Life course epidemiology is the study of exposures, both physical and social, that occur during the periconceptional period, during gestation or during early childhood and adult health and disease risk. This course will examine conceptual models and identify study designs appropriate for a variety of life course research questions, as well as the limitations of these designs. Understanding the approaches to the life course, the development and evaluation of epidemiologic research designs related to the life course, and the contextual models and their relevance for the design and evaluation of research studies will be covered using a combination of lectures, case studies and small group work.
This course will argue for a broader spatial history of empire by looking at sites such as frontiers and borderlands in a theoretical and comparative perspective. The course will familiarize students to “frontier thesis” to the “spatial turn” and to the emergence of “Borderland Studies” before embarking on specific monographs highlighting borderlands scholarship in a global context. Formulations of power, race, gender, and class will be central to our comparative units of historical analysis and allow us to create conversations across area-studies boundaries within the discipline.
This course will introduce the student to the epistemology and scholarship of practice and to lifelong learning. Using the DNP Competencies in Comprehensive Care as the framework, students will analyze clinical decision-making and utilization of evidence for best clinical practices in a variety of reproductive health settings. Individual plans for guided study will be mapped for each student. Clinical review and discussion of interesting, complex cases from the practice environment will facilitate the students’ development of the knowledge base and skills essential to the role of the nurse midwife.
Ethnography is often taught as a method of observation. This course begins from a different premise: ethnography is a political technology of knowledge production shaped by empire, race, capital, gender, and disciplinary power. It is also a fragile and unfinished writing practice that scholars continually remake. This seminar treats ethnography as a site of struggle over these questions: Who can produce knowledge? Whose worlds become legible? Which archives endure? What research should refuse to know? And, how writing itself organizes relations of power?
Individual work with an adviser to develop a topic and proposal for the Ph.D. dissertation.
A review of research methods from the perspective of social work research concerns. Topics include problem formulation, research design, data-gathering techniques, measurement, and data analysis. Selected aspects of these areas encountered in social work research are intensively reviewed in terms of social work research.
Large data sets provide crucial information for monitoring the health of our nation and evaluating public health policies. The principal goal of this course is for students to develop the skills to identify, process, and analyze these data to answer a specific research or policy question. The class is an applied, hands-on course that provides an introduction to several major health data sets and guides students in processing and analyzing these data. Students will hone computer and statistical skills developed in other research methods courses. Students with also gain insight into active research projects that utilize large scale health data sets via a series of guest lectures. By accessing data that measure health variables of current importance, the class provides a foundation for developing a variety of health policy research questions.
This course examines the movement to health care quality in the US, providing students with definitions of quality and a historical perspective on quality initiatives. Primary focus of the class is on quality initiatives in the past 10 years, including efforts by the Institute of Medicine, Agency for Healthcare Quality and Research, various accrediting organizations (e.g. NCQA), and employer-based initiatives such as HEDIS and Leapfrog. There will be in depth analysis of establishing and measuring the quality of health care in various organizational settings, on risk management and legal issues, and on recent efforts to link quality with pay for performance.
The current systems for the delivery of health services in the United States often fall short of addressing the health needs of many people living in the communities they cover and in so doing contribute to health status disparities. The objective of this course is to help students develop a framework to understand the needs of traditionally under-served populations and the challenges facing the delivery systems that handle these groups. This course has two major foci. The first is understanding who the “vulnerable” populations are as it relates to access to needed health services and disparities in health status. The interaction between health care systems and health care disparities will be explored. Particular attention will be paid to issues surrounding poverty, literacy, immigrant health care and several vulnerable sub-populations including gay-lesbian, homeless and prison. The second focus is service delivery for individuals traditionally under-served. This component includes an examination of organizations and provider (particularly physician)-patient relationships. Students will have the opportunity to move from the classroom to the street, observing, first-hand, several hospital and community-based arrangements.
This course is intended to provide students with the legal framework governing health care administration, management and policy. Students will analyze case law, and selected statutes relevant to health care administrators, providers, and consumers of care. Students will be exposed to the evolution of laws and the ethical, practical and political impact of laws in the management of health care institutions.
An examination of the complex and evolving healthcare and insurance system from the perspective of managed health care and insurance companies, hospital systems, IPAs, physicians, employers, patients, and pharma companies. This course will focus on the interplay among these key stakeholders. There will be four guest speakers from the healthcare industry who will help the students apply their readings and discussions to real challenges.
This advanced course builds upon foundational principles of healthcare finance and shifts the analytical focus to financial management from the perspective of health insurers and managed care organizations. Students examine how financial strategies, methodologies, and quantitative analyses are applied within the health insurance industry to support premium rate development, reimbursement design, and value-based payment models.
The cpurse emphasizes the financial and operational dynamics between payers and providers, including the economic incentives, cost-containment mechanisms, and revenue optimization strategies that influence performance across both sectors.
Through applied exercises and case-based analysis, students develop a practical understanding of how payment rates are calculated, negotiated, and structured between providers and payers. Students learn the impact to contracting decisions and profitability, network configuration, care delivery incentives, and overall healthcare affordability
Managing professionals is crucial to the success (or failure) of health care organizations because the provision of services primarily relies on human decision-making and interaction. Health care professionals determine the level of quality as well as the costs associated with health care services directly or indirectly. The goal of this course is to introduce students to the functions and issues associated with managing human resources in health care organizations through in class exercises and outside of class assignment that demonstrate the human resource challenges that graduates may face as health care executives in the future. Significant attention is given to: 1) workforce issues, 2) understanding legal issues related to the employment setting, 3) selection and retention of employees, 4) establishing performance standards and evaluating performance, and compensation, and 5) understanding the use and effects of monetary and non-monetary incentives in human resources management in the United States and globally.
This course examines one of the most significant but relatively recent developments in the healthcare market place: the trend toward increased consolidation of healthcare providers into larger practices and into vertically integrated delivery systems, as well as the parallel trend toward consolidation of health insurance companies into fewer, but much larger entities. It will draw upon economic theory, empirical research, and health policy and economic analysis to explore the implications of these developments, coupled with other emerging trends, on healthcare market competition, prices, profits, expenditures, and consumer welfare
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In this course we explore constitutional law through the lens of public health policy. We examine the relationships and tensions between individual and collective concerns. We evaluate public health issues from an American legal perspective to determine the constitutional soundness of the health promotion objective. In this course we consider multi-disciplinary factors and how they interact with issues of federalism, morality, economics and the politics of science. Readings include case law and related legal materials, in addition to writings by public health practitioners, historians, sociologists, economists and philosophers. Core topics include, among others, constitutional law and major constitutional cases relating to public health, economic analysis in law, tort litigation in public health, historical public health law perspectives, health promotion campaigns, property regulation, privacy protection, various case studies including immunization, civil commitment, infectious disease, tobacco policy and abortion law. Guest speakers provide additional current perspectives from practitioners.
This course covers the broad scope of preconception, prenatal, and postnatal care including theoretical and practical knowledge for the essentially uncomplicated childbearing period. Routine care, risk assessment, and commonly encountered complications will be reviewed with a strong focus on the physiological, social, emotional, and educational components of preconception, prenatal, and postnatal care.
Strategic Planning for Health Insurance Plans is designed to provide students with a broad and deep understanding of safety-net health insurance plan operations and management. Students will have the opportunity to manage plan finances, set benefit designs, and establish actuarially sound premiums, all while operating within the constraints of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. In a very abbreviated period of time, student will be completely immersed in real-world situations where they will be forced to make appropriate decisions which will either sustain or submerge the health plan. In addition to expanding their knowledge base about the health insurance industry, students will enhance their competency develop in a number of areas including analytical thinking, strategic orientation, collaboration, and communication. The 21 hours of course work will contain a blend of lectures, class work and a group project. Students will be evaluated on class participation (20%), learning reviews (quizzes (30%), and a group project (50%).
This course has two overall goals. The first is to increase your effectiveness in understanding and managing individuals and teams in health care organizations. The course’s second goal is to prepare you to effectively design organizations. Effective managers not only must lead individuals and teams: they also must ensure that their organizations are well-designed to deliver the results that their strategies promise. This entails developing knowledge and skills to analyze key issues in organizational structure, power and politics, culture, and change.
The course combines conceptual and experiential approaches. We draw on several sources of knowledge to accomplish course objectives: (1) conceptual frameworks and research findings from the social sciences; (2) case studies; (3) roles plays, videos and exercises; and (4) your own work and personal experiences. The class will be highly interactive, and active participation in discussions is expected.
The course selectively surveys ideas and frameworks from the social sciences and explores their implications for leadership and managerial practice.
This course is designed to prepare students for evaluating and treating the running athlete. This course includes an overview of foot and ankle mechanics, lower quarter strength and flexibility examination, application of the Functional Movement ScreenTM, and use of Video Analysis to identify relevant pathomechanics observed during running. Students are introduced to the clinical setting by evaluating patients in the context of a simulated running clinic, prior to participating in the student-led, Columbia RunLabTM clinic. Here they engage in clinical reason discussions and advise runners on exercise programs and improvements to running form. Students participate in training sessions required for the clinic including HIPPA and Blood-borne Pathogens training.
Over the semester, the course considers questions of Mission and Vision (What areas, activities, or business(es) should we be in?") and questions of Strategy and Operations ("How can we perform or compete effectively in this area?"). It covers both strategy formulation ("What should our strategy be?") as well as strategy implementation ("What do we need to do to make this strategy work?"). The course also addresses several additional issues that are critical to the strategic management "process" (e.g.. designing planning systems, managing contention). The course emphasizes the multiple, related requirements of the leader/manager's job: analysis, creativity, and action.
Students apply advanced strategic frameworks and concepts to real-world, complex, strategic problems involving multiple healthcare sectors, institutions, players and/or disciplines/functions. Specific objectives include: the ability to conceptualize and model a complex, multi-faceted, multi-player healthcare strategic challenge in simple language and in a coherent framework that supports analyses and resolution; a deepened understanding of the inherent complexity and interdependency of the major challenges--economic, political, strategic, and operational--facing the healthcare industry and specific sectors, institutions, and players within the industry; the ability to apply strategic analysis and other curricular concepts and tools and field work experience to complex healthcare industry/management problems; the ability to think critically about issues, perspectives, and potential strategic options, using sophisticated analytical and problem-solving tools and informed judgement to formulate recommendations for presentation to senior healthcare executives and policy-makers; : the ability to formulate a set of strategic options--addressing the multiple health industry players and interconnected challenges--for consideration;
the ability to critique a number of strategic options available to a health industry/healthcare executive team (or multiple, interconnected teams) and conclude which sets of options may be optimal given internal institutional competences and external political, policy, and economic realities
Directing a public health non-profit requires knowledge of a variety of diverse content as well as organizational skills. This class will focus on leadership, facilitating change, human resources, strategic planning, grantwriting/fund-raising and assessing program effectiveness that public health professionals working as managers encounter on a regular basis. Students will have the opportunity to develop strategies for responding to daily management situations. The goal of the class will be to provide students an experience that will directly translate to working in public health organizations.
In recent years, entrepreneurship has gained enormous popularity, even becoming accepted as a means to address pressing social and environmental issues. A significant percentage of our economy is now based on small businesses, and an entrepreneurial career is more likely and possible than ever before. Even in a more traditional corporate career, entrepreneurial skills can serve a manager well as companies that see out new opportunities. The benefits of entrepreneurship are abundant: the creativity to grow and manager your own business, the freedom of time, the potential to accumulate significant wealth and the possibility of making the world a better place. How does it happen? How can we take an idea and a blank piece of paper and transform them into an operating business with customers, cash flow and profits?
This course will break the process into discernible steps and skills. It will teach skills in opportunity identification and evaluation as well as an understanding of the steps and competencies required to launch a new business. The focus will be on scalable businesses that are large enough to attract professional investors.
Utilizing a background in basic physical assessment, advanced practice nursing students apply the didactic content introduced in N8786 to this clinical practicum. Advanced physical assessment skills and the identification of abnormalities in the physical exam and appropriate documentation are emphasized with a focus on the ability to integrate systems appropriately. The complete pelvic exam is included. As well as complete male genital exam.
The Pivot_Professional Development is required for full-time MHA and MPH degrees in the Health Policy & Management (HPM) department. It is one component of the Professional Development Program (PDP), a comprehensive, co-curricular effort aimed at developing personal and professional skills to prepare students to enter the workforce successfully and to begin to develop necessary skills to be successful in their careers. The course will meet over three semesters for a total of 1.5 credits. Semester one will focus on self-discovery and personal branding, semester two will hone in on building skills to get your practicum and succeed in your practicum, and the third semester will largely focus on the full-time job search and the first 90 days on the job. Pivot will be complemented by Practicum Day, mock interviers, data software workshops and Career Service seminars.
The two main goals of this course are to develop skills needed to shape your professional self and develop the skills to find and thrive in a job. This course will help you achieve these goals by providing the tools to: (1) develop a professional persona (2) sharpen professional communication (3) collaborate effectively as a team member and (4) clarify career objectives.
This course will introduce the student to the epistemology and scholarship of practice and to lifelong learning. Using the DNP Competencies in Comprehensive Care as the framework, students will analyze clinical decision-making and utilization of evidence for best clinical practices in a variety of mental health settings. Individual plans for guided study will be mapped for each student. Clinical review and discussion of interesting, complex cases from the practice environment will facilitate the students’ development of the knowledge base and skills essential to the role of the psychiatric nurse practitioner.
“Money, Politics & Law: Public Health and Abortion Policy” is a deep dive into health policy, health care finance, federalism, and regulatory and enforcement protocols through the unique lens of abortion. Public funding limitations, private insurance coverage restrictions and provider supply constraints are perpetually debated in health policy but remain critical leverage points influencing abortion care. With access alternately protected and eroded by courts, legislatures and regulators nationwide, abortion remains the single most controversial health care service in the United States. Although generally safe when performed legally and cost-effective relative to pregnancies carried to term, the future of abortion appears uncertain. Using abortion as a case study, students conduct a multi-disciplinary examination of legislative, executive and judicial branches of government in action.
In each of seven sessions, students will scrutinize facets health law and policy- from landscape view to microscopic dissection- to understand how abortion both mimics and is marginalized relative to other health care services. The course begins by exploring patterns of payment for abortion, selected abortion jurisprudence, federal statutes, key state laws and the regulatory frameworks affecting funding for abortion. How much does abortion cost? Who pays for it and how? Students focus on public financing limitations including the Hyde Amendment, Harris v. McRae and its state level progeny; private insurance coverage and coverage bans including the Affordable Care Act and implementing regulations; noninsurance based funding mechanisms for abortion services including out-of-pocket contributions, borrowed money, sliding scale negotiations, structured funds and philanthropy. Complex issues influencing the abortion provider supply including medical malpractice insurance, laws governing provision of care by non-physicians, and provider training pipelines are explored. This cutting edge health policy case study concludes by contextualizing US abortion policies among developed nations and examining abortion-related restrictions on US foreign funding.
This course provides an advanced, critical analysis of the delivery and payment of healthcare services in the U.S. with a specific focus on actions innovative healthcare providers and health insurers are
taking to improve the quality of patient care, manage the escalating costs of providing such care, and enhance business performance. It will analyze the attractiveness and feasibility of new approaches to address the challenges facing providers, payers and patients operating in an inefficient, misaligned, and fragmented healthcare system. Particular focus will be given to the impact of the 2009 HITECH Act as well as the Affordable Care Act (ACA) of 2010. There will be guest lectures by a variety of major leaders in healthcare business and policy. The course will be useful for students interested in careers in health system management, health insurance, HCIT, healthcare consulting & banking, private equity, investment management, health policy, entrepreneurship in the healthcare services sector and pharmaceuticals, medical devices & diagnostics.
For students who wish to acquire further knowledge and research skills in areas of special interest. Tailored to the particular needs and interests of individual students, they can take many forms - literature reviews, research projects, field experiences, other special studies, or learning experiences. The objective is to enrich the students program.
This course is designed to integrate foundation skills and strengthen the student's clinical practice in a variety of psychiatric mental health settings. The practicum is the first of two consecutive courses. Expectations of the clinical experience are direct patient contact (assessment, diagnosis, and treatment including medication management) and therapeutic interaction with staff, families, and systems. The student will develop a knowledge base and skills essential to the role of the advanced practice psychiatric nurse practitioner. Details of the practicum will be coordinated with the agency by faculty in line with courses objectives, agency objectives, and student education goals.
This course consists of two components: a computer science component and a health policy-specific component. The first component consists of lectures, homework assignments, and in-class quizzes in the Department of Computer Science, which introduce students to algorithmic problem solving and implementing solutions in Python. These lectures will include students enrolled in context sections from other parts of the University, and assume no prior experience with programming whatsoever. They will be supplemented by a weekly lab at CUMC for Mailman students, which will focus on guiding students through practical examples/applications of the methods presented in the lectures. The second component of the class is context-specific, and includes a health policy analysis project, in which students apply programming methods learned in class to a health policy problem, as well as context lectures given at CUMC in the second half of the semester. These context lectures will focus on the ever-expanding role of computing and “big data” in health policy and healthcare, and will discuss recent research on these topics. Attendance for all lectures and labs is mandatory.
With the Middle East and other regions of the world in political turmoil, and with the frequent occurrence of natural disasters and deadly epidemics, the demands on and the stakes involved with humanitarian aid in health grow steadily higher. Yet both historical and recent political and scientific controversies abound regarding how it should be planned and delivered. In this course, students will explore some of the most salient of these controversies and review concrete cases of intervention from Africa, Asia, the Americas, the Middle East, Europe and former Soviet Union. The twin objectives of the course are to provide students with: 1) a rigorous understanding of current policies and approaches to humanitarian aid in health, and 2) the analytical tools and historical perspective to participate, as public health professionals, in the field’s renewal. The course will be provided through a mix of lectures, discussion and debates. Major international UN and NGO practitioners will be invited to participate in the debates and a United Nations Headquarters tailored site visit will be organized.
Pedagogy of Sexuality Education will provide students with the background and skills they need to design, implement and evaluate effective sexuality education interventions. The course will emphasize teaching methodology for working with groups and students will learn both theories of behavior change and techniques for influencing the key determinants that are relevant in encouraging sexual health. Further, all students will learn strategies for facilitating group learning, responding to the needs of students of various ages and developmental stages, and ways to engage parents. The course will include designing and delivering lesson plans and receiving substantive feedback from the other course participants and the instructor. The course will analyze emerging digital approaches to sexuality education and ways to translate what has been learned about effective in person sex education into digital strategies. We will also cover techniques for working effectively within tight time constraints and preventing controversy. The context in which young people are learning about sexuality as well as current dominant cultural scripts about sexuality will be examined.
This course provides extended exposure to normal physiology and pathophysiology of the cardiovascular system. Exploration of pathophysiological changes of the cardiovascular system and of evaluative techniques for identifying these changes will provide the student with knowledge critical to decision making in contemporary clinical practice. The course will cover examination, evaluation, diagnosis, prognosis, intervention, and outcomes for patients with various cardiopulmonary disorders.
The class explores how laws, policies, and rights function to shape public health, with particular emphasis on the implications of this interaction for rights-based approaches to health programs, policy and advocacy. The course includes an introduction to the principles, provisions and underlying assumptions of law, policy and rights related to public health. Students then have the opportunity to use human rights tools and principles in documentation of health-related human rights violations and formulation of programmatic and advocacy responses to violations. A wide range of issues – HIV, health problems of criminalized populations, autonomy of people living with mental disorders, racial discrimination in health services and related policy, and rights-unfriendly practices of for-profit companies – are used to illustrate the importance of human rights inquiry and analysis in public health.
This is the third in a series of four courses on orthopedic physical therapy. This course emphasizes differential diagnosis, clinical decision-making, and development and implementation of a plan of care for patients demonstrating musculoskeletal dysfunction of the upper extremities.
This course applies the Patient Management Model to musculoskeletal conditions associated with the upper extremities. Examination, intervention, progression and outcome assessment of the upper extremity is linked with diagnostic imaging and conservative and surgical management. Interventions integrate joint and soft tissue manual therapy techniques with therapeutic exercise. Emphasis is placed on clinical decision-making and evidence-based practice in individuals with orthopedic conditions.
The goal of this course is for students to explore and gain a more in-depth understanding of current issues related to sexual and reproductive health. The course will examine how current trends in public health and public policy—and the historic policies, processes, and narratives from which those trends emerge—shape health access and outcomes and drive inequities among certain populations, particularly youth, LGBTQ
communities, immigrant communities and communities of color. The course will use a systems approach, pushing students to identify and analyze the relationship between issues such as welfare policy, economic inequality, maternal mortality and toxic stress and sexual and reproductive health. The class will better equip students to understand, analyze and intervene in systems of oppression and inequality in order to advance equity for all people. Some sessions will feature guest speakers from the fields of policy, public health and advocacy who will share their own experiences and perspectives on current critical issues in sexual and reproductive health.
This is a required course for all students in the Sexuality, Sexual and Reproductive Health (SSRH). The course is also open to non-Mailman students interested in exploring sexual and reproductive health issues (instructor permission required).
This course is the first of a two-part series that applies the Patient Management Model to adults with neuromuscular conditions. Diagnosis emphasized are acquired brain injury disorders, stroke, and traumatic brain injury. Examination, intervention, progression and outcome assessment for stroke and TBI disorders are linked with diagnostic imaging and management via medical and surgical methods. Emphasis is placed on clinical decision-making and evidenced-based practice in individuals with neurological conditions.
In this course you will learn to develop and implement a quantitative data analysis plan and to interpret the output of quantitative analyses using datasets from actual evaluation studies. The early phase of the course will focus on essential pre-analytic tasks often overlooked in the research training process. These include identifying and resolving dirty data including logical inconsistencies and conducting simple and complex data transformations. The second half of the course focuses on conducting bivariate and multivariable statistical tests. This is an applied course, emphasizing skill-building through hands-on work using R in each class session. Reflecting the focus on skill-building, this course includes weekly homework using R.
How do we prepare for and respond to communicable disease outbreaks in low-resource settings? How are diseases transmitted, and how do we prevent, detect, and control the major communicable diseases encountered by populations in low-resource health care settings? How are governments, the UN, and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) responding to disease prevention, mitigation, and control? How do we study what has worked to control disease outbreaks and what has not during situations of war, civil strife, migration, and mass displacement of people and in under-resourced health settings globally?
Whether caused by a natural disaster, conflict or famine, a humanitarian crisis often brings increased morbidity and mortality from direct and indirect causes, including communicable diseases. People moving into crowded communal settlements or shelters means that diseases like diarrhea and measles spread easily. Damage to sanitation facilities or a lack of clean water means rapidly transmitted water- and vectorborne diseases. Since the 1994 cholera epidemic in Goma, Zaire, the humanitarian community has improved its ability to perform operational research to detect and respond to communicable disease outbreaks where infrastructure and information are limited and come up with evidence-informed approaches to the response. Exploring the interplay of programmatic and scientific advances in humanitarian response is imperative to developing and capitalizing on the lessons learned from previous emergencies.
With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, these lessons are more pertinent than ever as the global community struggles to control the spread of the virus and vaccinate populations in an efficient, equitable manner. This course focuses on familiarizing students with epidemiology, pathobiology, diagnostic methods, treatment, preventive interventions, and, especially, programmatic considerations regarding the leading infectious diseases encountered by communities, governments, and humanitarian actors in underresourced health settings. We will evaluate the effectiveness of different stakeholders, including ministries of health, international governments, and NGOs, in outbreak preparedness and response.
Public policy and the organization of health systems profoundly shape the health and well-being of children and youth in the United States. Building on an overview of key federal and state agencies, major pediatric programs (such as Medicaid and CHIP), and leading causes of pediatric morbidity and mortality, this course examines how policy, financing, and models of care contribute to both children's health and inequities. Through focused lectures and applied in-class activities, students analyze contemporary policies and programs, critique government strategy documents, and practice translating evidence for policymakers, professionals, parents, and youth audiences. By the end of the course, students will be able to evaluate federal and state roles in pediatric population health, assess the impact of pediatric policies and care models, and communicate clear, persuasive evidence-based recommendations to diverse interest holders.
The field of School Health has changed dramatically since its inception over a century ago, from an emphasis on mass screening of the school population for infectious disease and sanitation to the current broader vision of comprehensive health, education, and wellness in children and adolescents. This course will explore the potential of schools as vehicles for not only education, but also as untapped resources for child, family, and community health promotion.
Class participants will learn about the evolving public health mission and role of schools as an organized network for health education, medical care, and civic involvement. They will explore a myriad of models of school based, school linked, and community centered care for the school aged population. While the emphasis will be on the existing models of School Health available in the local urban New York area, students will also explore alternate school health models in suburban, rural, national, and global settings. An exploration of potential and future directions for the field will be an integral part of the discussion experience. This class is designed for MPH students from all departments and students from Teachers College who are looking to integrate their developing skill sets in the field of School Health.
This is the second of three consecutive seminars designed to build upon knowledge from DNP Seminar I with a continuation of focus on clinical decision making and evidence-based practice for the provision of primary care to the pediatric patient 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 using patient cases from practicum.
This is the first of a pair of courses on orthotics and prosthetics in physical therapy. This course emphasizes knowledge of orthotic components and principles of biomechanics in the application, analysis, evaluation, and prescription of orthotics in the context of patient/client cases. The course will expand students’ knowledge of orthoses used in physical therapy for upper-extremity, lower-extremity, and trunk dysfunctions. Emphasis will be placed on applying biomechanical principles, the available evidence base, and clinical evaluation and management considerations underlying the clinical decision-making of orthotic prescription and clinical care for individuals with a range of orthopedic and neurologic dysfunctions. Particular attention will be paid to developing gait assessment skills to allow evaluation of gait abnormalities that can be affected with orthoses including the determination of a comprehensive plan of care to address gait dysfunction.
The collection of qualitative data is widespread and growing in public health research, however the credibility and quality of qualitative research rests upon utilizing systematic rigor in collecting, recording, organizing, categorizing, and interpreting qualitative findings. Focusing on focus group data and individual in-depth interview data, this course introduces several approaches to the process of qualitative data analysis. Through a mixture of hands-on group work and independent work, students will apply thematic analysis or framework analysis on real qualitative data starting with developing a research question to writing a scientific manuscript of peer-review quality. Students will use qualitative data analysis software Dedoose to analyze data.
This course, taught over seven weeks, explores the structural, social and political factors that contribute to the existence of gender-based violence and which lead to an increased occurrence of acts of gender-based violence in complex emergencies, including conflict zones and natural disasters. Students will learn about a range of practical resources and guidelines for effective programming and discuss contemporary research on considerations for designing interventions, all within a survivor-centered framework. Students will develop a practical understanding of effective interventions for preventing and responding to violence against women and girls in different phases of complex emergencies. Specifically, students will learn a conceptual and practical framework for preventing and responding to GBV. This will include looking at the International Rescue Committee’s field-tested GBV Emergency Response & Preparedness Model; Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) Guidelines, and other resources. Discussions will focus on the role of States, the United Nations, national/international non-governmental organizations and civil society actors—especially women’s rights organizations and activists—in addressing GBV in emergencies; the role of effective coordination among humanitarian agencies; and how the voices of women and girls drive programming.
Upon successful completion of the course, students will be able to design an intervention to address gender-based violence in different phases of a complex emergency, in addition to adapting data collection and research methods as appropriate to GBV programming needs.
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, group 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.
In this course, students will learn about the disproportionate burdens of environmental contamination and resultant health disparities affecting marginalized communities across the United States and globally. The curriculum will explore the ways in which the environmental justice movement in the US has succeeded in implementing just forms of health research, progressive environmental health policies, and protections from racial/cultural injustice, as well as obstacles, policy impediments and potential paths forward. We will examine environmental health/justice theories and perspectives in the contexts of health impacts on various populations, including American communities of color and the socioeconomically disadvantaged, indigenous peoples, women, and children. We will study climate change, natural disasters, urban pollution and segregation, extractive industries, and environmental sustainability. Students will be asked to critically examine these topics and explore unresolved, chronic problems relating to environmental injustices and their health impacts.
The Materials, Chekhov, & 3rd Year PWF presentations provide an excellent opportunity for stage managers to apply the skills they have acquired through their classroom work and practical training. Each of these productions is attached to three separate “Rehearsal & Production” courses; as such, each requires stage managers to take the lead position as PSM (Production Stage Manager) and shepherd each of the following from pre-production and rehearsals through final presentation.
The Materials, Chekhov, & 3rd Year PWF presentations provide an excellent opportunity for stage managers to apply the skills they have acquired through their classroom work and practical training. Each of these productions is attached to three separate “Rehearsal & Production” courses; as such, each requires stage managers to take the lead position as PSM (Production Stage Manager) and shepherd each of the following from pre-production and rehearsals through final presentation.
The graduate seminar “Problems in Kano Painting,” is a graduate seminar offered periodically to investigate the hereditary lineage of painters that dominated the field of painting in Japan’s late medieval and early modern eras. This semester we will begin with the work of Kano Motonobu and his grandson Eitoku, but will spend most of our time focused on their descendants at the turn of the seventeenth century, particularly Kano Sanraku and Kano Sansetsu. The seminar address the question of how this clan of painters managed to secure its position as official painters to Japan’s rulers for nearly three centuries—a phenomenon unique in the history of art. We will also explore such topics as the ways in which it expanded its painting repertoire beyond its origins in monochrome ink painting, what is meant by an “academic” painting tradition in the Japanese context, its systems of training, promotion, and the economics of their enterprise, and the institutionalization of the Kano project through the writing of art historical treatises.
Evidence-based public health (M Plescia, AJPH 2019) includes making decisions based on peer-reviewed evidence, using data systematically, and disseminating what is learned. Conducting evidence-based public health that reflects the mission and values of the Department of Population & Family Health (PopFam) requires skills to: clarify gaps in knowledge and evidence to explicate how such gaps can be filled; solicit funding and community support for research and evaluation projects that can inform public health practice; ensure applied public health research and evaluation is feasible, and carried out efficiently and according to plan; and that the results and “lessons learned” are disseminated to guide next action steps. This course focuses on practical skills that can be applied in post-Mailman work, with an emphasis on generating key work products such as Specific Aims, letters of support, and data briefs. This course will provide students with skills to center health equity in our public health work from the get-go – recognizing how to be attentive to inclusion and equity in generating research and evaluation questions, project management, and communication and dissemination. This course is designed as a complement to students’ experiences with research or program-based APEx and their subsequent capstone/integrated learning experience (ILE); therefore, priority will be given to second-year PopFam and PHRM students.
Childhood and adolescence are critical windows of opportunity in human development to influence health, learning, and productivity throughout life. In the earliest years of childhood, survival, growth and development are interlinked; growth affects both the chances of survival and the child's development, and family care practices, resources and access to services influence all three. Adolescence is the second period of rapid growth when foundational learning associates with distinct neuro-maturational changes. Contributing to increased investment in the early years and adolescence are new demands related to changing economic, social, demographic, political and educational conditions. The course will focus on populations throughout their lifespan, thinking through child development and explaining why and how programs positively affect health outcomes. Students will understand the role of early child development programs (ECD) in the achievement of improved educational success and improved long-term health. The course will also explore adolescence through a developmental lens and the complex life events and social constructs that can influence adolescent behaviors. Through interactive lectures, small-group discussions and debates, and presentations by established guest speakers, students will learn to analyze programs and services, including how we can work with parents, support young children and adolescents in times of emergencies, and work within the healthcare system through a variety of hospital, community, school and family-based approaches to promote health and positive development.
Global health has long been shaped by broader national interests and geopolitical forces. Global health practitioners must be able to adapt to an ever-changing landscape. Many in the sector are scrambling to do just that as resource flows and collaborative structures that have been relied upon for decades have been diminished in recent years and calls to redefine global public health reverberate. At its heart, however, are a set of essential practice activities that equip the global health workforce to deliver effective and equitable programs across borders and in challenging settings. This course builds on students’ foundational global health knowledge and experience with an emphasis on skills and techniques for successful public health practice in global settings. It will address competencies for the advanced certificate in global health as well as those defined in WHO’s 2024 Global Competency and Outcomes Framework for the Essential Public Health Functions. Units in this course are organized around 5 key domains from this framework: collaboration, decision making, community-centeredness, evidence-informed practice and communication. In each unit, students will learn and apply global health frameworks, as well as critical historical and theoretical perspectives in a series of guided readings, interactive lectures, asynchronous learning modules, in-class discussions, individual and group presentations, and case-based practice simulations where students apply graduate level advanced techniques in real-world global health settings.
This weekly seminar held during the Fall semester is required for all second-year MPH students enrolled in the Global Health certificate. Each certificate student is required to conduct a presentation synthesizing their applied practice experience (APEx), aligning field experience with skills and perspectives gained through coursework. Students present to their peers and Global Health faculty. Two student presentations will be scheduled per week. A sign-up sheet will be distributed at the first seminar session. In addition, this seminar will provide opportunities to meet with global health professionals and discuss methods for finding careers that align with skills and interests. This full-semester course is limited to students enrolled in the Global Health certificate.