Courses

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

• SPH EH 710: Physiological Mechanisms of Health and Disease
  Can’t be taken together for credit with SPH EH 707 - This course provides students with a detailed working knowledge of the normal mechanisms of human body function in both health and disease states. It is most appropriate for MS and PhD students, though it is available to all undergraduate and graduate students. Physiological mechanisms are studied from the molecular level to the level of organ systems, and emphasis is placed on understanding how body processes are regulated and integrated so as to achieve homeostasis characteristic of a normal, healthy individual. Students will become acquainted with both the gross and histological anatomy of major organs. For each system covered, case studies of diseases of significant public health interest are used to reinforce application of basic physiological principles, and to acquaint students with physiological measurements commonly used in clinical settings. This course is recommended for all students who need a substantive understanding of human physiology for subsequent coursework. This course will be of special value to students who expect their careers to involve close interaction with health care providers.
• SPH EH 713: Essentials of Genetic Technologies and the Future of Public Health
  You are all behind! Science and technology change so fast that you can't possibly keep up...unless you take this course. The last 10 years has seen an explosion in genetics, molecular biology, and the understanding of how our environment influences disease. These stunningly rapid advances have important implications for future public health approaches. Therefore, an understanding of the principal concepts of how genetic technologies can be adapted for public health is critical to the public health practitioner. This course will equip students with the ability to understand the potential applications of emerging technologies for various health specialties. In particular, the course introduces the very basic concepts of biology and molecular genetics and investigates the use of powerful biologic technologies impacting public health including RNA COVID vaccines, cancer genomics, gene therapy, GMOs, stem cells, molecular footprinting of environmental chemical exposure, and mining of the human genome. Right to privacy, discrimination on the basis of genetic makeup, human cloning, modifying the human genome, patenting genetically modified animals, and other ethical issues related to emerging technologies are addressed. This course is negotiable by any student showing a high level of enthusiasm for scientific discovery.
• SPH EH 720: Climate Change and Public Health
  Climate change is a defining challenge of our time. Since the 1970s the Earth has experienced steadily rising average temperatures, with associated increases in extreme heat events, sea level, storm intensity, and drought events. Downstream impacts affecting public health include catastrophic winds and floods, deadly heat waves, population displacement, crop failures and food insecurity, altered ecology of infectious organisms, and more intense air pollution and pollen. Mounting evidence has documented the adverse human health consequences of these changes, including how health effects are mediated by social and economic vulnerability factors. The course begins with lectures on climate science as it relates to patterns of weather extremes. It then examines the range of human health impacts that are associated with climate change, with emphasis on identifying vulnerable populations and communities. Specific topics include changes in air quality, natural ecosystems, water quantity and quality, food security, ecosystem services, and built infrastructure. Throughout, students will present case studies evaluating adaptation and mitigation strategies to prevent health problems resulting from climate-related environmental issues, with focus on the sustainability of interventions. Outside subject matter experts join the classroom to discuss their real-world involvement in climate change and public health.
• SPH EH 722: Climate Change and Health Equity
  The root causes and upstream drivers of climate change and health inequities are often the same. Our energy, transportation, land use, building, food and agriculture, and socioeconomic systems are key contributors to the pollution that leads to anthropogenic climate change and, at the same time, shape our urban and rural communities and living conditions. Global impacts of climate change on health are moderated by individual and community vulnerability and resilience. Health impacts may differ as a result of inequities in the distribution of economic power, historical disinvestment, discriminatory practices and policies over time, structural racism, higher pollution burdens, and poor access to resources for health benefits and improvement. As a result, certain groups including children, the elderly, and communities of color are less climate-resilient and more vulnerable to the negative health effects of climate change. This course will explore the interconnections between climate change, health, and equity, with a particular focus on upstream interventions to mitigate climate impacts that may have co-benefits for health and equity. We will rely on examples within the US as well as globally, to provide multiple perspectives including from the global south.
• SPH EH 727: Incorporating Health to Design Healthy and Sustainable Climate Solutions
  Despite the fact that the climate warming effects of carbon dioxide were discovered in 1856, policy action has been inadequate to reduce anthropogenic drivers of climate change. Emissions from the energy, transportation, building and agricultural sectors contribute to climate change; these sectors also contribute heavily to other harms to health, including through air pollution, physical inactivity, inadequate nutrition, and others. This class will use Health Impact Assessment, Risk and Exposure Assessment, and Life Cycle Assessment to explore how different societal and economic sectors contribute to climate change, positive and negative health implications of strategies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from these sectors, and measures to help society adapt to climate change. We will then give students training in climate communication, policy, and politics to enable results to be used in climate policymaking. Students will learn about the strategies and tools to apply this knowledge to evaluate a climate mitigation or adaptation strategy of their choosing, and to develop an implementation plan.
• SPH EH 730: Methods in Environmental Health Sciences
  This course is one of three foundational courses for the Environmental Health (EH) Certificate. Environmental health is a field of public health in which environmental hazards and health risks to populations are identified, assessed and managed through a data-driven process and sustainable alternatives are explored. This course extends the depth of concepts taught in the Core MPH curriculum and extends the breadth of topics to teach the scientific and policy aspects of a wide range of environmental health situations. In this course, we design and conduct a data collection and analysis effort that is suitable for rigorous analyses with the many tools commonly used in environmental health. The methods relevant to the field are taught in the context of the relevant environmental health issues of today. Students are well prepared for upper level environmental health courses and for success as public health professionals.
• SPH EH 731: Environmental Health and Justice: Essential Strategies for Effective Action
  Environmental health is a field that examines how the environment affects human health, considering the impact of natural and built environments on physical, mental, and social well-being. Exposures to environmental pollutants are often associated with both historical and current social injustices, notably systemic racism, resulting in health disparities by race, ethnicity, income, and region, among other factors. In this course, we will explore the ways in which environmental factors, such as air and water quality, chemical exposures, climate change, and urban development, affect public health. We will view these relationships through a health equity lens to highlight patterns of disproportionate impact, while focusing on action for change. Students will gain practical, real-world skills to identify, mitigate, and communicate environmental health risks to multiple stakeholders, including policymakers, community members, and the media. Students will learn interdisciplinary approaches to address complex environmental health challenges and will develop a professional online portfolio of products to share with employers, including GIS maps, policy and advocacy memos, media communications, and public presentation products focused on addressing real-world environmental health challenges. In this course, students will develop and practice core professionally relevant skills: data analysis and visualization, tools and methods of exposure assessment, interpreting toxicology in a regulatory context for policy impact, and translating epidemiologic findings for diverse audiences. Course assessments will culminate in a professional portfolio of products that students can share with prospective employers as examples of their work along these four skill domains. The course will also provide a series of four optional TA-led journal club workshops for advanced students, including PhD students and more experienced MPH students, to provide additional opportunities for discussion of research methods aligned with each skill cluster. We welcome interested students across other programs and departments who would like to gain foundational skills in environmental health and encourage students from all academic and professional backgrounds to join us.
• SPH EH 735: The Environmental Determinants of Infectious Diseases
  The environment is a key determinant of infectious disease burden in a population. This course presents an overview of how existing and, in particular, changing global environmental (physical, social, and behavioral) factors can affect the transmission cycle of infectious pathogens in both developing and industrialized countries. It examines issues of water, sanitation, and hygiene in resource-limited settings that contribute to the enormous morbidity and mortality associated with childhood diarrheal diseases and neglected tropical diseases (NTDs). It also explores how environmental alterations and natural disasters can result in ecological changes that impact the maintenance and spread of infectious diseases in a community. Sustainable environmental intervention strategies to reduce the burden of infectious diseases will be considered for each of the major diseases covered in class. This course is appropriate for MPH students and undergraduates.
• SPH EH 745: Wastewater and Health/Sustainable Sanitation
  This course takes an interdisciplinary approach to sustainable sanitation, drawing on multiple fields of research and practice, such as public health, engineering, policy and planning, urban environmental history, gender inequality, environmental justice, climate change, social entrepreneurship, and human rights. We will explore sewers, wastewater treatment, and on-site sanitation while examining the problems of inadequate sanitation in the U.S. and internationally and the solutions available to address these problems.
• SPH EH 750: Water Quality and Public Health
  Adequate water supply and good water quality are critical to the public's health and for disease prevention. The processes for design and management of municipal treatment facilities and private water systems are examined -- with attention to climate change impacts. Considerations of historical contaminants (lead, cholera, and feces) and emerging contaminants (PFAS, pharmaceuticals, and harmful algae) will be made with regard to disease surveillance and water treatment. Water quality topics include standards and regulations and water quality analysis of drinking and surface waters. Social, political, and economic factors affecting water quality, treatment, and access are discussed. Students are expected to participate in field sampling (during class time).
• SPH EH 757: Environmental Epidemiology
  This course introduces students to epidemiologic investigations of environmental health problems, a fundamental tool for building a sustainable and healthy future. Topics include perennial subjects such as the health effects associated with air and water contaminants and occupational exposure, as well as newer issues such as endocrine and metabolic disruptors, PFAS "forever chemicals," chemicals in consumer products, and exposure to mixtures of compounds. The course emphasizes epidemiologic methods, particularly exposure assessment, confounding, and sources of bias. Students gain experience in the critical review and design of related epidemiologic studies. This course is appropriate for both students in environmental health and students in epidemiology and other disciplines interested in learning about applications of epidemiological methods to environmental exposures.
• SPH EH 768: Toxicology for Environmental Health and Epidemiology
  Can’t be taken together for credit with SPH EH 705 - The Global Burden of Disease analysis shows that environmental factors contribute substantially to morbidity and mortality worldwide. This course is designed to introduce fundamental concepts in toxicology to both future environmental health scientists/practitioners and epidemiologists, and to delve more deeply into the critical elements that are necessary to explain the responses of populations to environmental hazards, with an emphasis on chemical toxicants. This course will provide students with the tools to identify toxicological data that support the biological plausibility of a chemical exposure leading to an adverse health outcome, which is critical to strengthening associations identified by epidemiological analyses. This in-depth introduction includes toxicokinetics and toxicodynamics. Particulate matter, arsenic, and perfluoroalkyl substance (PFAS) exposures, along with others, will be used as examples to demonstrate how toxicity and carcinogenesis can be induced in representative organs systems, including the respiratory, endocrine/reproductive, immune, nervous, and cardiovascular systems.
• SPH EH 795: Urban Biogeoscience and Environmental Health: From Research to Policy
  Students learn how cities, non-profits, and/or private organizations utilize scientific findings to address urban environmental challenges and develop communication skills to effectively translate scientific results to decision-makers and the public. Students complete a semester-long internship to gain experience applying scientific knowledge to decision making. Students must meet with the instructor prior to the start of the course to set up an internship with a partner organization. For international students seeking credit for academic advancement, the internship must be authorized by the International Students & Scholars Office. This course is intended for students in Boston University Graduate Program in Urban Biogeoscience and Environmental Health (BU URBAN) who are completing an internship.
• SPH EH 797: Urban Biogeoscience and Environmental Health Applied Research Methods
  Students learn skills in urban biogeoscience, environmental health, and statistics to tackle urban environmental challenges. Learning outcomes are achieved through learning about research methods related to urban air, soil, water quality, environmental stressors, nutrient cycles, and climate. Students read and deconstruct primary literature, have in-class discussions, and complete hands-on training. This course is intended for students enrolled in Boston University Graduate Program in Urban Biogeoscience and Environmental Health (BU URBAN).
• SPH EH 799: Urban Biogeoscience and Environmental Health Colloquium
  Through weekly reading, discussions, and research presentations, students are introduced to and acquire a basic foundation in urban biogeoscience and environmental health. This course is intended for students enrolled in Boston University Graduate Program in Urban Biogeoscience and Environmental Health (BU URBAN).
• SPH EH 804: Field Methods in Exposure Science
  Graduate Prerequisites: (SPH PH 717 or SPH EH 730 or SPH EH 731) or consent from instructor. The assessment of exposures is a critical component of environmental and occupational health practice and research. It is also important for determining compliance with health and safety regulations, conducting toxicologic and human health risk assessments, and for testing intervention strategies. This course focuses on the fundamentals of exposure assessment, including concepts and methods of study design, basic monitoring strategies, field data collection, and data analysis and interpretation. Students will review relevant case studies and conduct a field monitoring project in which - working in teams - they develop their own exposure assessment strategy, collect and analyze data, prepare a final report, and present their findings. Projects may be informed by issues of concern within a community, and should be responsive to carefully designed scientific questions. Accomplishing these learning goals may require an out-of-class time commitment. This course advances environmental health science thinking and application in the context of public health, with a focus on hands-on application of exposure assessment through a student-led project, creating connections among basic concepts and methods, practical community-level exposure assessment, and dissemination of public health information through scientific reports and oral presentations. The course presents general principles relevant to the assessment of most environmental exposures and synthesizes practical considerations for conducting exposure assessment. Through discussions of exposure assessment papers from the published literature and analyses of real-world, student-collected exposure data, the course will reinforce the role of environmental health in promoting the public’s health.
• SPH EH 805: Environmental Health Science, Policy and Law
  Graduate Prerequisites: (SPH EH 730 or SPH EH 731 or MPH integrated core courses) or consent from instructor - This course teaches environmental and occupational health policy making. Our specific focus is on the examination of how scientific information (e.g., risk assessments, exposure analyses, epidemiologic studies, clinical case reports) is used (or is not used) in policy decisions and whether these decisions explicitly protect people living in environmental justice communities. Students will learn how environmental health laws and regulations are made and challenged, will gain experience looking up laws, regulations and court decisions, and will submit comments to timely rules in the public docket. Case studies feature international treaties, federal and state court cases, laws, regulations, and policies. Topic areas include air and water quality (including PFAS and microplastics), toxic waste, environmental justice, worker safety, and climate change.
• SPH EH 811: Intro GIS for Public Health
  Graduate Prerequisites: (SPH PH 717 or SPH EH 730 or SPH EH 731) or consent of instructor. Students cannot receive credit for both SPH PH 737 and SPH EH 811 - This course teaches principles and applications of Geographical Information Systems to analyze public health and climate data. Skills learned include basic mapping, creation and management of geospatial databases, raster and vector data structures, network-based spatial analyses, spatial statistics tools, and professional presentations. Students develop a semester-long project applying GIS skills to their field of interest. Past topics included: climate change adaptation & mitigation, infectious disease transmission, health and health access disparities, sustainability studies, disaster preparedness, and chronic disease epidemiology. The course includes lectures and computer lab exercises, uses ArcGIS software, and requires PC computer access (not Mac), either personal or in the computer lab.
• SPH EH 851: Advanced GIS for Public Health and Climate Research
  Graduate Prerequisites: SPH EH 811 or other GIS course training with approval from instructor - The purpose of this course is to develop each student's capacity to design and carry out public health and climate-related geospatial analyses working with multiple GIS platforms. Students will learn how to design, create, and use a wide variety of spatial information to support analytic modeling. The emphasis will be on data integration from multiple sources to support urban health and climate change analyses including vector and remote sensing datasets. Students will explore existing case studies on how GIS is used to conduct climate change, urban health, and sustainability geospatial modeling and learn how to develop and apply similar models in their own field of interest. Topics include database design and implementation, data management, geoprocessing concepts and tools, automation of data processing, and model building. Students who complete this course should be able to participate as a public health geospatial analyst in professional environments and research-oriented project teams and to work with non-GIS experts to help them understand and carry out spatial analyses.
• SPH EH 866: Risk Assessment Methods
  Graduate Prerequisites: (SPH EH 730 or SPH EH 731) SPH EH 730 or SPH EH 731 may be taken concurrently or consent from instructor - Nearly all regulatory authorities globally rely on risk assessment for decision-making. Students learn practical application of risk assessment methods to various environmental problems. The focus of the course is on human health risk assessment and teaches students to quantify the risk of illness from exposures to chemicals, pathogens, and air pollution. The strengths and weaknesses of risk assessment methods, the inherent uncertainties, the relationship between risk assessment and risk management, and different approaches to the use of scientific evidence in policymaking are discussed. Applications of the risk assessment framework in less-traditional contexts will also be discussed. Students conduct a risk assessment and communicate process and findings in response to a community concern or other relevant topic.