Master in Public Health

This course introduces agencies, facilities, and programs that play a role in the prevention of disease and the promotion of health in the public. Special emphasis is placed on the competencies needed for public health professionals to function in a variety of settings. Public health career opportunities are discussed. A Christian theological understanding of health is explored.

This course covers a wide range of topics in environmental health sciences. Students will be provided with a general introduction to the core concepts of environmental health (i.e. exposure assessment, toxicology, epidemiology and risk assessment); and ways to examine the environmental health issues by applying core concepts. This course will also briefly introduce some methods to measure pollutants in the environment— mainly the air pollution, and effectively control environmental hazards; and it will introduce the concepts of endocrine disruption and how early developmental exposures to environmental chemicals may influence of human disease. Environmental health issues in both developed and developing countries will be presented.

The course addresses the core questions of public health science: What lies behind preventing people from becoming ill, and how are policy makers working to promote good health? Through background information on how major public health challenges are described, students will familiarize themselves with a number of theories and methods for health promotion and disease prevention. The course will have a particular emphasis on the health education and health communication via mass communication, as students will identify existing campaigns. Furthermore, students will draft the outline of a public health intervention of their own.

This course investigates the social and behavioral aspects of health and provides students insight as to how social determinants influence individual and community health outcomes. Students will learn frameworks, theories, and intervention methods that can be used to improve community health outcomes. Special attention will be paid to ethically engaging identity and culture in promoting healthy changes.

The purpose of this course is to provide students with an overview of the U.S. health care finance and delivery systems within a public health context. In order to be effective practitioners, public health professionals must be able to link the theory of individual and external determinants of health status with the changing structures and organization of the U.S. health care system. This course will teach the basic components of the health care system including financing; the role of public programs, insurers, and employers; the health care delivery system; managed care; and an overview of current health system reforms.

Change is ongoing in health care and public health organizations depend on strategic management in order to successfully achieve their mission. This course trains students to develop strategic thinking skills and lead strategy development, planning, implementation, and evaluation in public health organizations.

This course provides students knowledge on the principles and methods of epidemiological understandings. Within this course the study of disease and ill health through patterns of occurrence in human populations is examined. The approaches of epidemiology in estimating the burden of disease, in making inferences about cause of disease, and in evaluating primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention strategies are presented.