Pedagogy of Sexuality Education
PEDAGOGY OF SEXUALITY EDU
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.
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Instructor:
Lindsay Fram
Info - 3 points
Health and Human Rights Advocacy
HEALTH & HUMAN RIGHTS ADV
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.
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Instructor:
Marta L Schaaf
Info - 1.5 points
Current Issues in Sexual Health
CURRENT ISSUES IN SEXUAL
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).
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Instructor:
Andrea M Flynn
Info - 3 points
Quantitative Data Analysis
QUANTITATIVE DATA ANALYSI
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.
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Instructor:
Judith F Austin
Info - 3 points
Outbreak Preparedness and Response in Re
OUTBR PREP/RESP IN RES-LI
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.
- 1.5 points
Pediatric Population Health in the Unite
PEDIATRIC POP HLTH IN THE
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.
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Instructor:
Kyle R MacDonald
Info - 1.5 points
Issues in School-Based Health
ISSUES IN SCHOOL-BASED HE
Class participants will be offered both a didactic experience and hands-on field exploration of the evolving public health mission and role of schools as an organized network for health education, medical care, and civic involvement. 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 rural, national, international, and global settings. This class is designed for MPH candidates from all departments who are looking to complete their graduate school experience through the integration and application of their skills sets with practical program experience on the field. Participants will work as a group with a community school to plan and develop a project proposal for funding and implementation. Students will interact with various local agency and community players in both the education and school health fields. This course will also expose candidates with an interest in school health, child health, health education and health promotion to local agencies and non-profits directly involved in education and school-related public health services.
Qualitative Data Analysis
QUALITATIVE DATA ANALYSIS
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.
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Instructor:
Stephanie A Grilo
Info - 3 points
Gender-Based Violence in Complex Emergen
GENDR-BASED VIOL-COMPLEX
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.
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Instructor:
Alina Potts
h-index: 8 Info - 1.5 points
Methods in Program Evaluation
METHODS IN PROGRAM EVALUA
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.
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Instructor:
Vandana Tripathi
Info - 3 points
Environmental Justice Advocacy
ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE
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.
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Instructor:
Yolande A Cadore
Info - 1.5 points
Planning, Managing & Communicating For E
PLN MNG & COMMS
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.
- 3 points
Child Development & Health Programs
CHILD DEVELOPMENT & HLTH
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.
- 3 points
Advanced Techniques in Global Health
Adv Techniques Global Hea
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.
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Instructor:
Stephen P Kachur
Info - 3 points
Global Health Practice Seminar 2
Global Health Pract Semin
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.
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Instructor:
Stephen P Kachur
Info - 0.5 points
Training of Trainers of Public Health Pr
TRAINING OF TRAINERS OF P
The purpose of the course is to teach participants the key principles and skills needed to design, deliver, and evaluate participatory training activities for public health programs across a range of geographies, settings, and content areas. Students will experience and experiment with a range of adult learning theories, tools, strategies, and methodologies, and use this learning to collaboratively develop a real-world training program. Instruction will include self-paced pre-work to devote more in-class time to application, problem-solving, and in-depth discussion. As a workshop-style course, students do not need to be expert educators to succeed, but must be willing to get creative, take risks, and critically examine our values and beliefs around the practice of teaching and learning.
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Instructor:
Ryan M Mateo Sharnbroich
Info - 1.5 points
Epidemiological Methods for Measuring Hu
EPID MTHDS-MEAS HUM RTS A
People across the world turn to the language and legal structures of human rights to advance justice and accountability. This course explores the intersections between epidemiology and human rights, examining how epidemiologic concepts and methods can help document violations, assess inequities, monitor progress, and support accountability. With its focus on the distribution and determinants of disease, disability, death, and injury, epidemiology offers powerful tools for substantiating claims related to the rights to health, a healthy environment, equitable resources, and freedom from violence and trauma.
The course has three central goals: to help students critically examine the connections between human rights, justice, epidemiology, and quantitative measurement; to introduce epidemiologic methods relevant to human rights research, including vital statistics, population-based surveys, capture-recapture analyses, latent variable modeling, policy mapping, and causal inference; and to guide students in designing and communicating rigorous research that can inform human rights advocacy. Through this course, students will learn to select and design indicators of civil, cultural, economic, political, social, and collective rights; to evaluate and interpret quantitative evidence used in human rights contexts; to identify and articulate theories of change underlying human rights research; and to translate epidemiologic findings for diverse audiences in ways that maintain scientific integrity while advancing advocacy goals. The course culminates in a final paper in which students apply these skills to a set of human rights concerns in a particular context.
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Instructor:
Justin Feldman
Info - 1.5 points
Public Health and Humanitarian Action
PUB HLTH & HUMANITARIAN A
Humanitarian action has come to occupy a central place in world politics. Increasingly grounded in rights rather than charity, international assistance and protection are expected to reach people affected by disasters, organized violence, climate change, and other emergencies in a timely, informed, and impartial manner. Global wealth suggests that such a response is possible; global morality suggests that it is necessary.
This course examines efforts to provide humanitarian assistance and protection in crisis-affected settings. It considers the political, technical, organizational, moral, and ethical forces that shape humanitarian action, as well as the distortions and performance challenges that continue to compromise effective and impartial response. While public health practice often focuses on technical and organizational capacity, this course emphasizes that political and ethical dimensions are equally central to alleviating human suffering. Combining theory with practice, the course explores the constraints and possibilities of humanitarian action from the perspectives of humanitarian agencies, field professionals, and people affected by crisis. Students will examine the principles guiding humanitarian response and their influence on evidence-based decision-making across key public health priorities. The course also addresses the need for sustainable approaches in protracted crises and emerging challenges, including climate change and efforts to decolonize the aid sector. Students will engage current trends and debates, take and defend positions, and contribute actively to a participatory learning environment.
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Instructor:
Sabrina C Hermosilla
Info - 3 points
Forced Migration Practicum Seminar
FORCED MIGRATION PRACTICU
This weekly seminar, held during the Fall semester, is required for all second-year students enrolled in the Public Health and Humanitarian Action (PHHA) certificate. Each certificate student is required to conduct a presentation synthesizing applied practice experience, aligning field experience with skills and perspectives gained through coursework. Students present to their peers and PHHA faculty. The seminar is limited to students enrolled in the PHHA certificate, and to first-year students considering or intending to enroll in the PHHA certificate. Two student presentations will be scheduled per week. A sign-up sheet will be distributed prior to the first seminar session.
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Instructor:
Sara E Casey
h-index: 16 Info - 0-1 points
Key Issues in Adolescent Sexual and Repr
ISS IN ADOLESC SXL/REPRO
This graduate seminar examines key issues in adolescent sexual and reproductive health research. The course emphasizes how research shapes policy, clinical practice, advocacy, and public health programming for adolescents. Using a journal club format, students will critically read, discuss, and debate both classic and emerging research through a combination of student-led presentations, guided deconstruction of scientific papers, and collaborative discussion. Students will learn how to evaluate the quality and relevance of diverse research designs, compare findings across studies, and identify gaps in the evidence. This 7-week course will also introduce students to the thoughtful and responsible use of artificial intelligence tools to support scholarly work, including literature discovery, question development, synthesis, and scientific communication, while emphasizing critical judgment, transparency, and verification of sources. Topics include adolescent sexuality, sexual health communication, abstinence-only programs, STI prevention and testing, sexual violence, abortion, LGBTQ+ health, and other emerging issues in adolescent sexual and reproductive health. By the end of the course, students will be better prepared to interpret evidence, lead informed discussions, and apply research to their future work in public health, clinical care, education, and policy.
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Instructor:
Lauren S Chernick
Info - 1.5 points