Courses

The course descriptions below are correct to the best of our knowledge as of April 2016. Instructors reserve the right to update and/or otherwise alter course descriptions as necessary after publication. The listing of a course description here does not guarantee a course’s being offered in a particular semester. The Course Rotation Guide lists the expected semester a course will be taught. Please refer to the published schedule of classes for confirmation a class is actually being taught and for specific course meeting dates and times. In addition to the courses listed in the Bulletin and courses approved after April 1, SPH degree candidates may register for a directed (independent) study with a full-time SPH faculty member. For more information, speak with your faculty advisor or a staff member in the SPH Registrar’s office.

• SPH EP 817: A Guided Epidemiology Study
  This is an upper-level , hands-on seminar course, which teaches a small group of students how to develop and conduct a hypothesis-based study, using datasets that are currently available to the instructors. Through a combination of workshops, written assignments, and oral presentations, students develop hypotheses, conduct literature reviews, perform data analyses, and write each section of a manuscript. The final project requires the student to integrate all sections into a complete paper for journal submission. This course prepares students to write thesis proposals and manuscripts.
• SPH EP 820: Perspectives on Epidemiologic Studies
  This one-week intensive will address a set of epidemiologic issues on each day through a formal lecture, group discussion, small group exercises, and student presentations. A variety of methods will be covered, with an emphasis on what they are and how they fit into the 'real world.' Students who encounter these and methods in subsequent classes (or work) will have a better understanding of how they fit in public health.
• SPH EP 850: Applications of Intermediate Epidemiology
  This course is designed for students interested in applying their knowledge of intermediate epidemiologic methods to the analysis of observational data. Topics include conceptualizing data analysis by defining an addressable research question, utilizing directed acyclic graphs (DAGs) for confounder selection, choosing appropriate exposure and outcome measurements and interpreting the results with respect to strengths, limitations, and biases. This hands-on course will put the concepts of intermediate epidemiology into application as the students perform a data analysis project from start to finish. Data analysis will be performed using SAS. Statistical theory will not be a focus of this course.
• SPH EP 854: Advanced Epidemiology
  This course covers the theory and application of key principles and methods of epidemiologic research in depth. The topics include causal models, confounding, randomization, interaction, statistical analysis and inference, and causal inference. Special emphasis is given to the meaning and interpretation of p-values, confidence intervals, and likelihoods. Alternative approaches are identified for selecting and interpreting measures of disease frequency and measures of effect. Guidance is offered for determining objectives and strategies in study design and analysis, especially for case-control research. Methods are presented for the assessment and control of confounding, misclassification bias, and selection bias. Strengths and weaknesses of standardization, pooling, modeling, and exposure-response analysis are reviewed.
• SPH EP 855: Advanced Epidemiology Seminar: Issues in Study Design
  This course is structured around reading and discussing both historical and current methodological papers. The first section of the course focuses on papers by early theoreticians and methodologists. The second section focuses on contemporary methodologic questions. Substantive areas may evolve and vary over time. Recent topics have included case-control studies, study efficiency, measures of effect, exposure misclassification, sensitivity analysis, casual diagrams, and direct and indirect effects.
• SPH EP 857: Design and Conduct of Cohort Studies
  This is a third-level epidemiologic methods course intended for advanced Masters and Doctoral students who desire to build depth and nuance in their understanding of cohort study design and conduct. The course will build on classic and state-of-the-art papers which focus in depth on various topics such as selection of appropriate measure of excess risk and intermediate endpoints (theory and practice). For each topic, methodologic readings will be linked back to concrete examples of cohort study design, with special emphasis on practical aspects of study conduct.
• SPH EP 858: Design and Conduct of Case-Control Studies
  This course will develop students? practical knowledge of the design and conduct of case-control studies. It will cover the relationship between cohort and case-control studies and study design issues, including identification of a study base, selection of cases and controls, collection of exposure information, sources of bias, and matching. Published papers will be used to illustrate design, bias, and analytic issues through reading and discussion. Each class includes a lecture and discussion of assigned articles.
• SPH EP 860: Novel Analytical Methods for Epidemiology
  This course is intended to introduce doctoral students to a number of advanced methods in data analysis, with the aim of providing students with the ability to recognize situations in which the use of such methods may be beneficial, knowledge of the basic methods needed to conduct analyses, and an understanding of the strengths and limitations of each method. The course covers approximately five analytic methods in a series of 2- or 3-session modules. Topics may vary slightly in different semesters; examples of the types of methods covered include propensity scores, marginal structural models, quantitative bias analysis, and Bayesian analysis. Hands-on sessions in the classroom, homework assignments, and a final data analysis project provide students with practice in the conduct of analyses using these methods.
• SPH EP 861: Quantitative Bias Analysis Methods for Epidemiologic Research
  This course covers a novel approach to dealing with systematic error in epidemiologic research called quantitative bias analysis, QBA. QBA allows users to make corrections to measures of association for sources of bias by making assumptions typically using validation data about the nature of the bias to create intervals that account for total study error. The course will cover three types of bias analysis: simple, multidimensional and probabilistic. Exercises in Excel and SAS will allow students to practice the methods, adapt them to problems they face and present the results clearly.
• SPH EP 862: Simulated Problems for Learning Epidemiology (SimPLE)
  This course will challenge students to think more deeply about the epidemiologic concepts they have learned in their methods courses and provide them with the skills to conduct simulation studies to be able to further their understanding of these concepts. Students will learn to simulate datasets from a directed acyclic graph (DAG) describing the problem or phenomenon of interest and learn how to vary the parameters of the simulation to gain a deeper insight into the problem. Students will also learn to derive the answers to questions about epidemiologic methods in cases where they do not know how to solve the problem analytically.
• SPH EP 911: Directed Studies in Epidemiology
  Directed Studies provide the opportunity for students to explore a special topic of interest under the direction of a SPH faculty member. Students may register for a 1, 2, 3, or 4-credit directed study. Arrangements are made directly with a full time SPH faculty member. Studies to be completed with an adjunct faculty member must be approved by and assigned to the Department chairperson. Students must complete a paper registration form and have a directed study proposal form signed by the faculty member with whom they are working. Section numbers are assigned by the SPH Registrar's Office. Students are limited to eight (8) credits of directed study, directed research or practicum during their MPH education.
• SPH EP 912: Directed Research in Epidemiology
  Directed Research provide the opportunity for students to explore a special topic of interest under the direction of a full-time SPH faculty member. Students may register for 1, 2, 3, or 4 credits. To register, students must submit a paper registration form and signed directed research proposal form. Students are placed in a section by the Registrar?s Office according to the faculty member with whom they are working. Students may take no more than eight credits of directed study, directed research, or practica courses during their MPH education.
• SPH EP 940: Culminating Experience in Epidemiology
  Epidemiology concentrators must complete a culminating experience in their final semester of registration. For more details on the requirements for the culminating experience, please contact your department.
• SPH EP 980: Continuing Study
  PhD, DSc, and MS in Epidemiology students who have completed all academic course requirements, must register for Continuing Study every Fall and Spring semester until they have successfully defended their theses/dissertations and have graduated from SPH. Students are charged the equivalent of two credits of tuition, student health insurance, and all relevant fees, and are certified as full time.
• SPH GH 701: Global Health Storytelling
  Global Health Storytelling is an interdisciplinary class for journalism and public health students who have a passionate interest in crafting rich, nuanced, compelling narratives about global health for a broad audience. This is a class for public health students who want to communicate public health science, practice, and policies in the style of an Atlantic Monthly article, a New York Times feature, or an NPR audio story. Likewise, it is a class for journalism or other communication-focused students interested in building public health knowledge. Students will learn from global health and journalism professors, guest speakers, and one another through class-room based instruction and individual reporting projects.
• SPH GH 702: Skills in Critical Analysis and Evidence Based Writing for Public Health
  This introductory course will develop students? abilities to read the public health literature critically and to integrate evidence into a well-crafted policy memo. The class will focus on critical analysis of a case study focused on two research articles analyzing interventions to prevent HIV transmission. Through in-class discussions students will explore why the studies drew different conclusions. Course assignments will allow students to hone the applied critical analysis and writing skills they will need as public health professionals.
• SPH GH 715: Antiretroviral Program Management and Adherence Issues in Low Resource Settings
  Successful HIV/AIDS treatment programs rely on consistent, uninterrupted supplies of antiretrovirals (ARVs), appropriate ARV prescribing, retention of patients in treatment programs, and a high level of adherence by patients. Ineffective ARV management can lead to treatment failures, ARV resistance, and insufficient program uptake. This course provides students with practical knowledge and skills to manage challenges in the areas of ARV selection, pricing, quality, and program monitoring and evaluation. Guest lecturers with relevant expertise will be invited to speak on several specific topics. One session will be devoted to a field visit to an adherence clinic to learn directly about the ARV program management issues faced by practitioners and patients.
• SPH GH 722: Supply Chain Management for Improved Health System Performance
  Supply chain logistics is an important aspect of public health programs, and an area that is often unappreciated. The journey from manufacturer to a patient in a remote rural village in Africa is complicated and fascinating serious management challenge. This course provides a practical introduction to the core tenets of health commodity supply chain management (SCM), including system design, assessment, quantification, procurement, inventory management, and logistics management information systems. Using the "Access Framework," students will gain foundational knowledge and apply that knowledge in class exercises, discussions, case studies, and stakeholder interactions. Course assignments will have a strong experiential component with a focus on professional level communications and analytical skills.
• SPH GH 741: Global Health Consultation Techniques
  This course will prepare students for consulting and technical assistance assignments in developing countries. Students learn to analyze the pros and cons of potential consulting assignments and prepare proposals. The potential conflicts between donors/sponsors and the agency receiving the consulting services will be considered. Assignments considered include financial analysis, operational improvements, training and program evaluation. Cross cultural issues and the problems of operating in remote areas are discussed. This course is for foreign nationals returning to their own countries and US citizens/residents who will seek international assignments with USAID contractors or NGOs. During this intensive one week course, students prepare a proposal in response to an actual RFP (Request for Proposal) as well as a presentation summarizing findings of a major consulting or research assignment.
• SPH GH 743: Implementing Health Programs in Developing Countries: Making Programs Work
  As professionals working in low and middle income countries, we often end up running programs we did not design, which are under-financed, and which face enormous implementation challenges. In this course, students will work with a specifically identified health program that is currently being implemented and conduct systems analyses, undertake problem solving exercises, and propose solutions to real implementation challenges in the field. Ultimately they will be able to prioritize the interventions necessary to effectively run a complex health program in such diverse situations as urban slums and dispersed rural areas in developing countries and be prepared to plan the actions to effectively run those programs. This course is directed towards students in the health management emphasis area and is not suitable for students in their first semester of studies. Students who will particularly benefit from this course are foreign nationals returning to their own countries and U.S.citizens or residents who will provide technical assistance through NGOs or other agencies to implement existing health programs.

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