth? When do countries comply with international laws? When do the economic activities of the international community lead to conflict? More generally, the course will consider the challenges of drawing causal inferences in the field of international political economy.
The seminar will discuss empirical research designs including instrumental variables, field experiments, and regression discontinuity designs. We will read recent scholarship on political economy topics with a critical focus. Students will also produce a research proposal for studying a topic related to political economy, though they do not need to actually conduct this research.
Clinical Seminar in Adult-Gerontology Acute Care is designed to provide the AG-ACNP student an academic environment in which the students share their practicum experience and present case studies and journal articles for discussion with their peers. In this scholarly forum, the students are expected to present selected cases from their practicum in an organized format. The students are expected to facilitate a class dialogue and offer appropriate references.
This course will provide an opportunity to synthesize and integrate the advanced practice knowledge and skills acquired through all previous didactic and clinical coursework. Students will be expected to do clinical case presentations, manage a group of patients of varying diagnoses and variability of acuity, and practice with increasing independence in the acute care advanced practice role.
Credits increased from 4 to 5, effective Spring 2021.
This course engages the advanced practice student in the basics of diagnostic radiology and point-of-care radiologic assessment necessary for today’s practitioner. The course offers the advanced practice student the opportunity to understand the process for selecting appropriate imaging modalities, and also challenges the student to develop novice-level competence in the interpretation of select diagnostic imaging of adults.
In this course we undertake a comprehensive review of the literature on the causes of war and the conditions of peace, with a primary focus on interstate war. We focus primarily on theory and empirical research in political science but give some attention to work in other disciplines. We examine the leading theories, their key concepts and causal variables, the causal paths leading to war or to peace, and the conditions under which various outcomes are most likely to occur. We also give some attention to the degree of empirical support for various theories and hypotheses, and we look at some of the major empirical research programs on the origins and expansion of war. Our survey includes research utilizing qualitative methods, large-N quantitative methods, formal modeling, and experimental approaches. We also give considerable attention to methodological questions relating to epistemology and research design. Our primary focus, however, is on the logical coherence and analytic limitations of the theories and the kinds of research designs that might be useful in testing them. This course is designed primarily for graduate students who want to understand and contribute to the theoretical and empirical literature in political science on war, peace, and security. Students with different interests and students from other departments can also benefit from the seminar and are also welcome. Ideally, members of the seminar will have some familiarity with basic issues in international relations theory, philosophy of science, research design, and statistical methods.
Law is often considered to be the opposite of violence: Promising to deliver us from the cycles of violence preceding its arrival, it sets its task as the establishment of a normative order that sanctions arbitrary and illegitimate uses of violence, derives its legitimacy from our consent, and guarantees formal equality to everyone under its rule. Various critics have challenged this conventional understanding of law, however, and examined the numerous ways in which law finds itself entangled with the very violence that it aims to combat. They have pointed out how the enforcement of law often entails the use of coercion and force, that legal decisions involve legitimations of state violence, and that the provision of rights often goes hand in hand with the entrenchment of social inequality and domination.
Taking Walter Benjamin’s “Critique of Violence” as a focal point, this course examines a wide range of critical perspectives on the relationship between law and violence. Following our study of Benjamin, we turn to the deconstructionist perspectives represented by Jacques Derrida and Judith Butler. Then we move to the biopolitical critique developed by Michel Foucault, Giorgio Agamben, and Roberto Esposito. Following these continental perspectives, we turn to the American scene and read the criticisms developed by Robert Cover as well as Critical Legal Studies (e.g., Duncan Kennedy, Roberto Unger) and Critical Race Theory (e.g., Derrick Bell, Patricia Williams). In the final section, we examine three thinkers who strive to chart a path beyond the impasses we studied and navigate the aporias arising from law’s entanglement with violence (albeit in very different ways): Hannah Arendt, Jürgen Habermas, and Christoph Menke.
This course focuses on the complex nature of common coexisting diseases and their influence on safe delivery of nurse anesthesia care in the perioperative period. Throughout this coure, learners will evaluate information obtained during physical and psychological assessment, review patient data and preoperative testing, and synthesize knowledge to formulate safe, individualized, perioperative anesthesia management plans for patients.
Cultural humility will be incorporated into care plans to develop anesthetic management individualized to patient identities and cultures while including an emphasis on social and cultural health disparities.
This course will be based on the nurse anesthesia resident (NAR) functioning in simulated anesthesia crisis scenarios. The NAR will complete assignments, which will focus on crisis management in the perioperative setting. A thorough review of crisis resource management and debriefing skills will be discussed. Each NAR will participate in high-fidelity simulation and debriefing exercises to prepare them for independent management in the clinical setting after graduation.
Clinical experiences provide the opportunity for students to integrate theoretical basis of practice within the clinical setting. Students move along a continuum from healthy adults and children to patients with multi-system failures. The focus is on perioperative theory transfer, development of assessment skills, and the implementation and evaluation of a plan of care. Patient interviews and teaching are integral to the process. Basic principles of decision making are emphasized throughout. Mastery to the specific level of competency is required within a specific time framework. Practice settings include operating rooms, emergency rooms, and diagnostic suites. CRNA faculty members act as facilitators of learning. Clinical conferences and professional meetings help to reinforce and evaluate learning. This is the second of four required residencies.
Nuclear weapons are often considered to pose humanity’s gravest danger. Yet despite nuclear threats and crises, states have managed to avoid the deliberate or inadvertent use of nuclear weapons since the end of World War II. Eighty years after Hiroshima, how has nuclear war been avoided? Did the advent of nuclear weapons create a revolution in military affairs that stalemated major powers and dramatically reduced the prospects of great power war by the emergence of mutual vulnerability and mutual assured destruction (MAD) postures? Or are nuclear weapons central to great power competition and valuable instruments of force, including for deterrence and coercion? Is there a taboo against nuclear use? Do the major theories about the nuclear era match actual practice and how has nuclear theory evolved? Are the strategies and approaches that were employed in the past still appropriate for the new multipolar nuclear age? Why do some states acquire nuclear weapons while others that have considered going nuclear (e.g., South Korea and Germany) so far forego the option, while still others (e.g., South Africa and Ukraine) have given up their nuclear weapons? What are the prospects for continued nuclear proliferation and hedging (e.g., Iran)?
This class will explore past and current patterns of behavior among existing, potential, and former nuclear weapons states. Other questions that animate this course include: What do nuclear weapons actually deter? Can they be used for coercion? How do operational plans and force postures serve military and political objectives? What are the incentives, disincentives and risks of strategies premised on deliberate escalation to nuclear use? Do they increase the probability of inadvertent use of nuclear weapons? What role do nuclear weapons play in U.S. strategy and security policies? How does the U.S. experience compare to those of other nuclear weapon states, such as USSR/Russia, China, India, Pakistan, and North Korea? This seminar will examine such questions to gain a better understanding of the importance of nuclear weapons for international relations.
Clinical experiences provide the opportunity for students to integrate theoretical basis of practice within the clinical setting. Students move along a continuum from healthy adults and children to patients with multi-system failures. The focus is on perioperative theory transfer, development of assessment skills, and the implementation and evaluation of a plan of care. Patient interviews and teaching are integral to the process. Basic principles of decision making are emphasized throughout. Mastery to the specific level of competency is required within a specific time framework. Practice settings include operating rooms, emergency rooms, and diagnostic suites. CRNA faculty members act as facilitators of learning. Clinical conferences and professional meetings help to reinforce and evaluate learning. This is the second of four required residencies.
This seminar will prepare students for the Global Health certificate 6-month practicum with the aim of meeting each student's goals for the experience, as well as departmental requirements for the practicum and Master's Integrative Project (or thesis or Capstone, depending on department). The seminar will devote several sessions to cross-cultural training, i.e. preparation to enter a new culture and work environment with comfort, understanding and respect" Cross cultural discussions will include an exploration of each student's unique background in terms of nationality, ethnicity, education and work experiences, and discussion of the importance of culture, behavior, work environment norms and power relations in cross cultural experiences. Students will to begin to develop their practicum scope of work through discussion with GHT faculty, staff, and returning students, and finalize their practicum plans by the end of the semester. Finally, several sessions will be devoted to the logistics of the practicum, i.e., financial issues, living arrangements, health and safety, visas and other administrative matters."
This final clinical residency is to enable the Nurse Anesthesia Resident (NAR) to transition to practice.The NAR precepted in the clinical area requires supervision appropriate to their level of training. For Nurse Anesthesia Residency V, the NAR’s professional growth, asassessed by the preceptor, will determine the level of supervision by the preceptor, but not to be less than induction, emergence and all key portions of case. Also, the preceptor must be immediately available for consultation. The AANA does not permit the NAR to be supervised by a resident-in-training or anesthesiologist assistant.
Clinical focus is on the delivery of anesthesia care in a broad range of clinical settings to patients with multi-system problems. Emphasis is placed on refinement and perfection of decision-making skills in patient care management and rapid assessment of health status of patients. Collaborative practice within a team structure is emphasized. In addition to direct patient care, participation in journal club, clinical case reports, and in-service presentations to a multidisciplinary audience provide the environment for the NARto enact his or her role as a clinical nurse specialist. Experience includes obstetrics, neurosurgery, cardio-thoracic surgery, pediatrics, post anesthesia care and critical care units. CRNA faculty members and preceptors act as guides.