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.

• SPH PH 785: Topics in Gh
  
• SPH PH 786: Topics in HLPM: Implementation Science: Linking Research to Practice
  Implementation science is commonly defined as the study of methods and strategies to promote the uptake of interventions that have proven effective in routine practice, with the aim of improving population health. Often interventions tested in traditional research studies that are found to be effective do not translate into positive outcomes in practice or cannot be practically applied. Alternatively, other interventions that have potential to improve care will not the effectively implemented without practical tools to aid the implementation. Integrating research into practice is a major challenge, both during the period of a study and beyond. This class provides an introduction to what is often referred to as translational, dissemination, or implementation research, as well as the broad field of Implementation Science. Students will learn about the significance and major initiatives associated with moving research into practice and will be introduced to conceptual and analytic tools (e.g., theories, frameworks) to support their emerging work in this area.
• SPH PH 791: Special Topics in Biostatistics: Applied Causal Inference in Health Research
  This is an advanced statistics and epidemiology course, focused on application of causal inference methods in medical research. Topics covered include counterfactual outcomes, causal diagrams, mediation analysis, instrumental variable, and g-methods to deal with time-varying confounding. This course includes lectures, computer instructions, and discussion of reading material.
• SPH PH 792: Topics in Chs
  
• SPH PH 793: Topics in Eh
  
• SPH PH 794: Topics in EP
  
• SPH PH 795: Topics in GH: Applications of Machine Learning in Global Health
  Every day, people from all over the world use digital devices to generate large amounts of text, image, video, and biological data. Researchers typically use machine learning algorithms to process these large datasets to identify patterns that could inform decisions about our health. In this course, we will study how researchers and institutions are using machine learning for public health purposes. Can your digital footprints be used to predict when you will die? Can machine learning algorithms determine the quality of care you receive at a hospital? Can your interactions with a social media platform indicate whether you have insomnia? These and similar questions will be explored in this course using real world examples and data. We will also learn how bias imbedded in the data (e.g., due to a lack of representation of certain populations) and algorithms can worsen existing health inequalities. Students will be introduced to machine learning algorithms in R and have many opportunities to apply these algorithms to various datasets. Students are required to have some familiarity with R but are not expected to be experts. Please reach out to Dr. Nsoesie at onelaine@bu.edu, if you have any questions.
• SPH PH 796: Topics in Hlpm
  
• SPH PH 800: Preparing Doctoral Students to Teach
  This workshop style course is directed toward doctoral students in advanced programs in Environmental Health, Epidemiology, Biostatistics, Health Policy and Management and the Doctoral of Public Health (DrPh) degree. The principle foci for the course will be implementing principles of integrated course design and developing effective teaching strategies. Students will create an e-portfolio complete with teaching philosophy statement, a curriculum module developed during the course, a brief presentation of that module via microteaching along with evidence of their teaching, community service and research work.
• SPH PH 801: Community Engaged Research: Theory, Methods, and Applications
  This course provides an overview of history, theory and methods for working in partnership with communities to conduct research for action. Through a combination of lectures, discussion, case-studies, and interaction with practitioners, we will explore the history of research as a tool of colonialism and exploitation; the role of particular communities in revolutionizing research funding and infrastructure for the benefit of and in service to communities; theoretical, ethical, and methodological considerations for research partnerships among professionally trained and academic researchers and non-academic/professional researchers; and specific examples from local research initiatives. The course trains students in the skills to form research questions, consider the priorities and efforts of diverse steak holders to conduct anti-racist research, and to identify appropriate methods and procedures in response to such questions. The final product is a grant proposal or review paper. PH801 is a 4.0-credit course offered through BUSPH that satisfies requirements for the MPH Functional Area certificates in Design and Conduct of Public Health Research and Community Assessment, Program Design, Implementation, and Evaluation
• SPH PH 820: Capstone Course in Chronic and Non-communicable Diseases
  This course examines key issues related to chronic and non-communicable diseases. Through the course, students learn to select and apply frameworks and concepts learned throughout their coursework to identify public health solutions to issues of chronic and non-communicable disease determinants, prevention, treatment, management, and financing.
• SPH PH 825: Analysis of Emerging Infections Using the One Health Approach
  This class employs One Health, a public health approach that emphasizes the interconnectedness of human health, animal health, and the environment, to provide an understanding of factors involved in the natural history of emerging infectious diseases (EIDs), and of approaches required for sustainable control and prevention of these diseases. The number of reported EIDs is steadily increasing and some EIDs (e.g., influenza, chikungunya, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus [MRSA] and, recently, SARS-CoV-2) have had enormous global public health impact. Localized outbreaks can often be quite severe, particularly in certain settings (e.g., Ebola in West Africa and COVID-19 in China). EIDs are vector-borne and/or zoonotic, and a wide range of social, behavioral, and physical environmental factors contribute to their emergence. In this class, case studies of specific EIDs are used to illustrate the multi-factorial nature of disease emergence and spread. Emphasis is on understanding the natural history and pathogenesis of these EIDs, and the laboratory methods commonly used for their diagnosis and surveillance. At the course conclusion, students will be able to apply the principles they have learned to analyze and determine the factors involved in the new emergence or re-emergence of an infectious disease; essential knowledge for determining appropriate control and prevention strategies.
• SPH PH 842: Research Theory and Design
  This course focuses on the philosophy of science and the practice of research in public health. It compares and contrasts different approaches to scholarship and examines what makes some research interesting and important. The course will focus on developing research questions, objectives and aims in the context of what is already known/not known about an area of study. Students will develop the background and specific aims sections for a research proposal by the end of the course.
• SPH PH 843: Introduction to Quantitative Analysis for Public Health and Health Services Research
  Through this course, doctoral students and advanced masters students will build their skills and intuition to use statistical methods to conduct public health and health services research. Rather than providing a menu of options for statistical analysis, the course will emphasize key concepts that unify different approaches, using linear regression as a case study in statistical and causal inference. The course will cover critical sources of bias in estimating point parameters and standard errors, including: confounding, measurement error, missing data, and correlated and heteroskedastic errors. The instructional model for the course will be the integration of lectures, in-class and at-home simulation exercises in R, critique of existing studies, and analysis of real data. Students completing this course will have built the intuition and gained the hands-on-experience needed to implement regression-based analyses in their own future work; to take higher level courses in statistical analysis and study design successfully; and to engage with the quantitative literature in public health and health services research with a critical eye.
• SPH PH 844: Introduction to Qualitative Analysis for Public Health and Health Services Research
  Qualitative methods are increasingly used either independently or as part of mixed-methods designs to answer "how" and "why" questions that other research methods may not inform. In this course, students will learn to identify different types of qualitative methods and the types of research questions and problems for which they are appropriate; different approaches to the analysis of a variety of types of qualitative data and to critically assess examples of such methods used in the literature.
• SPH PH 845: Integrated Learning Experience for MPH
  The BU MPH Integrative Learning Experience (ILE) affords students the opportunity to synthesize foundational and certificate competencies. Students will integrate and apply the knowledge and skills obtained throughout the degree program. ILEs will be tied to the student's required functional certificate and will incorporate skills and content from their context certificate as appropriate. Students will only complete one ILE, regardless of the number of certificates they pursue. Students working to complete two functional certificates will meet with their faculty advisors and Career Services staff to determine which ILE option is best for their career interests. The ILE is a required, 0-credit component of the MPH. It is student-initiated and faculty guided. Students will register for PH 845 for the ILE in their last semester.
• SPH PH 851: Needs Assessment
  This course examines the processes by which local and regional health status and services can be assessed and analyzed. Students will learn approaches to: quantitatively and qualitatively defining public health problems; setting a community agenda by prioritizing distinct public health problems; engage the community in assessing local capacity to address those problems; visualizing those problems with Geographic Information Systems; and presenting the results of their assessment to audiences of decision makers and the public.
• SPH PH 853: Strategic Planning and Communications
  This course focuses on the development and implementation of program and policy interventions that can improve public health by modifying people's health-related behaviors, and on the design and execution of effective oral and written communications to support those interventions. Working through a sequence of written assignments, students will develop: (1) a set of theory-based learning and environmental change objectives; (2) a strategic plan for a program or policy intervention designed to change an important health-related behavior; (3) a management plan for implementing and maintaining that intervention; (4) a supportive communication strategy; and (5) specific media and communications executions to operationalize that strategy. In class writing workshops and individual consultations are designed to give students ideas for their projects and interim feedback on their written assignments.
• SPH PH 854: Program and Policy Evaluation
  Evaluation research is critical to the advancement of public health knowledge and the improvement of program services. This course focuses on the theory and practice of program evaluation and the development of student evaluation skills and their implementation in practice. Students will use case study materials. Students will learn to conceptualize the entire evaluation process from the development of program logic, through evaluation design, measurement, sample size calculation and an analysis plan. In addition, students will learn about cost-effectiveness analysis and meta-analysis for policy development.
• SPH PH 856: Law & Ethics for Public Health Leaders
  Law, ethics, and human rights often either determine or heavily influence both the range of choices open to public health policymakers and the means available to achieve public health goals. Using case studies, including rationing flu vaccine, responding to catastrophes such as Hurricane Katrina, protecting and promoting women?s health and reproductive rights in developing countries, and regulating research to prevent exploitation of subjects in resource poor countries, students will recognize and integrate legal, ethical, and human rights concepts into public health policy development.

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