Courses

The listing of a course description here does not guarantee a course’s being offered in a particular semester. Please refer to the published schedule of classes on the Student Link for confirmation a class is actually being taught and for specific course meeting dates and times.

• SAR HS 431: Topics in Global Environmental Health
  In this course, students will critically examine current topics in environmental health through a global health lens. Specific course topics and content will vary by semester. As a global health senior seminar, this course will involve significant reading, active discussion, and completion of one or more projects.
• SAR HS 432: Urban Design and Global Health
  Most of the world's population now lives in urbanized areas, and virtually all future population growth is expected to be urban. This course will address the impacts and opportunities of cities for public health, the environment, and global equity. We will examine the historical, social, economic, and aesthetic reasons for urban design decisions, along with the impacts of those decisions on public health. We'll consider the history and future of urban health infrastructure, as well as modern innovations in design and technology that promise to improve (or degrade) public health. Lessons from cities in the developed world will be applied to design in the developing world, and vice versa. Major topics will include transportation; nature in an urban setting; slums and healthy housing; the epidemiologic study of urban health; zoning and other land-use controls; sanitation; and the history and impacts of globalization.
• SAR HS 434: Global Health Governance
  The world's countries--low-income nations in particular--face numerous health challenges, including fighting Ebola and other infectious diseases, combating the AIDS pandemic, reducing the incidence of maternal death in childbirth, strengthening national health systems and managing a complex global health architecture. This course will examine these and other issues with an emphasis on how you as an actor in global health can intervene to improve health conditions for the poor. In the first part of the course we will consider some of the fundamental difficulties in health governance, including expanding health coverage, the role of the World Health Organization in governing global health, and how we should be setting global health priorities. We will then move on to consider a set of health challenges that have particular impact upon the poor: HIV/AIDS, Ebola, maternal mortality, female circumcision and non-communicable diseases.
• SAR HS 435: Huminfectdiseas
  
• SAR HS 439: Global Health Communication and Advocacy
  Behavior change is inherently difficult and small differences in how we say things or what platform we choose to share information through can greatly affect how well it is received. This course focuses on developing the skills needed to communicate effectively in the global health sector. We will also examine the use of communication to positively influence public policy and public opinion. Over the course of the semester, we will analyze the design and implementation of communication interventions and campaigns designed to change behavior. This includes tools such as policy memos, health pamphlets, infographics, text campaigns, mHealth, and public service announcements, among others. We will cover topics such as strategic program design, message development, pretesting, materials production, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation. This course will also help students develop writing and oral presentation skills essential to global health.
• SAR HS 440: Qualitative Research Strategies in Global Health
  Qualitative research methods are increasingly used in public health, and provide valuable insights into the local perspectives of study populations. This course provides practical strategies and methods for using qualitative research and includes the basic assumptions, approach and rationale for making qualitative research decisions, framing qualitative research questions, and designing appropriate research strategies. Examples will be drawn from current global health issues. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Social Inquiry II, Teamwork/Collaboration.
  BU Hub Learn More

  • Social Inquiry II
  • Teamwork/Collaboration
• SAR HS 441: Neglected Tropical Diseases
  Neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) are a group of viral, parasitic, and bacterial diseases that affect more than 1 billion people worldwide and disproportionately burden those with the fewest resources. They can cause significant disability, chronic illness, and death in both children and adults. The purpose of this course is to provide an overview of each of the NTDs including transmission, disease progression, treatment, epidemiology, and control strategies. In addition, we will examine their public health importance and the effects they have at the individual, community, and national level. We will also discuss societal contexts and ethics around treatment, research, advocacy, and prevention.
• SAR HS 442: Healthcare Interventions in Low and Lower-Middle Income Countries
  This course will introduce students to healthcare delivery in low (LICs) and lower middle income countries (LMICs). Students will become familiar with aspects of surgical interventions, pharmaceutical provision, cell phone technology, and global health programming. We will examine healthcare delivery and practices through case studies focused on the prevention and treatment of malnutrition, infectious diseases, and non-communicable diseases. Through this course, students will learn from past and existing healthcare delivery techniques, difficulties, and successes for some of the largest global health challenges such as: cholera, malaria, HIV/AIDS, Type 1 and 2 Diabetes, tobacco use, aging populations, and malnutrition. Students will use these skills to develop healthcare delivery strategies of their own. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Digital/Multimedia Expression, Teamwork/Collaboration.
  BU Hub Learn More

  • Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy
  • Digital/Multimedia Expression
  • Teamwork/Collaboration
• SAR HS 443: Literature and Global Health
  This seminar is aimed at Sargent College Health Science seniors. It will explore several public health themes through literature, including both fiction and nonfiction, plays, poetry, and film. Topics covered may include the HIV/AIDS epidemic, the interaction of the patient and the health care system, the public health and medical response in conflict and disaster settings, aging, and the role of whistle-blowers in public health. Students will get the opportunity to read critically and discuss in depth, as well as to try their hand at creative writing.
• SAR HS 444: Child Health Programs in Low Resource Settings
  This health science senior seminar will explore programs and policies that impact child health in Low and Middle Income Countries. We will cover infectious diseases - including HIV, tuberculosis, malaria, respiratory infections and diarrhea - as well as major non-infectious causes of child morbidity and mortality, including nutrition, early child development and mental health. We will discuss the full life cycle of global health programs from building the evidence base through epidemiological studies through implementation science and monitoring and evaluation.
• SAR HS 445: Emerging Infectious Diseases
  Emerging infectious diseases include relatively new pathogens, new strains of existing pathogens, the spread of a known pathogen into previously unaffected locations or populations, or a significant evolutionary change in an existing pathogen. Students become familiar with the impact of these diseases on global health, medical practice, international commerce, and development. The course addresses preparedness, surveillance, and response to emerging infectious diseases in our increasingly globalized world.
• SAR HS 450: Non-Infectious Diseases
  This course will examine the four most common preventable non-infectious diseases (diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer, upper respiratory diseases), which accounted for nearly 60% of all deaths in the world and 80% in the developing world. Estimates predict that the "second wave" of non-infectious diseases in the coming years will have a detrimental impact on global health and economies. Despite the enormous global burden of non-infectious (or non-communicable) diseases, adequate programs for prevention and treatment do not exist and challenges faced are complex. This course will focus on the preventable risk factors (diet, exercise, tobacco, alcohol, lifestyle, etc), growing burden of disease, and current issues and challenges in control of the four most common diseases, and include discussion, field trips to examine the issues, and the ability for students to be a part of the solution through design of their own intervention.
• SAR HS 463: Germs and Genes
  This course will focus on the social determinants of health--the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work, age and die. We will examine case studies from around the globe that reveal the ways in which health inequities are shaped by the distribution of resources, money, and power at the local, national and global level, and the critical role played by social policies in reducing or exacerbating these inequities.
• SAR HS 467: Research Methods in Nutrition
  This course provides an overview of methods used in nutrition research, including dietary assessment methods, indicators of nutritional status, analysis and presentation of dietary data, statistical interpretation, and clinical research methods. The course includes lectures, a field trip to a Boston-area clinical research center, and hands-on experience with nutritional assessment and anthropometrics techniques. Students participate in in-class discussions of published research articles to learn techniques for deriving evidence-based recommendations for clinical practice. Upon completion of this course, students will be able to read, interpret, and understand the findings from clinical research studies and understand the fundamental tools that are used by nutrition researchers.
• SAR HS 470: Topics in Public Health
  This course addresses new and emerging issues in the field of public health through interactive case study method and the medical literature. The format is small group discussion. Topics vary each semester; but include infectious diseases (HIV/AIDS), maternal and child health, chronic diseases (obesity, mental illness), health and human rights, and international health. 4 credits, 2nd semester
• SAR HS 475: Disability Advocacy and the Law: Theory, Practice and Real World Challenges and Actions
  This interdisciplinary course provides the student an exciting understanding of disability advocacy, integrating theory and practical coursework. It emphasizes the role of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and its supporting Amendment Act (ADAAA) as the basis for disability advocacy through theory and direct experience; how advocacy occurs among disability stakeholders (the nation's public health leadership, elected officials, lawyers, judicial, health care, education and social service systems, and providers, family members, persons with disabilities, media, and the public). The class provides hands-on learning on the challenges of non-available disability-based accommodations along with the development of and opportunity to implement a corrective action plan. 4 credits, 2nd semester
• SAR HS 480: Comparative Healthcare Systems
  Health systems play an important role in improving life and well-being. Yet there is a profound gap between the potential of health systems and their actual performance. Today, countries around the globe face difficult choices and increasing challenges in organizing, delivering, and funding high- quality health care. In this course students will: understand the components, determinants, and approaches to the structure and outcomes of health care systems in low- and middle-income countries; learn trends in global health care reform and reform outcomes in country-specific contexts; and gain basic knowledge and skills to understand health care systems evaluations with a goal toward designing effective policy strategies that would improve health system performance.
• SAR HS 486: Applied Nutrition Care
  This course provides a review of and an opportunity to implement all aspects of the nutritional care process. Through classroom discussion of case studies as well as experiences at in- and out- patient facilities, students will gain expertise in the provision of nutritional care. 4 credits, 1st semester
• SAR HS 487: Appl Nutri Coun
  
• SAR HS 495: Directed Study
  Educational experiences and projects performed outside the standard curricular offerings. Undergraduate student completes a defined project under the supervision of a researcher who may or may not be a BU faculty member.

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