Human Biology I

This course introduces main concepts in biology that are common to most living organisms. It covers topics in biochemistry, cell biology, and genetics, which illustrate how molecules are organized into cells. Cells constitute the basic unit of life, and genes are central to information flow within and between cells. In addition, this course makes use of assignments to introduce experimental methods and research data repositories

Effective Communication

Students will be able to construct rhetorically effective communications appropriate to diverse audiences, purposes, and occasions (English composition, communication, critical reading, foreign language, sign language, etc.). Students are required to take 3 credits of English grammar or composition.
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Human Psychology

Psychology is defined as the scientific study of the human mind and its functions, especially those affecting behavior in a given context. This course will draw upon health psychology, public health, and community psychology to emphasize how psychology contributes to overall health, as well as the cause, progression, and outcomes of physical illness.

Sociology and Health

This course studies and compares social groups and institutions and their interrelationships. Special topics covered in the course include culture, socialization, deviance, stratification, race, ethnicity, social changes, and collective behavior.

Infectious Diseases

This course provides an overview of the process by which disease is transmitted. Topics to be covered include the microbiology of viruses, bacteria and other infectious agents; host-parasite relations and coevolution; vectors of transmission; and social network models of transmission.

Nutrition

This course provides a general background introducing the history of food, food preparation and food storage/preservation. Basic knowledge about food chemistry will be presented with respect to human energy balance and metabolism, macro- and micronutrient needs and food group functions, and the diseases of nutrient deficiency and excess intake. Particular emphasis will be placed on the role of diet in metabolic syndrome, the obesity epidemic in some societies, and the political and geophysical causes of famine in other contexts.

Community and Public Health I

The course  investigates the structural and intermediary determinants of health such as social environment, social capital, behavior, and biology. In this course concepts of health and illness are explored to examine the ways in which the environmental surroundings, as well as the conditions under which we are born, grow, work, play, and age, shape our personal, community and population health

Community and Public Health II

This course provides an opportunity for students to delve further into key topics including social inequalities and their potential impact on health, with emphasis on marginalized and stigmatized populations; the role of resource allocation in health care; public health programming and the role of the State in public health; the health care system as a social institution; and how the health care system interfaces with populations, communities, and individuals through key decision making processes and communications.

Human Biology II

Health Statistics

This course provides an introduction to the practical application of descriptive and inferential statistics in business. Topics include probability, probability distributions, the central limit theorem, confidence intervals, hypothesis testing, correlation, and regression. This course provides an introduction to selected topics in statistics as they apply to biological and health issues. In discussing different forms of biological/medical/health data and the tools used to analyze them, students learn how to describe the central tendency and variation in data.

Microeconomics

This course focuses on the fundamental ideas of microeconomics. Students examine the market forces of supply and demand under different market structures in order to understand how economic agents make decisions about both consumption and production. The structure, conduct, and performance of markets are evaluated through analysis of consumer, producer, and societal welfare. Students explore the topic of factor markets in which the incomes of most workers and owners of capital and property are determined.

Epidemiology

This course introduces student to basic concepts and methods of epidemiology and population health. In this course, students learn how to measure disease incidence, prevalence, risk, relative risk and related concepts.

Health Policy and Management

This course examines the development and the use of health policy with specific emphasis on management, economics of care, the development of health systems and services, and health politics. In understanding constructions of health policy, students explore key aspects of health management, and gain a practical skill set for the integration and implementation of policy at various levels of health provision, care, and leadership

Medical Ethics

This course examines the rights of patients and clients and the obligations of medical and other health care practitioners. Students will be briefly introduced to the fundamentals of ethical theory and decision-making, and will examine the ways in which moral decisions are made in practice. Issues to be addressed include disclosing information to patients, interfering with a patient’s liberty for their own good, limits to the protection of patient confidentiality, end-of-life decision-making, protections for humans and animals in experimentation, respect for cultural diversity, and fairness in the allocation of scarce health care resources.

Global Environmental Health

This course provides an overview of the methodologies and tools used to assess environmental exposure, epidemiology and health impact of air pollution, noise, water contamination, metals, pesticides, persistent and non-persistent chemicals, radiation and green space in low, medium and high income countries.

Genetics

Genetics is the study of DNA, genes and heredity. It includes the study of gene development, structure and function in plants, animals and humans as well as in bacteria with a focus on how the characteristics of a species are passed from one generation to the next.

Health Science Practicum (Internship)

Students complete a formal, supervised internship in a government, private or nonprofit organization in which they gain real-world experience in one or more of the following areas: prevention of sickness and injury; detection and control of diseases; education of individuals, groups and communities to promote health and healthy lifestyles; policy and/or program development; advocacy for quality healthcare that is equitable and geographically accessible; research in any of these areas. Students complete and are graded on a written project paper due at the end of the internship experience.

Human Anatomy and Physiology

This course serves as an introduction to the global structure and function of the human body, as well as its systems and physiological processes that supports the functioning of the systems. Topics to be addressed include musculoskeletal, nervous, cardiovascular, endocrine and respiratory organ systems. The class will introduce students to the concept of connecting form to function and to evolutionary history.