Penn’s Global Health Track offers a curriculum designed specifically for applicants to the interdisciplinary Master of Public Health Program who are interested in both the theory and practice of global public health. Recognizing that global health is an emerging area in the field, Penn’s global health curriculum delivers core public health skills within a global context.
Overall Curricular Goals
The goal of the University of Pennsylvania curriculum in public health is to enable graduates to exercise leadership in:
- Identifying and implementing strategic directions for health policy
- Leveraging and managing resources to promote capacity building and healthy communities
- Aassuring and preserving the health of individuals and their communities
The fourteen course units (14 cu) required for the MPH in Global Health track are described below. Students must take a minimum of 12 cu under the PUBH prefix.
10.0 cu Core MPH Requirements
PUBH 500 Introduction to Public Health
PUBH 501 Introduction to Biostatistics
PUBH 502 Introduction to Principles and Methods of Epidemiology
PUBH 503 Environmental and Occupational Health
PUBH 504 Behavioral and Social Sciences in Public Health
PUBH 505 Public Health Policy and Administration
PUBH 506 Methods for Public Health Practice
PUBH 507 Ethics, Law and Public Policy
PUBH 508 Capstone (2 cu)
Additional competencies specific to specialized knowledge in Global Health are acquired through 3 required global public health courses to be chosen from among the following:
3.0 cu Specialized Global Health Track
PUBH 519 Issues in Global Health (1.0 cu)
PUBH 598 Immersion Experience in Global Public Health (1.0 cu)
SOCI 640 (NURS640) Global Health and Health Policy (1.0) Aiken
LAW 759 International Human Rights. (1.0) Reicher
DEMG SM 633 (SOCI 633) Population Processes 1., Elo, Ewbank, I. Kohler, Preston, Soldo.
DEMG SM 634 (SOCI 634) Population Processes 2., Kohler, Smith
1.0 cu Public Health Elective
One additional course unit (1.0 cu) under the PUBH prefix is required to make up the full compliment of 14 cu for the MPH degree. Examples are listed below:
PUBH 516 Introduction to Public Health Genetics
PUBH 517 Epidemiologic Study of Geography and Health
PUBH 521 Program Evaluation in Public Health
PUBH 522 Critical Appraisal of Occupational and Environmental Health Literature
PUBH 523 Disease Detectives and Social Engineers
PUBH 524 Ameliorating Disparities in the Public's Health
PUBH 525 Developing Effective Public Health Programs Using a Human Rights Based Approach
PUBH 526 Anthropology and Public Health
PUBH 534 Fatal Violence in the U.S.
PUBH 535 Urban Poverty and Violence: Ethnographic Perspectives
PUBH 536 Mental Health Policy
PUBH 597 History of Public Health
Capstone Culminating Experience Description
The Capstone is an integrating experience required for graduation in the Master of Public Health Program. In two Capstone Seminars, students will have an opportunity to synthesize the knowledge and public health competencies they have acquired through their coursework, apply them to solving public health problems in their area of interest as well as those of their peers, reflect together to learn from each other and from the relevant body of public health experience including the scientific literature, and begin to develop a common grounding and identity as public health professionals. The overall capstone experience links these two seminars with a mentored project that involves fieldwork in public health. Over the course of the Capstone Experience, students will develop, propose, revise, implement, and present their projects. As their projects successfully come to fruition they will also advise their junior colleagues still in the proposal stage.
Students within the Global Health Track will be assisted in identifying a practical Capstone experience that addresses their key public health interests either overseas within an appropriate organization/program or in the Philadelphia area with an organization that works with global health or immigrant issues. Philadelphia is the home to a variety of immigrant groups and Penn already has close relationships with organizations that work in immigrant health such as Puentes de Salud (Latino-Immigrant focused), SEAMAAC (Asian-immigrant focused), and AFRICOM (African and Caribbean immigrant-focused).