PUBLIC HEALTH STUDIES (MD) {PUBH}

500. (NURS570) Introduction to Public Health. (A) McCauley. This course will provide a foundational overview of the field of public health and grounding in the public health paradigm. Content will include the history of public health, an introduction to the basic public health sciences (behavioral and social sciences, biostatistics, epidemiology, environmental health, policy and management), prevention of chronic and infectious diseases and injuries, future directions for public health, international health, ethics, context analysis (specifically concepts of urban health and health disparities), health promotion and disease prevention. This course is also listed as Nursing 570.

501. Introduction to Biostatistics. (A) Grisso. This course is a series of lectures and sessions designed to provide a working knowledge of the fundamental concepts of biostatistics. Topics covered include probability, estimation, confidence interals, hypothesis testing including nonparametric techniques, correlation, regression, analysis of variance, and analysis of covariance. Emphasis is placed on understanding the proper application and underlying assumptions of the methods presented.

502. (NURS500) Introduction to the Principles and Methods of Epidemiology. (B) Pinto-Martin. This course provides an introduction to epidemiological methods and an overviewof the role of epidemiology in disease etiology and in the planning, delivery and evaluation of health services. The population-based approach to collection and analysis of health data will be emphasized throughout the course. Through textbook reading, class discussion and review of the recent literature, students will become acquainted with the basic designs of epidemiological studies in theory and in practice. Students will develop the basic skills necessary to use epidemiological knowledge and methods as the basis for scientific public health practice. This course is also listed as Nursing 500.

503.Environmental and Occupational Health. (B) Emmett. This course will provide a broad introduction to the scientific basis of occupational and environmental health. Content will address issues in the ambient, occupational and global environments as well as the tools, concepts and methods used in environmental health.

504.Behavioral and Social Sciences in Public Health. (A) Blank. This course provides students with a solid foundation in behavioral and social science theory, research, and interventions as they pertain to public health. Content will provide exposure to a broad range of theories, including the theoretical foundations of social science applications for help-seeking, gender, race, ethnicity and social class. These theories will be discussed using examples of their applications to numerous public health problems including HIV/AIDS, violence, cancer, cardiovascular diseases, obesity, and diabetes.

505.Public Health Policy and Administration. (A) Morssink. This course will introduce students to basic frameworks from the fields of public policy and public administration. Students will acquire knowledge of the many interactive factors that shape health policies in the USA, and a comprehension of the major theories andmodern dilemmas of health administration. Students will gain a critical understanding of the structural and cultural dynamics that make up the nationalpublic health and health care "systems"; core aspects of health economics; core aspects of health economics; and the roles of politics, community participation and worldviews that shape these systems. Throughout the course the interface of health policy and administration with other domains in the political economy of the US will be described and analyzed.

L/L 506. Methods for Public Health Practice. (B) Tsou, Holmes. This is a survey course who objective is to provide students with greater familiarity in the range of methods essential to public health practice. The course will include data collection and evaluation topics that build upon basic knowledge in epidemiology and biostatistics to include qualitative research, principles and concepts of advocacy, uses of informatics in public health, among others. The course will pick up on emerging needs in public health. The objectives of the course are: 1. integration and application of public health concepts into methods and practice; 2. exposure to methodological topics and resources not covered or only touched upon in other public health courses; 3. complement the capstone's hands-on approach to evidence-based public health.

507. Ethics, Law and Policy in Public Health. (B) Rosoff. What is best - or, at least, seems best -- for the public's health is not always consistent with society's view of what is legal, ethical, or good policy. This course introduces key concepts of legal, ethical, and policy analysis and attempts to demonstrate with current examples how these forces empower, guide, and constrain public health decision-making and actions. The course will combine lecture, Socratic dialogue, and group discussion in an informal setting. The course will feature guest lectures by several distinguished experts from Penn and from other universities.

508. Capstone Experience. (C) Cannuscio. The capstone project is a planned, supervised and evaluated research or service project that includes field experience in the Philadelphia region. The objective is to afford students the opportunity to apply the knowledge and skills they have acquired through their academic coursework in a real life setting, in an area of personal interest.

509. Injury and the Public's Health. (K) Branas. This course will offer students an introduction to the relatively new field of injury and violence prevention. As a major cause of death and disability throughout the world, injury is a leading public health problem. Prominent types ofinjuries to be discussed include those relating to motor vehicles, falls, and firearms. Students will finish with a basic understanding of injuries and the many issues involved in preventing injuries.

512. Injury Mechanisms: Incorporating Injury Mechanics into Injury Control. (A) Winston. An integrated approach to injury control research will be discussed. Basic biomechanical engineering principles important in trauma research will be presented by lecture, demonstration, video, and references. Methods for incorporating these concepts into injury epidemiological studies will be discussed. References will be provided.

513. Applying Sociology to Public Health Research and Practice; Subtitle: Social Determinants of Public Health. (L) Morssink. Public health research and practice can be greatly enhanced by using sociological perspectives when formulating questions, hypotheses, programs and policies. After an introductory lecture on some major analytical tools in sociology, the class will use the concept of "the sociological imagination" in five discussions, each addressing a topic that most public health workers and researchers face.

516.Public Health Genetics. (A) Hughes-Halbert. This is a lecture course that will provide a topical overview of issues in public health genetics. The purpose of this course is to introduce students tothe complex issues involved in applying and integrating genetic technology and information into public health. Through a series of lectures and observationalexperiences, students will learn about the history of public health genetics,the role that genetics play in public health, and issues involved in applying genetic technology in clinical and research settings. Lectures will also address the ethical, legal, and social implications of genetic testing in populations and research designed to identify suseptibility genes in diverse ethnic and racial groups.

517.(CPLN646) Introduction to the Epidemiologic Study of Geography and Health. (B) Wiebe. This course will provide an introduction to GIS in public health research and practice. Through a series of lectures and labs students will explore theories linking health and the environment, spatial analysis and spatial epidemiology, and applications of GIS-related data collection and analysis.

L/R 519. Introduction to Global Health. (A) Nathanson. Prerequisite(s): Undergraduates must have completed HSOC-010-401. This course presents an overview of issues in global health from the viewpoint of many different disciplines, with emphasis on economically less developed countries. Subjects include: millennium goals; measures of disease burden; population projections and control; environmental health and safe water; demography of disease and mortality; zoonotic infectious diseases; AIDS and HIV prevention; vaccine utilization and impact; eradication of polio virus; chronic diseases;tobacco-associated disease and its control; nutritional challenges; social determinants of global health; harm reduction and behavioral modifications; women's reproductive rights; health economics and cost-effective interventions; health manpower and capacity development; bioethical issues in a global context.

520. Topics in Public Health Economics. (L) Kraut-Becher. This course uses basic economic concepts, principles and theories to examine selected topics relevant to the public health sector of the United States. Issues pertinent to the government in its provision, financing and regulation of healthcare will be addressed. Economic evaluation techniques often used in public decision-making will be reviewed. In addition, infectious diseases and risky and addictive behaviors will be examined from an economics perspective. Discussions of economic theories and methods for exploring each topic will be accompanied by examples drawn from existing research literature.

521. Program Evaluation in Public Health. (A) Salzer. This course introduces students to theoretical and practical aspects of program evaluation. Students learn about the application of data collection skills to all phases of developing a public health program or service innovation, from needs assessment to analysis of findings to implementation of changes based on results. Students learn to appreciate how these skills can be used as practical implementation, including taking a reflective practice approach, ensuring equity and fairness in program delivery (i.e., combating disparities), and generally promoting public health through effective and efficient programmatic efforts. This applied course provides students with practical data collection experiences as well as requiring an in-depth evaluation project and report.

522. Critical Appraisal of Occupational and Environmental Health Literature. (L) McKenzie. This course provides a forum for the student to critically appraise the literature using a systematic approach to reading and critically evaluating journal articles from the occupational and environmental medicine as well as the public health literature. Through this process, elements such as study hypothesis, study design, selection of the study population, and evaluation of the internal and external validity of an article will be examined. Methods learned in this course can be used as a framework to critically evaluate medical research articles in other disciplines. At each session, the article, pre-approved by the course director, will be presented by a student (occupational medicine resident, master's student or doctoral student). The article will then be discussed by all members of the group. The session will be moderated by the course director and other faculty will be presnt to discuss the article. The course will allow discussions of methodological, regulatory, research, ethical, or health issues raised by the article presented and also allow the group to review statistical methods.

523.Disease Detectives and Social Engineers. (L) Cannuscio. Our success as public health researchers, practitioners, and leaders often depends on our ability to think critically and act rapidly to address populatin health threats. This course will examine the fundamental challenges of public health action. Using a case-based method, the course will probe true public health emergencies, considering the information available to scientists; public access and reaction to that information; and the nature/scope/consequences of interventions levied to address the public health threat. The course will tackle cases from several areas of infectious and social epidemiology, such as the following: outbreak investigation (using a cholera example), lay epidemiology (examining cancer clusters), surveillance and rapid response (based on flu policy), and the dificulty of intervening to address social determinants of health (probably looking at poverty/SES and race/racism).Students in the class will develop key skillws in critical epidemiological reasoning. In all cases, teh emphasis will on evaluating the empirical base for public health decision-making, with attention given to public health goals and metrics used to evaluate success in public health interventions.

524.Ameliorating Disparities in the Public's Health. Morssink. This course is a follow-up on the provost-sponsored seminar series that ran from 2003 to 2006. The title of the first seminar in 2003, Ameliorating Health Disparities: An Excerise in Futility or a Tool for Real Social Change, captures the reason for providing this course. Health disparities are a fact of social and professional life. Addressing Health Disparities was the second overreaching goal of Healthy People 2010. Most policy initiatives toward eliminating health disparities have failed to close these gaps in population health policies. Preparation work for Healthy People 2020 will highlight this problem. The course will provide the students with the tools necessary to make ameliorating health disparities part of their career, whether in advocacy,program management, scientific inquiry or education. The course covers methods, reasoning, problem definition, scope descriptions, lessons learned, and pathways for implementing better disparity outcomes in PH programs.

525.Developing Effective Public Health Programs Using a Humans Rights Based Approach. Voet. This course will engage students in discussion of how a human rights approach, informed by international human rights declarations and covenants as well as gender theory, can more comprehensively inform the development of a variety of public health programs. Specifically, the class will discuss how health policies, programs and practices can impact on human rights (e.g. mandatory reporting of certain communicable diseases, quarantine, accessibility of services, etc.); how violations of human rights affect health (e.g. torture, discrimination, etc.) and how health and human rights are ultimately inextricably linked and programming for public health must use a framework that ensures a balance of interests between the two disciplines.

526.Antrhopology and Public Health. Frances Barg. Prerequisite(s): PUBH 502. In this course, we examine three types of relationships between anthropology and public health. Anthropology and public health will examine complementary and competing concepts fundamental to each discipline and ways that these concepts make it essential and difficult for the disciplines to work together. Antrhopology on public health takes a critical look at assumptions in public health praxis. Anthropology in public health will focus on ways that anthropology theory and methods inform the practice of public health. Using these three approaches, we will examine topics in public health such as mental health, health promotion/disease prevention communication, cancer disparities, reproductive health, violence and infectious disease. Students will learn and apply anthropologic research methods to these problems.

530. (NURS677) Environmental Toxicology: Risk Assessment and Health Effects. McCauley, L. Undergrads need Permission. This course presents general principals of toxicology and the disposition of toxins in the body. Case studies of the effects of environmental and occupational toxins on individuals will be analyzed. This course is designed for students who desire a strong foundation in toxicological concepts and principals and provides an overview of major toxins in our environment and their association with human health.

532. (EPID803) Biostatistics in Practice. (B)

533. (NURS678) Exposure Assessment and Safety in the Workplace. (B) McCauley, L. This course is designed to present an overview of the interdisciplinary nature of monitoring and controlling workplace hazards. Didactic course content on the major factors contributing to occupational health hazards and safety will be presented along with discussion of regulatory and site-specific interventions to promote worker safety and health. Five site visits will be conducted to apply the principles of workplace assessment and to discuss strategies that are used forhazard recognition and evaluation in different work environments. Experts in workplace hazard recognition and control will share current challenges and priorities from their worksites.

534. (CRIM415, CRIM615) Fatal Violence in the U.S. Sorenson. The purpose of this course is for students to gain an understanding of patterns of fatal violence and population and prevention approaches to violence. The course will focus on policies and regulations related to firearms, the primary mechanism by which violence-related fatalities occue in the U.S. We will address the life span of a gun, from design and manufacture through to use. In addition, we will address key aspects of the social context in which firearsm exist and within which firearm policy is made. The course, by design, is inherently interactive. Students are expected to attend all class sessions, participate in discussions, and to question assumptions. Each class session will include discussion.

SM 535. (ANTH625) Urban Poverty and Violence. (M) Bourgois. This seminar examines anthropological approaches to poverty and violence through a close reading of eight ethnographies. Readings span many of the theoretical, political, sub-disciplinary and area studies debates in anthropology and the larger fields of poverty, social inequality, internationaldevelopment, and violence studies over the past century. My hope is to bring the subjects of urban poverty, violence, social suffering and a critique of neoliberal governmentality into the center of the disciplines of anthropology and public health speicifically, and the social sciences, humanities and medicine more broadly. In the seminar we will be bringing students from anthropology, and other social science and humanities disciplines in dialogue with students in public health, science studies, and clinical medicine.

SM 536. (SWRK799) Mental Health Policy. Hadley, Evans. The focus of this course will be on policies and policy issues that define and influence the care and treatment of persons with mental illness from colonial times to the present. The course will examine the primary social, political, economic, legal and philosophical forces that have influenced mental health delivery in the United States over different time periods and the resulting organizational, financial, administrative, and management structures of mental health service delivery systems. The interface with other major service delivery systems, including welfare, criminal jsutice, primary health care, andsocial security will be addressed. Topics to be included will be deinstitutionalization, managed care, psychiatric rehabilitation, cultural issues and the disparities of care, children's treatment and services, professional certification and roles, and family and consumer advocacy. Major legal cases and legislation relevant to these topics will be covered. This will be an interdisciplinary course taught by faculty trained in psychology, social work, psychiatry, law, and health policy and management. It is open to masters and doctoral students.

597.History of Public Health. Barnes. This masters-level seminar examines the health of human populations and the science of improving it in historical perspective. Special attention is given to the city of Philadelphia as a living laboratory of public health in the past and present. Lectures, readings and discussions cover various societies' attempts to respond to and prevent disease since antiquity. Case studies focus on the roots of contemporary public health knowledge and policy in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Topics include responses to epidemics, the Bacteriological Revolution, racial and economic disparities in health, the development of policy infrastructures, and global health. Periodic field trips will be arranged to public health-related historical sites in Philadelphia and vicinity.

598.International Immersion Experience in Public Health. (L) Nguyen. This independent educational experience seeks to provide motivated students with the opportunity to expand their knowledge in global health through focusedexperiential learning at international sites that provide direct public health services. Such learning will allow students to gain real-world experience concerning the core competencies of public health (health policy, behavior/ social sciences, environmental health, epidemiology, or biostatistics).

599.Independent Study in Public Health. (C)