phd public policy uc berkeley

Graduate Program

Phd requirements.

The Political Science department at UC Berkeley admits students only for the Ph.D. degree. The Ph.D. program has two major phases: coursework and examinations, and dissertation research and writing. The two phases typically take approximately five or six years (three years to candidacy and two or three for dissertation research and writing).

The coursework and examination phase requires 40 units (typically 10 classes) of graduate-level coursework and competence in three of nine  Subfields . Subfield competence is demonstrated through written exams offered each semester. The Field Exams are typically taken in the student's second and third years of the program. All students must pass one exam in a major subfield (Comparative, American, International Relations, or History of Political Theory). Competency in a second and third subfield may be demonstrated by taking a prescribed series of courses in that field with a combined GPA of 3.5.

The particular sequence of courses that a student takes in preparation for the comprehensive exams is not prescribed. Rather, the faculty assist students with selection of courses that best meet their intellectual and academic interests. There are no formal foreign language or statistics requirements although many students will find that their program of study and dissertation research will require the engagement of particular foreign language or methodology coursework.

When the coursework and examination requirements have been met, the student prepares a prospectus for dissertation research. The student convenes a committee known as the Qualifying Exam (QE) committee. The Qualifying Exam committee advises on the prospectus and examines the student on specific research plans. Berkeley is highly committed to interdisciplinary scholarly engagement and this is codified in the requirement that both the Qualifying Exam committee and the dissertation committee include a faculty member from another department at Berkeley. Engagement with members of the faculty from other departments should commence during the coursework stage so that the advisement and input of the "outside member" is represented in the prospectus.

When sufficient preparation for the proposed research has been demonstrated to the Qualifying Exam committee, the student is advanced to doctoral candidacy. It is expected (and for most funding packages, required) that students advance to doctoral candidacy by the end of their third year.

Doctoral candidacy initiates the second phase of the program during which the student normally devotes full attention to the research and writing of the dissertation. The student's dissertation committee is typically comprised of the members of the Qualifying Exam committee although there are sometimes changes in committee membership as the research evolves. The doctorate is awarded when the student submits a satisfactory dissertation to the dissertation committee. A reasonable estimate of the research and writing phase of the program is approximately two to three years although students whose dissertations require more extensive research may take longer to earn their degree.

• Second year
• Sixth year and beyond

The second year is used to further narrow down one's interests and to continue exploring ideas and potential advisors for a dissertation topic. Coursework continues as students prepare for the M.A./Second Year Paper and Field Exam.

Students who plan to continue in the Ph.D. program are expected to engage in advanced topical research leading to a research paper to be completed by the end of the second year, together with any additional coursework appropriate to their topical focus. Three faculty members (one of whom is selected by the student and serves as principal advisor for the paper) will review this paper. This paper, which continuing students will submit at the end of their second year, also serves as the M.A. project.

Completion of a yearlong graduate seminar (Research & Writing 290A and 290B) during the second year is strongly recommended.  Each student taking this course is advised by a faculty advisor external to the course (who will also serve as one reviewer of the second-year paper) as well as the two co-instructors of the seminar. The goal of the seminar is to assist students in preparing a high-quality research paper, which will serve as the M.A./Second-year paper as mentioned above.

All students are reviewed at the end of the second year of study on their continued overall academic performance. This overall evaluation will include GPA, successful completion of all required units, and successful completion of the M.A./Second-year paper. The Graduate Studies Committee will take these factors as well as the rigor of the academic program and the number of incompletes into consideration when determining whether to invite the student to continue in the PhD program.

Students in their second year also usually serve as a Graduate Student Instructors (GSIs), which are 20-hour per week positions

During the third year, most students continue to teach as GSIs and complete their coursework in addition to taking their Field Exam. Political Science graduate students must show competency in three Subfield specialties to be eligible to sit for the oral prospectus defense (known formally as the Qualifying Exam). Instead of sitting for three Field Exams, students have the option to "course out" of two field specialties by taking a prescribed set of three-four courses in the Subfield.

Students may sit for the Field Exam as early as the beginning of the second year, but if desired, students may sit for an exam in their second year or in the third year. Field Exams are offered at the beginning of the Fall and Spring semesters. All students are expected to have completed their Field Exam, to have “coursed out” of a two fields, and to have written and defended their dissertation prospectus (passed their Qualifying Exam) by the end of the third year. It is highly recommended (and essential to most funding packages) that students advance to Doctoral Candidacy by the end of the third year. The third year is also when students should begin to apply for extramural fellowships to support their dissertation research.

PhD Program information

The Statistics PhD program is rigorous, yet welcoming to students with interdisciplinary interests and different levels of preparation. Students in the PhD program take core courses on the theory and application of probability and statistics during their first year. The second year typically includes additional course work and a transition to research leading to a dissertation. PhD thesis topics are diverse and varied, reflecting the scope of faculty research interests. Many students are involved in interdisciplinary research. Students may also have the option to pursue a designated emphasis (DE) which is an interdisciplinary specialization:  Designated Emphasis in Computational and Genomic Biology ,  Designated Emphasis in Computational Precision Health ,  Designated Emphasis in Computational and Data Science and Engineering . The program requires four semesters of residence.

Normal progress entails:

Year 1 . Perform satisfactorily in preliminary coursework. In the summer, students are required to embark on a short-term research project, internship, graduate student instructorship, reading course, or on another research activity. Years 2-3 . Continue coursework. Find a thesis advisor and an area for the oral qualifying exam. Formally choose a chair for qualifying exam committee, who will also serve as faculty mentor separate from the thesis advisor.  Pass the oral qualifying exam and advance to candidacy by the end of Year 3. Present research at BSTARS each year. Years 4-5 . Finish the thesis and give a lecture based on it in a department seminar.

Program Requirements

• Qualifying Exam

Course work and evaluation

Preliminary stage: the first year.

Effective Fall 2019, students are expected to take four semester-long courses for a letter grade during their first year which should be selected from the core first-year PhD courses offered in the department: Probability (204/205A, 205B,), Theoretical Statistics (210A, 210B), and Applied Statistics (215A, 215B). These requirements can be altered by a member of the PhD Program Committee (in consultation with the faculty mentor and by submitting a graduate student petition ) in the following cases:

• Students primarily focused on probability will be allowed to substitute one semester of the four required semester-long courses with an appropriate course from outside the department.
• Students may request to postpone one semester of the core PhD courses and complete it in the second year, in which case they must take a relevant graduate course in their first year in its place. In all cases, students must complete the first year requirements in their second year as well as maintain the overall expectations of second year coursework, described below. Some examples in which such a request might be approved are described in the course guidance below.
• Students arriving with advanced standing, having completed equivalent coursework at another institution prior to joining the program, may be allowed to take other relevant graduate courses at UC Berkeley to satisfy some or all of the first year requirements

Requirements on course work beyond the first year

Students entering the program before 2022 are required to take five additional graduate courses beyond the four required in the first year, resulting in a total of nine graduate courses required for completion of their PhD. In their second year, students are required to take three graduate courses, at least two of them from the department offerings, and in their third year, they are required to take at least two graduate courses. Students are allowed to change the timing of these five courses with approval of their faculty mentor. Of the nine required graduate courses, students are required to take for credit a total of 24 semester hours of courses offered by the Statistics department numbered 204-272 inclusive. The Head Graduate Advisor (in consultation with the faculty mentor and after submission of a graduate student petition) may consent to substitute courses at a comparable level in other disciplines for some of these departmental graduate courses. In addition, the HGA may waive part of this unit requirement.

Starting with the cohort entering in the 2022-23 academic year , students are required to take at least three additional graduate courses beyond the four required in the first year, resulting in a total of seven graduate courses required for completion of their PhD. Of the seven required graduate courses, five of these courses must be from courses offered by the Statistics department and numbered 204-272, inclusive. With these reduced requirements, there is an expectation of very few waivers from the HGA. We emphasize that these are minimum requirements, and we expect that students will take additional classes of interest, for example on a S/U basis, to further their breadth of knowledge. 

For courses to count toward the coursework requirements students must receive at least a B+ in the course (courses taken S/U do not count, except for STAT 272 which is only offered S/U).  Courses that are research credits, directed study, reading groups, or departmental seminars do not satisfy coursework requirements (for courses offered by the Statistics department the course should be numbered 204-272 to satisfy the requirements). Upper-division undergraduate courses in other departments can be counted toward course requirements with the permission of the Head Graduate Advisor. This will normally only be approved if the courses provide necessary breadth in an application area relevant to the student’s thesis research.

First year course work: For the purposes of satisfactory progression in the first year, grades in the core PhD courses are evaluated as: A+: Excellent performance in PhD program A: Good performance in PhD program A-: Satisfactory performance B+: Performance marginal, needs improvement B: Unsatisfactory performance

First year and beyond: At the end of each year, students must meet with his or her faculty mentor to review their progress and assess whether the student is meeting expected milestones. The result of this meeting should be the completion of the student’s annual review form, signed by the mentor ( available here ). If the student has a thesis advisor, the thesis advisor must also sign the annual review form.

Guidance on choosing course work

Choice of courses in the first year: Students enrolling in the fall of 2019 or later are required to take four semesters of the core PhD courses, at least three of which must be taken in their first year. Students have two options for how to schedule their four core courses:

• Option 1 -- Complete Four Core Courses in 1st year: In this option, students would take four core courses in the first year, usually finishing the complete sequence of two of the three sequences.  Students following this option who are primarily interested in statistics would normally take the 210A,B sequence (Theoretical Statistics) and then one of the 205A,B sequence (Probability) or the 215A,B sequence (Applied Statistics), based on their interests, though students are allowed to mix and match, where feasible. Students who opt for taking the full 210AB sequence in the first year should be aware that 210B requires some graduate-level probability concepts that are normally introduced in 205A (or 204).
• Option 2 -- Postponement of one semester of a core course to the second year: In this option, students would take three of the core courses in the first year plus another graduate course, and take the remaining core course in their second year. An example would be a student who wanted to take courses in each of the three sequences. Such a student could take the full year of one sequence and the first semester of another sequence in the first year, and the first semester of the last sequence in the second year (e.g. 210A, 215AB in the first year, and then 204 or 205A in the second year). This would also be a good option for students who would prefer to take 210A and 215A in their first semester but are concerned about their preparation for 210B in the spring semester.  Similarly, a student with strong interests in another discipline, might postpone one of the spring core PhD courses to the second year in order to take a course in that discipline in the first year.  Students who are less mathematically prepared might also be allowed to take the upper division (under-graduate) courses Math 104 and/or 105 in their first year in preparation for 205A and/or 210B in their second year. Students who wish to take this option should consult with their faculty mentor, and then must submit a graduate student petition to the PhD Committee to request permission for  postponement. Such postponement requests will be generally approved for only one course. At all times, students must take four approved graduate courses for a letter grade in their first year.

After the first year: Students with interests primarily in statistics are expected to take at least one semester of each of the core PhD sequences during their studies. Therefore at least one semester (if not both semesters) of the remaining core sequence would normally be completed during the second year. The remaining curriculum for the second and third years would be filled out with further graduate courses in Statistics and with courses from other departments. Students are expected to acquire some experience and proficiency in computing. Students are also expected to attend at least one departmental seminar per week. The precise program of study will be decided in consultation with the student’s faculty mentor.

Remark. Stat 204 is a graduate level probability course that is an alternative to 205AB series that covers probability concepts most commonly found in the applications of probability. It is not taught all years, but does fulfill the requirements of the first year core PhD courses. Students taking Stat 204, who wish to continue in Stat 205B, can do so (after obtaining the approval of the 205B instructor), by taking an intensive one month reading course over winter break.

Designated Emphasis: Students with a Designated Emphasis in Computational and Genomic Biology or Designated Emphasis in Computational and Data Science and Engineering should, like other statistics students, acquire a firm foundation in statistics and probability, with a program of study similar to those above. These programs have additional requirements as well. Interested students should consult with the graduate advisor of these programs. 

Starting in the Fall of 2019, PhD students are required in their first year to take four semesters of the core PhD courses. Students intending to specialize in Probability, however, have the option to substitute an advanced mathematics class for one of these four courses. Such students will thus be required to take Stat 205A/B in the first year,  at least one of Stat 210A/B or Stat 215A/B in the first year, in addition to an advanced mathematics course. This substitute course will be selected in consultation with their faculty mentor, with some possible courses suggested below. Students arriving with advanced coursework equivalent to that of 205AB can obtain permission to substitute in other advanced probability and mathematics coursework during their first year, and should consult with the PhD committee for such a waiver.

During their second and third years, students with a probability focus are expected to take advanced probability courses (e.g., Stat 206 and Stat 260) to fulfill the coursework requirements that follow the first year. Students are also expected to attend at least one departmental seminar per week, usually the probability seminar. If they are not sufficiently familiar with measure theory and functional analysis, then they should take one or both of Math 202A and Math 202B. Other recommended courses from the department of Mathematics or EECS include:

Math 204, 222 (ODE, PDE) Math 205 (Complex Analysis) Math 258 (Classical harmonic analysis) EE 229 (Information Theory and Coding) CS 271 (Randomness and computation)

The Qualifying Examination 

The oral qualifying examination is meant to determine whether the student is ready to enter the research phase of graduate studies. It consists of a 50-minute lecture by the student on a topic selected jointly by the student and the thesis advisor. The examination committee consists of at least four faculty members to be approved by the department.  At least two members of the committee must consist of faculty from the Statistics and must be members of the Academic Senate. The chair must be a member of the student’s degree-granting program.

Qualifying Exam Chair. For qualifying exam committees formed in the Fall of 2019 or later, the qualifying exam chair will also serve as the student’s departmental mentor, unless a student already has two thesis advisors. The student must select a qualifying exam chair and obtain their agreement to serve as their qualifying exam chair and faculty mentor. The student's prospective thesis advisor cannot chair the examination committee. Selection of the chair can be done well in advance of the qualifying exam and the rest of the qualifying committee, and because the qualifying exam chair also serves as the student’s departmental mentor (unless the student has co-advisors), the chair is expected to be selected by the beginning of the third year or at the beginning of the semester of the qualifying exam, whichever comes earlier. For more details regarding the selection of the Qualifying Exam Chair, see the "Mentoring" tab.  

Paperwork and Application. Students at the point of taking a qualifying exam are assumed to have already found a thesis advisor and to should have already submitted the internal departmental form to the Graduate Student Services Advisor ( found here ).  Selection of a qualifying exam chair requires that the faculty member formally agree by signing the internal department form ( found here ) and the student must submit this form to the Graduate Student Services Advisor.  In order to apply to take the exam, the student must submit the Application for the Qualifying Exam via CalCentral at least three weeks prior to the exam. If the student passes the exam, they can then officially advance to candidacy for the Ph.D. If the student fails the exam, the committee may vote to allow a second attempt. Regulations of the Graduate Division permit at most two attempts to pass the oral qualifying exam. After passing the exam, the student must submit the Application for Candidacy via CalCentral .

The Doctoral Thesis

The Ph.D. degree is granted upon completion of an original thesis acceptable to a committee of at least three faculty members. The majority or at least half of the committee must consist of faculty from Statistics and must be members of the Academic Senate. The thesis should be presented at an appropriate seminar in the department prior to filing with the Dean of the Graduate Division. See Alumni if you would like to view thesis titles of former PhD Students.

Graduate Division offers various resources, including a workshop, on how to write a thesis, from beginning to end. Requirements for the format of the thesis are rather strict. For workshop dates and guidelines for submitting a dissertation, visit the Graduate Division website.

Students who have advanced from candidacy (i.e. have taken their qualifying exam and submitted the advancement to candidacy application) must have a joint meeting with their QE chair and their PhD advisor to discuss their thesis progression; if students are co-advised, this should be a joint meeting with their co-advisors. This annual review is required by Graduate Division.  For more information regarding this requirement, please see  https://grad.berkeley.edu/ policy/degrees-policy/#f35- annual-review-of-doctoral- candidates .

Teaching Requirement

For students enrolled in the graduate program before Fall 2016, students are required to serve as a Graduate Student Instructor (GSI) for a minimum of 20 hours (equivalent to a 50% GSI appointment) during a regular academic semester by the end of their third year in the program.

Effective with the Fall 2016 entering class, students are required to serve as a GSI for a minimum of two 50% GSI appointment during the regular academic semesters prior to graduation (20 hours a week is equivalent to a 50% GSI appointment for a semester) for Statistics courses numbered 150 and above. Exceptions to this policy are routinely made by the department.

Each spring, the department hosts an annual conference called BSTARS . Both students and industry alliance partners present research in the form of posters and lightning talks. All students in their second year and beyond are required to present a poster at BSTARS each year. This requirement is intended to acclimate students to presenting their research and allow the department generally to see the fruits of their research. It is also an opportunity for less advanced students to see examples of research of more senior students. However, any students who do not yet have research to present can be exempted at the request of their thesis advisor (or their faculty mentors if an advisor has not yet been determined).

Mentoring for PhD Students

Initial Mentoring: PhD students will be assigned a faculty mentor in the summer before their first year. This faculty mentor at this stage is not expected to be the student’s PhD advisor nor even have research interests that closely align with the student. The job of this faculty mentor is primarily to advise the student on how to find a thesis advisor and in selecting appropriate courses, as well as other degree-related topics such as applying for fellowships.  Students should meet with their faculty mentors twice a semester. This faculty member will be the designated faculty mentor for the student during roughly their first two years, at which point students will find a qualifying exam chair who will take over the role of mentoring the student.

Research-focused mentoring : Once students have found a thesis advisor, that person will naturally be the faculty member most directly overseeing the student’s progression. However, students will also choose an additional faculty member to serve as a the chair of their qualifying exam and who will also serve as a faculty mentor for the student and as a member of his/her thesis committee. (For students who have two thesis advisors, however, there is not an additional faculty mentor, and the quals chair does NOT serve as the faculty mentor).

The student will be responsible for identifying and asking a faculty member to be the chair of his/her quals committee. Students should determine their qualifying exam chair either at the beginning of the semester of the qualifying exam or in the fall semester of the third year, whichever is earlier. Students are expected to have narrowed in on a thesis advisor and research topic by the fall semester of their third year (and may have already taken qualifying exams), but in the case where this has not happened, such students should find a quals chair as soon as feasible afterward to serve as faculty mentor.

Students are required to meet with their QE chair once a semester during the academic year. In the fall, this meeting will generally be just a meeting with the student and the QE chair, but in the spring it must be a joint meeting with the student, the QE chair, and the PhD advisor. If students are co-advised, this should be a joint meeting with their co-advisors.

If there is a need for a substitute faculty mentor (e.g. existing faculty mentor is on sabbatical or there has been a significant shift in research direction), the student should bring this to the attention of the PhD Committee for assistance.

PhD Student Forms:

Important milestones: .

Each of these milestones is not complete until you have filled out the requisite form and submitted it to the GSAO. If you are not meeting these milestones by the below deadline, you need to meet with the Head Graduate Advisor to ask for an extension. Otherwise, you will be in danger of not being in good academic standing and being ineligible for continued funding (including GSI or GSR appointments, and many fellowships). 

†Students who are considering a co-advisor, should have at least one advisor formally identified by the end of the second year; the co-advisor should be identified by the end of the fall semester of the 3rd year in lieu of finding a Research Mentor/QE Chair.

Expected Progress Reviews: 

* These meetings do not need to be held in the semester that you take your Qualifying Exam, since the relevant people should be members of your exam committee and will discuss your research progress during your qualifying exam

** If you are being co-advised by someone who is not your primary advisor because your primary advisor cannot be your sole advisor, you should be meeting with that person like a research mentor, if not more frequently, to keep them apprised of your progress. However, if both of your co-advisors are leading your research (perhaps independently) and meeting with you frequently throughout the semester, you do not need to give a fall research progress report.

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Berkeley Berkeley Academic Guide: Academic Guide 2023-24

Public health.

About the Program

The School of Public Health offers two professional degrees, the Master of Public Health (MPH) and the Doctor of Public Health (DrPH). The School of Public Health also offers academic degrees in Biostatistics (MA, PhD), Environmental Health Sciences (MS, PhD), Epidemiology (MS, PhD), Health and Medical Sciences (MS), Health Policy (PhD), and Infectious Diseases & Immunity (PhD).

Master of Public Health (MPH)

The program of study leading to the professional MPH degree is based on a series of foundation courses. In addition, MPH students concentrate in one of the following areas: Biostatistics, Environmental Health Sciences, Epidemiology (11-month), Epidemiology/Biostatistics, Health and Social Behavior, Health Policy and Management, Global Health and Environment, Infectious Diseases and Vaccinology, Interdisciplinary, Maternal, Child, and Adolescent Health, and Public Health Nutrition.

The MPH degree is available in a residential program on campus or through an On-Campus/Online MPH program. The hybrid program requires two accelerated on-campus sessions, while all remaining coursework is completed online.

Doctor of Public Health (DrPH)

The Doctor of Public Health (DrPH) curriculum is based on a comprehensive body of knowledge in the field of public health and its related disciplines, and the investigation of significant problems in public health practice.

Visit School Website

Admission to the University

Applying for graduate admission.

Thank you for considering UC Berkeley for graduate study! UC Berkeley offers more than 120 graduate programs representing the breadth and depth of interdisciplinary scholarship. A complete list of graduate academic departments, degrees offered, and application deadlines can be found on the Graduate Division website .

Prospective students must submit an online application to be considered for admission, in addition to any supplemental materials specific to the program for which they are applying. The online application can be found on the Graduate Division website .

Admission Requirements

The minimum graduate admission requirements are:

A bachelor’s degree or recognized equivalent from an accredited institution;

A satisfactory scholastic average, usually a minimum grade-point average (GPA) of 3.0 (B) on a 4.0 scale; and

Enough undergraduate training to do graduate work in your chosen field.

For a list of requirements to complete your graduate application, please see the Graduate Division’s Admissions Requirements page . It is also important to check with the program or department of interest, as they may have additional requirements specific to their program of study and degree. Department contact information can be found here .

Where to apply?

Visit the Berkeley Graduate Division application page .

Doctoral Degree Requirements (DrPH)

Effective: Fall 2023

Students with a master’s or a higher degree outside the field of public health will be required to enroll in this course.

Master's Degree Requirements (MPH)

Available mph concentrations.

Environmental Health Sciences Concentration

Epidemiology/Biostatistics Concentration

Global Health & Environment Concentration

Health & Social Behavior Concentration

Health policy & management concentration (2 year program), health policy & management concentration (11 month program), infectious diseases & vaccinology concentration.

Interdisciplinary Concentration

Maternal, Child, and Adolescent Health Concentration (2 year program)

Maternal, child, and adolescent health concentration (11 month program).

Public Health Nutrition Concentration (2 year program)

Required Core Courses for all MPH Concentrations

Not required for HPM students.

Not a requirement for Environmental Health Science and Global Health and Environment MPH students.

All of our MPH are expected to fulfill this requirement through  PB HLTH 291A  ( PB HLTH W289 , PB HLTH 224A ,  or PB HLTH 223C ) or an equivalent.  Note: DrPH students fulfill their leadership requirements through  PB HLTH 290 : Foundations of Public Health Leadership and Practice.

Environmental Health Sciences Concentration (2 year program)

Global health & environment concentration.

Effective Fall 2022: Name Change to Capstone Seminar in Infectious Diseases

Substitution by another School of Public Health seminar related to Infectious Diseases may be acceptable as IDV Division Seminar.

If the particular PB HLTH courses listed above have used to fulfill one requirement, the same course cannot be used to fulfill other IDV program and Advanced course requirement

INTERDISCIPLINARY CONCENTRATION

Public health nutrition concentration (2 year program), master's degree requirements (online mph).

The  On-Campus/Online MPH  program offers remote instruction with two required courses that include week-long on-campus sessions over two summer term.

Public Health Core Curriculum

Health policy and management concentration, public health nutrition concentration  , concurrent degree requirements (mph-mba, mph-mcp, mph-mj, mph-mpp, mph-msw), concurrent degree programs, health & social behavior (mph-mcp).

• Public Health & Journalism (MPH-MJ)

Health Policy & Management (MPH-MBA)

• Health Policy & Management (MPH-MPP)

Health & Social Behavior (MPH-MSW)

• Maternal, Child, & Adolescent Health (MPH-MSW)

Required Course for All MPH Degrees

Not required for MPP/MPH & MBA/MPH CDPs.

Not required for any HPM MPH including MPP/MPH & MBA/MPH.

Concurrent Degree Requirements

This concurrent degree program is designed to examine research, practice, and policy at the intersection of urban planning, policy and design with population health. Special attention is given to understanding the forces that are shaping urbanization in the US and globally, what methods are necessary to analyze the relationships between urban policy and planning and human health, and to design and analyze interventions, frequently in partnership with community members and organizations, that can enhance urban health equity. The program prepares students for interdisciplinary careers in such fields as urban development, community health, housing, transportation, policymaking, and others. Graduates secure jobs working in government, international organizations, non-profits, academia/research and the private sector.

Candidates for this program are recruited and admitted through both the School of Public Health and the Department of City and Regional Planning. Students complete the core curriculum of each area, as well as the Health & Social Behavior track within MPH and an area of concentration in MCP. Visit the Public Health website for more information.

Public Health and Journalism (MPH-MJ)

The three-year MPH/MJ allows students to combine their interests in public health, journalism, communications and media. The program is designed to produce public health professionals who are effective media practitioners and communicators as well as journalists with the training and knowledge necessary to cover public health and medical issues for online, print, broadcast and other media platforms.

Students select one of four public health concentrations (environmental health, infectious diseases, epidemiology/biostatistics, health and social behavior) and simultaneously develop their reporting and multimedia skills. The program explores how public health and journalism intersect and impact each other and prepares graduates for work in a variety of public health, media and journalism. Visit the Berkeley Journalism website  for more information . 

The MBA/MPH program provides a deep competency in business administration, integrated with up-to-the-minute knowledge of health policy and management and other health care concepts. Students in this program pursue a wide range of interests including global health, entrepreneurship/start-ups, biotech/medtech, provider and payer initiatives, and social impact. This track allows students to have an extended period at Berkeley to take more electives, develop business and leadership skills in a range of applied health care settings, and have two distinct full-time summer internships.

This is a 2.5-year concurrent degree program, offered in a long-standing partnership between Berkeley Public Health and the Haas School of Business. It has been in existence for more than 35 years, so it has a large community of alumni and provides students access to the top-notch career services and faculty mentors from both Schools.  Visit the Haas School of Business webpage for the MBA requirements.

Health Policy & Management (MPH-MPp)

From the ACA to the FDA, to issues of equity and access, the health policy realm is highly visible and complex. It is for students who want to master the analytical skills that support policy analysis and decision-making, as well as gain a deeper understanding of key healthcare issues.  Visit the Goldman School of Public Policy webpage for the MPP requirements.

MPH-MSW Options

Berkeley Public Health and the School of Social Welfare offer two options that offer interdisciplinary preparation in the fields of social welfare and public health leading to the Master of Social Work and Master of Public Health degrees, generally in less time than it would take to obtain these degrees independently.

Maternal, Child, & adolescent Health (MPH-MSW)

Pb hlth 200 foundations of public health practice 1 unit.

Terms offered: Fall 2000, Fall 1999, Fall 1998 Today, graduates of public health programs must be prepared for evidence-based practice and the generation of practice-based evidence. They must have the ability to work in an increasingly interdisciplinary, interprofessional and cross-sectoral environment and settings. Foundations of Public Health Practice introduces 12 areas of critical public health content to bridge the chasm between public health practice and theory. This course serves as an orientation to the various subjects, fields, and concepts that students will encounter in their education. While no single professional is expected to be an expert in all of these practice areas, everyone must be aware of their importance. Foundations of Public Health Practice: Read More [+]

Rules & Requirements

Credit Restrictions: Students will receive no credit for PB HLTH 200 after completing PB HLTH 200 . A deficient grade in PB HLTH 200 may be removed by taking PB HLTH 200 .

Hours & Format

Fall and/or spring: 8 weeks - 1 hour of seminar per week

Additional Format: One hour of seminar per week for 8 weeks.

Additional Details

Subject/Course Level: Public Health/Graduate

Grading: Letter grade.

Instructors: Maus, Barnett

Formerly known as: Public Health W200

Foundations of Public Health Practice: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH 200A Current issues in Public Health Ethics: Research and Practice 3 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2018, Spring 2017, Spring 2016 This course seeks to examine the ethical challenges inherent in public health practice, research, and policy. It covers a range of topics in ethics through cases representative of different public health dilemmas. The cases considered include treating homeless people with TB, rationing medical care in the United States, conducting HIV studies of maternal-fetal transmission in Africa, managed care policies and setting priorities, the deaf community and cochlear implants, and the societal implications of genetic information. The goal is to enable students to develop an analytical methodology that has practical application for their future work. Current issues in Public Health Ethics: Research and Practice: Read More [+]

Prerequisites: Graduate standing

Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 2 hours of lecture per week

Additional Format: Two hours of Lecture per week for 15 weeks.

Instructor: Halpern

Current issues in Public Health Ethics: Research and Practice: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH 200J Health Policy and Management Breadth Course 2 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2023, Fall 2022, Fall 2021 Health policy and management applies concepts from economics, organizational behavior, and political science to the structure, financing, and regulation of the public health and health care delivery systems. This breadth course is designed to give MPH students a basic set of competencies in the domains central to the field. Health Policy and Management Breadth Course: Read More [+]

Objectives & Outcomes

Course Objectives: ● Compare the organization, structure, and functions of health care, public health, and regulatory systems across US and selected international settings; ● Critically evaluate the role that structural racism plays in the US healthcare system; and ● Identify the core functions of public health and the essential services that together comprise public health; ● Identify the principal functions of health insurance, the structure of public and private health insurance plans, and trends in enrollment and expenditures; ● Understand and be able to discuss dimensions of the policy-making process, including the roles of ethics and evidence; ● Understand and explain basic principles and tools of finance, budgeting, and resource management; ● Understand the drivers of innovation in preventive, diagnostic, and therapeutic technologies; ● Understand various barriers to healthcare access, and discuss potential strategies to mitigate these challenges

Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 1 hour of lecture and 1 hour of discussion per week

Additional Format: One hour of lecture and one hour of discussion per week.

Instructor: Bertozzi

Formerly known as: Public Health 200C1

Health Policy and Management Breadth Course: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH 200K Environmental Health Sciences Breadth Course 2 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2024, Spring 2023, Spring 2022 This course will give an introduction to the major human and natural activities that lead to release of hazardous materials into the environment as well as the causal links between chemical, physical, and biological hazards in the environment and their impact on human health, including those related to climate change. The basic principles of toxicology, exposure assessment, risk assessment, risk perception, and environmental health policy will be presented. The overall role of environmental risks in the pattern of human disease, both nationally and internationally, will be covered. Environmental Health Sciences Breadth Course: Read More [+]

Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 2 hours of lecture and 1 hour of discussion per week

Additional Format: Two hours of lecture and one hour of discussion per week.

Instructor: Kyle

Formerly known as: Public Health 200C2

Environmental Health Sciences Breadth Course: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH 200L Health and Social Behavior Breadth 2 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2023, Fall 2022, Fall 2021 Health and social behavior uses theory and research from the behavioral sciences to explain the causes and health effects of salutary and risky behavior. Health and Social Behavior Breadth: Read More [+]

Instructor: Catalano

Formerly known as: Public Health 200C3

Health and Social Behavior Breadth: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH W200E Health Policy and Management Breadth Course 3 Units

Terms offered: Summer 2024 First 6 Week Session, Summer 2023 First 6 Week Session, Summer 2022 First 6 Week Session Health policy and management applies concepts from economics, organizational behavior, and political science to the structure, financing, and regulation of the public health and health care delivery systems. This breadth course is designed to give MPH students a basic set of competencies in the domains central to the field. Health Policy and Management Breadth Course: Read More [+]

Fall and/or spring: 7 weeks - 6 hours of web-based lecture per week

Summer: 6 weeks - 6 hours of web-based lecture per week

Additional Format: Four hours of web-based lecture per week for five weeks, eight hours of lecture per week for one week. Four hours of web-based lecture per week for five weeks and eight hours of lecture per week for one week.

Online: This is an online course.

Instructor: Fulton

PB HLTH W200F Environmental Health Sciences Breadth Course 2 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2024, Fall 2023, Spring 2023 This survey course covers the breadth of hazards from chemical, biological, and physical agents of concern to environmental health professionals. Lectures are presented by experts on particular topics that emphasize the activities involved in professional practice. Environmental Health Sciences Breadth Course: Read More [+]

Course Objectives: Communicate environmental health issues to lay public and professionals, using appropriate terminology and data. Define and describe major ways in which the environment and human health are linked in different parts of the world and for different populations. Develop a case study on an environmental health and justice issue and propose solutions that integrate the main components of environmental health (exposure assessment, toxicology, epidemiology, and risk assessment). Define and describe the key components of environmental health, including exposure assessment, toxicology, epidemiology, and risk assessment. Describe ways by which the health impact from major environmental health risks, such as climate change, can be effectively controlled. Learn effective ways to communicate important information in Environmental Health Learn the concepts of environmental justice, water sanitation and hygiene (WASH), health risks associated with disasters, food systems, and public health. Understand the associated health effects from developmental, adult and occupational chemical exposures.

Fall and/or spring: 7 weeks - 4 hours of lecture per week 15 weeks - 2 hours of lecture per week

Additional Format: Two hours of lecture per week. Four hours of lecture per week for seven weeks.

Instructors: Graham, Pokhrel

PB HLTH W200G Health and Social Behavior Breadth 3 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2024, Fall 2023, Spring 2023 Course focuses on social, cultural, bio-behavioral determinants of health & health behavior, issues related to social & behavioral interventions, policies aimed at improving community & population health. Students will have experience in/be able to apply range of Health & Social Behavior perspectives, approaches to critically analyze public health issues, conceptualize research & interventions at different levels of ecological model. Topics designed to convey key concepts, highlight approaches in Health & Social Behavior via lectures, readings, videos & online resources. Group assignments focus on community context & health. Will require students to synthesize/apply concepts from course. Assignments will culminate in a final group project. Health and Social Behavior Breadth: Read More [+]

Course Objectives: Describe a range of major themes, theories and conceptual frameworks, research and practice approaches commonly encountered in Health and Social Behavior. Describe and apply ecological public health frameworks and concepts emphasizing multilevel interactions between biology, behavior, environments and the distribution of life opportunities. Describe the rationale for community involvement in public health actions and the key principles of community-based approaches to public health. Understand how socially constructed concepts of race, ethnicity, immigration, gender and social class influence health and structure population health inequities. Understand relationships between human behavior and public health to critically assess models of human behavior and to explore strengths-based, multi-level intervention design.

Credit Restrictions: Students will receive no credit for PB HLTH W200G after completing PB HLTH 200L . A deficient grade in PB HLTH W200G may be removed by taking PB HLTH 200L .

Fall and/or spring: 7 weeks - 6.5 hours of web-based lecture per week 15 weeks - 3 hours of web-based lecture per week

Summer: 6 weeks - 7.5 hours of web-based lecture per week

Additional Format: Five hours of web-based lecture per week for seven weeks.

Instructor: vanDommelen-Gonzalez

PB HLTH 201E Public Health Interventions: Theory, Practice, and Research 2 or 3 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2021, Spring 2020, Spring 2019 This course focuses on the primary factors that affect health and the interventions that can promote health. Students examine the determinants of health and the theory, history, types, ethics, and approaches of public health interventions. Community level interventions and multidisciplinary approaches receive special emphasis. The course stresses a rigorous critique of the outcomes of interventions and practical ways to improve them. Students take an active role in the design and conduct of the course. Public Health Interventions: Theory, Practice, and Research: Read More [+]

Prerequisites: Previous experience with health interventions and doctoral student status or consent of instructor

Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 2 hours of seminar per week

Additional Format: Two hours of Seminar per week for 15 weeks.

Instructors: Neuhauser, Syme

Public Health Interventions: Theory, Practice, and Research: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH 202B Ethnic and Cultural Diversity in Health Status 4 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2024, Spring 2023, Spring 2022 Focus on ethnic and cultural diversity in health behavior as a basis for public health programs. Consideration of U.S. ethnic minority groups and cultural groups in non-Western societies. Health status and behavior examined in context of relevant social and anthropological theory (social class, acculturation, political economy). Influence of socio-cultural background on concepts of health, illness, and health-seeking behavior. Implications for planning public health programs and policies. Ethnic and Cultural Diversity in Health Status: Read More [+]

Prerequisites: Graduate standing or consent of instructor

Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture per week

Additional Format: Three hours of lecture per week.

Instructor: Morello-Frosh

Ethnic and Cultural Diversity in Health Status: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH 202G Advanced Alcohol Research Seminar 1 Unit

Terms offered: Spring 2024, Fall 2023, Spring 2023 This course is an advanced alcohol research seminar in which presentations are made by alcohol research scientists nationally and internationally, as well as pre-and post-doctoral fellows, and focus on special topical areas related to psychosocial research in the field each semester. Areas covered include the epidemiology of drinking patterns and alcohol-related problems, issues related to treatment of alcohol-related problems, and health services research. Guest presentations are also provided (related to topics outside psychosocial research) to provide a breadth of understanding in the field. The seminar also includes sessions focused on methodological issues in alcohol-related research and grant writing, and has a research ethics component covering a number of sessions. Advanced Alcohol Research Seminar: Read More [+]

Repeat rules: Course may be repeated for credit without restriction.

Instructors: Cherpitel, Kaskutas

Advanced Alcohol Research Seminar: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH C202B Ethnic and Cultural Diversity in Health Status 4 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2024, Spring 2023, Spring 2022, Spring 2016, Spring 2015, Spring 2013 Focus on ethnic and cultural diversity in health behavior as a basis for public health programs. Consideration of U.S. ethnic minority groups and cultural groups in non-Western societies. Health status and behavior examined in context of relevant social and anthropological theory (social class, acculturation, political economy). Influence of socio-cultural background on concepts of health, illness, and health-seeking behavior. Implications for planning public health programs and policies. Ethnic and Cultural Diversity in Health Status: Read More [+]

Instructor: Morello-Frosch

Also listed as: ESPM C254

PB HLTH W202 Ethnic and Cultural Diversity in Health Status 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Fall 2015, Fall 2014 This course will examine ethnic and cultural differences in health status and behavior among historically marginalized communities in the United States, including African-Americans, Latinos, Asian-Americans, Native Americans, as well as sexual minorities and groups from non-Western societies. Ethnic and Cultural Diversity in Health Status: Read More [+]

Additional Format: Six hours of web-based lecture per week for seven weeks.

PB HLTH 203A Theories of Health and Social Behavior 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2023, Fall 2022, Fall 2021 This course provides a survey of theoretical perspectives and their application in analyzing the behavioral, social, and cultural dimensions of community health problems. An emphasis is placed on critically examining the strengths and weaknesses of particular theories for understanding and addressing complex community health problems. Theories of Health and Social Behavior: Read More [+]

Prerequisites: Background in social and behavioral sciences. Consent of instructor

Additional Format: Three hours of Lecture per week for 15 weeks.

Instructor: Holmes

Theories of Health and Social Behavior: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH 204A Mass Communications in Public Health 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2023, Fall 2022, Fall 2021 Examines the role of mass communication in advancing public health goals. Reviews mass media theories in general, and theories of the news media in particular. Provides an in-depth understanding of media advocacy as a strategy for using news media and paid advertising to support policy initiatives at the local, state, and federal levels. Examples are drawn from a wide range of public health issues. Mass Communications in Public Health: Read More [+]

Additional Format: Three hours of lecture/discussion per week.

Mass Communications in Public Health: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH 204F Culture, Public Health Practice, and Eliminating Health Disparities: From Ideas to Action in the 21st Century 3 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2016, Spring 2015, Spring 2013 Public health literature and practice make frequent reference to the terms culture, cultural competence, race, racism, ethnicity, and health disparities. Understanding these terms, their complex meanings and current application in public health practice is the subject matter of this course. By the end of the course students will be able to describe the concepts of culture, race, racism, ethnicity, cultural competence, cultural humility, health disparities and their use in public health theory and practice; identify and describe the application of these concepts in local public health practice; and demonstrate an understanding of these concepts and their application in public health practice through the completion of a group project. Culture, Public Health Practice, and Eliminating Health Disparities: From Ideas to Action in the 21st Century: Read More [+]

Prerequisites: Graduate students in Public Health or by consent of instructor

Instructor: Nazeeri-Simmons

Culture, Public Health Practice, and Eliminating Health Disparities: From Ideas to Action in the 21st Century: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH 204G Research Advances in Health Disparities: Multidisciplinary Perspectives 1 - 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2023, Fall 2022, Fall 2021 Understanding and addressing persistent racial inequities in health status is a core public health problem. Ethnic minorities are much more likely to experience much higher rates of poor birth outcomes, infant mortality, infectious and chronic diseases, hospitalization rates, and early death rates from all causes. This course examines racial and ethnic health inequities as a function of social inequality. Topics are drawn from a social determinants of health framework emphasizing the importance of the economic, social, and political features that adversely affect the health status of many underrepresented racial and ethnic minorities in the U.S. from a multidisciplinary approach: Public Health, sociology, anthropology, and social welfare Research Advances in Health Disparities: Multidisciplinary Perspectives: Read More [+]

Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 2-4 hours of seminar per week

Additional Format: Two to four hours of seminar per week.

Instructor: Herd

Research Advances in Health Disparities: Multidisciplinary Perspectives: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH W204 Public Health Communications 3 Units

Terms offered: Summer 2024 Second 6 Week Session, Summer 2023 Second 6 Week Session, Summer 2021 Second 6 Week Session This introductory graduate course teaches human-centered design methodology and asks students to apply it to the creation of a public health communications tool. Students will select a public health challenge to focus on, then will learn how to conduct design research with the target community, seek communications design inspiration, and to build and test a prototype of a communications tool. Public Health Communications: Read More [+]

Fall and/or spring: 6 weeks - 6-6 hours of lecture per week

Summer: 6 weeks - 6-6 hours of lecture per week

Additional Format: Six hours of web-based lecture per week for five weeks and 30 hours of lecture for one week. Six hours of web-based lecture per week for five weeks and 30 hours of lecture per week for one week.

Instructor: Watterson

Public Health Communications: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH 205 Program Planning and Needs Assessment 4 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2024, Spring 2023, Spring 2022 This course provides the necessary skills to plan effective public health programs. Examines principles and methods underlying program planning, emphasizing multi-disciplinary, collaborative and "real world" planning processes. Provides students with conceptual and experiential understanding of how to plan, conduct and present community health needs assessments by covering both theory and practical skills. Students will become familiar with the theory and methods related to ecologically valid assets-based and needs-based community health assessments and translate them into practice. Students will work with a community organization to apply the program planning principles and needs assessment taught throughout the course. Program Planning and Needs Assessment: Read More [+]

Course Objectives: Students will work in a community organization to apply the knowledge and skills acquired in this class. Real world application of program planning principles and needs assessment will be taught throughout the course. Students will complete this course with the development of a complete program plan for a community organization or collect, analyze and present community health assessment data and develop feasible programmatic recommendations.

Prerequisites: Public health students

Instructors: Ndola, Prata

Program Planning and Needs Assessment: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH W205 Program Planning and Development 3 Units

Terms offered: Summer 2024 Second 6 Week Session, Summer 2023 Second 6 Week Session, Summer 2022 Second 6 Week Session The purpose of this course is to provide students with the necessary skills to plan health programs. We will examine the principles and methods underlying program planning. Multi-disciplinary, collaborative planning will be emphasized. Program planning applications will be emphasized throughout the course by using case studies, specific illustrations, and online planning e xercises. Program Planning and Development: Read More [+]

Summer: 7 weeks - 6 hours of web-based lecture per week

Additional Format: Six hours of web-based lecture per week for seven weeks. Six hours of web-based lecture per week for seven weeks.

Instructor: O'Hara

Program Planning and Development: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH 206 PH Nutrition Core Course: Critical Issues in Public Health Nutrition 2 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2023, Fall 2022, Fall 2021 This course will introduce first-year public health nutrition and other MPH students to critical issues in public health nutrition, and provide them with critical thinking skills to analyze these issues using scientific literature. Students will build group facilitation skills, library research skills, and professional advocacy skills. Second-year public health nutrition students and a panel of PHN graduates will speak to the students about valuable skills and competencies needed for work in public health nutrition. PH Nutrition Core Course: Critical Issues in Public Health Nutrition: Read More [+]

Prerequisites: Master of Public Health students

Additional Format: Two hours of lecture/discussion per week.

Instructor: Fernald

PH Nutrition Core Course: Critical Issues in Public Health Nutrition: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH 206B Food and Nutrition Policies and Programs 3 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2024, Spring 2023, Spring 2022 This course examines the historical origins of food and nutrition improvement programs in the United States, including the political and administrative conditions that led to the development of these programs. It also examines the goals, design, operations, and effectiveness of some of these programs: Food Stamp Program, the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), the National School Lunch Program, the School Breakfast Program, Head Start, the Child Care Food Program, and the Elderly Nutrition Program. Food and Nutrition Policies and Programs: Read More [+]

Summer: 3 weeks - 15 hours of lecture per week

Additional Format: Three hours of lecture/discussion per week. Fifteen hours of lecture/discussion per week for three weeks. Fifteen hours of lecture/discussion per week for three weeks. Three hours of lecture/discussion per week.

Food and Nutrition Policies and Programs: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH 206C Nutritional Epidemiology 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2023, Fall 2022, Spring 2022 This course develops the ability to read published nutritional epidemiology research critically. Basic research methods in nutritional epidemiology will be reviewed, and issues in design, analysis, and interpretation unique to nutritional epidemiology will be addressed. This will be accomplished by readings and study questions, lecture/discussions, and problem sets. Nutritional Epidemiology: Read More [+]

Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 4 hours of lecture per week

Summer: 8 weeks - 15 hours of lecture per week

Additional Format: Fifteen hours of lecture/discussion per week for three weeks. Fifteen hours of lecture/discussion per week for three weeks.

Instructor: Block

Nutritional Epidemiology: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH 206D Programs and Policies in Global Nutrition 3 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2024, Spring 2023, Spring 2022 This course will use a case-based approach to examine the ways in which governments in developing countries design and implement policies and programs that affect food production and access to safe, affordable, and nutritionally adequate diets. In the course we will analyze, assess and evaluate ways to take action to ameliorate the major nutritional problems facing vulnerable populations in developing countries. Programs and Policies in Global Nutrition: Read More [+]

Course Objectives: ● Critical analysis of issues in public health nutrition relating to the context of a developing country; ● Demonstration of effective organizational skills and the ability to communicate with and enlist the support of potential participants and stakeholders; and ● Participation in making policy related to health and nutrition within services, programs, and projects. ● Understanding of the biological and social roles of nutrition in health, particularly as they relate to issues of poor nutrition in a global context;

Student Learning Outcomes: 1. Describe and interpret the prevalence and trends of public health nutrition issues faced by mothers and children living in low- and middle-income countries, ranging from malnutrition to micronutrient deficiencies to overweight and obesity. 2. Discuss the political, environmental, cultural, and socioeconomic factors underlying a wide range of nutrition issues in low- and middle-income countries and predict how interventions affect these factors. 3. Identify the ways in which historical, social, cultural, economic, commercial, and institutional factors promote or act as barriers to the design and implementation of agriculture, food, and nutrition policies and programs, and the ways in which these policies and programs affect health and other outcomes. 4. Integrate knowledge of nutritional issues and policies to analyze methods through which stakeholder groups affect the design and implementation of food and nutrition programs and policies.

Programs and Policies in Global Nutrition: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH W206A Nutrition Assessment 3 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2024, Spring 2023, Spring 2022 Nutrition assessment tools are used to evaluate an individual’s or population’s nutrition status and/or risk of specific nutrient excess or deficiency. This 3-unit course will discuss various dietary, anthropometric, clinical, and biochemical nutrition assessment tools and provide you with skills to determine which assessment tools are needed based on program/research project goals, how to interpret nutrition assessment survey results and apply them to populations, and critically evaluate the metrics used to define different types of malnutrition. Nutrition Assessment: Read More [+]

Course Objectives: 1. Recommend the appropriate nutrition assessment tool needed based on the target population, nutrient/ nutrition issue of interest, and goal of the assessment. 2. Critically evaluate nutrition assessment tools based on their required resources, applications, limitations, and biases. 3. Interpret nutrition assessment results and apply them at the population level.

Fall and/or spring: 8 weeks - 6 hours of lecture per week

Additional Format: Six hours of lecture per week for 8 weeks.

Instructor: Zyba

Nutrition Assessment: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH W206B Food and Nutrition Policy 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2023, Fall 2022 Course examines ways in which the US govt designs & implements policies/programs that affect access to nutritionally adequate, safe, affordable diets. We analyze how multiple stakeholders in the food system interact to affect policy design & implementation; historical, social, economic, environmental & political factors that determine stakeholder positions on policy issues; & ways these factors promote or act as barriers to achieving a system that promotes optimal food access, nutrition & health. We cover contemporary food & nutrition policy issues, as well as the history of these issues & ideas. Students will understand the broad spectrum of policies that affect human diets & will become familiar with the policy processes. Food and Nutrition Policy: Read More [+]

Course Objectives: a. Describe the principal areas of domestic food and nutrition policy (e.g., food assistance, dietary guidance and education, agricultural support, food industry regulation, food safety regulation, food and nutrition research) and the most important current issues related to these policy areas. b. Identify the governmental agencies primarily responsible for each area of food and nutrition policy and explain their roles. c. Identify the ways in which historical, social, cultural, economic, commercial, and institutional factors promote or act as barriers to the design and implementation of agriculture, food, and nutrition policies and programs, and the ways in which these policies and programs affect health. d. Describe the major federal food programs—their history, purpose, reach, and effectiveness, as well as current policy and political questions being raised about them. e. Identify and apply the methods through which stakeholder groups affect the design and implementation of agriculture, food, and nutrition policies. f. Recognize your potential to engage in and influence food and nutrition policy throughout your career.

Credit Restrictions: Students will receive no credit for PB HLTH W206B after completing PB HLTH 206B . A deficient grade in PB HLTH W206B may be removed by taking PB HLTH 206B .

Repeat rules: Course may be repeated for credit with advisor consent.

Fall and/or spring: 8 weeks - 7 hours of lecture per week

Additional Format: Seven hours of lecture per week for 8 weeks.

Instructor: Thompson

Food and Nutrition Policy: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH 207 Transforming the Food System: From Agroecology to Population Health 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2023, Fall 2022, Fall 2021 This course will take a solutions-oriented approach to addressing the pressing problems in current food systems. We will explore strategies used by the disciplines of agroecology, policy, law, public health, and business in working to improve food systems and apply their varied approaches to real-world case studies. Through weekly readings, discussions, and problem-solving sessions with Berkeley’s leading food systems experts, students will gain a broad understanding of food systems and the leverage points that can be targeted to improve the health of people and the planet. Transforming the Food System: From Agroecology to Population Health: Read More [+]

Course Objectives: 1. Define and explain food systems, explain interdependence within those systems, and understand their impacts on the health of people and the planet 2. Identify leverage points for transforming food systems based on evidence 3. Understand various strategies—legal, political, agro-ecological, economic, behavioral, etc.—that different disciplines use to target leverage points 4. Articulate different perspectives on food systems issues and explain the pros and cons of strategies for food systems change 5. Adapt communication styles to various audiences and media

Prerequisites: Graduate student standing

Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of seminar per week

Additional Format: Three hours of seminar per week.

Instructor: Madsen

Transforming the Food System: From Agroecology to Population Health: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH 207A Public Health Aspects of Maternal and Child Nutrition 2 or 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2023, Fall 2022, Fall 2021 Nutrition plays a vital role in human reproduction and child growth and development. This course provides an overview of the major nutritional issues faced by women of childbearing age, infants, children, and adolescents in the United States and around the world, with selected topics explored in greater depth. Nutritional problems are multi-factorial and occur at multiple levels and we will study them from a variety of viewpoints (biological, pyschological , socio-cultural, economic, political, and behavioral) as well as from individual and population perspectives. Participants in the course will become acquainted with nutritional research, policies, and interventions designed to enhance reproduction, growth, and development. This course will also explore health disparities in maternal and child nutrition in both a domestic and international context. Public Health Aspects of Maternal and Child Nutrition: Read More [+]

Prerequisites: Course in epidemiology required; previous coursework in biology and nutritional science highly recommended

Instructor: Abrams

Public Health Aspects of Maternal and Child Nutrition: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH W207A Maternal and Child Health Nutrition 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2023 Nutrition plays a vital role in human reproduction and child growth and development. This course covers core principles of nutrition and health and provides an overview of the major nutritional needs and issues faced by women of reproductive age, infants, children, and adolescents in the United States and globally, with selected topics explored in greater depth. This course will also explore disparities in various health outcomes related to MCH nutrition and provide students the opportunity to apply the course concepts at a personal and programmatic level. Maternal and Child Health Nutrition: Read More [+]

Credit Restrictions: Students will receive no credit for PB HLTH W206 after completing PB HLTH 206 . A deficient grade in PB HLTH W206 may be removed by taking PB HLTH 206 .

Repeat rules: Course may be repeated for credit under special circumstances: if student receives D or F grade

Summer: 8 weeks - 6 hours of lecture per week

Additional Format: Six hours of lecture per week for 8 weeks. Six hours of lecture per week for 8 weeks.

Formerly known as: Public Health W206

Maternal and Child Health Nutrition: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH 209A Introduction to Plant-Centric Food Systems 1 Unit

Terms offered: Spring 2023, Spring 2022 This is an energizing and exciting symposium that explores the robust opportunities and accompanying challenges of plant-forward solutions. The gathering is convened to underscore the urgency of shifting to plant-based diets for healthier, more equitable, and resilient food systems and to explore how students will play a pivotal role in the transformation of the food system. Plant Futures is the first program at UC Berkeley to feature in depth multidisciplinary conversation aimed at exploring the role and importance of plant-based foods as a critical lever for change, and provides a unique opportunity for students to directly connect to prominent leaders, creators and influencers and forge pathways for future professional engagement. Introduction to Plant-Centric Food Systems: Read More [+]

Course Objectives: 1. Deepen students’ knowledge of the impacts of our diets and current food production systems on personal health and planetary boundaries that directly drive climate change by understanding the urgent challenges and most critical levers for transformation in food systems. 2. Build critical systems thinking competencies at the intersection of agriculture, nutrition, climate science, behavioral science, economics, entrepreneurship and ethics with plant-centric food systems. 3. Provide a multisectoral opportunity for students to build community and connect with leaders in different disciplines working in the plant-based sector through networking opportunities that converge the scientific, business, and academic communities. 4. Create an opportunity for students to engage and directly collaborate with food industry business leaders, experts, and researchers working on the forefront of innovation and sustainability, specifically in the plant-based sector. 5. Provide students with frameworks, examples and skill sets to design and implement innovative plant-centered food systems that are sustainable and driven by public health principles. 6. Equip students with the foundation and tools to become advocates and change makers for plant-centered food systems in their personal lives, on campus, and beyond. Ultimately, prepare students at a personal and professional level to accelerate the transition to a healthy, sustainable and just food system.

Fall and/or spring: 1 weeks - 20 hours of seminar per week

Additional Format: Twenty hours of seminar per week for one weeks.

Instructor: Rosenzweig

Introduction to Plant-Centric Food Systems: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH 209B Plant Futures Challenge Lab 3 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2024, Fall 2023, Spring 2023 A collaborative, multidisciplinary applied learning journey in systems entrepreneurship, ethical leadership and innovation models intended to accelerate the transition to a healthy, sustainable and just food system. Plant Futures Challenge Lab: Read More [+]

Course Objectives: 1. Develop systems-thinking and analysis capabilities while developing ‘food-systems intelligence’ and ‘triple-bottom line’ business design capabilities. Understand the complex interdependencies and trade-offs involved in solving food systems challenges. 2. Develop an understanding of mission-driven organizational strategies and practices, based on clear ethical principles. 3. Combine and apply entrepreneurial skill sets, mind sets and tool sets needed for leadership, team building, and initiating and managing innovative change. Learn to transform an idea into a tangible, viable plan of action. 4. Learn to recognize and “size” unmet needs, issues, and opportunities in the food system and apply creativity, research, and discipline to create the type of solutions that make meaningful, lasting impacts. 5. Expand your personal capacities for collaboration while reaching out of your comfort zone by contacting and enrolling experts who can assist your project. 6. Lead and collaborate with other students from different disciplines across the University to apply the team building strategies and leadership necessary to develop a plant-forward solution to solve complex food systems challenges. 7. Grow and cultivate your professional network and experience by building deep relationships with mentors and professional allies. 8. Develop, through practice, the foundation and tools needed to become advocates for plant-forward solutions in your personal lives, at Berkeley, and beyond!

Additional Format: Two hours of lecture per week.

Instructors: Rosenzweig, Gheihman

Plant Futures Challenge Lab: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH W209 Comparative Health Systems 3 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2024, Spring 2023, Spring 2021 In the past decade, health systems and their role in global health have received increasing focus. While disease-focused, 'vertical programs', such as malaria and HIV/AIDs still command the lion's share of donor resources, it has become clear that the sustainability of disease programs depends on embedding them into a country's health system. This course provides a real world, practical understanding of health systems, based on a solid academic foundation. It introduces current debates about health systems, health financing, and universal health coverage in the international community. Students will use five key structural questions to analyze health care systems and their performance on quality, cost and access metrics. Comparative Health Systems: Read More [+]

Fall and/or spring: 8 weeks - 6 hours of web-based lecture per week

Additional Format: Six hours of web-based lecture per week for 8 weeks.

Instructor: Feachem

Comparative Health Systems: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH 210 Foundations of Maternal and Child Health Policy, Practice and Science 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2023, Fall 2022, Fall 2021 This course will explore issues related to maternal, child, and adolescent health throughout the life course with a focus on the social determinants of health, health disparities, and social justice. Discussion will focus on current issues central to maternal and child health policy and practice; the history and organization of MCH health services in the US; and analyze the ways in which the political context in the US and internationally affects the health and well-being of families, including critical examination of the ways in which knowledge about an issue, an understanding of the social strategies to address that issue, and political will are all leveraged to influence the creation of MCH policy. Foundations of Maternal and Child Health Policy, Practice and Science: Read More [+]

Prerequisites: Consent of instructor

Instructor: Pies

Foundations of Maternal and Child Health Policy, Practice and Science: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH 210B Adolescent Health 3 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2023, Spring 2022, Fall 2021 This course is designed to provide an understanding of the epidemiology and etiology of critical health issues among adolescents, including complex contextual influences and individual processes related to this dynamic period of life. Each adolescent health outcome will be considered in light of developmental issues related to the pubertal transition and multilevel influences that contribute to adolescent health and well-being, including 1) biological, 2) cognitive, 3) behavioral, and 4) social-culture factors. The course will emphasize: empirical evidence for the etiology of adolescent health problems, documented risk and protective factors, and content and timing of preventive intervention efforts to ameliorate risk. Adolescent Health: Read More [+]

Instructor: Deardorff

Adolescent Health: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH 210D Reproductive and Perinatal Epidemiology 2 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2020, Spring 2017, Spring 2016 Research methods and issues in perinatal and reproductive epidemiology with emphasis on methods of study. Specific adverse reproductive outcomes, risk factors, and prevalence will be discussed. Will include critiques of published studies and techniques of proposal writing. Reproductive and Perinatal Epidemiology: Read More [+]

Prerequisites: Graduate standing in epidemiology or consent of instructor

Instructor: Eskenazi

Reproductive and Perinatal Epidemiology: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH 210E Practicum in MCH Data Analysis I 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2023, Fall 2022, Fall 2021 This course is designed to support MCH students complete their masters capstone project. Part I is offered in the Fall and Part II is in Spring. Practicum in MCH Data Analysis I: Read More [+]

Credit Restrictions: Formerly known as: PH 293-7 MCH Seminar.

Additional Format: Weekly lectures, discussion, and student practice presentations.

Instructor: Harley

Practicum in MCH Data Analysis I: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH 210F Practicum In MCH Data Analysis II 1 - 4 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2024, Spring 2023, Spring 2022 The course is designed to support MCH students working on their Master's Capstone project. The course goal is to support students in a variety of methodological issues and practical issues. The course is a combination of formal class meetings and one-on-one meetings. Practicum In MCH Data Analysis II: Read More [+]

Credit Restrictions: Formerly known as: 293-6 Practical Issues in MCH Data Analysis.

Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 1-2 hours of seminar and 1-2 hours of lecture per week

Additional Format: One to two hours of lecture and one to two hours of seminar per week.

Practicum In MCH Data Analysis II: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH 210J Maternal, Child & Adolescent Health Journal Club 2 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2023, Fall 2022, Fall 2021 The purpose of this seminar is to learn how to critically review peer-reviewed articles in the field of maternal, child, adolescent and family health (MCAH). This is a required course for all Maternal, Child, and Adolescent Health MPH students and some MCAH Specialty areas. Others may enroll with permission of the instructor. Maternal, Child & Adolescent Health Journal Club: Read More [+]

Additional Format: Two hours of seminar per week.

Grading: Offered for satisfactory/unsatisfactory grade only.

Maternal, Child & Adolescent Health Journal Club: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH 210K Foundations of Maternal, Child, and Adolescent Health Leadership 2 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2024, Spring 2023, Spring 2022 This course introduces students to theories and concepts of leadership and explores ways of applying these to maternal, child, and adolescent health issues. This course provides opportunities for students to develop skills and resources for further developing their own leadership. The skills taught in this course will prepare students to become dynamic, thoughtful leaders in the field of MCAH with a particular focus on continued self-reflection and development to lead programs that address the diverse issues facing MCAH populations. Foundations of Maternal, Child, and Adolescent Health Leadership: Read More [+]

Instructor: Strouse

Foundations of Maternal, Child, and Adolescent Health Leadership: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH 211 Health and Human Rights 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2023, Fall 2022, Fall 2021 The course examines the origins of health and human rights concerns and outlines a conceptual basis for human rights among health professionals. It provides an overview of the epidemiology of human rights violations worldwide and an analysis of the psychology of abuse. The course considers the role of health professionals in (1) documenting the health and social consequences of human rights violations and war; (2) treating survivors of abuse; (3) addressing specific human rights concerns of women and children; (4) identifying the impact of health policy on human rights; and (5) participating in human rights education and advocacy. The course will also examine issues of universality of human rights and cultural relativism and the role of accountability for the past abuses in prevention. Health and Human Rights: Read More [+]

Instructors: Iacopino, Weinstein

Health and Human Rights: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH 212A International Maternal and Child Health 2 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2023, Fall 2022, Fall 2021 Assessment of health status of mothers, infants, and children on worldwide basis; special emphasis on problems, policies, and programs affecting MCH and family planning in developing countries. International Maternal and Child Health: Read More [+]

Instructor: Miller

International Maternal and Child Health: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH W212 Foundations of Global Health 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2023, Fall 2022, Fall 2021 This course introduces students to the basic principles of global public health that are used to improve population health at all levels. The course will start with an introduction to essential concepts from public health disciplines that are the foundations of global health practice. Students will then apply these concepts to current global health challenges through course activities, assignments, and readings that will provide a real world context. Global health experts will share their experiences and lessons learned from implementing global health research and programs. Throughout the course, students will gain critical and creative-thinking experience in applying tools and frameworks towards addressing diverse global health needs. Foundations of Global Health: Read More [+]

Additional Format: Six hours of web-based lecture per week for eight weeks.

Instructors: Reingold, Fong

Foundations of Global Health: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH 213A Family Planning, Population Change, and Health 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2023, Fall 2022, Fall 2021 Course examines the determinants of family size and the role played by contraception, voluntary sterilization, and induced abortion in the transition to small families. It looks at the factors controlling access to fertility regulation in developed and developing countries and discusses the factors that have made for successful family programs as well as those that have generated controversy. The course looks at the relationship between family planning and the health of women and children and at the role of family size in economic development and environmental problems. It looks at advances in family planning, organization, and promotion of services and discusses ethical issues facing providers. Family Planning, Population Change, and Health: Read More [+]

Instructors: Campbell, Potts, Prata

Family Planning, Population Change, and Health: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH W213 Global Health Ethics 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2023, Fall 2022, Fall 2021 This course provides an overview to ethical issues within a global health context. The course starts with an introduction to ethical frameworks, theories, and historical references that elevate the ethics conversation to the global stage. The course will then link theory to practice as we delve deeper into ethical issues in research, experiential learning, and delivery. We will consider ethical questions about the discipline of global public health and the roles of governments, academic institutions, organizations, health professions, and members of the public as stewards of health. Students will gain a deeper understanding of the divers international perspectives on the concepts of ethics and health. Global Health Ethics: Read More [+]

Summer: 8 weeks - 6 hours of web-based lecture per week

Additional Format: Six hours of web-based lecture per week for 8 weeks. Six hours of web-based lecture per week for 8 weeks.

Instructors: Haar, Dandu, DeBoer

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PB HLTH 214 Eat.Think.Design 3 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2018, Spring 2017, Spring 2016 This course is a team-oriented, project-based course designed around the case-based and learning-by-doing models. The critical elements of the human-centered design process – discovering, ideating, and prototyping – are learned through didactic sessions and an 8-week project students work on in teams. Working with community partners on a public health issue related to food, the student teams apply human-centered design skills to the problem , and design and pilot (when possible) a solution with and for their community partner. Eat.Think.Design: Read More [+]

Instructors: Sandhu, Madsen

Eat.Think.Design: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH 215 Anti-Racist and Racial Justice Praxis Spring Student Elective 3 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2024, Spring 2023, Spring 2022 The Anti-Racist and Racial Justice Praxis Spring Student Elective is a semester-long student elective course for continuing students. This class will cultivate up to 40 student champions to develop an anti-racist analysis of public health, present a set of anti-racist public health tools, and build skills necessary for advancing an anti-racist agenda within the field. Anti-Racist and Racial Justice Praxis Spring Student Elective: Read More [+]

Course Objectives: Analyze how systems of racism operate in a modern context and impact health Apply new skills when working to implement an anti-racist agenda at the institutional and governmental levels. Recognize common challenges and problems in racial dialogue and learn skills to overcome these issues.

Prerequisites: A Health and Social Behavior breadth course; PBHLTH 200L, PBHLTH W200G or PBHLTH 203A

Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 2.5 hours of lecture per week

Additional Format: Two and one-half hours of lecture per week.

Instructors: Malawa, Gaarde

Anti-Racist and Racial Justice Praxis Spring Student Elective: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH 216A Biological Embedding of Social Factors 2 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2019, Fall 2017, Spring 2016 This is an interdisciplinary course which will adopt a broad-based ecological perspective of health and behavior. This class will emphasize the interconnected and multidirectional relationships between biology, behavior, and the social environment. This course will be conducted as a seminar series (with a focus on biological processes). We will investigate the assertion that biological, psychological, and social processes interact over a lifetime to influence health and vulnerability to disease (a developmental epigenetic perspective). Rather than focusing on "if" social factors can influence health and disease we will focus on "how" social factors may regulate/change biological measures. Three very general themes will be addressed: development, "social" neuroscience and gene-environment interactions as they relate to behavior. Topics such as constraints/plasticity and behavior, genetic determinism, vulnerability versus resilience, gene-environment interactions, fetal/developmental programming, and stress will all be touched upon. Biological Embedding of Social Factors: Read More [+]

Instructor: Francis

Biological Embedding of Social Factors: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH 217C Aging and Public Health 3 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2017, Spring 2016, Spring 2015 The purpose of this course is to provide an overview of research, practice, and policy in the area of aging and public health. Topics will include the epidemiology of aging; race, class, gender, and aging; nutrition and the elderly; and current health policy surrounding aging. Themes running throughout the course and linking a number of the topics covered will include the diversity of the elderly; the importance of co-morbidity and functional health status in this population group; the family and broader environmental contexts in which aging takes place; and the influence of public and private sector policies on health and health-related behavior in the elderly. Weekly lectures by the faculty will be complemented by presentations by prominent Bay Area researchers in the areas of geriatrics and gerontology. This is the core course for the School of Public Health specialty in aging and public health. Aging and Public Health: Read More [+]

Instructor: Satariano

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PB HLTH C217D Biological and Public Health Aspects of Alzheimer's Disease 3 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2017, Spring 2015, Spring 2014, Spring 2013 This course will survey the field of Alzheimer's disease (AD) from a biological and public health perspective by reading original research papers in the fields of medicine, neuroscience, and epidemiology. The course will begin with a historical survey of the concept of AD, followed by a description of clinical and neuropathological features. Subsequent classes will cover the genetics and molecular biology of the disease, as well as biomarkers, epidemiology, risk factors, treatment, development of new diagnostic approaches, and ethical issues. The course will also serve as a model for the analysis of complex diseases with multiple genetic and environmental causes, and late onset neurodegenerative diseases. The course will also serve as a model for the analysis of complex diseases with multiple genetic and environmental causes and late-onset neurodegenerative disease. Biological and Public Health Aspects of Alzheimer's Disease: Read More [+]

Instructor: Jagust

Also listed as: NEUROSC C217D

Biological and Public Health Aspects of Alzheimer's Disease: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH 218B Evaluation of Health and Social Programs 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2023, Fall 2022, Fall 2021 The study of concepts, methods, rationale, and uses of evaluation research as they apply to health and social programs. Evaluation of Health and Social Programs: Read More [+]

Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3-3 hours of lecture per week

Evaluation of Health and Social Programs: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH W218 Evaluation of Health and Social Programs 3 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2024, Spring 2023, Spring 2022 This course provides an overview of the concepts and methods of program evaluation. The course will be useful to those concerned with evaluation of health and social service programs. Participants will develop the critical skills necessary to assess the quality of evaluation research projects, to apply technical skills in professional practice, and to develop evaluation plans for a variety of heath and social programs. Evaluation of Health and Social Programs: Read More [+]

Instructor: Paleo

PB HLTH 219C Community-Based Participatory Research in Public Health 3 - 4 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2024, Spring 2022, Spring 2020 The goal of this seminar is to provide doctoral and advanced master's degree students with an understanding of theories, principles, and strategies of community-based participatory research (CBPR) and related traditions. The advantages and limitations of this approach, skills necessary for effective application, and theory-driven case studies will be explored. Students undertaking a service-learning project applying CBPR may receive a 4th unit. Community-Based Participatory Research in Public Health: Read More [+]

Instructor: Minkler

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PB HLTH 219E Introduction to Qualitative Methods in Public Health Research 3 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2024, Spring 2023, Spring 2022 This course is designed to familiarize students who have little or no experience in conducting qualitative research with the perspectives, methods, and techniques of a vast and contentious tradition of research. The course will cover some of the methods of data collections used in the conduct of qualitative inquiries, the analysis of textural data, the write-up of findings from qualitative studies, and the development of a qualitative research proposal. While learning about qualitative methods, students will gain an understanding of the qualitative research literature on a topic of their choice, as well as how to integrate findings from a variety of qualitative studies on a research question of topic. Introduction to Qualitative Methods in Public Health Research: Read More [+]

Introduction to Qualitative Methods in Public Health Research: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH W219 Social and Behavioral Health Research: Introduction to Survey Methods 3 Units

Terms offered: Summer 2024 Second 6 Week Session, Spring 2024, Summer 2023 Second 6 Week Session This course provides a thorough background in the design, administration, and interpretation of a range of survey strategies (e.g., telephone, face-to-face, mail and internet surveys) within the broader context of a research or evaluation project. Topics will include formulation of study aims, developing an appropriate research design, protection of human subjects and proper conduct of research , sample size calculations, recruitment strategies, survey administration, and development of an analysis plan. Class topics are designed to convey practical knowledge through topical lectures, group activities, partner feedback and a survey design project consisting of two parts: a survey instrument and a research plan. Social and Behavioral Health Research: Introduction to Survey Methods: Read More [+]

Student Learning Outcomes: 1. Formulate research questions and develop testable hypotheses appropriate for survey research 2. Identify appropriate survey tools to address a particular research question and hypothesis 3. Define and operationalize constructs and variables for survey research 4. Assess the reliability and validity of survey measures 5. Select a sampling design optimized for examining a particular research question and hypothesis 6. Demonstrate the ability to identify and address cultural and ethical considerations in conducting survey research, particularly involving diverse and special populations (including children, the elderly, and those diagnosed and treated for acute and chronic conditions) where relevant 7. Develop an analysis plan and dissemination plan linked to research questions, hypotheses and a survey instrument

Fall and/or spring: 7 weeks - 6 hours of lecture per week

Summer: 7 weeks - 6 hours of lecture per week

Additional Format: Six hours of lecture per week for seven weeks. Six hours of lecture per week for seven weeks.

Instructor: Sheats

Social and Behavioral Health Research: Introduction to Survey Methods: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH 220 Health Policy Decision-Making 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2023, Fall 2022, Fall 2021 Introduction to federal-level health policy and analysis of government capacity in addressing major issues in health policy. The course explores structural impediments to reform in the US, regulatory decision-making -- particularly decision-making under conditions of uncertainty, and basic tools of policy analysis. Students will apply these tools in a seminar paper that analyzes a proposed or existing health policy or program. Health Policy Decision-Making: Read More [+]

Additional Format: Three hours of lecture/discussions per week.

Instructor: Sentell

Health Policy Decision-Making: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH 220C Health Risk Assessment 3 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2024, Spring 2023, Spring 2022 This course introduces the basic scientific principles of environmental health risk assessment, develops the understanding necessary to carry out and interpret quantitative risk assessments, and describes the context in which decisions manage environmental health risks are made. The course presents the quantitative methods used to assess the human health risks associated with exposure to microbial and chemical agents, focusing on the four major components of risk assessment: hazard identification, dose-response assessment, exposure assessment and risk characterization. The course examines the application of environmental health risk assessment to contemporary issues including the associated complexities, challenges and controversies. Health Risk Assessment: Read More [+]

Prerequisites: 250A, 270A-270B recommended. Graduate standing

Instructors: Zhang, Smith

Health Risk Assessment: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH 220D Health Policy Advocacy 3 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2024, Fall 2023, Spring 2023 A graduate seminar in practice-based means to advocate for health policy. This course focuses on data based strategies using persuasive written and oral communication skills necessary to preserve and/or improve the health status of populations. Students will develop research, organization, and coalition-building skills necessary to produce an effective advocacy campaign. The course identifies the roles of those involved in the making of policy and demonstrates the use of appropriate channels and technologies to influence health policy change. Health Policy Advocacy: Read More [+]

Instructor: Snyder

Health Policy Advocacy: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH 220E Global Health Policy 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2023, Fall 2022, Fall 2021 This course will provide an intensive, case-based introduction to global health policy. Students will simulate working on teams asked to advise Ministries of Health in low- and middle-income countries and other global policymaking institutions grappling with health policy questions. Over a series of four cases, the course will introduce students to key concepts in health policy and economics, including allocating scarce resources, pandemic response , financial incentives to shape provider behaviors, and policies to influence the private sector to improve population health. Students will also become familiar with the major actors and institutions that shape international health policy. Global Health Policy: Read More [+]

Global Health Policy: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH W220M Health Policy Methods 3 Units

Terms offered: Summer 2024 Second 6 Week Session, Fall 2023, Summer 2023 Second 6 Week Session This course serves as an introduction to key topics in health policy making in the United States, with a focus on the policy process and policy analysis methods. Using the policy analysis framework of Eugene Bardach’s Eightfold Path first introduced in PBHLTH W200E, the course will explore the entire policy analysis process from the identification of a problem, to the evaluation of policy solutions , and finally to the techniques and formats for effective health policy communications. This analysis method is contextualized within the process of public policy making within the U.S. government. Health Policy Methods: Read More [+]

Course Objectives: • Apply learned policy analysis skills to proposed and existing public health policies. • Build critical policy analysis skills to identify and evaluate the methods used for developing policy alternatives and understand the impact of existing public health policies. • Critique the role of research and evidence in public health policy formation and evaluation. • Describe our country’s institutional players (i.e., legislative, administrative, judicial), their roles in policy making and how to influence policy outcomes. • Leverage critical analysis tools of language and framing to develop and advocate health policies in verbal and written communication deliverables.

Student Learning Outcomes: • Conduct policy advocacy: understand the gaps in community needs and articulate these needs in the policy setting. Develop innovative strategies for influencing health policy for diverse groups. • Conduct policy analysis: evaluate and analyze policy solutions that are culturally competent. Communicate evidence and recommendations succinctly and persuasively. • Deepen understanding of the dimensions of the policy-making process, including the roles of ethics and evidence. • Examine current public health issues and their impacts on public health and health equity. • Learn about the health policy context and the institutions, stakeholders, advocacy groups and processes that shape policy outcomes. • Recognize the disparate impacts of policies on communities with intersectional identities.

Prerequisites: PB HLTH W200E

Credit Restrictions: Students will receive no credit for PB HLTH W220M after completing PB HLTH 220 . A deficient grade in PB HLTH W220M may be removed by taking PB HLTH 220 .

Fall and/or spring: 7 weeks - 6.5 hours of lecture per week 8 weeks - 6 hours of lecture per week

Summer: 7 weeks - 6.5 hours of lecture per week 8 weeks - 6 hours of lecture per week

Additional Format: Six hours of lecture per week for 8 weeks. Six hours of lecture per week for 8 weeks. Six and one-half hours of lecture per week for seven weeks. Six and one-half hours of lecture per week for seven weeks.

Instructors: Titova, Jekanowski

Formerly known as: Public Health W220

Health Policy Methods: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH 221 Mental Health Policies, Programs, and Services 2 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2017, Spring 2015, Spring 2013 This course provides a foundation for understanding mental illness and mental health services and the evolution and current state of our thinking about them. It presents the most frequent varieties of mental illness and addresses their frequency of occurrence, and it addresses the social disability from mental illness and the societal response to mental illness. It also considers treatments, services, effectiveness, quality of care, and financing , as well as considering financing, legal issues, and special concerns and services for children and youth. In addition, the course provides a forum to critically examine the knowledge base on mental illness, epidemiology, policies, programs, and services as it presents major controversies and highlights the best available evidence. Mental Health Policies, Programs, and Services: Read More [+]

Instructor: Snowden

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PB HLTH 221B Understanding and Overcoming Health Care Disparities 2 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2018, Spring 2016, Fall 2013 In this class, we will construct a framework to formulate explanations for health care disparities and to construct responses that have the potential for a policy-oriented, and therefore widespread, response. Taking advantage of selected developments in social science theory and research that can provide insight into how health care disparities come about, we will draw from anthropological and psychological theories of cultural orientation , cultural framing of problems, and cultural identity; as well as drawing from psychological theories of stress and coping. We also will draw from sociological theories of individual and community poverty, and theories characterizing health care system design and service delivery. Understanding and Overcoming Health Care Disparities: Read More [+]

Understanding and Overcoming Health Care Disparities: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH 222A Biomedical Innovation Policy 3 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2024, Spring 2023, Spring 2022 Course examines the policy framework for biomedical technology, including medical devices, drugs, diagnostics, digital therapeutics and algorithms. Emphasis will be placed on the funding of research and development, the protection of intellectual property, FDA market authorization, insurance coverage and algorithm design. Focus will be on the US but will examine industrial policy and innovation nationalism within a global context. Students are required to read peer-reviewed articles, keep up with journalistic reports and participate in classroom discussions. Lectures will be pre-recorded and posted on bCourses and it is expected that students will have watched these lectures and done the readings prior to class. Biomedical Innovation Policy: Read More [+]

Course Objectives: • Compare the strengths and limits of alternative mechanisms for stimulating R&D investments in the life sciences: research grants, commercialization grants, tax credits, patent-protected pricing, innovation prizes, and advanced market commitments, among others. • Describe the basic principles and applications of intellectual property policy and the tradeoffs between greater access to current treatments. via low product prices, and greater incentives for investment in new treatments, via high prices. o Intellectual property policy with respect to generics and biosimilars • Discuss the basic structure of regulatory market authorization: o FDA review of safety and efficacy for pharmaceuticals o Accelerated review and the evolution of evidentiary demands o Market authorization for medical devices, diagnostic tests, digital therapeutics • Explain the basic principles of health technology assessment and their applicability to insurance coverage and pricing.

Prerequisites: Graduate standing. Undergraduates will be considered on case-by-case basis

Instructor: Robinson

Biomedical Innovation Policy: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH W222A Biomedical Innovation Policy 3 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2024, Spring 2023, Spring 2022 This course examines the policy framework for biomedical technology, including medical devices, drugs, diagnostics, digital therapeutics, and algorithms. Emphasis will be placed on the funding of research and development, the protection of intellectual property, FDA market authorization, insurance coverage, and algorithm design. The focus will be on the US but we will examine industrial policy and innovation nationalism within a global context. Students will be required to read peer-reviewed articles, keep up with journalistic reports, and participate in online discussions. Biomedical Innovation Policy: Read More [+]

Course Objectives: ● Be able to explain the principles of health technology assessment (HTA) and the challenges raised in their application to insurance coverage and pricing for Medicare. ● Compare the strengths and limits of alternative mechanisms for stimulating R&D investments in the life sciences: research grants, commercialization grants, tax credits, patent-protected pricing, and innovation prizes, among others. Be able to apply these principles to develop a package of policy incentives to encourage investment in novel antibiotics. ● Describe the basic principles and applications of intellectual property policy and the tradeoffs between greater access to current treatments. via low product prices, and greater incentives for investment in new treatments, via high prices. ○ Intellectual property policy with respect to generics and biosimilars ● Discuss the structure of regulatory market authorization, including FDA review of safety and efficacy for pharmaceuticals and market authorization for medical devices, diagnostic tests, digital therapeutics. Apply these principles in video debate over FDA accelerated review.

Credit Restrictions: Students will receive no credit for PB HLTH W222A after completing PB HLTH 222A . A deficient grade in PB HLTH W222A may be removed by taking PB HLTH 222A .

PB HLTH 223C Strategic Management and the Health Sector 3 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2024, Spring 2023, Spring 2022 The overall purpose of this course is to assist the student in managing health care organizations from a strategic perspective. This is accomplished by systematically addressing systemwide, organization-wide, group- and individual-level issues in strategy formulation, content, implementation, and performance. Emphasis is placed upon the manager's role in simultaneously taking into account a wide variety of internal and external factors to improve organization and system performance in meeting the health needs of individuals and communities. Emphasis is also placed on the development and implementation of strategies to meet multiple stakeholder demands, particular attention given to continuous quality improvement/total quality management. Strategic Management and the Health Sector: Read More [+]

Prerequisites: Business Administration 205 or 224A and 223A or consent of instructor. Students are required to have a general background knowledge of the health services system

Instructors: Shortell, Oxendine

Strategic Management and the Health Sector: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH 223D Foundations of Health Policy and Management 2 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2023, Fall 2022, Fall 2021 This course is designed as a first semester seminar for master's students in the Division of Health Policy and Management. The purposes of this course are fourfold: 1) to provide an overview of the U.S. medical and health care systems; 2) to provide an introduction to basic concepts and competencies in health policy analysis and health management; 3) to provide internship preparation and career development activities; and 4) to provide opportunities to develop relationships with 1st- and 2nd-year HPM students and with faculty. Foundations of Health Policy and Management: Read More [+]

Prerequisites: Graduate standing in Health Policy and Management or consent of instructor

Instructors: Oxendine, Solomon

Foundations of Health Policy and Management: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH 223E Capstone Seminar in Health Policy and Management 2 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2024, Spring 2023, Spring 2022 This course is an integrative seminar that builds on the core curriculum requirements of the school and HPM specialty. Participants are master's degree students advancing to candidacy. After sharing their internship experiences and the impact on career decisions, the students are required to draw on situations from their internship to demonstrate what they have learned by leading fellow seminar participants in facilitated discussions, culminating in a specific management recommendation or policy position. Students will gain exposure to a range of HPM issues based on the experiences of their peers. Each student is also required to produce a 20-page paper and prepare and deliver a formal presentation to seminar participants and invited faculty. The paper will address an HPM topic of interest that has been selected by the student and approved by the course faculty and the student's academic advisor. Suggested formats for the paper are a policy or strategic management analysis, but other options may be proposed and approved by the instructor. Capstone Seminar in Health Policy and Management: Read More [+]

Prerequisites: Graduate standing in HPM and completion of 297 internship

Instructor: Solomon

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PB HLTH W223 Strategy in Health Care Organizations 3 Units

Terms offered: Summer 2024 Second 6 Week Session, Summer 2023 Second 6 Week Session, Summer 2022 Second 6 Week Session This course is an introduction to health care strategy in which students will have an immersive, practical, hands-on experience in the strategic management of a real or fictitious health care organization. This course will familiarize students with the requisite skills and techniques to lead strategic change at a division, department, or enterprise level within a health care organization. Strategy in Health Care Organizations: Read More [+]

Course Objectives: 1. Strategic Management Theory and Leading Practices. Students will learn this through a combination of lectures, readings from the textbook and business journal articles, and “how to” instructional videos. 2. Real World Experience. Students will learn this through a combination of Executive Interviews, Case Studies, and personal reflection. 3. Hands-on Practice. Students will learn this through a carefully designed, team-based practical experience in which they for a real or fictitious health care organization of their choice.

Student Learning Outcomes: Adjust organizational strategy in response to real-time crises. Define and align their organization’s mission, vision, values, and strategy. Learn how to define and measure key performance indicators (KPIs). Learn how to successfully implement a strategy by creating a Strategic Roadmap, high level Project Plan, and Risk Mitigation Plan. Learn various common strategies, including: Growth by Concentration/Horizontal Integration, Growth by Related Diversification/Vertical Integration, and Innovation. Learn various tools and techniques that may be used in informing a strategy including: Value Chain Analysis, Benchmarking, SWOT Analyses, Root Cause Analysis, Porter’s Five Forces Model, Scenario Planning, and Balanced Scorecards. Understand the important influences of leadership and culture on the successful execution of the strategy. Understand the pros and cons of strategic alternatives including: Internal Development, Internal New Venture Creation, Investment in New Ventures, Acquisition, Mergers, Joint Ventures/Strategic Alliances/Partnerships, and Innovation.

Instructor: Webb

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PB HLTH 224A Organizational Behavior and Management in Health Care 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2023, Fall 2021, Fall 2020 Introduction to health administration, focusing on theories of management, organizations, and environments as they relate to the administration of health services. Cases, simulation, and structured experiences will be used to tie theory to practice. Organizational Behavior and Management in Health Care: Read More [+]

Instructor: Rodriguez

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PB HLTH 224D Doctoral Seminar: Organizational Analysis of the Health Care Sector 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2022, Spring 2021, Fall 2017 This course examines major theories and frameworks for analyzing health care organizations. Emphasis is given to the application and testing of theories in the health care sector. Population ecology, transaction-cost economics, strategic management, and network theories are examined. The seminar will rely on extensive student participation. Doctoral Seminar: Organizational Analysis of the Health Care Sector: Read More [+]

Prerequisites: One doctoral-level organizational theory course or consent of instructor

Instructor: Shortell

Doctoral Seminar: Organizational Analysis of the Health Care Sector: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH 224E Health Care Quality 3 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2024, Spring 2023, Spring 2022 The course focuses on the quality of Health Care in the United States, including variations and determinants in quality and best practices in improving quality. Students will develop an understanding of conceptual frameworks for Health Care problem solving and quality improvement. As part of the class they will gain experience in designing a Health Care quality improvement plan. The course is designed for Graduate students interested in healthcare delivery. Health Care Quality: Read More [+]

Health Care Quality: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH W224 Organizational Behavior and Management in Health Care 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2023, Fall 2022, Fall 2021 Today, the health care system consists of a mixture of organizational forms that plan, regulate, and deliver medical care and other health services. The objective of this course is to consider 1) the structure of these organizations and the factors that affect their performance, as well as their growth and decline and 2) the role that health care managers play in the organizations in which they work. Organizational Behavior and Management in Health Care: Read More [+]

PB HLTH W225A Introduction to Applied Implementation Science 1 Unit

Terms offered: Spring 2024, Spring 2023, Spring 2022 This introductory course will serve as the gateway for students into the world of applied IS. It has been designed keeping in mind students looking to gain a preliminary understanding of the principles and practice of IS. The module will provide a broad overview of the theoretical and evidence-based models and frameworks used in the field as well as the barriers and challenges faced by implementation scientists in the real-world application of evidence-based practices, programs and policies. Introduction to Applied Implementation Science: Read More [+]

Course Objectives: Apply varied frameworks for the translation of evidence Examine and evaluate different strategies/tools of implementation science Gain a methodological understanding of implementation science Identify and scientific evidence and discern its quality and relevance

Fall and/or spring: 8 weeks - 1 hour of lecture per week

Additional Format: One hour of lecture per week for 8 weeks.

Introduction to Applied Implementation Science: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH W225B Implementation Science: Applied Case Studies 1 Unit

Terms offered: Spring 2024, Spring 2023, Spring 2022 This course provides hands-on experience for students to apply their learnings from “PH W225A Introduction to Applied Implementation Science” to global policy contexts. It has been designed to provide practical exposure to the world of Implementation Science, by employing the models and frameworks discussed in the introductory module to diverse public health programs around the world. Implementation Science: Applied Case Studies: Read More [+]

Course Objectives: Adapt evidence to different geographical and cultural contexts Analyze and streamline scientific evidence Assess potential costs and benefits of introducing and implementing an intervention Design an implementation methodology while accounting for local constraints Identify potential challenges in implementation success and failures Measure the impact of an intervention on select predetermined health outcomes Optimize resources and manage stakeholders to effective run programs

Prerequisites: Students need to have taken PBHLTH W225A: Introduction to Applied Implementation Science or demonstrate substantial prior experience in the field of implementation science research and/or practice

Implementation Science: Applied Case Studies: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH 226A Health Economics A 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2023, Fall 2021, Fall 2020 This course introduces students to the economics of health and health care. In addition to familarizing students with the language and tools of health economics, the course will provide an overview of key institutional features of the health economy as well as important research findings in the field. These will be used to evaluate the economic logic and incentives in competing proposals for health care reform. Health Economics A: Read More [+]

Health Economics A: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH 226B Health Economics B 2 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Fall 2016, Fall 2015 An economic and policy analysis of the health care system. It examines integration of the health care delivery system and the impact of competition and regulation on providers and patients. Alternative models of health care system reform are presented and analyzed. Health Economics B: Read More [+]

Prerequisites: A recent graduate course in microeconomics, a second-level undergraduate course in microeconomics, or consent of instructor

Instructors: Robinson, Whaley

Health Economics B: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH 226C Economics of Population Health 3 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2024, Spring 2023, Spring 2022 This course examines the economic theories and evidence underpinning population health interventions and policies. Topics include the economic evaluation of community and clinical preventive services, systemic population health management innovations, behavioral economics approaches, and policies targeting upstream social determinants of population health. A brief module on cost-effectiveness analysis is included. Economics of Population Health: Read More [+]

Instructor: Dow

Economics of Population Health: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH 226D Global Health Economics 3 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2019, Fall 2017, Fall 2015 This class is a survey of different health care systems in western and eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union, Canada, Japan, Taiwan, and China. Other countries will be added to meet the interests of students. The course examines the structure and financing of the health system in each country and assesses the effectiveness, efficacy, and equity of each systems. Students will make a presentation on a country's health system and write a pape r. Global Health Economics: Read More [+]

Prerequisites: Graduate standing and knowledge of health policy and consent of instructor

Instructor: Scheffler

Global Health Economics: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH W226A Health Economics 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2023, Fall 2022, Fall 2021 This online course provides an overview of the United States healthcare system using a microeconomic lens. Students will be introduced to the microeconomic theory and empirical students that will deepen their understanding of how consumers, firms and the government influence healthcare expenditures (including its quantity and prices), healthcare quality, and patient health outcomes. These economic models will enable students to predict how changes in consumer behavior, the industrial organization of firms, and government policies affect healthcare and health outcomes. Health Economics: Read More [+]

Prerequisites: Introduction to Health Policy and Management (PH W200E)

Health Economics: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH W226C Economics of Population Health 3 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2024, Spring 2023, Spring 2022 This 3-unit online course will explore the economics evidence base and tools for evaluating economic factors and interventions that shape the health of populations. The course will include a substantial economic evaluation module to teach cost-effectiveness analysis tools. Economics of Population Health: Read More [+]

Prerequisites: Graduate Standing

Fall and/or spring: 7 weeks - 14 hours of web-based lecture per week

Additional Format: Fourteen hours of web-based lecture per week for seven weeks.

PB HLTH W226F Cost-Effectiveness Analysis 1 Unit

Terms offered: Spring 2024, Spring 2023, Spring 2022 This course teaches students cost-effectiveness analysis and related tools in a compact 3-week online format. Students will learn when and why to use alternative economic evaluation methods to assess benefits relative to costs of health policies and interventions. They will also learn to interpret and critique such analyses, and to conduct basic cost-effectiveness analyses themselves. Cost-Effectiveness Analysis: Read More [+]

Fall and/or spring: 3 weeks - 5 hours of web-based lecture per week

Additional Format: Five hours of web-based lecture per week for three weeks.

Cost-Effectiveness Analysis: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH 227A Health Care Finance 3 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2019, Spring 2017, Fall 2015 This course covers finance and strategic financial management in the health services and products industry, including provider organizations, insurance firms, and biopharmaceutical and medical device companies. Cases are used to apply the financial analysis and planning skills learned in the course. Topic areas include financial statement analysis, pricing and service decisions, debt financing, venture capital, and private equity, IPO and public equity markets, risk and return, capital budgeting and project risk assessment, mergers and acquisitions, vertical and horizontal integration. Health Care Finance: Read More [+]

Instructor: MacPherson

Health Care Finance: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH W227A Health Care Finance 3 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2024, Spring 2023, Spring 2022 This 3-unit online course provides the student with an understanding of the importance of finance in healthcare and provides basic financial and accounting skills needed by all health professionals. The course introduces student to concepts in both financial and managerial accounting and teaches students relevant financial techniques used by managers and those charged with key capital investment decisions including: ratio analysis, cost-volume profit analysis, discounted cash flow and forecasting. Health Care Finance: Read More [+]

Credit Restrictions: Students who have completed on campus PB HLTH 227A will not receive credit for W227A

PB HLTH 231A Analytic Methods for Health Policy and Management 3 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2024, Spring 2022, Spring 2020 This course provides an overview of analytic methods that Master's students in health policy and management should be familiar with. Topics include linear regression, limited dependent variable models such as logit, design, and analysis of complex surveys (with weighted and clustered sampling), and quasi-experimental causal analysis. The course complements 245, with an emphasis on enabling nonstatisticians to interpret and critique applications in the HPM literature. Analytic Methods for Health Policy and Management: Read More [+]

Prerequisites: 142 or equivalent (basic probability and statistics)

Analytic Methods for Health Policy and Management: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH C233 Healthy Cities 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2023, Fall 2021, Fall 2020 Exploration of common origins of urban planning and public health, from why and how the fields separated and strategies to reconnect them, to addressing urban health inequities in the 21st century. Inquiry to influences of urban population health, analysis of determinants, and roles that city planning and public health agencies - at local and international level - have in research, and action aimed at improving urban health. Measures, analysis , and design of policy strategies are explored. Healthy Cities: Read More [+]

Instructor: Corburn

Formerly known as: City and Regional Planning 256

Also listed as: CY PLAN C256

Healthy Cities: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH C234 Green Chemistry: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Sustainability 3 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2016, Spring 2015, Spring 2014, Spring 2013 Meeting the challenge of global sustainability will require interdisciplinary approaches to research and education, as well as the integration of this new knowledge into society, policymaking, and business. Green Chemistry is an intellectual framework created to meet these challenges and guide technological development. It encourages the design and production of safer and more sustainable chemicals and products. Green Chemistry: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Sustainability: Read More [+]

Prerequisites: One year of chemistry, including a semester of organic chemistry, or consent of instructors based on previous experience

Summer: 6 weeks - 20 hours of lecture per week

Additional Format: Three hours of Lecture per week for 15 weeks. Twenty hours of Lecture per week for 6 weeks.

Instructors: Arnold, Bergman, Guth, Iles, Kokai, Mulvihill, Schwarzman, Wilson

Also listed as: CHEM C234/ESPM C234

Green Chemistry: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Sustainability: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH 235 Impact Evaluation for Health Professionals 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2016, Fall 2015, Fall 2014 This course will review the methods for the design and analysis of impact evaluations relevant to health professionals, especially those working in low and middle-income countries. The class will emphasize the challenges involved in identifying the causal relationship between a program or project and its outcomes while providing students with some experience in drafting a proposal that might be submitted to a funding agency for support of an impact evaluation. For doctoral students the course may help concretely to identify potential dissertation projects; for masters students the course will provide skills useful in obtaining a future job in the field. Impact Evaluation for Health Professionals: Read More [+]

Prerequisites: Public Health 142 or equivalent Probability and Statistics course

Instructors: Colford, Gertler

Impact Evaluation for Health Professionals: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH 236 U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Drug Development, and Public Health 2 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2024, Spring 2023, Spring 2022 The process and principles of drug development will be discussed in the context of the FDA's mandate and reach (basic science, pre-clinical and clinical research, policy, law, and public health), emphasizing the impact of public health emergencies such as HIV on evolution of regulatory policies. U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Drug Development, and Public Health: Read More [+]

Prerequisites: None

Instructors: Miller, Strobos

U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Drug Development, and Public Health: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH W236A Regulatory Science, Drug Development and Public Health 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2023, Fall 2022, Fall 2021 This basic and introductory course in regulatory science addresses the demand for increased training in the US and abroad by providing an overview of the basic elements of regulation of health practice and health products; providing students with information needed to understand the most important health practice and product regulation issues from the perspective of current regulatory standards, their standards for evidence and the role of innovation in regulatory science. Regulatory Science, Drug Development and Public Health: Read More [+]

Regulatory Science, Drug Development and Public Health: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH 237A Theories and Methods in Health Policy and Health Services Research 2 or 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2020, Fall 2018 The first half of the course focuses on the application of organization theories to health sector organizations. The second half of the course focuses on the application of public administration and political science theories to health sector organizations. Students will also be exposed to basic research designs, logic models and hypothesis development. Emphasis is placed on critique of existing theories and the associated empirical literature. This PhD seminar course is primarily intended for first year PhD students in the Berkeley PhD Program in Health Policy administered by the School of Public Health on behalf of the Graduate School. The course is also open with the consent of the instructors to students in other PhD programs, Theories and Methods in Health Policy and Health Services Research: Read More [+]

Repeat rules: Course may be repeated for credit when topic changes.

Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 2-4 hours of lecture per week

Additional Format: Two to four hours of lecture per week.

Instructors: Shortell, Keller

Theories and Methods in Health Policy and Health Services Research: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH 237B Theories and Methods in Health Policy and Health Services Research B 2 or 4 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2021, Spring 2019 The first half of the course focuses on major economics theories and frameworks relevant to the study of health policy and health services research. The second half of the course focuses on the application of behavioral and social science theories and methods to population health research. Students will also be exposed to basic research designs, logic models, and hypothesis development. Emphasis is placed on critique of existing theories and the associated empirical literature. This PhD seminar course is primarily intended for first year PhD students in the Berkeley PhD program in Health Policy administered by the School of Public Health on behalf of the Graduate School. Theories and Methods in Health Policy and Health Services Research B: Read More [+]

Instructors: Dow, Deardorff, Rodriguez

Theories and Methods in Health Policy and Health Services Research B: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH 237C Health Policy Research Colloquium 1 Unit

Terms offered: Spring 2024, Fall 2023, Spring 2023 The Health Policy Research Colloquium series is a program of empirical research seminars focused on the most important issues facing patients, providers health care plans, purchases, and policymakers today. It provides an opportunity for Health Policy doctoral students across all stages of completion to meet regularly, analyse and critique ongoing research, and participate in stimulating discussions with faculty and guest speakers. Students are required to register for and attend the Health Policy Research Colloquium during their first two years of their PhD training. Health Policy Research Colloquium: Read More [+]

Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 0-2 hours of colloquium per week

Additional Format: Zero to two hours of colloquium per week.

Health Policy Research Colloquium: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH 237D Health Policy PhD Dissertation Seminar 2 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2024, Fall 2023, Spring 2023 This PhD dissertation seminar is restricted to advanced students (Year 3+) of the PhD Program in Health Policy. Draw together skills developed in coursework in the preparation and conduct of one’s own dissertation project. For students already advanced to candidacy, this will entail presenting research findings. For students not yet advanced, this will involve developing the dissertation prospectus. Students learn to incorporate colleague feedback to improve research projects. Practices associated with human subjects and ethics of research are also emphasized. Health Policy PhD Dissertation Seminar: Read More [+]

Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 0-2 hours of seminar per week

Additional Format: Zero to two hours of seminar per week.

Instructors: Rodriguez, Scheffler, Keller

Health Policy PhD Dissertation Seminar: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH 237E Doctoral Seminar in Health Organizations & Management 2 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2023, Fall 2021 The seminar is required for all first and second-year students in the PhD Program in Health Policy. This seminar focuses on organizational behavior and management research in health. The seminar covers major organizational and management theories and frameworks relevant to the study of health policy and health sector organizations. Doctoral Seminar in Health Organizations & Management: Read More [+]

Course Objectives: a) Apply conceptual frameworks derived from organization/ management theories to health policy and health services research. b) Critique health policy and health services research studies that explore questions related to organization / management of health care. c) Pose relevant and important health policy research questions, and devise strategies for testing these questions empirically.

Prerequisites: Doctoral student status or consent of instructor

Instructors: Brewster, Rodriguez

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PB HLTH 237F Doctoral Seminar in Health Economics 2 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2022 The seminar is required for all first and second-year students in the PhD Program in Health Policy. This seminar focuses on health economics. Students critically examine empirical research focused on moral hazard, adverse selection, modeling demand, cost-effectiveness analysis, market influences, provider payment, behavioral economics, and benefits design in health care and public health. Doctoral Seminar in Health Economics: Read More [+]

Course Objectives: a) To provide an initial exposure to the major economic theories and frameworks relevant to the study of health policy and health services research. b) To introduce key empirical methodologies used by economists. c) To critique empirical studies conducted from the methodological perspectives typically applied by economists. d) To provide overall socialization to the norms and values of the component disciplines as well as the health policy and health services research field as a whole.

Instructors: Brown, Dow

Doctoral Seminar in Health Economics: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH C240A Introduction to Modern Biostatistical Theory and Practice 4 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2024, Spring 2023, Spring 2022 Course covers major topics in general statistical theory, with a focus on statistical methods in epidemiology. The course provides a broad theoretical framework for understanding the properties of commonly-used and more advanced methods. Emphasis is on estimation in nonparametric models in the context of contingency tables, regression (e.g., linear, logistic), density estimation and more. Topics include maximum likelihood and loss-based estimation , asymptotic linearity/normality, the delta method, bootstrapping, machine learning, targeted maximum likelihood estimation. Comprehension of broad concepts is the main goal, but practical implementation in R is also emphasized. Basic knowledge of probability/statistics and calculus are assume Introduction to Modern Biostatistical Theory and Practice: Read More [+]

Prerequisites: Statistics 200A (may be taken concurrently)

Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture and 2 hours of laboratory per week

Additional Format: Three hours of Lecture and Two hours of Laboratory per week for 15 weeks.

Instructor: Hubbard

Also listed as: STAT C245A

Introduction to Modern Biostatistical Theory and Practice: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH C240B Biostatistical Methods: Survival Analysis and Causality 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2023, Fall 2022, Fall 2021, Fall 2020 Analysis of survival time data using parametric and non-parametric models, hypothesis testing, and methods for analyzing censored (partially observed) data with covariates. Topics include marginal estimation of a survival function, estimation of a generalized multivariate linear regression model (allowing missing covariates and/or outcomes), estimation of a multiplicative intensity model (such as Cox proportional hazards model) and estimation of causal parameters assuming marginal structural models. General theory for developing locally efficient estimators of the parameters of interest in censored data models. Computing techniques, numerical methods, simulation and general implementation of biostatistical analysis techniques with emphasis on data applications. Biostatistical Methods: Survival Analysis and Causality: Read More [+]

Prerequisites: Statistics 200B (may be taken concurrently)

Instructor: van der Laan

Also listed as: STAT C245B

Biostatistical Methods: Survival Analysis and Causality: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH C240C Biostatistical Methods: Computational Statistics with Applications in Biology and Medicine 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2023, Fall 2022, Fall 2021 This course provides an introduction to computational statistics, with emphasis on statistical methods and software for addressing high-dimensional inference problems in biology and medicine. Topics include numerical and graphical data summaries, loss-based estimation (regression, classification, density estimation), smoothing, EM algorithm, Markov chain Monte-Carlo, clustering, multiple testing, resampling, hidden Markov models, in silico exp eriments. Biostatistical Methods: Computational Statistics with Applications in Biology and Medicine: Read More [+]

Prerequisites: Statistics 200A or equivalent (may be taken concurrently)

Additional Format: Three hours of lecture and two hours of laboratory per week.

Instructor: Dudoit

Also listed as: STAT C245C

Biostatistical Methods: Computational Statistics with Applications in Biology and Medicine: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH C240D Biostatistical Methods: Computational Statistics with Applications in Biology and Medicine II 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Fall 2015, Fall 2013 This course and Pb Hlth C240C/Stat C245C provide an introduction to computational statistics with emphasis on statistical methods and software for addressing high-dimensional inference problems that arise in current biological and medical research. The courses also discusses statistical computing resources, with emphasis on the R language and environment (www.r-project.org). Programming topics to be discussed include: data structures, functions , statistical models, graphical procedures, designing an R package, object-oriented programming, inter-system interfaces. The statistical and computational methods are motivated by and illustrated on data structures that arise in current high-dimensional inference problems in biology and medicine. Biostatistical Methods: Computational Statistics with Applications in Biology and Medicine II: Read More [+]

Prerequisites: Statistics 200A-200B or Statistics 201A-201B (may be taken concurrently) or consent of instructor

Also listed as: STAT C245D

Biostatistical Methods: Computational Statistics with Applications in Biology and Medicine II: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH C240F Statistical Genomics 4 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2022, Spring 2021, Spring 2020, Spring 2018, Spring 2017 Genomics is one of the fundamental areas of research in the biological sciences and is rapidly becoming one of the most important application areas in statistics. The first course in this two-semester sequence is Public Health C240E/Statistics C245E. This is the second course, which focuses on sequence analysis, phylogenetics, and high-throughput microarray and sequencing gene expression experiments. The courses are primarily intended for graduate students and advanced undergraduate students from the mathematical sciences. Statistical Genomics: Read More [+]

Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture and 1 hour of discussion per week

Additional Format: Three hours of lecture and one hour of discussion per week.

Instructors: Dudoit, Huang, Nielsen, Song

Also listed as: STAT C245F

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PB HLTH 241 Intermediate Biostatistics for Public Health 4 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2024, Fall 2023, Spring 2023 In this course, students will study biostatistical concepts and modeling relevant to the design and analysis of multifactor population-based cohort and case-control studies, including matching. Key topics include: measures of association, causal inference, confounding interaction, with modeling focusing on logistic regression. Intermediate Biostatistics for Public Health: Read More [+]

Course Objectives: 1. Draw directed acyclic graphs to show the causal relationships between covariates, intervention and outcome; and define the counterfactual outcomes of interest. 2. Fit a logistic regression model or conduct a statistical test of independence, trend, goodness-of-fit, or homogeneity to assess statistical significance from a dataset, single 2x2 table, series of 2x2 tables, or stratified 2x2 tables. 3. Fit a linear regression model with multiple exposure measures. Apply transformation to fit non-linear outcomes. Estimate and interpret model coefficients and obtain inference for them. 4. Conduct and interpret analysis of variance and co-variance. 5. Estimate, obtain inference for, and interpret the following parameters: relative risk, attributable risk, excess risk, odds ratio (pooled, adjusted, log, stratum-specific). 6. Calculate and interpret linear and logistic regression model coefficients in the presence of confounding and interaction, and for matched studies. 7. Use tools in the R programming language to fit linear and logistic regression models; test null hypotheses; and summarize, transform and visualize data. 8. Be aware of other modeling strategies not covered in depth in this course, including the Cox proportional hazards model, generalized linear models and machine learning techniques.

Prerequisites: PB HLTH 142 , PB HLTH W142 or equivalent introductory course in statistics with consent of instructor

Credit Restrictions: Students will receive no credit for PB HLTH 241 after completing PB HLTH W241R. A deficient grade in PB HLTH 241 may be removed by taking PB HLTH W241R.

Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 2 hours of lecture and 2 hours of laboratory per week

Additional Format: Two hours of lecture and two hours of laboratory per week.

Instructor: Kang-Dufour

Intermediate Biostatistics for Public Health: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH W241 Intermediate Biostatistics for Public Health 4 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2024, Spring 2023 In this course, students will study biostatistical concepts and modeling relevant to the design and analysis of multifactor population-based cohort and case-control studies, including matching. Key topics include: measures of association, causal inference, confounding interaction, with modeling focusing on logistic regression. Intermediate Biostatistics for Public Health: Read More [+]

Course Objectives: 1. Draw directed acyclic graphs to show the causal relationships between covariates, intervention and outcome; and define the counterfactual outcomes of interest 2. Fit a logistic regression model or conduct a statistical test of independence, trend, goodness-of-fit, or homogeneity to assess statistical significance from a dataset, single 2x2 table, series of 2x2 tables, or stratified 2x2 tables 3. Fit a linear regression model with multiple exposure measures. Apply transformation to fit non-linear outcomes. Estimate and interpret model coefficients and obtain inference for them. 4. Conduct and interpret analysis of variance and co-variance 5. Estimate, obtain inference for, and interpret the following parameters: relative risk, attributable risk, excess risk, odds ratio (pooled, adjusted, log, stratum-specific). 6. Calculate and interpret linear and logistic regression model coefficients in the presence of confounding and interaction, and for matched studies. 7. Use tools in the R programming language to fit linear and logistic regression models; test null hypotheses; and summarize, transform and visualize data. 8. Be aware of other modeling strategies not covered in depth in this course, including the Cox proportional hazards model, generalized linear models and machine learning techniques

Prerequisites: PH142, PHW142R or equivalent introductory course in statistics with consent of instructor

Credit Restrictions: Students will receive no credit for PB HLTH W241R after completing PB HLTH 241 , or PB HLTH 241R. A deficient grade in PB HLTH W241R may be removed by taking PB HLTH 241 , PB HLTH 241 , or PB HLTH 241R.

Additional Format: Four hours of lecture per week.

Formerly known as: Public Health W241R

PB HLTH C242C Longitudinal Data Analysis 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2023, Fall 2021, Fall 2019 Course covers statistical issues surrounding estimation of effects using data on units followed through time. Course emphasizes a regression model approach for estimating associations of disease incidence modeling, continuous outcome data/linear models & longitudinal extensions to nonlinear models forms (e.g., logistic). Course emphasizes complexities that repeated measures has on the estimation process & opportunities it provides if data is modeled appropriately. Most time is spent on 2 approaches: mixed models based upon explicit (latent variable) maximum likelihood estimation of the sources of the dependence, versus empirical estimating equation approaches (generalized estimating equations). Primary focus is from the analysis side. Longitudinal Data Analysis: Read More [+]

Course Objectives: After successfully completing the course, you will be able to: • frame data science questions relevant to longitudinal studies as the estimation of statistical parameters generated from regression, • derive consistent statistical inference in the presence of correlated, repeated measures data using likelihood-based mixed models and estimating equation approaches (generalized estimating equations; GEE), • implement the relevant methods using R. • interpret the regression output, including both coefficients and variance components and

Prerequisites: 142, 145, 241 or equivalent courses in basic statistics, linear and logistic regression

Also listed as: STAT C247C

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PB HLTH 243A Targeted Learning 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2023, Fall 2022, Fall 2021 PH 243A teaches students to construct efficient estimators & obtain robust inference for parameters that utilize data-adaptive estimation strategies (i.e., machine learning). Students perform hands-on implementation of novel estimators using high-dimensional data structures, providing students with a toolbox for analyzing complex longitudinal, observational & randomized control trial data. Students learn & apply the core principles of the Targeted Learning methodology, which generalizes machine learning to any estimand of interest; obtains an optimal estimator of the given estimand, grounded in theory; integrates state-of-the-art ensemble machine learning techniques; & provides formal statistical inference in confidence intervals & testing. Targeted Learning: Read More [+]

Course Objectives: Design an ensemble of machine learning algorithms, Super Learner, such that the optimality theory (i.e., oracle inequalities for the general cross-validation selector) is likely to hold for the data at-hand. Explain the importance of asymptotic linearity and efficiency/inference to non-statistician collaborators, and reason whether or not the current estimator meets these conditions. Query subject-matter experts, study designers, and others involved in the data generation process in order to ○ use the data at-hand to formulate a statistical estimation problem that’s realistic, reliable, and reproducible; ○ check assumptions that are required to use this data to answer causal questions (i.e., identifiability); ○ build a library of machine learning algorithms that is consistent with the processthat generated the data; ○ design improved (potentially hypothetical) studies that would permit answering the relevant scientific question of interest, and evaluate if this ideal experiment is possible/ethical in the real-world; and ○ translate the final scientific question of interest into a statistical question whose answer can be reliably estimated from the data. Use R’s tlverse software ecosystem to ○ define a machine learning task that mirrors your estimation problem; ○ specify the question of interest in terms of a tlverse Spec; and ○ design simulations that can be used to evaluate the behavior of estimators and their inference, ultimately informing your final choice for estimation.

Prerequisites: STAT 201A -B or instructor's consent. PBHLTH C240A / STAT C245A , PBHLTH 252D or STAT C239A recommended

Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture and 1 hour of laboratory per week

Additional Format: Three hours of lecture and one hour of laboratory per week.

Targeted Learning: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH 243B Targeted Learning in Practice 2 - 3 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2023, Spring 2022, Spring 2004 This course follows PBHLTH 243A as a two part series. It provides a self-contained introduction to the computational tools for Targeted Learning through it's accompanying software ecosystem, the tlverse. Each class incorporates a concise preliminary lecture, vignette-guided live coding exercises, and discussion. Students will have the opportunity to perform hands-on implementation of novel estimators for answering causal questions with real- world cross-sectional data using the tlverse software ecosystem of R packages. Targeted Learning in Practice: Read More [+]

Course Objectives: Apply standard cross-validation schemes using the origami R package, including V-fold, stratified, ad cluster-specific cross-validation. Approximate causal effects under stochastic treatment regimes with the tmle3shift R package by defining a single shift, grid of counterfactual shifts, or individual-level shifts of the treatment. Differentiate stochastic, dynamic, optimal dynamic, and static treatment regimes from each other, and interpret effects under each kind of intervention. Estimate direct and indirect effects based on decompositions of the total causal effects of static and stochastic interventions with the tmle3mediate R package. Estimate the effect of a static intervention using the appropriate "Spec", as defined in the tmle3 R package, and apply tmle3's delta method in order to estimate transformations of existing parameters. Follow the roadmap of statistical learning to define estimation problems in realistic statistical models, and obtain valid inferences. Obtain and interpret variable importance metrics from the following tlverse R packages: sl3, tmle3, tmle3mopttx, tmle3shift, and tmle3mediate. Train a super learner using the sl3 R package by selecting an appropriate loss function, metalearner, and assembling a library of candidate machine learning algorithms. Use the tmle3mopttx R package to learn the optimal individualized treatment regime, and to estimate effects under such data-adaptive regimes.

Prerequisites: PB HLTH 243A

Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 1-1 hours of lecture and 1-1 hours of laboratory per week

Additional Format: One hour of lecture and one hour of laboratory per week.

Targeted Learning in Practice: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH 243C Information Systems in Public Health 2 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2024, Spring 2023, Spring 2022 An introduction to new information systems, such as the Internet and interactive television, and how they may be used to improve human health. The course has three objectives: first, to familiarize students with new information technologies; second, to review how these technologies will be used by public health professionals, consumers, health care providers, and others; and third, to study related ethical and legal issues such as privacy , access, and liability. The course is designed for people with minimal understanding of interactive technologies. Information Systems in Public Health: Read More [+]

Instructor: Van Brunt

Information Systems in Public Health: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH 243D Special Topics in Biostatistics: Adaptive Designs 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2018, Fall 2015, Fall 2014 This course examines the theory and statistical methods for analyzing data generated by adaptive group sequential designs. It also considers the construction of targeted adaptive group sequential designs that adapt in a way that is optimal for the estimation of a particular target feature of the data generating experiment (i.e., causal effect of the treatment). Topics to be covered include: sequential testing, adaptive sample size, martingale estimating functions to construct estimators, targeted maximum likelihood estimation for adaptive designs, targeted Bayesian learning for adaptive designs, martingale theory for the analysis of estimators for adaptive designs. Special Topics in Biostatistics: Adaptive Designs: Read More [+]

Prerequisites: Prior biostatistics or statistics course or consent of instructor

Special Topics in Biostatistics: Adaptive Designs: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH 244 Big Data: A Public Health Perspective 3 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2024, Spring 2023, Spring 2022 Big Data deluge now engulfs almost every brand of science and business, requiring expertise in combination of statistics and computing. This course aims to help students develop a set of useful skills to cope with the Big Data challenges, with particular focus on Public Health applications. It covers a wide range of modern statistics and machine learning techniques, as well as state of the art computational tools, and emphasizes statistical modeling and inference (e.g., how to properly formulate a hypothesis and a model, develop intuitive insights and interpretations, and evaluate uncertainty of the outcomes) and covers important computational and algorithmic components (modern computational paradigm of Map-Reduce). Big Data: A Public Health Perspective: Read More [+]

Prerequisites: PB HLTH 142 (basic concepts of probability and distributions, point and interval estimation, hypothesis testing), PBHLTH 145 (regression analysis of continuous outcome), PBHLTH 241 (categorical data analysis, some modern statistical learning techniques), or equivalent or permission of the instructor

Instructor: Li

Big Data: A Public Health Perspective: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH 245 Introduction to Multivariate Statistics 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2023, Fall 2022, Fall 2021 The following topics are discussed in the context of biomedical and biological application: multiple regression, loglinear models, discriminant analysis, principal components. Instruction in statistical computing is given in the laboratory session. Introduction to Multivariate Statistics: Read More [+]

Prerequisites: 145 or equivalent or consent of instructor

Instructor: Lahiff

Introduction to Multivariate Statistics: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH 249 Grant Writing 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2023, Fall 2022, Spring 2004 The objective of this course is to introduce students to the fundamentals of proposal writing for epidemiologic research. The course will focus primarily on developing an NIH Research Grant (R Series), though we will also discuss other grant mechanisms. In addition, the course will cover the grant submission process and grand review. Students will write a formal proposal focusing on a specific research question of their choice. Emphasis will be placed on development of significant and innovative research aims, critical evaluation of the previous literature and proposing a valid and feasible approach to address their research question. Grant Writing: Read More [+]

Course Objectives: • Demonstrate critical thinking and communication skills • Describe principles of grant writing • Design an epidemiologic study • Explain about the grant submission and review process

Prerequisites: PBHLTH 250A, PBHLTH 250B & PBHLTH 293: Epidemiology Doctoral Seminar is recommended. Developing a research topic, writing a 1st draft of your Specific Aims takes time. Accomplishing these tasks, writing a full grant proposal is a tall order for a semester. Recommend that prior to taking this class you take PH 293: Epidemiology Doctoral Seminar, which focuses on developing a research topic & Specific Aims. PH 249 picks up where PH 293 leaves off & requires a strong first draft of your Aims page

Credit Restrictions: Students will receive no credit for PB HLTH 249 after completing PB HLTH 249 , or PB HLTH 249 . A deficient grade in PB HLTH 249 may be removed by taking PB HLTH 249 , or PB HLTH 249 .

Instructor: Metayer

Grant Writing: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH 250A Epidemiologic Methods I 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2023, Fall 2022, Fall 2021 This course is designed to introduce principles and methods of epidemiology, including types and sources of descriptive epidemiologic data, analytic study designs (intervention trials, cohort, case-control, cross-sectional and ecological), screening, confounding and other types of bias, and causal inference. The course will provide a basic understanding of epidemiology for those pursuing a career in public health. Epidemiologic Methods I: Read More [+]

Prerequisites: 142 (may be taken concurrently)

Additional Format: Twelve hours of lecture/laboratory per week for six weeks.

Instructor: McCoy

Epidemiologic Methods I: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH 250B Epidemiologic Methods II 4 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2024, Fall 2023, Spring 2023 This course is intended as an intermediate level course in the field of epidemiology. Topics include causal inference; measurement of disease rates; inferential reasoning; and research study designs including ecologic, case-control, cohort, intervention trials, and meta-analytic designs (potential sources of bias, confounding, and effect modification in each research design are explored in depth); topics in clinical epidemiology including the use of likelihood ratios, receiver operator curves, and the sensitivity, specificity, predictive value of a test; and a brief introduction to logistic regression, survival analysis, and decision analysis. The readings from this course are drawn primarily from advanced epidemiology textbooks (Kleinbuam, Rothman, Miettinen). The course is intended to provide a firm foundation for students who will subsequently enroll in 250C. Epidemiologic Methods II: Read More [+]

Prerequisites: 250A or an equivalent introductory course in epidemiology or advanced degree (M.D., Ph.D., D.V.M.) in a biomedical field

Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 4 hours of lecture and 2 hours of laboratory per week

Additional Format: Four hours of Lecture and Two hours of Laboratory per week for 15 weeks.

Instructor: Ahern or Colford (alternating years)

Epidemiologic Methods II: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH 250C Advanced Epidemiologic Methods 3 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2024, Spring 2023, Spring 2022 This course will cover a series of advanced analytical methods for epidemiologic research, drawing heavily on concepts covered in PH 250B. The course consists of a series of modules, including modeling of epidemiological measures of effect, Bayesian methods, instrumental variable analysis, mediation analysis, missing data, sensitivity analysis and methods to address sources of systematic error in epidemiologic research. Hands-on application is emphasized. Class time will consist of lectures, class discussion, student presentations and a weekly practicum. Advanced Epidemiologic Methods: Read More [+]

Prerequisites: 241, 245, 250B, 252, or consent of instructor

Additional Format: Four hours of lecture and two hours of practicum per week.

Instructor: Bradshaw

Advanced Epidemiologic Methods: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH N250A Epidemiologic Methods 3 Units

Terms offered: Summer 2024 Second 6 Week Session, Summer 2023 Second 6 Week Session, Summer 2022 Second 6 Week Session This introductory graduate-level course presents the principles and methods of epidemiology, including descriptive and analytic approaches to assessing the distributions of health, disease, and injury in populations and factors that influence those distributions. The emphasis is on developing an understanding of concepts, rather than quantitative methods, although calculations are involved. Through the combination of lectures, readings, critical review of papers, and problem sets, students without prior coursework in epidemiology will acquire the core competencies in epidemiology expected of all MPH graduates. Epidemiologic Methods: Read More [+]

Course Objectives: Calculate basic epidemiology measures. Communicate epidemiologic information to lay and professional audiences. Critically evaluate the strengths and limitations of epidemiologic research publications. Draw appropriate inferences from epidemiologic data. Identify key sources of data for epidemiologic purposes Recognize the important contribution of epidemiology to scientific, ethical, economic and political discussion of health issues. Understand basic ethical principles pertaining to epidemiologic studies. Understand public health problems in epidemiologic terms . Use the basic terminology and definitions of epidemiology.

Prerequisites: There are no prerequisites, although it is advantageous to have taken or be concurrently taking an introductory course in biostatistics (e.g., PH 141 or PH 142)

Credit Restrictions: Students will receive no credit for PB HLTH N250A after completing PB HLTH 250A , PB HLTH W250 , or PB HLTH N250A . A deficient grade in PB HLTH N250A may be removed by taking PB HLTH 250A , PB HLTH W250 , or PB HLTH N250A .

Summer: 6 weeks - 8 hours of lecture and 4 hours of discussion per week

Additional Format: Eight hours of lecture and four hours of discussion per week for 6 weeks.

Epidemiologic Methods: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH W250 Epidemiologic Methods I 3 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2024, Fall 2023, Spring 2023 This introductory graduate course presents principles & methods of epidemiology, including descriptive & analytic approaches to assessing the distributions of health, disease & injury in the population & factors influencing those distributions. Emphasis is on developing an understanding of concepts, rather than quantitative methods. Basic calculations are involved. Course consists of readings, critical review of epidemiology papers, brief video lectures to explain key concepts, quizzes & exams that allow students to practice applying epidemiological concepts. Students without prior coursework in epidemiology will acquire the core competencies in epidemiology expected of all MPH graduates. Course shares the same content & learning of PH 250A Epidemiologic Methods I: Read More [+]

Course Objectives: Calculate basic epidemiology measures. Communicate epidemiologic information to lay and professional audiences. Critically evaluate the strengths and limitations of epidemiologic research publications. Draw appropriate inferences from epidemiologic data. Identify key sources of data for epidemiologic purposes. Recognize the important contribution of epidemiology to scientific and ethical discussion of health issues. Understand basic ethical principles pertaining to epidemiologic studies. Understand public health problems in epidemiologic terms. Use the basic terminology and definitions of epidemiology.

Prerequisites: Concurrent or previous enrollment in an introductory biostatistics course (e.g., W142)

Fall and/or spring: 7 weeks - 6 hours of web-based lecture per week 15 weeks - 3 hours of web-based lecture per week

Additional Format: Three hours of web-based lecture per week. Six hours of web-based lecture per week for seven weeks.

PB HLTH W250B Epidemiologic Methods II 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2023, Fall 2022, Fall 2021 This course is an intermediate level course in epidemiology. It replaces previously approved and delivered courses PHW250F and PHW250G. Topics include causal inference; measurement of disease rates; inferential reasoning; research study designs, ecologic, case-control, cohort, intervention trials, meta-analytic designs; potential sources of bias, confounding, effect modification in research design are explored in depth; topics in clinical epidemiology , likelihood ratios, receiver operator curves, the sensitivity, specificity, predictive value of a test; brief introduction to logistic regression and survival analysis. Topics are covered at a advanced level than PH250A or PHW250. Readings from this course provide a firm foundation for PH250C. Epidemiologic Methods II: Read More [+]

Student Learning Outcomes: • Apply causal frameworks to the assessment of causality in associations • Assess the extent of bias in studies and calculate bias-corrected measures • Calculate and interpret measures of disease and association. • Define the major study designs, including their strengths and weaknesses, and demonstrate their appropriate applications • Define, calculate and interpret effect measure modification on different scales • Define, calculate and interpret power, sample size, confidence intervals and p-values. • Explain sources of bias in studies • Explain the purposes, mechanics and limitations of matching in study designs • Identify and apply appropriate analytic techniques for study questions, and interpret coefficients and other quantities estimated using these techniques. • Identify appropriate applications of measures of disease and association. • Identify design and analysis approaches to reduce bias in studies • State the purposes of screening, and calculate and interpret screening measures. Explain the purposes and process of systematic review and meta-analysis.

Prerequisites: PBHLTH 150A, PBHLTH 250A or PBHLTH W250

Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 2 hours of web-based lecture and 2 hours of web-based discussion per week

Additional Format: Two hours of web-based discussion and two hours of web-based lecture per week.

Instructors: Colford, Benjamin-Chung

PB HLTH W250F Epidemiologic Methods II: Part 1 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2019, Fall 2018 This course is intended as an intermediate level course in the field of epidemiology. Topics include causal inference; measurement of disease rates; inferential reasoning; and research study designs including ecologic, case-control, cohort, intervention trials, and meta-analytic designs. These topics are covered at a more advanced level than in PH250A or PHW250. The readings from this course are drawn primarily from advanced epidemiology textbooks (e.g., Kleinbaum, Rothman). The course is intended to provide a firm foundation for students who will later enroll in 250C. Epidemiologic Methods II: Part 1: Read More [+]

Prerequisites: PB HLTH 150A , PB HLTH 250A , or PB HLTH W250

Instructors: COLFORD, BENJAMIN-CHUNG

Epidemiologic Methods II: Part 1: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH W250G Epidemiologic Methods II: Part 2 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2019, Fall 2018 This course is intended as an intermediate level course in the field of epidemiology. Topics include potential sources of bias, confounding, and effect modification in each research design are explored in depth); topics in clinical epidemiology including the use of likelihood ratios, receiver operator curves, and the sensitivity, specificity, predictive value of a test; and a brief introduction to logistic regression and survival analysis. These topics are covered at a more advanced level than in PH250A or PHW250. The readings from this course are drawn primarily from advanced epidemiology textbooks (e.g., Kleinbaum, Rothman). The course is intended to provide a firm foundation for students who will later enroll in 250C. Epidemiologic Methods II: Part 2: Read More [+]

Epidemiologic Methods II: Part 2: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH 251C Causal Inference and Meta-Analysis in Epidemiology 2 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Fall 2016, Fall 2015 This course will review the theoretical aspects of causal inference, literature review, and meta-analysis, but its focus will be more on the practical aspects of these topics that are not commonly found in textbooks or presented in classes on epidemiologic theory. It is hoped that the student develops the day-to-day skills necessary to complete and present a well-documented, accurate, and thorough review of epidemiologic literature. Causal Inference and Meta-Analysis in Epidemiology: Read More [+]

Prerequisites: Students in the first semester of the second year of the epidemiology/biostatistics Master's of Public Health program. (Students from other programs welcome.)

Instructors: A. Smith, Steinmaus

Causal Inference and Meta-Analysis in Epidemiology: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH 251D Applied Epidemiology Using R 2 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2019, Fall 2018, Fall 2017 This is an intensive, one-semester introduction to the R programming language for applied epidemiology. R is a freely available, multi-platform (Mac OS, Linux, and Windows, etc.), versatile, and powerful program for statistical computing and graphics (http://www.r-project.org). This course will focus on core basics of organizing, managing, and manipulating epidemiologic data; basic epidemiologic applications; introduction to R programming; and basic R graphics. Applied Epidemiology Using R: Read More [+]

Instructor: Aragon

Applied Epidemiology Using R: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH W251 R for Public Health 2 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2023, Fall 2022, Fall 2021 The course examines principles & methods underlying the use of R, emphasizing multi-disciplinary, collaborative, & real world uses. We will emphasize practices for collaborative coding using Git/GitHub repositories for storing & sharing code to benefit not only your current collaborators but your most frequent collaborator. We will introduce best practices for organizing data & projects, how to create reproducible examples (a.k.a reprex) for when you get stuck and need to ask the R community for help (but can’t share a full dataset because it’s too large or contains confidential information). Application of principles will be taught through scenarios that public health practitioners encounter. R for Public Health: Read More [+]

Course Objectives: Effectively engage with public health practitioners in the use of R to address current public health and/or policy issues; Apply knowledge of R to support ongoing analytic work in epidemiology and biostatistics; Create meaningful visualizations of data and have a basic understanding of tools available through R to present data (including R markdown, R Shiny) Develop strategies for addressing issues that arise when combining data from multiple, complex data sources; Identify best practices for project management, programming, and version control when contributing data to evaluate and/or support effective public health interventions; Leverage existing open-source resources for continued learning and problem solving. Select appropriate methods for importing, cleaning, and analyzing data within R;

Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 1 hour of lecture per week

Additional Format: One hour of lecture per week.

Instructor: Wheeler

R for Public Health: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH W251B Data Visualization for Public Health 2 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2023, Fall 2022 In this course we will discuss the theory behind effective graphical design, how to apply this theory to communicating health data to different audiences, and how to produce a variety of graphical types using primarily the ggplot command in the statistical analysis program R. There are two lectures per week accompanied by readings. Generally, the course content and assignments alternate weekly between theory and R programming. Data Visualization for Public Health: Read More [+]

Course Objectives: • Apply color theory and accessibility principles to reach the widest audience. • Create a data dashboard using REDCap or Tableau. • Create graphics for print and digital media. • Effectively communicate your messages, both graphically and verbally. • Leverage existing graphical applications, including mapping/census data • Produce different styles of graphics using R. • Understand the theory behind good graphical design for presenting health data.

Instructor: Mocello

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PB HLTH 252 Epidemiological Analysis 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2023, Fall 2022, Fall 2021 This 4-unit course will cover modern quantitative methods relevant to epidemiologic research drawing heavily on concepts covered in PB HLTH 250B . Course topics include generalized linear models, Kaplan-Meier estimation, survival distributions, and models for parametric and semi-parametric survival analysis. We will also cover methods for confounder selection, dose-response modeling, and interaction and effect modification. Epidemiological Analysis: Read More [+]

Course Objectives: Apply the appropriate statistical model to estimate epidemiologic effects of interest Articulate necessary assumptions for different methods, and accurately interpret results Identify measures of association that can be estimated under various study designs d. Understand analyses presented in epidemiologic literature, and evaluate their soundness e. Follow future developments in epidemiologic research

Prerequisites: PB HLTH 250B , PB HLTH 241 , or consent of instructor

Epidemiological Analysis: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH 252B Infectious Disease Modeling 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2023, Spring 2022, Spring 2021 This course will lead students through the process of designing mathematical models of infectious diseases, fitting these models to data, and using them as public health tools to design effective control strategies. Examples are drawn from COVID-19, HIV, influenza, Ebola, and mosquito-borne diseases such as malaria and Zika virus. Each class consists of a lecture followed by a computer-based activity to apply the material. Students also work on a project in which they design their own model and use it to answer a specific research question. Infectious Disease Modeling: Read More [+]

Course Objectives: 1. Design compartmental models of infectious diseases, 2. Understand the role of heterogeneity, especially in sexually-transmitted infectious, 3. Understand the importance of stochasticity in outbreak modeling, 4. Estimate parameters, such as the basic reproductive number, R0, from epidemiological data, 5. Fit mathematical models to incidence and prevalence data, 6. Incorporate interventions into infectious disease models.

Prerequisites: Students should be able to write and interpret ordinary differential equations, and to manipulate beginner-level code in R

Instructor: Marshall

Infectious Disease Modeling: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH 252C Intervention Trial Design 2 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2024, Spring 2023, Fall 2022 Students learn through pre-recorded lectures. There are graded student presentations of final course project to interpret and design clinical and population-level field trials in addition to a written midterm. Topics: formulation of a testable trial hypothesis; identification of appropriate study populations; blinding (including indices for assessment); randomization (including traditional and adaptive); sample size estimation; recruitment strategies; data collection systems; quality control and human subjects responsibilities; adverse effects monitoring; improving participant adherence; use of surrogate outcomes; preparation of a meta-analysis summarizing a group of trials. Intervention Trial Design: Read More [+]

Student Learning Outcomes: 3) identify whether appropriate steps have been taken to provide transparency in a published Trial; 4) be able to design a basic Intervention Trial in the student’s area of interest; 5) prepare a summary meta-analysis for a group of published Trials published on one topic of interest to the student. : 2) understand and apply basic principles to determine an appropriate sample size for a Trial; At the completion of the course, students will be able to: 1) critique published Intervention Trials with respect to design and potential sources of bias:

Prerequisites: PBHLTH 250A or equivalent introductory Epidemiology course

Instructor: Colford

Intervention Trial Design: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH 252D Introduction to Causal Inference 4 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2022, Spring 2021, Spring 2020 This course presents a general framework for causal inference using directed acyclic graphs, non-parametric structural equation models, and counterfactuals. Marginal structural models and causal effect estimation using inverse probability of treatment weighting, G-computation, and targeted maximum likelihood are introduced. In two-part presentations, students will define and implement research questions. Introduction to Causal Inference: Read More [+]

Prerequisites: 241 or C240A (can be taken concurrently); 245 or similar course covering multivariable linear and logistic regression analysis; for epidemiology students, 250C, or consent of instructor

Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 2-2 hours of lecture, 0-2 hours of discussion, and 2-0 hours of laboratory per week

Additional Format: Two hours of lecture and zero to two hours of discussion and two to zero hours of laboratory per week.

Instructor: Petersen

Introduction to Causal Inference: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH 252E Advanced Topics in Causal Inference 4 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2023, Fall 2021, Fall 2020 The course will be conducted as a seminar with readings and discussions on a range of more advanced topics. We will cover case-control designs; longitudinal causal models, identifiability and estimation; direct and indirect effects; dynamic regimes (individualized treatment rules); approaches for diagnosing and responding to violations in the positivity assumption. Additional topics may include stochastic interventions, community-based interventions , and Collaborative-TMLE. There will also be some guest lectures and presentations from current students and faculty members. Advanced Topics in Causal Inference: Read More [+]

Prerequisites: Public Health 252D or consent of instructor

Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 2 hours of lecture, 1 hour of discussion, and 1 hour of laboratory per week

Additional Format: Two hours of lecture and one hour of discussion and one hour of laboratory per week.

Advanced Topics in Causal Inference: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH W252 Epidemiologic Analysis 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2023, Fall 2022 This 4-unit course will cover modern quantitative methods relevant to epidemiologic research drawing heavily on concepts covered in PB HLTH 250B . Course topics include generalized linear models, Kaplan-Meier estimation, survival distributions, and models for parametric and semi-parametric survival analysis. We will also cover methods for confounder selection, dose-response modeling, and interaction and effect modification. Epidemiologic Analysis: Read More [+]

Course Objectives: Apply the appropriate statistical model to estimate epidemiologic effects of interest. Articulate necessary assumptions for different methods, and accurately interpret results. a. Identify measures of association that can be estimated under various study designs. d. Understand analyses presented in epidemiologic literature, and evaluate their soundness. e. Follow future developments in epidemiologic research.

Credit Restrictions: Students will receive no credit for PB HLTH W252 after completing PB HLTH 252 . A deficient grade in PB HLTH W252 may be removed by taking PB HLTH 252 .

Epidemiologic Analysis: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH W252A Introduction to Causal Inference and the Causal Roadmap 4 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2024, Spring 2023 With the ongoing “data explosion”, methods to delineate causation from correlation are perhaps more pressing now than ever. This course will introduce a general framework for Causal Inference in Public Health: 1) clear statement of the research question, 2) definition of the causal model and effect of interest, 3) assessment of identifiability, 4) choice and implementation of estimators including parametric and non-parametric methods, and 5) appropriate interpretation of findings. The statistical methods include G-computation, inverse probability weighting (IPW), and targeted minimum loss-based estimation (TMLE) with machine learning. Introduction to Causal Inference and the Causal Roadmap: Read More [+]

Course Objectives: 1. Translate a research question and background knowledge into a causal model (directed acyclic graphs and non-parametric structural equation models). 2. Define the target causal parameter with counterfactuals. 3. Assess identifiability of the target causal parameter and express it as a parameter of the observed data distribution. 4. Understand the challenge posed by parametric estimation approaches and apply machine learning methods. 5. Understand the properties of and apply 3 estimators: G-computation, inverse probability weighting (IPW), and targeted minimum loss-based estimation (TMLE) with Super Learner. 6. Understand how to appropriately address missing outcomes, which may be differentially measured. 7. Apply course concepts to address cause-and-effect in a real data application. 8. Be ready to explore more advanced settings for Causal Inference.

Prerequisites: Familiarity with basic probability theory and experience conducting multivariable regression analyses (i.e., generalized linear models). This material is often, but not exclusively, covered in graduate-level courses on introductory statistics and regression (e.g., PH142 Intro to Probability/Statistics and PHW241 Intermediate Biostatistics for Public Health)

Instructor: Balzer

Introduction to Causal Inference and the Causal Roadmap: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH 253B Epidemiology and Control of Infectious Diseases 3 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2024, Spring 2023, Spring 2022 A discussion of major infectious diseases with emphasis on disease surveillance, investigative procedures, and prevention programs. Emphasis is on current problems in health agencies at a state, national, and international level. Epidemiology and Control of Infectious Diseases: Read More [+]

Prerequisites: Prior degree or courses in biomedical sciences and consent of instructor

Instructor: Reingold

Epidemiology and Control of Infectious Diseases: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH 253D Behavior and Policy Science in HIV Treatment and Prevention 3 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2016, Spring 2015, Spring 2014 This course will integrate various social science disciplines and apply these perspectives to problems of HIV treatment and prevention, particularly in the developing world. Throughout the academic term, students will apply knowledge of behavioral science, epidemiology, quantitative and qualitative methods in the analysis of developing and evaluating HIV-related treatment and prevention interventions, including policy interventions. Course requirements will include the preparation of a major paper recommending interventions, country level budgets and evaluation designs for a specific developing country. Specific requirements for this paper will be distributed during the third class session. Behavior and Policy Science in HIV Treatment and Prevention: Read More [+]

Instructors: Ekstrand, Morin

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PB HLTH 253G Sexual Health Promotion and Sexually Transmitted Disease Control 2 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2018, Spring 2017, Spring 2016 This seminar will explore current issues and controversies in public health approaches to sexual health promotion and STD control with a focus on pragmatic skills including program development and evaluation. Students will engage in independent research with interactive group discussions and student presentations. Sexual Health Promotion and Sexually Transmitted Disease Control: Read More [+]

Prerequisites: Graduate students, undergraduates with consent of instructor

Instructor: Bernstein

Sexual Health Promotion and Sexually Transmitted Disease Control: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH W253 Outbreak Investigations 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2023, Fall 2022, Fall 2021 The purpose of this course is to provide students with an overview of outbreak investigations in public health. This course will teach students why and how clusters of illnesses/epidemics are investigated. Methods and approaches required for such investigations will be discussed in detail, using published and unpublished material from the scientific literature. Outbreak Investigations: Read More [+]

Prerequisites: Students must be matriculated in the On-campus Online MPH Program in order to enroll in this course

Repeat rules: Course may be repeated for credit with instructor consent.

Instructors: Reingold, Enanoria

Outbreak Investigations: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH 254 Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology 3 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2024, Spring 2023, Spring 2022 Epidemiological methods for designing, conducting, and interpreting epidemiological studies of persons occupationally or environmentally exposed to chemical and physical agents. Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology: Read More [+]

Prerequisites: 250A

Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of session per week

Additional Format: Three hours of Session per week for 15 weeks.

Instructor: A. Smith

Formerly known as: 254B

Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH 255A Social Epidemiology 4 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2024, Spring 2023, Spring 2022 This is a breadth course intended to provide an overview of the field of social edpidemiology and its role in understanding the social determinants of population health and health disparities. Given the breadth of social epidemiology, 255A provides a systematic and selective overview of literature covering the history and development of the field, theoretical perspectives and conceptual approaches, major topical areas and current controversies related to theory, research methods and research findings. Principles emphasized throughout the course (ecological model, measurement and causality) will provide a framework for critical analysis and synthesis across content areas. This is not a methods course. Social Epidemiology: Read More [+]

Prerequisites: Consent of instructor. 142, 145, and 250A-250B recommended

Instructor: Nuru-Jeter

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PB HLTH 255C Mental Health and Psychopathology 3 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2021, Spring 2019, Fall 2013 This doctoral seminar is designed to provide an understanding of the complex (and often interactive) individual and environmental conditions that increase the risk of psychopathology in individuals across the life span. We will start by learning about general concepts important to an understanding of psychopathology and prevention of psychopathology, including the "biopsychosocial model," "psychological resilence," and different levels of preventive interventions. For each different area of psychopathology, we will consider: a) the core feature of disorder; b) key theory and empirical evidence regarding etiology and course, with a particular emphasis on understanding the range of risk and protective factors on the individual, family, and community level; and c) the implications of etiological understanding for public health efforts to prevent the particular disorder. Mental Health and Psychopathology: Read More [+]

Prerequisites: Open to doctoral students or with consent of instructor

Additional Format: Three hours of Seminar per week for 15 weeks.

Instructor: Ozer

Mental Health and Psychopathology: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH 255D Methods in Social Epidemiology 2 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2022, Spring 2022, Spring 2020 This course is designed to review, evaluate, and apply methods currently used in the field of social epidemiology. The course aims to teach approaches to forming clear research questions, and selecting the best method(s) to answer the questions posed. Initially we will discuss approaches to defining clear and specific research questions. We will then discuss recent controversies around the meaning of questions posed in social epidemiology, and the ability of currently used methods to answer questions in social epidemiology. Finally we will review, evaluate, and apply a range of different methods that are or could be used to answer questions in social epidemiology, again emphasizing the types of questions answered by these methods, and their ability to address the challenges to effectively answering questions in social epidemiology. There will be a mixture of discussion and lecture depending on the topic, with student participation and questions strongly encouraged. Methods in Social Epidemiology: Read More [+]

Instructors: Ahern, Hubbard

Methods in Social Epidemiology: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH 256 Human Genome, Environment and Public Health 4 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2019, Spring 2018, Spring 2016 This course will cover basic principles of human/population genetics and molecular biology relevant to understanding approaches to molecular and genetic epidemiology: approaches to genome-wide association studies; application of biomarkers to define exposures; recent developments in genomics, epigenomics and other -omics, including next generation sequencing technology and genomics in personalized medicine and health. Hands-on computer and wet laboratory will provide experience with modern research tools. Human Genome, Environment and Public Health: Read More [+]

Prerequisites: College-level biology course or consent of instructor. Introductory biostatistics recommended

Instructors: Barcellos, Holland

Human Genome, Environment and Public Health: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH C256 Human Genome, Environment and Public Health 4 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2024, Spring 2023, Fall 2020 This introductory course will cover basic principles of human/population genetics and molecular biology relevant to molecular and genetic epidemiology. The latest methods for genome-wide association studies and other approaches to identify genetic variants and environmental risk factors important to disease and health will be presented. The application of biomarkers to define exposures and outcomes will be explored. Recent developments in genomics , epigenomics and other ‘omics’ will be included. Computer and wet laboratory work will provide hands-on experience. Human Genome, Environment and Public Health: Read More [+]

Prerequisites: Introductory level biology/genetics course, or consent of instructor. Introductory biostatistics and epidemiology courses strongly recommended

Credit Restrictions: Students will receive no credit for PB HLTH C256 after completing CMPBIO 156 . A deficient grade in PB HLTH C256 may be removed by taking CMPBIO 156 .

Also listed as: CMPBIO C256

PB HLTH C256A Human Genome, Environment and Human Health 3 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2017 This introductory course will cover basic principles of human/population genetics and molecular biology relevant to understanding how data from the human genome are being used to study disease and other health outcomes. The latest designs and methods for genome-wide association studies and other approaches to identify genetic variants, environmental risk factors and the combined effects of gene and environment important to disease and health will be presented. The application of biomarkers to define exposures and outcomes will be explored. The course will cover recent developments in genomics, epigenomics and other ‘omics’, including applications of the latest sequencing technology and characterization of the human microbiome. Human Genome, Environment and Human Health: Read More [+]

Prerequisites: Introductory level biology course. Completion of introductory biostatistics and epidemiology courses strongly recommended and may be taken concurrently

Also listed as: CMPBIO C256A

Human Genome, Environment and Human Health: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH C256B Genetic Analysis Method 3 Units

Terms offered: Prior to 2007 This introductory course will provide hands-on experience with modern wet laboratory techniques and computer analysis tools for studies in molecular and genetic epidemiology and other areas of genomics in human health. Students will also participate in critical review of journal articles. Students are expected to understand basic principles of human/population genetics and molecular biology, latest designs and methods for genome-wide association studies and other approaches to identify genetic variants, environmental risk factors and the combined effects of gene and environment important to human health. Students will learn how to perform DNA extraction, polymerase chain reaction and methods for genotyping, sequencing, and cytogenetics. Genetic Analysis Method: Read More [+]

Prerequisites: Introductory level biology course. Completion of introductory biostatistics and epidemiology courses strongly recommended and may be taken concurrently with permission. PH256A is a requirement for PH256B; they can be taken concurrently

Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 2-2 hours of lecture and 1-3 hours of laboratory per week

Additional Format: Two hours of lecture and one to three hours of laboratory per week.

Also listed as: CMPBIO C256B

Genetic Analysis Method: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH 257 Outbreak Investigation 2 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2023, Fall 2022, Spring 2022 This course will teach students why and how clusters of illnesses/epidemics are investigated. Methods and approaches required for such investigations will be discussed in detail, using published articles from the scientific literature to provide examples. Outbreak Investigation: Read More [+]

Prerequisites: 250A, 250B, or an equivalent introductory course in epidemiologic methods

Additional Format: One hour of seminar per week and field work outside class time.

Outbreak Investigation: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH W257 Public Health Preparedness and Emergency Response 3 Units

Terms offered: Summer 2024 First 6 Week Session, Summer 2023 First 6 Week Session, Summer 2022 First 6 Week Session This one semester course is an intensive introduction to public health emergency preparedness and response, and covers the following topic areas: the role of public health in disasters; natural disasters and severe weather; intentional mass threats (CBRNE); biosurveillance: detecting and monitoring public health threat; post-disaster sampling, surveys, and rapid needs assessments; public health emergency incident management systems; emergency operations planning and exercises. Public Health Preparedness and Emergency Response: Read More [+]

Prerequisites: Completion of one semester of graduate public health curriculum, or in public health practice

Public Health Preparedness and Emergency Response: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH 258 Cancer Epidemiology 3 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2024, Spring 2023, Spring 2022 For students with a basic understanding of epidemiology, biostatistics, and tumor biology. An introduction to the epidemiology of some major site-specific cancers, considering epidemiological approaches to the study of their causation, and implementation will be discussed. Cancer Epidemiology: Read More [+]

Prerequisites: Public Health 150A or 250A

Cancer Epidemiology: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH W258 Global Health Disaster Preparedness and Response 3 Units

Terms offered: Prior to 2007 This course is designed to serve the emerging field of global disaster management. Topics include the analysis of past mega-disasters; global disaster trends; hazard identification, profiling, and analysis; concepts of risk and vulnerability and risk evaluation; structural and non-structural mitigation; multi-level disaster preparedness; pre-, peri-, and post-disaster response, including the provision of water, food, and shelter, and the management of volunteers; components of recovery, disaster effects on communities and societies; participation of governmental, non-governmental, and multilateral agencies and organizations in planning and response; role of the media, including social media. Global Health Disaster Preparedness and Response: Read More [+]

Repeat rules: Course may be repeated for credit under special circumstances: if receive D or F grades

Summer: 6 weeks - 7 hours of web-based lecture per week

Additional Format: Seven hours of web-based lecture per week for 6 weeks.

Instructor: Gershon

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PB HLTH 259B Practical Applications of Epidemiologic Methods in Developing Countries 3 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2018, Spring 2012, Spring 2011 Practical application of epidemiologic methods in the developing country settings, including surveillance, surveys, case-control studies, and intervention trials. The applications of these methods to the study of infectious and non-infectious disease problems common in developing countries will be presented. Practical Applications of Epidemiologic Methods in Developing Countries: Read More [+]

Practical Applications of Epidemiologic Methods in Developing Countries: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH 260A Principles of Infectious Diseases 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2023, Fall 2022, Fall 2021 This course presents general principles of microbial interactions with humans that result in infection and disease. Common themes are developed using examples of viral, bacterial, and parasitological pathogens that exemplify mechanisms of infectious disease. The epidemiology, pathogenesis, host immune response, diagnosis, treatment, and control will be presented for each infectious disease discussed. Principles of Infectious Diseases: Read More [+]

Prerequisites: Upper division course preparation in biology

Additional Format: Four hours of Lecture per week for 15 weeks.

Instructors: Riley, Swartzberg

Principles of Infectious Diseases: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH 260B Principles of Infectious Diseases 4 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2021, Fall 2020, Spring 2020 This course presents general principles of microbial interactions with humans that result in infection and disease. Common themes are developed using examples of viral, bacterial, and parasitological pathogens that exemplify mechanisms of infectious disease. The epidemiology, pathogenesis, host immune response, diagnosis, treatment, and control will be presented for each infectious disease discussed. Principles of Infectious Diseases: Read More [+]

Instructor: Swartzberg

PB HLTH 260C Infectious Disease Laboratory 2 or 4 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2017, Spring 2016, Spring 2015 Module I: Practice in standard techniques for the isolation, identification, and characterization of infectious agents; laboratory safety. Module 2: Application of molecular methods to the identification and characterization of infectious agents, vectors, and hosts. Infectious Disease Laboratory: Read More [+]

Prerequisites: 260A or consent of instructor

Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 6 hours of laboratory and 4 hours of lecture per week

Additional Format: Two hours of lecture and six hours of laboratory per week. This course is split into two modules, each seven and one-half weeks. Students may take a single module for 2 units.

Instructors: Loretz, Sensabaugh

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PB HLTH 260E Molecular Epidemiology of Infectious Diseases 2 - 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2022, Fall 2020, Fall 2018 The course will cover general principles and practical approaches in the use of molecular laboratory techniques to address infectious disease epidemiologic problems. It is designed for students with experience in the laboratory or in epidemiology, but not both. The principles to be discussed will include the use of molecular techniques in outbreak investigations, characterizations of dynamics of disease transmission, identifying vehicles, and quantifying attributable risks in sporadic infections, refining data stratification to assist case-control studies, distinguishing pathovars from non-pathogenic variants of organisms, doing surveillance, and identifying genetic determinants of disease transmissions. 3-units if a five-page paper completed. Molecular Epidemiology of Infectious Diseases: Read More [+]

Prerequisites: 150A

Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture and .5 hours of discussion per week

Additional Format: Three hours of Lecture and hours of Discussion per week for 15 weeks.

Instructor: Riley

Molecular Epidemiology of Infectious Diseases: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH 260F Infectious Disease Research in Developing Countries 2 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2023, Fall 2021, Spring 2021 The objective of this course is to provide M.P.H. and Ph.D. students with an appreciation and understanding of the complex issues involved in conducting scientific, laboratory-based investigation in developing countries. We will discuss the many obstacles to establishing and sustaining research projects, such as poor infrastructure, insufficient financial and material resources, and lack of scientific information and interaction. More importantly , we will identify innovative solutions to overcoming these obstacles. The first half of the course will consist of presentations by U.S. and developing countries investigators who have long-term research experience in Latin America, Asia, and Africa. We will also discuss related issues such as ethical considerations, equitable collaborations, research capacity strengthening. During the second half of the course, students will give presentations on topics of their choice. Infectious Disease Research in Developing Countries: Read More [+]

Instructor: Harris

Infectious Disease Research in Developing Countries: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH W260 Infectious Diseases 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2022, Fall 2021, Fall 2020 The purpose of this course is to provide students with knowledge and approach to understand key principles that apply to infectious diseases recognized to be of major public health importance in the USA and globally. The students will learn about the important infectious disease issues and obstacles that arise at the population level, and how to address them through science, public health practices, and policy. Infectious Diseases: Read More [+]

Student Learning Outcomes: 1. understand definitions used in discussing, describing, and reporting about infectious diseases. 2. understand US and WHO-recommended immunization practices and policies, as well as common obstacles to their universal implementation. 3. propose new ideas about how to address obstacles related to immunization policies; challenges in developing new vaccines. 4. know about the major drug-resistant infectious disease problems in the US and abroad; factors that select for drug resistance, and what needs to be done to prevent and control the spread of drug-resistant infections. 5. describe hospital infection surveillance systems; hospital infection control stewardship principles. 6. understand the rationale behind screening tests for HIAIDs and other STIs. 7. describe approaches to hepatitis screening, blood donation and blood bank screening for hepatitis viruses; differences in TB contact tracing programs in the US and elsewhere; BCG vaccination vs preventive treatment for latent TB infection in the USA.

Prerequisites: Students must be matriculated in the On-campus Online MPH Program to enroll in this course

Infectious Diseases: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH 261 Advanced Medical Virology 3 - 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2018, Spring 2015, Spring 2013 Analysis of viral and host factors that play a role in viral diseases of medical importance. Four units of credit given to doctoral students who write a research proposal on a topic other than that proposed for their dissertation. Advanced Medical Virology: Read More [+]

Additional Format: Four hours of lecture/discussion per week.

Instructor: Liu

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PB HLTH 262 Molecular and Cellular Basis of Bacterial Pathogenesis 3 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2024, Spring 2023, Spring 2022 This course for graduate students will explore the molecular and cellular basis of bacterial pathogenesis. The emphasis will be on model bacterial pathogens of mammals. The course also will include some aspects of bacterial genetics and physiology, immune response to infection, and the cell biology of host-parasite interactions. Taught concurrently with. Students enrolled in 262 also will be required to attend a weekly discussion of the primary literature, both current and classic. Each student will be required to present one paper. Molecular and Cellular Basis of Bacterial Pathogenesis: Read More [+]

Prerequisites: 260A, 260B, or consent of instructor

Additional Format: Three hours of lecture/discussion per week and one hour of literature review.

Instructor: Portnoy

Molecular and Cellular Basis of Bacterial Pathogenesis: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH 263 Public Health Immunology 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2023, Fall 2022, Fall 2021 This course will be the principal immunology course for students in the field of public health. It is designed to teach both the basic biology of the human immune system and its response in health and disease, especially the specific response of the human immune system to major human pathogens. Four areas will be explored: 1) components of the immune system (spectrum of cell types and cell products); 2) different arms of the immune system including humoral, cell-mediated, innate, and mucosal immunity; 3) specific immune response to infection caused by viral, bacterial, fungal, and parasitic pathogens; and 4) disorders of the immune system unrelated to infectious disease. Through this course, students should not only gain a basic understanding of the human immune system, but also learn the functions and responses of the human immune system to diseases of infectious and non-infectious nature, and the relevance of these interactions in the context of public health problems. Public Health Immunology: Read More [+]

Prerequisites: 260A (prior or concurrent). Graduate standing. Public Health majors by consent of instructor

Credit Restrictions: Students will receive no credit for 263 after taking Molecular and Cell Biology 150.

Instructor: Stanley

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PB HLTH 264 Capstone Seminar in Infectious Diseases and Vaccinology 2 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2023, Fall 2022, Fall 2021 Examination of scientific, social, and policy dimensions of issues involving infectious diseases. Students select one topic for in-depth analysis and present findings in a public debate. Topics vary from year to year. Capstone Seminar in Infectious Diseases and Vaccinology: Read More [+]

Prerequisites: Second-year Infectious Diseases MPH students only

Formerly known as: 264A-264B

Capstone Seminar in Infectious Diseases and Vaccinology: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH 265 Molecular Parasitology 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2023, Fall 2021, Fall 2019 Advanced course in the molecular aspects of parasite immunology, molecular biology, genetics, biochemistry, and genomics. For each parasite, the following areas will be covered: biology; disease spectrum; epidemiology; pathogenesis, immunology; and vaccine development. The lectures will focus on "state-of-the-art" research in relation to molecular mechanisms of pathogenesis, parasite adaptations for survival within the host, and strategies for drug and vaccine development and disease control and prevention. Course content will rely heavily on current literature. Molecular Parasitology: Read More [+]

Prerequisites: Upper division courses in molecular biology, parasitology, biochemistry, immunology, microbiology, or consent of instructor. Familiarity with reading primary research is recommended

Fall and/or spring: 10 weeks - 3 hours of lecture and 2 hours of discussion per week

Additional Format: Three hours of Lecture and Two hours of Discussion per week for 10 weeks.

Molecular Parasitology: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH 266A Foodborne diseases 2 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2019, Fall 2016, Fall 2015 This course will cover public health, microbiological, social, and economical issues related to foodborne diseases. Three areas will be explored: 1) categories, clinical manifestations, and disease processes of foodborne illnesses; 2) etiological agents causing foodborne illnesses; 3) investigation and prevention of foodborne illness. The course will discuss different types of foodborne diseases, clinical manifestations, and the interactions between etiological agents (pathogens and non-pathogens) and human hosts. We will cover pathogens that are the most frequently associated with foodborne illness including bacterial and viral pathogens such as Salmonella, E coli, hepatitis viruses and Norwalk-like gastroenteritus viruses. We will also study non-pathogen agents such as heavy metal, pesticide, and toxic chemicals. Futhermore, the course will discuss how to identify the etiological agents in outbreaks and possible measures that can be taken to minimize the risk to the public including vaccines and education. Finally, we will explore the social and economic issues involved in the food production, distribution, and consumption that contribute to foodborne diseases. Foodborne diseases: Read More [+]

Prerequisites: Basic knowledge of microbiology

Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 1.5 hours of lecture per week

Additional Format: One and one-half hours of Lecture per week for 15 weeks.

Instructor: Lu

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PB HLTH 266B Zoonotic Diseases 2 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2021, Spring 2021, Fall 2020 This is a graduate (Ph.D. and MPH) level course designed to describe the major zoonoses and their life cycle, disease manifestations, epidemiology, and methods for prevention and control. Available treatments, diagnostics, and public health and agriculture surveillance and “forecasting” programs will also be discussed. The most recent research on the molecular and cellular basis of the mechanisms and consequences of the “species” jump from other animals to humans will be reviewed. The global nature of zoonotic diseases and the integration of multiple disciplines (molecular biology, immunology, epidemiology, evolutionary biology, ecology, animal science, veterinary medicine, etc.) will be emphasized. Zoonotic Diseases: Read More [+]

Course Objectives: Recognize, understand and be able to describe the public health importance of presented zoonotic diseases Understand the agent’s life cycle (agent, host, and environment interaction), including the source(s) or reservoir(s) and host range Understand the factors involved in the susceptibility and resistance of the human host to the cross-species transmission of disease

Prerequisites: Public Health 260A or equivalent Infectious Diseases course (may be taken concurrently)

Instructor: Dailey

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PB HLTH 266C Healthcare-Associated Infections 2 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2023, Fall 2022, Fall 2021 This course will examine the principles underlying the control of infections in healthcare facilities (the emphasis will be on hospitals), the causes of these infections, current important topics in this field, and future trends. Students will develop an understanding of the national and local programs involved in healthcare-associated infections (HAI’s), the major causes of HAI's antimicrobial stewardship, specific agents and procedures causing HAI’s and how to prevent HAI's. Healthcare-Associated Infections: Read More [+]

Course Objectives: 1) Understand the public health impact of HAIs. 2) Know the important causes of HAIs. 3) Formulate a plan to address each of the causes. 4) Address in-depth one important issue about HAIs.

Student Learning Outcomes: At the conclusion of the course, students will understand the public health import of HAIs, why they occur, and what to do to prevent them. They will also appreciate how we obtain and process the data that informs our interventions.

Healthcare-Associated Infections: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH 266D Homelessness and the Public's Health 2 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2023 Homelessness is an epidemic in the United States affecting more than 500,000 people each day. It impacts people of all races, age, and family situations, and it has enormous consequences for physical and mental health. There is no single cause, and no single solution. The focus of this course is the relationship between homelessness and health. We will discuss the range of causes for homelessness and how each of these is correlated to individual health, public health , public policy, and the law. We will explore various strategies and approaches through readings, guest lecturers, and student-led discussions. Homelessness and the Public's Health: Read More [+]

Course Objectives: • Develop plans to address this important public health problem. • Understand the consequences of homelessness on an individual’s health • Understand the obstacles to addressing homelessness • Understand the root causes of homelessness and various strategies to address them

Student Learning Outcomes: 1) Understand the root causes of homelessness and various strategies to address them. 2) Understand the consequences of homelessness on an individual’s health. 3) Understand the obstacles to addressing homelessness. 4) Develop plans to address this important public health problem.

Instructors: Swartzberg, Davis

Homelessness and the Public's Health: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH 267B Characterization of Airborne Contaminants 4 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2023, Spring 2021, Spring 2019 Principles underlying the use of air monitoring methods in industry and the environment. Topics include behavior of gases, vapors, and aerosols; mechanisms of absorption and elimination of inhaled toxicants; methods for measuring of airborne chemicals and particles. Characterization of Airborne Contaminants: Read More [+]

Prerequisites: Graduate standing in environmental health sciences or consent of instructor

Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture and 3 hours of fieldwork per week

Additional Format: Three hours of lecture and three hours of field/laboratory per week.

Instructor: Hammond

Characterization of Airborne Contaminants: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH W267 Applied GIS for Public Health Practice 3 Units

Terms offered: Not yet offered This course will familiarize students with the principles, methods, and techniques necessary to apply Geographic Information Systems (GIS) in diverse public health practice settings. Case studies will be presented to introduce the application of GIS technologies for rendering disease surveillance maps, developing effective spatial data visualization, creating compelling and credible spatial risk maps, and acquiring and processing positioning information for health applications. Applied GIS for Public Health Practice: Read More [+]

Credit Restrictions: Students will receive no credit for PB HLTH W267 after completing PB HLTH 272B, PB HLTH 277, or PB HLTH 267. A deficient grade in PB HLTH W267 may be removed by taking PB HLTH 272B, PB HLTH 277, PB HLTH 272B, PB HLTH 277, or PB HLTH 267.

Instructor: Smith

Formerly known as: Public Health W277

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PB HLTH W268 Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WaSH) for Health and Development 3 Units

Terms offered: Summer 2024 Second 6 Week Session, Summer 2023 Second 6 Week Session, Summer 2022 Second 6 Week Session This course is designed for students who may be interested in working in countries where contaminated water, inadequate sanitation and poor hygiene (WaSH) are the cause of serious health problems. In this course, important concepts in WaSH will be covered so that students can understand what is needed to develop, implement, monitor and evaluate a WaSH program. It emphasizes concepts that are needed to develop effective, appropriate, accessible and affordable WaSH interventions to reduce the global burden of disease. Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WaSH) for Health and Development: Read More [+]

Course Objectives: 1. Identify major water, sanitation and hygiene hazards and understand how hazards differ between different countries, watersheds, climates, cultures and regions. 2. Describe key social determinants of health that drive WaSH inequities 3. Understand the primary WaSH interventions that have been shown to be effective at reducing morbidity and mortality 4. Conduct vulnerability assessments of community supplies of water and sanitation systems to assess ability to provide essential services. 5. Describe the relationship between WaSH technologies, behavioral change communications and the enabling environment and how the three must work in tandem to result in sustained improvements. 6. Critically analyze WaSH-related issues associated with rapid growth of urban populations in developing countries.

Summer: 7 weeks - 5.5 hours of lecture per week

Additional Format: Five and one-half hours of lecture per week for seven weeks.

Instructors: Graham, Jain

Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WaSH) for Health and Development: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH 269D Ergonomics Seminar 2 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2023, Fall 2022, Fall 2021 Readings and lectures in occupational biomechanics. Topics to be covered are muscle, tendon, and joint biomechanics, material handling models, mechanisms of injury, hand tool design, and instrumentation issues. Students will prepare critical reviews of recent publications and design an engineering intervention to reduce work-related risk factors. Ergonomics Seminar: Read More [+]

Prerequisites: 269C or consent of instructor

Instructor: Rempel

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PB HLTH 269E Current Topics in Environmental Medicine 2 - 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2022, Fall 2021, Fall 2020 Topics in environmental medicine will provide students with an overview of the health impacts, disease mechanisms, and public health controversies related to selected environmental exposures. The course will cover established environmental diseases as well as impacts of some emerging exposures of concern. The focus will primarily be on pathophysiology, issues related to exposure pathways, and the susceptibilities of specific human populations. No prior medical knowledge required. Current Topics in Environmental Medicine: Read More [+]

Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 2-3 hours of lecture per week

Additional Format: Two to Three hours of Lecture per week for 15 weeks.

Instructors: Harrison, Seward

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PB HLTH W269A Introduction to Physical Ergonomics 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017 Students will identify the components of occupational tasks that contribute to musculoskeletal injury, quantify the risks using the most relevant ergonomic assessment tools, and integrate that information into conclusions regarding the acceptability of the risk. This course will challenge students to assess many practical examples from a wide variety of workplace sectors, including manufacturing, health care, agriculture and others, and interpret data from sources that will not always agree, so that the decisions can be made and defended. Introduction to Physical Ergonomics: Read More [+]

Fall and/or spring: 7 weeks - 8-5 hours of web-based lecture per week

Additional Format: Eight to five hours of web-based lecture per week for seven weeks.

Instructors: Harris Adamson, Potvin, Janowitz

Introduction to Physical Ergonomics: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH 270 Introduction to Environmental Health Sciences 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2023, Fall 2022, Fall 2021 This survey course covers the breadth of hazards to chemical, biological, and physical agents of concern to environmental health professionals. Lectures are presented by experts on particular topics that emphasize the activities involved in professional practice. Students will also meet twice monthly with the instructor to discuss advanced readings and assignments related to the lecture topics. Students will conduct a project on a topic of current interest in some aspect of environmental health (under the guidance of the instructor). This course is designed for MPH students in Environmental Health Sciences and other graduate-level students interested in an overview course on environmental health. Introduction to Environmental Health Sciences: Read More [+]

Prerequisites: One epidemiology course; one biostatistics course (may be taken concurOne Epidemiology course; one Biostatistics course, can be concurrent. rently)

Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture and 2 hours of discussion per week

Additional Format: Three hours of Lecture and Two hours of Discussion per week for 15 weeks.

Instructor: Balmes

Introduction to Environmental Health Sciences: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH 270A Exposure Assessment and Control 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2023, Fall 2022, Fall 2021 Direct and indirect methods and procedures for the estimation and control of human exposure to chemical, physical, and biological agents of concern to health in the community and in occupational settings. Includes review of measurement technologies, exposure assessment strategies, and multipathway analyses used by regulatory agencies. Also covers exposure control options and strategies, including administrative procedures, personal protective equipment , and various engineering control approaches. Exposure Assessment and Control: Read More [+]

Prerequisites: Graduate standing in the School of Public Health or consent of instructor

Instructors: Nicas, Spear

Exposure Assessment and Control: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH 270B Toxicology I 3 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2024, Spring 2018, Fall 2016 Introduction to toxicology covering basic principles, dose-response, toxicity testing, chemical metabolism, mechanisms of toxicity, carcinogenesis, interpretation of toxicological data for risk assessment, and target organ toxicity. Toxicology I: Read More [+]

Instructor: M. Smith

Toxicology I: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH 270C Practical Toxicology 2 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2019, Spring 2017, Spring 2016 This course will focus on cutting-edge issues involving real-world toxicology in drug discovery, pesticide regulation, stem cell research, etc. Many well-known toxicologists, regulators, and consultants from pharmaceutical companies, petroleum industry, private consulting firms, non-profit institutes, federal and state regulatory agencies in the Bay Area will be invited to talk to our participating students. Some of the speakers are our school's alumni who understand exactly what our students need to know before entering the real world. Learning outside the classroom will be another major focus and different from other existing toxicology courses offered at Berkeley. This new class will provide students a chance to visit some of the real-world sites allowing students to see and feel what they really need to know and to learn. To better prepare our students for the real world, we will use combined teaching/learning styles including lecture with discussion sections, site-visits, hand-on experience in a toxicology laboratory, and student group assignments or projects. Practical Toxicology: Read More [+]

Prerequisites: 270B or Nutrition Science and Toxicology 110 or equivalent course in toxicology

Instructor: Zhang

Practical Toxicology: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH 271C Drinking Water and Health 3 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2022, Spring 2021, Spring 2020 The course covers monitoring, control and regulatory policy of microbial, chemical and radiological drinking water contaminants. Additional subjects include history and iconography of safe water, communicating risks to water consumers and a bottled water versus tap water taste test as part of the discussion on aesthetic water quality parameters. Drinking Water and Health: Read More [+]

Student Learning Outcomes: By the end of this course, students will be expected to: Recognize the global occurrence of waterborne contaminants and related health impacts. Understand water quality monitoring and control of key water quality constituents. Appreciate the complexities of the regulatory process as it pertains to public drinking water systems in the US and abroad. Read and synthesize published and unpublished sources of information regarding drinking water and health. Prepare a literature review in journal submission format. Using an established rubric, review and comment on a literature review (prepared by a fellow student). Rank the paper as acceptable, acceptable with minor revision, acceptable with major revision, unacceptable.

Drinking Water and Health: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH 271D Global Burden of Disease and Comparative Risk Assessment 3 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2016, Spring 2015, Spring 2013 The Global Burden of Disease (GBD) database utilized by provides estimates of illness, injury, and death by disease type, age, sex, and world region in a consistent and coherent manner. The course will explore the ways such a detailed database makes possible a wide range of new types of analysis of health priorities and the relationship of database will also be introduced. This seminar will also provide an opportunity for reading and discussion of the basic assumptions, data limitations, critiques, and methodological difficulties of the GBD. It is intended to be a true seminar relying heavy on class participation. The homework assignments will be greatly facilitated by use of computer spreadsheets. Global Burden of Disease and Comparative Risk Assessment: Read More [+]

Prerequisites: Graduate standing or consent of instructor. Introductory epidemiology (250A or equivalent) is recommended

Instructor: K. Smith

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PB HLTH 271E Science and Policy for Environment and Health 3 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2024, Spring 2023, Spring 2022 Scientific knowledge and analyses are important to the development of public policies that address the impact of the environment on health. The limits of existing knowledge and uncertainties in research results create significant challenges in applying science to answer critical questions. This course critically examines how scientific information is used in policy decisions. Case studies of current issues address characterization of scientific knowledge, interpretation of science in policy contexts, scientific integrity, and factors in addition to science that influence decisions. Assignments prepare students to effectively translate technical knowledge for multi-disciplinary and lay audiences and to participate in public policy proceedings. Core materials address differences between regulatory and market-based approaches; emerging paradigms including the precautionary principle and environmental justice; and key elements of risk assessment and cost-benefit analysis. Science and Policy for Environment and Health: Read More [+]

Science and Policy for Environment and Health: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH 271G Health Implications of Climate Change 3 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2024, Spring 2023, Spring 2022 This course explores the Public Health effects of global climate change: physical basis of climate change, including causes & projections; burden of disease stemming from global climate change, emphasis on impacts in the developing world, global & local equity issues, interaction between climate change mitigation/adaptation activities & existing global health initiatives; direct exposures (extreme heat, drought, precipitation , sea-level rise), indirect exposures (vector-borne & zoonotic diseases, ecosystem disruption, water quantity & quality, land arability & food production, population displacement). After taking this course, students will be well positioned for further work on global environmental change and health. Health Implications of Climate Change: Read More [+]

Instructor: Remais

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PB HLTH 271H Greener Solutions: A Safer Design Partnership 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2023, Fall 2022, Fall 2021 At the same time as chemistry has dramatically improved our lives, it has also exposed people to synthetic chemicals and pollutants via air, water, food, consumer products and workplaces. While government agencies work to assess and control chemical hazards, communities, workers and advocacy groups are demanding safer materials, and businesses are actively seeking to eliminate hazardous chemicals from their products and supply chains. Green chemistry aims to develop products and materials that are inherently safer for human health and the environment. The Greener Solutions course pairs interdisciplinary teams of graduate students with a partner organization seeking to solve these challenges in a specific application. Greener Solutions: A Safer Design Partnership: Read More [+]

Prerequisites: Graduate standing or advanced undergraduate with permission. General chemistry and organic chemistry or equivalent knowledge

Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 4 hours of seminar per week

Additional Format: Four hours of seminar per week.

Instructors: Schwarzman, Hart-Cooper

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PB HLTH 271J Social Justice and Worker Health 2 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2022 Course is an overview on work as a key social determinant of health. The workplace is commonly viewed as a setting for health promotion of individual behavior change, while its potential to be a source of critical exposures that directly impact health, safety & well-being of working populations is often overlooked. Purpose of the class is to help public health practitioners build a framework for understanding the role that work & workplace conditions play in individual & community health, to introduce strategies that address work-related health inequities & facilitate the development of concrete skills in these areas. The course emphasizes worker & community organization & participation in effecting social justice & public health change. Social Justice and Worker Health: Read More [+]

Student Learning Outcomes: Define the concept of a healthy job, and describe work as a social determinant of health with an emphasis on its impact on the lives of low-wage, immigrant, and other vulnerable workers and communities. Describe the “landscape” of work and labor dynamics, including current issues and topics in worker health and safety and the populations most affected by workplace hazards and risks. Discuss basic theoretical and experiential concepts underlying the following public health strategies: ○ Community organizing ○ Labor organizing ○ Training for action ○ Effective partnerships ○ Work-related policies Practice skills in community organizing, popular education, training for action, and building effective partnerships that are all essential to professional community-based practice in public health.

Instructors: Teran, Chang

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PB HLTH 271K Introduction to Data Management and Programming in SAS for Public Health 2 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2024, Spring 2023, Spring 2022 This class is an introduction to the use of the SAS programming language for managing, cleaning and analyzing biomedical data. Introduction to Data Management and Programming in SAS for Public Health: Read More [+]

Course Objectives: By the end of this course, students should be able to write SAS programs for data management, cleaning, and analysis

Student Learning Outcomes: Create and run SAS programs ● Create new variables from other data. ● Export SAS datasets ● Manipulate and transform data ● Read raw input files in various formats and create SAS datasets. ● Use SAS procedures for basic statistical inference: Chi-square tests, T-Tests, Correlations, Linear Regression, etc. ● Use basic SAS procedures to describe data numerically and graphically. ● Work with SAS datasets: sort, subset, merge, and re-format SAS datasets

Prerequisites: It is expected that students will have taken introductory courses to both biostatistics and epidemiology (PBHLTH 142 or PBHLTH W142; PBHLTH W250A, PBHLTH 250B or PBHLTH W250, PBLTH W250F/G)

Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 1 hour of lecture and 1 hour of laboratory per week

Instructor: Costello

Introduction to Data Management and Programming in SAS for Public Health: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH C271G Health Implications of Climate Change 3 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2020, Spring 2019, Spring 2018, Spring 2017, Spring 2016, Spring 2015 The course will provide a basic foundation in the physical mechanisms of, responses to, and health implications of climate change. We will explore the variety of epidemiologic, risk assessment, and statistical methods used to understand the impacts of climate change on health across diverse demographic groups. The public health implications, positive and negative, of efforts to mitigate and adapt to climate change will be elaborated, including discussions of ethical, political, and economic aspects of these efforts. Students will be responsible for leading class discussions and presenting a poster on their choice of a topic related to climate change and health. Health Implications of Climate Change: Read More [+]

Prerequisites: The material will be presented with minimal expectation of a background in physical science, although some additional reading may be needed for students with no university science courses. A background in epidemiology is also helpful, but not necessary

Instructors: Jerrett, Morello-Frosch

Also listed as: ESPM C282

PB HLTH W272A Introduction to Geographic Information Systems for Public Health 3 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2024, Spring 2023, Spring 2022 This course introduces geographic information systems (GIS) for the processing, visualization and description of spatial public health data. We will introduce principles, methods, and techniques for acquiring, processing, and manipulating spatial data. We will cover basic GIS concepts, such as coordinate systems and cartography, layering, buffering, joining spatial data, and conducing spatial queries. The role of locational information in aiding in the prevention of disease will be covered and discussed. Introduction to Geographic Information Systems for Public Health: Read More [+]

Instructors: Casey, Midekisa

Introduction to Geographic Information Systems for Public Health: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH W272C Applied Spatial Data Science for Public Health 3 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2023, Spring 2022, Spring 2021 This course will cover the theory and methods behind the analysis of patterns of health and disease in space. Students will increase their proficiency in the application of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to public health data, and will learn how to perform a wide variety of space and space-time analyses. The course will introduce statistical techniques for describing, analyzing and interpreting layers of mapped health data, including the acquisition and classification of remote sensing data. Applied Spatial Data Science for Public Health: Read More [+]

Course Objectives: Apply appropriate spatial statistics to diverse locational data; Describe several statistical techniques useful for analyzing and interpreting mapped data in public health applications; Describe the rationale for geographical analysis and spatial epidemiology; Formulate a research question that is answerable using spatial techniques; Identify strengths and weaknesses of mapped data and spatial analyses; Provide examples of impactful spatial analyses from the literature; Report results of spatial analyses in a manner that is clear and understandable to both technical and non-technical audiences.

Prerequisites: Completion of PBHLTH W272A or permission of instructor is required to enroll in this course. Furthermore, this course requires extensive use of R. At least 50 hours of experience programming in R is strongly recommended. Similarly, this course will cover spatial regression analysis. As such, students are expected to be familiar with general linear regression

Instructor: Readhead

Applied Spatial Data Science for Public Health: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH 273 Environmental Determinants of Infectious Disease 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2023, Fall 2020, Fall 2019 The course takes a global perspective, examining the environmental phenomena that influence the transmission of infectious diseases. The epidemiological significance of environmental processes are explored, including weather, climate extremes, hydrology, development projects, and land usage change. Analytical tools are discussed and critiqued with respect to their ability to resolve the role of environmental factors in shaping disease distributions and pathogen fate, transport, and persistence. Environmental Determinants of Infectious Disease: Read More [+]

Environmental Determinants of Infectious Disease: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH 275 Current Topics in Vaccinology 2 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2018, Spring 2016, Spring 2014 This is an advanced level course designed to cover current issues related to the biological and analytical aspects of vaccine development and utilization. Latest developments in recombinant vaccine technology, vaccine delivery systems, "naked DNA" vaccines, "designer" vaccines, new adjuvants, anti-tumor vaccines, epidemiological approaches to assess vaccine efficacy, effectiveness, and safety will be discussed and cov ered. Current Topics in Vaccinology: Read More [+]

Prerequisites: 250A, 260A, and 264 or consent of instructor

Instructors: Riley, Enanoria

Current Topics in Vaccinology: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH 277A GIS and Spatial Analysis for Health Equity 3 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2024, Spring 2023 The goal of this course is to acquire the knowledge and skills needed to approach public health problems from an equity or health justice perspective. Students will acquire mapping and spatial analysis (spatial epidemiology) skills and apply them in the context of structural inequity, health disparities, and racial justice. Geospatial skills are applied to public health problems that demonstrate differences in health exposures, risks, and adverse outcomes for BIPOC or economically disadvantaged individuals living in the US as well as those in low and medium income countries as compared to high income countries. GIS and Spatial Analysis for Health Equity: Read More [+]

Course Objectives: Communicate information related to an important health issues including their geographic and demographic contexts. ○ How: Use the ESRI StoryMap Builder to incorporate short narratives, maps, infographics, and images into a web-based interactive communication tool. Demonstrate the ability to design, implement, and apply spatial data to determine and display relative prevalence of diseases. ○ How: Create maps and perform kernel density and cluster/hot spot analysis for a specific disease ○ How: Create a dashboard to illustrate the location and incidence of disease cases Illustrate how maps were used to contribute to structural racism by relating historic redlining maps to current health inequities. ○ How: Create a social vulnerability index from demographic and health indicators, and map the index by county ○ How: Compare a current map that illustrates social vulnerabilities to historic redlining maps from the Federal Housing Administration. Illustrate the limitations of political boundaries (census areas, cities, counties), in predicting disease prevalence, and equity issues associated with health risks. ○ How: Use appropriate classification schema to overcome the “Modifiable Areal Unit Problem” Predict concentrations of an environmental contaminant where data are missing ○ How: Use Kriging to interpolate values in an area that has some missing data. Report survey data cartographically. ○ How: Develop and execute a geo-enabled survey on a public health issue ○ How: Create an interactive map of survey results

Credit Restrictions: Students will receive no credit for PB HLTH 277A after completing PB HLTH 177A . A deficient grade in PB HLTH 277A may be removed by taking PB HLTH 177A .

Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 1.5 hours of lecture and 3 hours of laboratory per week

Additional Format: One and one-half hours of lecture and three hours of laboratory per week.

GIS and Spatial Analysis for Health Equity: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH 278 Health Policymaking and 4+1 Competency Development 2 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2023, Fall 2022 This course will provide 4+1 MPH students with a “homeroom,” a space to grow as a cohort, meet outstanding competencies, and be introduced to the internship process. The lion share of competencies addressed will be in Advocacy and Policymaking. Health Policymaking and 4+1 Competency Development: Read More [+]

Course Objectives: 1. Compare the organization, structure and function of health care, public health, and regulatory systems across national and international settings. 2. Explain basic principles and tools of budget and resource management. 3. Discuss multiple dimensions of the policy-making process, including the roles of ethics and evidence. 4. Evaluate policies for their impact on public health and health equity. 5. Propose strategies to identify stakeholders and build coalitions and partnerships for influencing public health outcomes. 6. Advocate for political, social, or economic policies and programs that will improve health in diverse populations. 7. Communicate audience-appropriate public health content, both in writing and through oral presentation. 8. Apply systems thinking tools to a public health issue.

Prerequisites: 4+1 Student in first semester of program

Instructor: Flagg

Health Policymaking and 4+1 Competency Development: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH 281 Public Health and Spirituality 2 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2024, Spring 2023, Spring 2022 This course presents a brief introduction to the emerging field of spirituality and health. We examine scholarly and scientific views of links between spirituality, religion, and health. Topics include highlights and overviews of the rapidly emerging scientific evidence base, public health relevance, collaborations with faith-based organizations, and other practical applications. Public Health and Spirituality: Read More [+]

Prerequisites: Completion or concurrent enrollment in at least one other course in public health, or consent of instructor

Fall and/or spring: 10 weeks - 2 hours of seminar per week

Additional Format: Two hours of Seminar per week for 10 weeks.

Instructor: Oman

Public Health and Spirituality: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH 285A Public Health Injury Prevention and Control 2 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2023, Fall 2022, Fall 2021 Injuries are a major and often neglected health problem with substantial human and economic costs. Injuries are the leading cause of death from the first year of life to age 45, and the leading cause of lost potential years of life. This course provides an historical and conceptual framework within which to consider injuries (both intentional and unintentional) as social, and public health problems. Through review of epidemiology and intervention studies, course work will consider the causes and consequences of traumatic injury within developmental, social and economic contexts. Particular emphasis is placed on alternative strategies for injury prevention and on the relative benefits of intervention at different levels. Public Health Injury Prevention and Control: Read More [+]

Instructor: Ragland

Public Health Injury Prevention and Control: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH C285 Traffic Safety and Injury Control 3 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2024, Spring 2023, Spring 2022 This course applies principles of engineering, behavioral science, and vision science to preventing traffic collisions and subsequent injury. A systematic approach to traffic safety will be presented in the course, and will include (1) human behavior, vehicle design, and roadway design as interacting approaches to preventing traffic crashes and (2) vehicle and roadway designs as approaches to preventing injury once a collision has occured. Implications of intelligent transportation system concepts for traffic safety will be discussed throughout the course. Traffic Safety and Injury Control: Read More [+]

Also listed as: CIV ENG C265

Traffic Safety and Injury Control: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH 288C Preventive Medicine Residency Seminar: Managed Care and Preventive Medicine 1 Unit

Terms offered: Spring 2024, Spring 2023, Spring 2022 This seminar is required for preventive medicine residents, but is also open to other physicians and medical students interested in preventive medicine and public health practice. It provides an overview of preventive medicine practice, especially those areas covered by the American Board of Preventive Medicine examination in public health and preventive medicine. The objectives of this seminar are to review basic principles and practices of health care organization and financing, quality assurance, clinical practice guidelines, clinical preventive services and health care delivery for the underserved and to describe the role of the preventive medicine physician in health care organizations. Preventive Medicine Residency Seminar: Managed Care and Preventive Medicine: Read More [+]

Prerequisites: MD or medical student

Credit Restrictions: Two hours of seminar per week for eight weeks.

Fall and/or spring: 8 weeks - 2 hours of seminar per week

Additional Format: Two hours of Seminar per week for 8 weeks.

Instructors: Rutherford, Seward

Preventive Medicine Residency Seminar: Managed Care and Preventive Medicine: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH 288D Preventive Medicine Residency Seminar: Public Administration 1 Unit

Terms offered: Spring 2024, Spring 2023, Spring 2022 This seminar is required for preventive medicine residents, but is also open to other physicians and medical students interested in preventive medicine and public health practice. It provides an overview of preventive medicine practice, especially those areas covered by the American Board of Preventive Medicine examination in public health and preventive medicine. The objectives of this seminar are to review basic principles and practices of public administration as they relate to the management of a governmental public health agency and to describe the role of the preventive medicine physician as a leader and administrator in those agencies. Preventive Medicine Residency Seminar: Public Administration: Read More [+]

Prerequisites: MD or medical student. MD or medical student

Preventive Medicine Residency Seminar: Public Administration: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH W289 Interdisciplinary Health Seminar 3 Units

Terms offered: Summer 2024 First 6 Week Session, Summer 2023 First 6 Week Session, Summer 2022 First 6 Week Session This hybrid seminar course consists of both online and face-to-face instruction, with the objective of mastering, at least partially, the following competencies: basic leadership skills for public health leaders, ability to design and conduct a needs assessment and stakeholder analysis, the ability to critically analyze a public health journal article, the ability to conduct an ethical analysis in public health, basic negotation skills, and the ability to complete a Human Subjects Protocol (IRB) application. Interdisciplinary Health Seminar: Read More [+]

Fall and/or spring: 7 weeks - 5 hours of web-based lecture, 4 hours of lecture, and 4 hours of web-based discussion per week

Summer: 6 weeks - 5 hours of web-based lecture, 4 hours of lecture, and 4 hours of web-based discussion per week

Additional Format: Fourteen hours of lecture per week for two weeks and four hours of web-based lecture plus four hours of web-based discussion per week for four weeks.

Instructor: Hosang

Interdisciplinary Health Seminar: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH 290 Health Issues Seminars 1 - 4 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2024, Fall 2023, Spring 2023 A discussion of current developments and issues in public health of interest to faculty and students of the department as a whole. Content varies from semester to semester depending upon current issues and interests. Health Issues Seminars: Read More [+]

Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 1-4 hours of seminar per week

Summer: 6 weeks - 1-8 hours of seminar per week 8 weeks - 1-10 hours of seminar per week 10 weeks - 1-8 hours of seminar per week 12 weeks - 1-6 hours of seminar per week

Additional Format: One to four hours of seminar per week. One to six hours of seminar per week for 12 weeks. One to eight hours of seminar per week for 10 weeks. One to ten hours of seminar per week for 8 weeks. One to eight hours of seminar per week for 6 weeks.

Grading: The grading option will be decided by the instructor when the class is offered.

Health Issues Seminars: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH 290B Health Issues Seminar - Online 1 - 3 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2023 This course explores the phenomenon and consequences of vaccine hesitancy and opposition through the disciplines of history, sociology, social welfare, anthropology, philosophy, literature, journalism, public health, and law. Health Issues Seminar - Online: Read More [+]

Repeat rules: Course may be repeated for credit when topic changes. Students may enroll in multiple sections of this course within the same semester.

Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 1-3 hours of seminar per week

Summer: 6 weeks - 1-8 hours of seminar per week 8 weeks - 1-8 hours of seminar per week 10 weeks - 1-6 hours of seminar per week 12 weeks - 1-8 hours of seminar per week

Additional Format: One to three hours of seminar per week. One to eight hours of seminar per week for 12 weeks. One to six hours of seminar per week for 10 weeks. One to eight hours of seminar per week for 8 weeks. One to eight hours of seminar per week for 6 weeks.

Health Issues Seminar - Online: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH 290C Changemaker Microcourse 1 Unit

Terms offered: Spring 2024, Fall 2023, Spring 2023 This Changemaker Microcourse will focus on developing critical analysis and practical public health skill building related to making change as a public health professional. Changemaker Microcourse: Read More [+]

Fall and/or spring: 5 weeks - 4 hours of lecture per week

Additional Format: Four hours of lecture per week for five weeks.

Changemaker Microcourse: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH W290A Public Health Short Seminar 1 - 4 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2024 A discussion of current developments and issues in public health of interest to graduate students of the department as a whole. Content varies from semester to semester depending upon current issues and interests. Public Health Short Seminar: Read More [+]

Additional Format: One to four hours of seminar per week.

Public Health Short Seminar: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH 291A Preparation for Public Health Practice 2 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2023, Fall 2022, Spring 2022 Series of skills-based workshops and sessions to introduce students to specialized leadership competencies needed in the public health workplace. These workshops complement the School of Public Health’s (SPH) core curriculum and are selected based on the Council on Linkages between Academia and Public Health Practice, and regular feedback from public health practitioners, faculty and students. Workshop facilitators include UC Berkeley faculty , public health practitioners and consultants with expertise in the topic areas. Designed to teach the core public health skills relevant to pre-internship preparation and prepare students for professional success. Cases draw on past scenarios/challenges experienced in the PH field. Preparation for Public Health Practice: Read More [+]

Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 2 hours of workshop and 1 hour of discussion per week

Additional Format: Two hours of workshop and one hour of discussion per week.

Preparation for Public Health Practice: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH 291C Public Health Leadership 3 Units

Terms offered: Prior to 2007 The DrPH Leadership and Practice course is designed to be an interactive series of learning sessions for first and second year students in the DrPH Program at the School of Public Health. The course will give each student an opportunity to develop an understanding of leadership, apply leadership to public health practice, and develop individually as a leader. Public Health Leadership: Read More [+]

Instructor: Lachance

Public Health Leadership: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH 292 Seminars for M.P.H. Students 1 - 4 Units

Terms offered: Summer 2024 Second 6 Week Session, Spring 2024, Fall 2023 Current topics and special issues in the health field. Seminars for M.P.H. Students: Read More [+]

Summer: 6 weeks - 2-10 hours of seminar per week

Additional Format: One to four hours of seminar per week. Two to ten hours of seminar per week for 6 weeks.

Seminars for M.P.H. Students: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH 293 Doctoral Seminar 1 - 4 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2024, Fall 2023, Spring 2023 Discussion and analysis of dissertation research projects, as well as of conceptual and methodological problems in planning and conducting health research. Doctoral Seminar: Read More [+]

Additional Format: One to Four hour of Seminar per week for 15 weeks.

Doctoral Seminar: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH 297 Field Study in Public Health 1 - 12 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Spring 2017, Fall 2016 Supervised experience relevant to specific aspects of public health in off-campus organizations for graduate students. Regular individual meetings with faculty sponsor and written reports required. Field Study in Public Health: Read More [+]

Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 1-12 hours of fieldwork per week

Additional Format: One to Twelve hour of Fieldwork per week for 15 weeks.

Field Study in Public Health: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH 298 Group Study 1 - 8 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2023, Fall 2022, Spring 2022 Group Study: Read More [+]

Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 1-8 hours of independent study per week

Summer: 6 weeks - 1-8 hours of independent study per week 8 weeks - 1-8 hours of independent study per week

Additional Format: Independent study.

Group Study: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH 299 Independent Research 1 - 12 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2023, Summer 2016 10 Week Session, Spring 2016 Independent study and research. Independent Research: Read More [+]

Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 1-12 hours of independent study per week

Summer: 6 weeks - 1-12 hours of independent study per week 8 weeks - 1-12 hours of independent study per week

Additional Format: One to Twelve hour of Independent study per week for 15 weeks. One to Twelve hour of Independent study per week for 8 weeks. One to Twelve hour of Independent study per week for 6 weeks.

Independent Research: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH 375A School of Public Health Schoolwide Pedagogy Course 2 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2024, Fall 2023, Spring 2023 Skill development and professional preparation for graduate student instructors in public health courses. Preparing for and leading discussion sections. Designing writing prompts. Preparing and creating problem sets. Working with students one-on-one. Grading students' writing and exams. Self assessment. Developing a course syllabus. Use of technology in public health classes. Required for first-time public health GSIs who are not participating in an SPH divisional pedagogy course. School of Public Health Schoolwide Pedagogy Course: Read More [+]

Course Objectives: Assess student learning and grading student work fairly, consistently, and efficiently; Build confidence in your abilities to teach. Create and evaluate the effectiveness of discussion section plans that employ active learning strategies; Critically reflect upon teaching and learning experiences and explain your choices as a teacher; Describe and utilize a variety of teaching strategies and evaluation methods, ncluding: Develop a “toolbox” of teaching articles, resources and activities for future use; and, Develop learning objectives for classroom activities and assignments; Develop skills and demonstrate strategies to facilitate a more inclusive learning environment to meet the needs of diverse students Develop skills in giving constructive feedback to peers on teaching; Engage in collaborative learning to identify, discuss, evaluate and engage in teaching strategies designed for online or in-person class sessions; Identify your teaching strengths and areas for development; Reflect on your own identity, positionality and power and the role it plays in the classroom by learning about racism, anti-racism, inclusion, implicit bias, stigma, etc. Utilize feedback and assessment tools to improve teaching;

Subject/Course Level: Public Health/Professional course for teachers or prospective teachers

Instructors: Lachance, Sheats

Formerly known as: Public Health 333

School of Public Health Schoolwide Pedagogy Course: Read Less [-]

PB HLTH 375B Instructional Techniques in Biostatistics 2 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2018, Spring 2018, Fall 2017 Discussion and practice of techniques in teaching biostatistics as applied to public health topics. Instructional Techniques in Biostatistics: Read More [+]

Formerly known as: Public Health 300

Instructional Techniques in Biostatistics: Read Less [-]

Contact Information

School of public health.

2210 Berkeley Way West

Phone: 510-643-0881

[email protected]

School Dean

Michael C. Lu, MD, MS, MPH

Assistant Dean for Students

Quin Hussey, MPH

[email protected]

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Faculty in Public Policy

Berkeley Haas faculty members have a strong tradition of serving in federal and state government, advising public sector decision-makers at the highest levels.

Faculty members serving in the federal government

Adair Morse

Deputy Assistant Secretary of Capital Access Office of Domestic Finance, U.S. Department of the Treasury

(On leave from UC Berkeley)

Catherine Wolfram

Deputy Assistant Secretary for Climate and Energy Economics Office of Economic Policy, U.S. Department of the Treasury

Janet Yellen

Secretary of the Treasury , U.S. Department of the Treasury

2014–2018, Chair, Federal Reserve Board of Governors

2010–2014, Vice Chair, Federal Reserve Board of Governors

2004–2010, President and CEO, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco

1997–1999, Chair, President’s Council of Economic Advisers

1994–1997, Member, Board of Governors, Federal Reserve System

1977–1978, Economist, Division of International Finance, Trade and Financial Studies Section, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System

Faculty members’ past federal government service

Severin Borenstein

2019–present, Member, California ISO Board of Governors

2015–2017, Chair, Petroleum Market Advisory Committee, California Energy Commission

2012–2013, Member, Emissions Market Assessment Committee, California Air Resources Board

2010–2013, Member, U.S. Department of Energy, National Petroleum Council, Future of Transportation Fuels Working Group

2010–2011, Member, U.S. Department of Transportation, Future of Aviation Advisory Committee

1999–2000, Member, California Attorney General’s Gasoline Task Force

1997–2003, Member, Governing Board of California Power Exchange Corporation (a non-profit, public benefits corporation established by the State of California)

1978–1979, Staff Economist, Office of Economic Analysis, US Civil Aeronautics Board

Michael Katz

2001–2003, Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Economic Analysis, US Dept. of Justice – Antitrust Division

1994–1996, Chief Economist, Federal Communications Commission

Jonathan Leonard

1989, Senior Economist, President’s Council of Economic Advisers

David I. Levine

1994–1995, Senior Economist, President’s Council of Economic Advisers

Carl Sharpiro

2011–2012, Member, President’s Council of Economic Advisers

2009–2011, Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Economics, Antitrust Division, U.S. Department of Justice

1995–1996, Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Economics, Antitrust Division, U.S. Department of Justice

Laura Tyson

2020–present, Co-chair, California Governor’s Council of Economic Advisors

2016–2017, President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, Semiconductor Working Group

2011–2013, Member, U.S. Department of State, Foreign Affairs Policy Board

2011–2013, Member, President Obama’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness

2009–2011, President’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board

1995–1996, Chair, National Economic Council, Executive office of the President of the United States of America

1993–1995, Chair, White House Council of Economic Advisers

James Wilcox

1999–2001, Chief Economist, Office of the Comptroller of Currency

1991–92, Economist, Federal Reserve Board

1990–1991, Senior Economist, President’s Council of Economic Advisors

DrPH - Doctor of Public Health

The Doctor of Public Health (DrPH) degree at Berkeley School of Public Health is conferred in recognition of a candidate’s command of a comprehensive body of knowledge in the field of public health and related disciplines, and of the candidate’s proven ability to initiate, organize and pursue the investigation of significant problems or interventions in public health. The focus of this degree is the development of transdisciplinary knowledge about the determinants of health and the scientific and professional leadership skills to translate this knowledge into effective health interventions.

Those who earn this degree are expected to occupy leadership positions that have major influence on public health research, policies, programs, systems and institutions. Such leadership may be in diverse traditional and nontraditional settings at the international, national, state, or local levels and in the public, private and academic sectors.

Applicants must hold a master’s or doctoral degree in the health sciences or in another related field or non-US equivalent degree. Applicants must also have a minimum of two years or more of professional public health experience post-master’s degree showing progressive responsibility and evidence of leadership potential.

The DrPH program is a full-time campus-based program of study designed to be completed in three or four years for those applicants with an MPH from a CEPH-accredited institution and at least two years of postgraduate professional public health leadership experience. Any students with deficiencies in coursework equivalent in content to the MPH at UC Berkeley must take prerequisite courses either before starting the program or during the first year of the program.

Students will participate in an integrative doctoral training program that incorporates knowledge and skills from all divisions of the School of Public Health as well as the Schools of Education, Public Policy, Social Welfare and the Haas School of Business. The required course work consists of 4 full-time semesters (48 units) and a minimum of 12 units of dissertation research credits. This course work encompasses a thorough grounding in leadership, research methods and the application of these methods to the analysis of public health and policy issues. Students must fulfill all the course requirements from the Council on Education for Public Health CEPH specific competencies listed in the Student Handbook. Due to the diverse experience each student brings to the program, it is expected that students will also select courses and independent studies that advance their knowledge and ultimately their proficiency in all of the core and breadth knowledge areas listed below.

• Health Politics and Policy Analysis
• Public Health Interventions
• Global Health Sciences
• Research Design and Methods
• Public Health Ethics

Each student is also required to complete a research and/or professional residency in a public health setting that will provide the opportunity to advance knowledge and skills, identify data for dissertation research, conduct analyses and participate in decision making. Examples include: positions with local, state, or national legislatures, international agencies, city, county and state departments of public health or health services, policy think-tanks, multi-hospital systems and large health maintenance organizations.

As part of the UC Berkeley School of Public Health, DrPH students are eligible to take elective classes at other schools within the University including the Haas School of Business, Goldman School of Public Policy, City Planning, Journalism and others.

The DrPH program is a full-time professional degree program with a residency requirement. For this reason, the program is not recommended for persons who want to continue to work full-time. Overall, the program averages 3-4 years in length. There are no online or night courses available. The first two years of the program are primarily devoted to required coursework.

UC Berkeley DrPH graduates are employed in leading universities, policy research centers and “think tanks” across the country and internationally.

The DrPH is a professional degree program designed primarily for students interested in occupying leadership positions in the field. However, the program includes coursework in research methods, academic mentorship and completion of a dissertation involving the conducting of original research on a problem of public health importance. A number of graduates of the DrPH have gone on to accept university teaching positions or positions as full time researchers in academic or other scholarly settings. Although there is no specific “academic track” within the DrPH, students interested in teaching and research should choose as electives additional coursework in theory and research methods and undertake a dissertation consistent with such a career choice.

DrPH Admissions

Applicants must hold a master’s or doctoral degree in the health sciences or in another related field or non-US equivalent degree and have a minimum of two years or more of professional public health experience post-master’s degree, showing progressive responsibility and evidence of leadership potential. Questions about the applicability of a prior master’s or doctoral degree towards this requirement should be directed to the program office.

A Statement of Purpose is required, that explains how the DrPH program would help build on prior experiences and contribute to his or her career goals. Identify possible topics and research areas you may want to focus on for the dissertation project.

DrPH applicants are also required to provide a writing sample. Writing samples should be no more than 7,000 words in length and examples can include: publications in peer-reviewed journals on which you were the sole or first author, papers written for a graduate course, media pieces, or reports written for public agencies.

We recommend submitting a GRE if you have no other evidence of quantitative, verbal, or analytical abilities in your application.

Note: The average entering student has a verbal score above the 86th percentile and a quantitative score above the 66th percentile.

Official transcripts from all institutions (including community college and graduate coursework) are also required, with a minimum B average (3.0) or equivalent (work completed in the last two years of a bachelor’s degree program and in all post-baccalaureate coursework.

We look at an application in its entirety to determine a person’s strengths and relative fit to our program; available advisors, areas of research interest and academic history are important considerations as is research work experience. Letters of recommendation are also carefully reviewed.

Go to the Berkeley Public Health Graduate Admissions Dates and Deadlines page for general application information and instructions. Some dates and deadlines are specific to the application process for the DrPH program:

December 1: Application deadline

January: Admission committee begins review of applications. Members of the committee may contact applicants during this review period to arrange for phone interviews. Interviews for admission are conducted on an ad hoc basis – not receiving a request for an interview is not indicative of an admissions decision and vice versa.

March (Early): First round of communication of offers are sent. Candidates are offered admission during this time are able to attend a Spring Visit Day in mid-March.

March (Late)—April (Late): Subsequent rounds of communication of offers and final decisions made during this period, after Spring Visit Day. The academic year begins in the fall; spring admission is not permitted.

The DrPH Program typically hosts a Spring Visit Day in mid-March for those candidates who have been offered admission during the first round of offers.

The UC Berkeley Graduate Division and the DrPH Program do not allow for deferred admission. We recommend that you update your CV, obtain at least one new letter of recommendation and reapply.

Some applicants who are not admitted are encouraged to reapply the ensuing year to allow for additional coursework and/or relevant research experiences.

Waitlisted candidates will receive information about their final status on or before June 1. Some of our best students were originally on the waitlist for admission before receiving their offer of admission. We regret the inconvenience and ask for your patience during this process.

The faculty listed here teach the DrPH seminars and provide mentoring and advising to all DrPH students. In addition, faculty throughout the School work with DrPH students as advisers, mentors and Qualifying Exam and dissertation committee members.

Sometimes faculty are unable to respond to prospective students’ queries about mentorship prior to admissions decisions because the admissions committee is responsible for making recommendations for admitted students’ assigned advisors. Applicants with an interest in working with a particular faculty member should indicate this in their applications.

Core Faculty

Drph student directory.

• 2022–2023 Cohort div; cls: uk-animation-fade; delay: 18" uk-grid > Larissa Benjamin Ravneet Gill Caleb Harrison Marisol De Ornelas Rouselinne Gómez Mounika Parimi Marlena Robbins Cara Schulte Morgan Vien Brian Villa Brian Wylie

Larissa Benjamin is a second year DrPH student. Larissa was born in Detroit, MI to parents from divergent socioeconomic and racial backgrounds who were brought together by their shared commitment to fighting social inequality. Larissa earned a BS in Evolutionary Anthropology and English at University of Michigan and went on to work in health and science communications for 5 years at American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Washington, DC. She completed her Masters in Public Health at UC Berkeley in Health and Social Behavior with a specialty in multicultural health as a Kaiser Permanente Public Health Scholar. For the 3 years, she worked as a staff Project Policy Analyst at UC Berkeley School of Public Health on health equity-centered research projects (PIs Herd and Mujahid) ranging from managing PLACE (a social epidemiology research group under PI Mujahid), COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy, police violence, and cardiovascular health disparities in a newly NHLBI-funded rural cohort study in the Southeastern US. Larissa’s research explores the political economy and structural drivers of cardiovascular health inequities in this region.

Ravneet Gill is a second year DrPH student at UC Berkeley. Her research focus is on breast cancer prevention among low income and geriatric women within the diverse Asian American subgroups in the United States. She is a proponent of preventive oncology and her professional pursuits are guided by the glaring need for reformation in health equity and the role of data disaggregation in addressing persistent cancer health disparities.

Ravneet holds a Bachelor’s degree in Biology and a Master’s in Public Health. Her professional experience includes over seven years of post-graduate work experience in the managed care industry, leading cancer prevention programs. Ravneet loves traveling, visiting museums, and trying different cuisines from around the world. She loves to cook, write, hike, and spend time with family and friends.

Caleb Harrison is a second-year DrPH student. Prior to coming to Berkeley, he worked as the lead epidemiologist at a local health department, overseeing disease surveillance and program evaluation efforts. His research interests include evaluating policies that seek to reduce health inequities in rural settings. Caleb’s time outside of work and studies is usually spent cooking or engaging in outdoor recreation with his wife and two kids.

Marisol De Ornelas (she/her) joined the UC Berkeley’s DrPH program Fall 2022 and is an American Public Health Association and Kaiser Permanente Community Health Scholar. Marisol attended Boston University where she received a Bachelor of Science in Health Sciences and a Master of Science in Public Health. She brings over six years of experience in public health research and project management. Marisol’s most recent work focuses on assessing perinatal health and social care interventions that aim to promote maternal and child health, among underserved populations. She is a graduate student researcher at the UC Berkeley’s Wallace Center for Maternal, Child, and Adolescent Health. Outside of her scholarly work, you’ll likely find her cooking Venezuelan arepas, reading the “Ideas” section of the Atlantic, or outdoors on an adventure!

Rouselinne Gómez is a second-year student at UC Berkeley in the Doctor of Public Health program. He is a Medical Doctor who graduated from the Autonomous University of Nuevo León and earned his master’s degree in Public Health from the National Institute of Public Health (INSP) in Mexico. Prior to entering the DrPH program he worked as a researcher in the Health Economics Unit at the INSP in Mexico. His research focused on influencers for health system navigation for the Mexican Public Healthcare system. During his time as a doctor he worked providing care for rural communities in Chiapas, Mexico. Rouselinne is currently interested in working on sexual and reproductive health issues, especially with adolescents.

Mounika Parimi is a Doctor of Public Health student at UC Berkeley. She was born and raised in Bengaluru, India, and immigrated to the US as a teenager. Mounika received her Bachelor of Arts in Music and Biology from the University of Redlands and a Master of Science in Public Health from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Mounika has previously worked as a researcher studying the immunology of type 1 diabetes at the City of Hope in Duarte, California, and as a Fulbright scholar at the Center for Regenerative Therapies in Dresden. During her Master’s, Mounika’s work focused on the association between diabetes during pregnancy and congenital abnormalities. Most recently, Mounika has worked as a consultant and project manager with the Real-World Insights department of IQVIA in the United Kingdom. In this role, she has co-designed and managed several retrospective cohort studies in the UK/EU setting for various non-communicable diseases (including cardiovascular disease, asthma, and cancer). Her current research interests include post-partum health and women’s health over the life course, especially among racial and ethnic minority communities. Mounika is a graduate student researcher at UC Berkeley’s Wallace Center for Maternal, Child, and Adolescent Health.

In her personal life, Mounika is an avid cook, singer, and enjoys weekend hikes with her spouse and toddler.

Marlena Robbins is Diné (Navajo) from the Yeii Dine’e Táchii’nii (Giant Red Running into Water People) clan. She holds a master’s in American Indian studies – Indigenous rights and social justice. Her thesis, titled Art as a Spiritual Expression for Indigenous Well-being, focused on advocating for art within the fields of Indigenous mental health and community wellness. She has developed and implemented expressive arts programming for Community Bridges, Inc., a substance abuse and behavioral health nonprofit. She has served as the assistant director and grant writer of Cultural Coalition, Inc., focused on providing community engagement through unique cultural programs dedicated to the education, promotion, and development of Indigenous artists in Arizona. She is a doctoral student at the UC Berkeley School of Public Health – Interdisciplinary Studies, focusing on the advancement of sacred plant medicines in tribal nations. She is an Indigenous science student fellow of the Berkeley Center for the Science of Psychedelics. Her qualitative research title, Multi-generational Perspectives of Psilocybin Mushrooms in Tribal and Urban Indigenous Communities of the North and Southwest United States, will inform the protocols of psychedelic-assisted therapy from multi-generational Indigenous perspectives on psilocybin mushrooms.

Cara Schulte is a second-year doctoral student researching the impacts of climate change on human health. She currently works with the UC Berkeley Global Environmental Health Equity Lab and Climate Rights International. She also serves as a graduate instructor for the undergraduate Climate and Health 101 course and a graduate-level Global Health Ethics course. Cara earned her MHS in Environmental Health Science and BA in Public Health from Johns Hopkins University. She is a member of the Delta Omega Honorary Society in Public Health.

Morgan Vien joined the DrPH program at UC Berkeley School of Public Health in fall 2022. Her research is focused on the intersection of public health, technology including artificial intelligence, and healthcare to improve population health, particularly by addressing cardiometabolic conditions. Additionally, Morgan is a staff research associate and works on research and project management activities at Health Research for Action (HRA), a research center at Berkeley Public Health. Morgan received her MPH in Health and Social Behavior from UC Berkeley and her BS in Public Health Science with minors in Biology and Sociology from Santa Clara University. She enjoys spending time with family and friends, playing piano, traveling, and creating arts and crafts.

Brian Villa is a second-year DrPH student. He received his B.A. in South and Southeast Asian Studies, MPH in Health and Social Behavior, and MSW in Strengthening Organizations and Communities from UC Berkeley. He is currently the Research Projects Director for Professor Emily Ozer’s research lab and serves as a core member of the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) and UC Berkeley Research-Practice Partnership. One of the projects he supports explores the impact of youth-led participatory action research (YPAR) on school decision-making processes. Prior to graduate school, he taught Ethnic Studies at a High School in San Francisco through the Pin@y Educational Partnerships. He also worked as the Community Health Program Manager at the RYSE Youth Center in Richmond, CA. Brian enters the DrPH program as a APHA/KP Community Health Scholarship recipient and is excited to continue his work on YPAR, adolescent mental health, racial justice, health equity, and healing-centered liberatory approaches. He enjoys cooking, playing sports, and writing music.

Brian Wylie completed his undergraduate degree at UC Berkeley, professional training in occupational therapy at USC, and his MPH in epidemiology at Harvard. During and since then, he completed a Fulbright in South Korea, developed health and wellness programs for the Los Angeles YMCA, and worked for the California Department of Public Health in infectious disease prevention and the San Francisco Department of Public Health in opioids and chronic pain management. When not working or studying, he’s usually out with his poodle Lucy, being active (running, lifting, cross country skiing), or listening to live music. Also, Go Bears!

• 2021–2022 Cohort div; cls: uk-animation-fade; delay: 18" uk-grid > Juan Carlos Bordes Brittany Campbell Purba Chatterjee Renee Clarke Yao Doe Blake Erhardt-Ohren Olufunke Fasawe Bhavya Joshi Silvana Larrea Solange Madriz Wan Nurul Naszeerah Nadia Anahi Rojas Ida Wilson Emily Winer

Juan Carlos Bordes (he/him) is a third year DrPH student. His background as a clinician in the field of occupational therapy has led him to work in a variety of healthcare settings including nursing homes, acute rehabilitation hospitals, and inpatient hospitals. Being an occupational therapist has given Juan Carlos the opportunity to engage with individuals navigating the healthcare system, their support systems, the multiple team members involved in patient care, and collaborate with hospitals and healthcare professional organizations on DEI efforts. These experiences provided a foundation which led Juan Carlos to seek to make an impact through public health. Some of Juan Carlos’ goals during the DrPH program are to promote health equity and anti-racism within healthcare, with a particular interest on the impact of optimally addressing the emotional health of healthcare workers. In his spare time, he enjoys spending time with his niece and nephews, going on long walks, mindfulness activities, and watching Drag Race, Star Wars, among others.

Brittany Campbell is a third-year DrPH student bringing 7 years of experience working on projects that center cancer health equity and community engagement at the UCSF Center for Vulnerable Populations and the Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center. Prior to attending UC Berkeley, she was awarded a NCI Diversity Supplement to understand patients’ experience navigating care following a positive genetic test result in the safety-net setting. This project led to her current research interests at the intersection of cancer survivorship, mind-body wellbeing, and healing from racial trauma. She received her Master of Public Health from Saint Louis University and Bachelor of Arts in International Studies from the University of Missouri. She is a proud St. Louis, Missouri native who enjoys music, dancing, and bringing people together in the spirit of healing and connection.

Purba Chatterjee is a third year Dr PH student. Purba grew up in India; her formative years were spent in Chennai and Kolkata. Purba came to the US to pursue her undergraduate studies. She has a Bachelor’s in Economics from University of California Los Angeles and a Master’s in Public Health from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Purba has over 15 years of public health program management experience. She has worked on HIV/AIDS and other non-communicable diseases projects in Uganda, India, and now Kenya. After completion of the DrPH program, Purba plans to pivot to global mental health research with a focus on the impact of stigma on access to mental health care in low and middle-income countries. She is passionate about partnering with the community to build capacity, address stigma, and increase access to treatment for common mental health disorders. In her current role as the Associate Director of Global Equity, UCSF Dept. of Ob/Gyn, Bixby Center, she oversees operations and administration for HIV/AIDS affiliated research studies in Western Kenya and co-leads global health equity initiatives. Aside from work, Purba enjoys going on long hikes with her husband, daughter, and son. She is also an avid traveler, loves to cook, and enjoys practicing yoga!

Renee Clarke is a third year DrPH candidate with over 10 years of experience in the healthcare industry. Renee completed her Master of Public Health in Maternal and Child Health at the University of South Florida and holds two bachelor’s degrees in nursing and health sciences. Prior to University of California, Berkeley, she served in a variety of clinical settings including Emergency Management, Neonatal Intensive Care, Women’s Health as a Registered Nurse. Her passion has always been service leadership and eliminating health disparity gaps among women, infants, and children. Renee’s interest in improving health outcomes extends nationally and internationally. She has served in places such as Niger (Africa), Milot, Haiti and St. Thomas, Virgin Islands. Quality improvement, evaluation, implementation and decreasing health disparities has always been a cornerstone of her experiences. Renee was born in the twin island of Trinidad and Tobago and enjoys traveling, learning new cultures, outdoor activities and spending time with friends and family.

Yao Doe joins the DrPH program from fall 2021 at UC Berkeley. He was born and raised in Ghana. He Attended Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Ghana where he completed his BSc. Chemistry. Upon completion, he worked as a laboratory chemist for a year and then moved to medical school in Ukraine. After graduating from medical school, he did his residency in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology in Kyiv, Ukraine. Following the completion of his residency, he returned home where he worked as head of the OB/GYN department of a hospital in Ghana and a medical director of a hospital in Togo.

Besides working as a medical doctor, he took active roles in community outreach programs such as screening for breast and cervical cancer, HIV prevention, vaccination programs, chronic-care home visits in underserved communities, and vesicovaginal and rectovaginal fistula repair in sub-regions of Ghana.He also introduced an innovative program that employed the use of prophylactic misoprostol (an inexpensive and easy to use medication that needs no refrigeration) for postpartum hemorrhage and he provided training for midwives and nursing assistants in various regions in rural Togo and this led to drastic reductions in postpartum hemorrhage and subsequent reductions in the evidence of maternal mortality and hospital referral rate in rural areas of Togo. Being thirsty for more knowledge, he moved to the United States to further his studies in Public Health at the University of New Haven, where he obtained his degree in Master of Public Health.

Yao’s primary interest is in maternal and child health, especially the prevention of maternal morbidity and mortality in developing countries. He likes playing soccer, going on road trips, and listening to classic country music.

Blake Erhardt-Ohren is a third year DrPH student. She is passionate about improved access to sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services, particularly abortion services, for forcibly displaced and immigrant populations. Prior to joining the program, she spent three years at Pathfinder International, where she provided monitoring and evaluation support to SRH projects around the world. During her master’s program, she worked at CARE USA, assisting with the Supporting Access to Family Planning and Post-Abortion Care (SAFPAC) project in emergency settings. She holds a BA in History from UC San Diego and an MPH in Global Health from Emory University. In her free time, Blake enjoys hiking with her partner and two dogs, birdwatching, and traveling.

Olufunke Fasawe is a 3rd year DrPH candidate from Nigeria. She joined the program from the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) where she worked as a Senior Director, Primary Health Care (Global), Director of Programs (Nigeria) and Technical Lead for the Sexual, Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn and Child Health Program (Nigeria). She has over ten years’ experience in global health working on program design, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation cutting across HIV/AIDS, Routine Immunization, Sexual and Reproductive Health, Maternal and newborn health, Cervical Cancer, and health systems strengthening. Prior to starting her career with CHAI, she worked with the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS in Geneva as a health economics consultant conducting economic modeling for HIV programs and. She also interned at the World Health Organization Headquarters in Geneva during her Masters program. Olufunke holds a Master’s degree in International Health Management, Economics and Policy from SDA Bocconi, Milan, Italy; she earned her Bachelor of Dental Surgery degree from the University of Lagos, Nigeria. She loves to play tennis and enjoys running outdoors. She is passionate about gender equity and promotion of universal health care in developing countries.

Bhavya Joshi joins the DrPH in the fall of 2021. As a Global Public Health Fellow, Bixby Summer 2022 Fellow, and the Human Rights Center Fellow 2022, Bhavya’s research focuses on understanding reproductive needs of marginalized populations in countries affected by crises. As a women human rights advocate and educator, Bhavya supports women rights defenders from across the globe to build their capacity to use international human rights mechanisms for advocacy and activism at national, regional, and international levels. Before joining the program, she managed, implemented, and evaluated public health projects in South Asia for more than 5 years. Within India, she has worked in 18 out of 28 states. Bhavya received her MA in International Law and Human Rights from the United Nations mandated University for Peace, Costa Rica and is finishing her second MA in Peace, Security, Development and International Conflict Transformation from University of Innsbruck, Austria. Her bachelor is in Political Science from Delhi University, India. She is a travel enthusiast and is fond of outdoor sports, drinking coffee and experimenting with cuisines.

Silvana Larrea is a third-year DrPH candidate at UC Berkeley. She is a Medical Doctor from the National Autonomous University of Mexico and received her MPH in Epidemiology from the National Institute of Public Health (INSP) in Mexico. Prior to starting her graduate program in UC Berkeley, she was a Program Officer for the Poverty, Gender, and Youth department in the Population Council Mexico office. In the Population Council, she provided technical support for the Council’s research portfolio: design, implementation and evaluation of interventions and developing new proposals, IRB protocols, briefs, donor reports, and manuscripts. She is also co-investigator in diverse research projects related to migration and health, with a focus in sexual and reproductive health. Her research interests include sexual and reproductive health, migration and health, and inequalities in health. Her dissertation research focuses on challenges and opportunities of accessing and using sexual and reproductive health services for in-transit migrant women in Mexico.

Solange Madriz, MA, MS is a second-year doctoral student as well as an Academic Coordinator at the Institute of Global Health Sciences at University of California, San Francisco. She has designed, implemented and monitored global health programs in diverse settings including Mexico, Guatemala, Ecuador, Paraguay, India and the United States. Her research focuses on global health and professional development of health professionals in low-resource settings. In addition to her research activities, Ms. Madriz teaches graduate level courses on global health for public health practitioners and medical providers. From 2015 to 2018, Ms. Madriz led the implementation of a maternal and newborn health quality improvement project in all the secondary health facilities of the states of Huehuetenango and Alta Verapaz, Guatemala. During the COVID-19 pandemic Ms. Madriz led the educational program to train over 100 community-based organization members as case investigators and contact tracers working for the San Francisco and California Departments of Public Health. She lives with her husband and 2-year old daughter in the Mission District of San Francisco. Ms. Madriz obtained her undergraduate degree from the Central University of Venezuela and a MA in International Studies from the University of San Francisco followed by a MS in Global Health from the University of California, San Francisco.

Lt. Wan Nurul Naszeerah (she/her) is a third-year Doctor of Public Health (DrPH) student with Designated Emphases in New Media (Berkeley Center for New Media) and Development Engineering (Blum Center for Developing Economies) at the University of California-Berkeley. As a Digital Transformation of Development (DToD) Fellow, Wan is passionate in enhancing public health preparedness through infoveillance and infodemic management in Southeast Asia. Born and raised in Brunei, Wan is currently developing a human-centered digital intervention against vaccine misinformation for the Malay-speaking communities in Southeast Asia.

This professional endeavor stems from her personal experience as a native speaker of the Malay language, for which social media technologies have not been equitably developed to moderate the spread of vaccine misinformation and to sufficiently address the emerging issues of vaccine hesitancy in this region. Hence, she has been collaborating with data scientists as well as developing her computational skills, specifically in Artificial Intelligence and Natural Language Processing, both of which are increasingly integrated into today’s public health preparedness and research. She believes that global health equity can only be achieved when there is equity in public health technologies.

Prior to becoming a Cal student, Wan had served as an infantry-trained military officer in Brunei, where she was involved in training, operations, research, and communications in the context of military medicine and health. In 2015, Wan had also graduated from the Yale School of Public Health, where she was trained in infectious diseases epidemiology and global health as Yale’s Global Health Research Fellow. She identifies as a first-generation graduate in her Malay family. She currently lives in the Bay Area with her supportive husband and sweet toddler.

Nadia Anahi Rojas is a third-year DrPH student and a proud Bay Area native. She received her MPH from UC Davis and BA from UC Berkeley with a double major in Ethnic Studies and Integrative Biology. Before attending the DrPH program, Nadia worked at ChangeLab Solutions, a national nonprofit in Oakland, CA, where she developed tools and resources for community-based organizations, policymakers, and public officials across subject matters on upstream policy interventions. Nadia also worked at the School of Public Health at Berkeley, where she led the data collection and management of various projects evaluating Berkeley’s soda tax. Nadia is a DACA recipient and a strong advocate for the undocumented community. She co-founded Graduates Reaching a Dream Deferred Northern California (GRADD NorCal), where she was instrumental in organizing conferences throughout California for undocumented youth interested in attending graduate school. Nadia is currently focused on advancing research on the Latine population and aging. Her additional interests include research that will reduce health disparities and promote equity among communities that have been marginalized, including the undocumented population. Nadia enjoys eating lots of raw vegetables and loves salsa and bachata dancing.

Ida Wilson is an Oakland native and third year DrPH candidate. She received a Master of Arts in Applied Anthropology from San José State University and a Bachelor of Science in Anthropology from UC Riverside. Ida has served as a Project Manager for the Center for Critical Public Health at the Institute for Scientific Analysis for several NIH- and Tobacco Related Disease Research Program-funded projects that investigated substance use among young adults in the Bay Area and in rural counties in Northern California. In addition to her duties as Project Manager, she also served as the Coordinator for the Center’s Internship program. Ida’s current research focuses on framing police violence as a public health issue by examining the experiences of Black and Latina women. Her additional research interests include health inequities, as well as the use of critical perspectives in examining public health issues by exploring the ways in which socio-structural systems contribute to health inequities for marginalized populations.

Emily Winer (she/her) is a third year DrPH student. Emily’s doctoral research is focused on the use of participatory, arts-based research methods with youth, as well as youth mental health and wellbeing. Before coming to UC Berkeley, Emily worked at the International WELL Building Institute as one of the developers for WELL, a global certification for advancing health and wellbeing in buildings and communities. Emily’s work focused on the promotion of mental health through design and policy strategies at the building, organizational, and urban scale. Emily holds a BA in Psychology from Carleton College and an MPH from Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health. Outside of the DrPH program, Emily enjoys baking, ceramics, yoga, and spending time outdoors.

• 2020–2021 Cohort div; cls: uk-animation-fade; delay: 18" uk-grid > Mikail Aliyu Samanta Anríquez Ifunanya Dibiaezue Amanda Marr Chung Amanda Mazur Betsy Pleasants Sai Ramya Maddali Chris Rubeo Julia Ryan

Mikail Aliyu is a fourth-year DrPH student at UC Berkeley. He graduated from the University of Lagos, Nigeria with a degree in pharmacology. He started his career in the pharma industry working with Sanofi, where he focused on increasing access to essential medicines at primary health care level in anglophone West and East African countries. Mikail later received his MPH from the University of Leeds, in the UK, and moved into management consulting as a Program Officer at The Palladium Group. Before UC, Mikail managed a Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation-funded investment called the Technical Support Unit (TSU) project. Through this grant, he provided technical support to the Federal Ministry of Health in Nigeria to create an enabling environment for women and girls to access better reproductive health and family planning (RH/FP) services. He worked closely with government officials and decision-makers to facilitate the creation of enabling structures and processes for accountability, priority setting, and coordination of RH/FP services—this involved strategy design, policy development, and implementation. Notably, he supported the development and execution of the Nigerian Family Planning Blueprint. Mikail is passionate about reducing barriers and addressing sociocultural norms that hinder access to reproductive, maternal, child and adolescent health, and nutrition using system thinking and context-based approaches. In his spare time, he enjoys traveling, sports and trying new food.

Samanta Anríquez (she/her/hers) is a fourth-year DrPH student, who came sponsored by the Fulbright commission in Chile (2020–2021). She served in Chilean public health services for 6 years, focusing in Primary Care and Family Practice in extreme zones, where she has been the director of a family health center in the Chilean Patagonia. She has a medical specialization in Public Health and a MSc of Epidemiology, both from the Universidad Católica of Chile, where she focused her research on Chronic Multimorbidity and Primary Care Models. She has advocated for Health and Human Rights as a volunteer in Amnesty International while being a medical student at the Universidad of Chile and later worked with Medical Residents Union in Chile. She is currently a fellow at the UC Berkeley Human Rights Center, where her work with Amnesty International Chile focuses on the reparation of Human Rights violations in the Chilean social outbreak in October 2019. She is the mother of two beautiful girls who joined her, and her husband in this adventure.

Ifunanya Dibiaezue is a fourth year DrPH student. She is a Public Health Professional with over 7 years of experience in maternal and child health, communicable and non-communicable disease prevention, nutritional awareness and training programs, and public health policy development. She holds a Bsc degree in Biomedicine from the University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK, and a Master of Public Health (MPH) from the University of York, York, UK. While working as an Assistant Program Officer in Africare under the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves Project, Ifunanya helped increase the earning capacity of over 1000 women cooks, reduce indoor air pollution and reduce the incidence of respiratory diseases by 65% in Lagos State, Nigeria. In addition, she has helped improve the health of people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) in Southern Nigeria. She has coordinated over 25 HIV testing and counseling programs, and training campaigns with over 70 clinical staff to improve the overall quality of care for PLWHA. She is also very passionate about promoting healthy lifestyles among women. She is the founder of ActivEaters, an organization that focuses on improving the quality of health of women through diet, exercise, and behavior change.

Amanda Marr Chung is a 4th year DrPH candidate. Her current research focuses on the integration and sustainability of vertical health programs. Most recently, she was the UCSF Project Director and PI for an HIV grant to support the Zimbabwe Ministry of Health and Child Care in transforming the Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision program into an integrated, sustainable program that is government led and owned. Amanda is also an Evaluation Specialist for the UCSF Malaria Elimination Initiative and is currently working with the Thailand malaria program. She received her Master’s degree in Community Oriented Public Health Practice from the University of Washington and her AB in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from Princeton University. She has over 15 years of experience in global health in the areas of program management, leadership development, and monitoring and evaluation for HIV, eye health, immunizations, maternal, newborn, and child health, and malaria. She is passionate about frontline delivery channels, community interventions, and capacity strengthening and has a keen interest in women’s health. Aside from work, she loves to cook, bake, travel, and pursue many outdoor activities, including running, cycling, backpacking, and alpine skiing. She also dabbled in ice climbing with her partner and is looking forward to the day when they can go with their two sons.

Amanda Mazur is a fourth-year DrPH student at UC Berkeley. She received her MS in Global Health Sciences from UCSF and a BS in Biological Science and BA in International Relations from the University of Calgary. Before attending UC Berkeley, Amanda worked at UCSF on projects in adolescent sexual and reproductive health and coordinated international behavioral health research projects focusing on HIV adherence and stigma reduction, detection and treatment of common mental disorders in community rural health clinics, and understanding intersectional stigma related to HIV and cancer. Prior to starting graduate studies, she worked with the United Nations Development Programme in Zimbabwe to accelerate achievement on the UN Millennium Development Goals. Her research interests include global mental health, sexual and reproductive health, and understanding how systems level approaches can address health outcomes in low-resource settings.

Betsy Pleasants is a fourth year DrPH candidate. She received her Master’s in Public Health in the Maternal, Child, and Adolescent Health (MCAH) program at UC Berkeley in the Spring of 2019. She currently works with the Wallace Center for MCAH Research, the Bixby Center for Population, Health, and Sustainability, and the Fung Fellowship (School of Engineering, UC Berkeley). She is interested in mixed methods approaches to researching and intervening upon sexual and reproductive health issues, particularly in access to reproductive health information and services. She is an Emerging Scholar in the Society of Family Planning’s 2022 cohort, working on her dissertation Understanding r/abortion: A mixed methods study of a Reddit-based online community for abortion in 2022.

Sai Ramya Maddali is a fourth-year doctoral candidate. She has received her MPH in Epidemiology from Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health and BS in Biology from UC Riverside. Her research interests include the multi-level determinants of racial/ethnic health inequities over the lifecourse, neighborhood health effects, theories in Social Epidemiology, and mixed methods research. Sai is a part of the Policies and Life-course approaches to Achieve Community Equity (PLACE) research group at UC Berkeley. Prior to joining the DrPH program, Sai was the Senior Research Associate at Upstream USA and supported the development and evaluation of Upstream’s contraceptive care initiatives in Delaware, Massachusetts, Washington, North Carolina, and Rhode Island. Additionally, Sai also supported UCSF’s Sustainable East Africa Research in Community Health (SEARCH) universal test and treat program in Kenya and Uganda as a Research Analyst. In Sai Ramya’s personal life, she is an avid backpacker, rock climber, and baker and can be found wandering the Californian coast with her spouse and dog.

Chris Rubeo is a third-year doctoral candidate at UC Berkeley in the Doctor of Public Health program. His work has primarily focused on designing programs that enable healthcare providers to meet their patients’ basic needs like nutritious food, affordable transportation, and quality housing. As a researcher at the Center for Care Innovations, he uses human-centered design and quality improvement methods to provide technical assistance to healthcare organizations across California. He is an avid cook, loves to rock climb, and continues to pursue his own musical projects.

Julia Ryan joins the DrPH program with a passion for improving sexual and reproductive health in vulnerable communities globally. Over the past seven years, she has worked on a broad range of quantitative and qualitative research projects at academic institutions, non-profit organizations, and governmental agencies. Most recently, she spent three years as a qualitative research coordinator focused on HIV prevention in sub-Saharan Africa with the Women’s Global Health Imperative at RTI International. Prior to that, she worked on reproductive health research with UNC Project in Malawi, vertical HIV transmission with USAID, Ebola response with the WHO, and Zika response with the CDC. Julia received her BA in Health and Societies with a concentration in Public Health at the University of Pennsylvania, and her MSc in Reproductive and Sexual Health Research from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM). She grew up in Boston and Philadelphia and loves running, reading, and snowboarding.

• 2019–2020 Cohort div; cls: uk-animation-fade; delay: 18" uk-grid > Auwal A.A. Abubakar Andrea Jacobo Alma Juarez-Armenta Daryl Mangosing Amia Nash

Auwal Abubakar joins the DrPH program in fall 2019. Prior to joining UC Berkeley, he worked for Bauchi State Government in Nigeria as the Incident Manager of the Polio Emergency Operations Center (EOC). At this coordinating center, he was responsible for oversight and managed the state’s Polio Eradication Initiatives (PEI) and Routine Immunization (RI) programs. He also participated in the coordination of the Primary Health Care Systems Strengthening program.

He received his undergraduate degree in Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) from University of Maiduguri in Nigeria, and postgraduate degree in M.Sc. Epidemiology and Biostatistics from SRM Institute of Science and Technology in India.

He began his career as a physician providing clinical care and management of HIV/AIDs clients in a tertiary health hospital in Bauchi State Nigeria. During the one year period on this program, he experienced first-hand the limitations and inadequacy of the Nigerian health sector, which oftentimes left him feeling helpless. Most painful to him were the needless cases of children and women who lost their lives due to poor access to life-saving medical interventions and preventive medical services in their communities. He realized quickly that if impact was to be made at scale, he would need to venture into public health and contribute to resource mobilization, program management and health systems strengthening.

Auwal’s primary interest is in the area of HIV/AIDs, Maternal, Neonatal, and Child Health (MNCH). He loves music, traveling, reading, networking, and watching movies.

Andrea Jacobo is a third-year DrPH student at UC Berkeley. She received her Masters of Public Health from The University of Memphis and Bachelors of Science in Exercise Physiology from the University of Miami. Prior to her attending UC Berkeley, Andrea implemented various evidence-based nutrition and physical activity programs in community settings and serving youth to older adults. Along with program implementation, Andrea co-facilitated a community of practice focused on addressing the root causes of health disparities in Memphis through policy, systems, and environment. Andrea’s areas of interest are addressing health inequities through community-centered, people-centered approaches including human-centered design thinking as a tool for community organization and capacity building. She has a passion for community health, culture & arts, and food. In her spare time, Andrea loves to work out and teach group fitness classes to help promote wellness and write poetry to catalyze social change!

Alma Juarez-Armenta is a third-year DrPH student at UC Berkeley. She received her Masters of Public Policy from The University of Chicago and her Bachelors of Arts in Economics and Political Science from the Autonomous Technological Institute of Mexico (ITAM). Before attending UC Berkeley, Alma was awarded a Metcalf Fellowship at the Center for Global Health at UChicago, where she performed cost-benefit and cost-effectiveness analysis for different solutions to alleviate the arsenic poisoning problem in Bangladesh. For the last year, she worked as an advisor to the Health Minister in Mexico, studying the negative effects of conditional cash transfers on the population’s health. Her research interests include quantitative methods and evaluation of public health policies. During her DrPH, Alma hopes to further analyze and develop public policies regarding gender-based violence towards the reduction of femicides in Mexico.

Daryl Mangosing (They/He/She) was a fourth-year DrPH Candidate at UC Berkeley whose interests lie at the intersection of LGBTQ+ health disparities, community-engaged research, mixed-methods, public health discourse, and Critical Theory. For their doctoral studies, Daryl is interested in sexualized drug use (i.e., recreational or illicit drug use to facilitate and enhance sexual activity) and health outcomes among the sexual and gender diverse community in the context of HIV prevention. They were a Berkeley Public Health Graduate Fellow ‘22 in the Institute for the Study of Societal Issues (ISSI) at UC Berkeley. Prior to Cal, they have worked at the Center for AIDS Prevention Studies and Prevention Research Center in the Division of Prevention Science at UCSF, where they drove communication efforts and disseminated HIV prevention and public health research. On the side, they volunteer as a reviewer for conference abstracts, including for APHA Annual Meeting and Expo and the International AIDS Conference, as well as occasionally for a few peer-reviewed journals. As a queer Filipinx from Guam, Daryl received their MPH (Health Communication) from Tufts University and their BA (Health Sciences) from Berea College. Otherwise, Daryl also enjoys going out for nature/urban walks and good food and drinks; plays video games on PlayStation; excessively sends emojis and GIFs when texting; and serves as the human parent for an enigmatic Burmese cat, Sienna.

Amia Nash is excited to start her fourth year of Berkeley’s DrPH program. She attended Santa Clara University for her undergraduate education where she was a public health major and triple minor in biology, sociology, and religious studies. Her diverse coursework challenged her to think critically about the intersections between public health and social justice. Amia earned her Master of Science in Community Health and Prevention Research from Stanford University School of Medicine. Her thesis focused on the ethical considerations for community-based research with homeless populations. Her past research was at the Stanford Center for Youth Mental Health and Well-being where she conducted qualitative research focused on the mental health needs and concerns of Asian-American adolescents and parents in Palo Alto. In 2019, Amia was nominated by the Santa Clara County Behavioral Health Department for a Community Hero Award for her policy and advocacy work focused on adolescent mental health. Amia is currently a graduate student researcher with UC Berkeley’s Innovation 4 Youth lab focusing on youth-led participatory action research (YPAR) in school settings and the use of research evidence in school district decision-making processes. Her research interests include YPAR, adolescent mental health, and social-emotional learning.

• 2018–2019 Cohort div; cls: uk-animation-fade; delay: 18" uk-grid > Jennifer Jarin

Jennifer Jarin received her BSN and MS in Community/Public Health Nursing (Environmental Health Specialty) from the University of Maryland, Baltimore. She also received an MA in Geography from the University of California, Davis. She specializes in issues of “place and health,” particularly regarding environmental justice and health equity.

She began her career as a pediatric intensive care unit nurse, and she worked for Baltimore City’s Reducing Asthma Disparities program. She later became a nursing instructor for UMSON and UCD BIMSON where she has facilitated university partnerships with Head Start programs. She has conducted place-based research at the UCD Center for Regional Change and the UC Berkeley Institute of Urban and Regional Development. She utilizes social justice-oriented critical theory and socio-spatial methods to examine how systemic racism impacts health. She is looking forward to concluding her Doctor of Public Health degree at UC Berkeley.

• 2017–2018 Cohort div; cls: uk-animation-fade; delay: 18" uk-grid > Julie Miller

Julie Miller is a fifth-year in the DrPH program. Julie’s interest in public health began as a high school student when she became inspired by the potential for nutrition to reduce, reverse, and prevent diseases. She studied the relationship between diet and disease as an undergraduate student and graduated with her BA in Public Health from UC Berkeley. After graduation, she moved to New York City to continue to pursue her interest in nutrition at the population level and received her MPH in Public Health Nutrition from NYU. She returned to California after graduation and completed her training and credentialing as a registered dietitian at UCSF. Her work experience as a pediatric dietitian at UCSF introduced her to the field of neonatal nutrition and ignited a passion within her for neonatal nutrition and health. Prior to starting the DrPH program, Julie worked as a neonatal and pediatric dietitian at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital. She is interested in neonatal nutrition research and hopes to investigate and develop nutrition strategies focused on disease prevention and health promotion among infants.

People & Community

Research & Impact

Career Services

Master of Development Practice (MDP)

Forge new and more effective paths toward sustainable development. .

The Master of Development Practice (MDP) is a 21-month practice-oriented STEM-designated program in sustainable development. Combining the academic excellence and social relevance of UC Berkeley with peer learning and experiential learning, the UC Berkeley MDP draws on its location in the Bay Area, the global center of technology and innovation to cultivate leaders and changemakers in the field of sustainable development. 

The UC Berkeley MDP is part of the MDP Global Association , which is a network of over 30 MDP programs globally, and the SDG Academy through the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network (UNSDN). The SDG Academy and the UNSDSN reflect the belief that achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) requires an investment in interdisciplinary academic training combined with practical experience to address development challenges and opportunities.

As part of the Goldman School of Public Policy (GSPP), the Berkeley MDP uniquely benefits not only from the tech ecosystem of the Bay Area, but also other departments at Berkeley, such as the College of Natural Resources, the Haas School of Business, and the School of Public Health, among others. The UC Berkeley MDP draws on the expertise of the UC Berkeley Graduate Group on Development Practice and the MDP Executive Committee, composed of faculty from across these departments to reflect on sustainable development education and explore cross-campus synergies.

The development landscape is always emerging and evolving, and while many of our graduates are at the leading global development organizations and in national and local government, many others work in impact investing, in corporate social responsibility, in product innovation, and in tech, as well as start their own organizations, from NGOs to startups. Berkeley MDP students benefit from the expertise of GSPP career services, which has experience in development practice. As the MDP is a stem-oriented degree, international students are able to apply for an additional 24 months of Optional Practical Training (OPT) after their first year of optional practical training, for a total of three years.

The Program

The MDP consists of a core curriculum, a summer internship after the first year, a second-year capstone project, and electives chosen from GSPP and across GSPP.

The core curriculum spans the fields of climate, energy, agriculture,  and environment, public policy, economic development, public health, project management, and business and innovation, as well as other areas such as human rights, education, migration, humanitarian relief, and governance, while providing opportunities to take electives across the Berkeley campus.  Through a rigorous, interdisciplinary curriculum, graduates are able to think across traditional disciplinary and sectoral boundaries to solve global and local development challenges and find employment in a variety of sectors. See a list of startups and companies founded by MDP graduates .

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Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater

Dear University Village  Residents,

We have partnered with Night Out Night Off to bring you a special night. Graduate students of Color at the University Village and their families are invited to see “ Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater ” at Zellerbach Hall on April 3, 2024 at a  subsidized rate . 

Ticket Details:

• Graduate students of color: $5 per ticket (subsidized by UVA)
• Guest tickets: $10 per ticket (subsidized by UVA)
• Ticket purchase method: All tickets (student and guest) must be purchased by a student using a Berkeley email.
• Please note that there are no refunds or ticket transfers allowed.
• We kindly request that you purchase only one student ticket per Berkeley email. Multiple student ticket orders will be canceled.
• Per the venue’s rules, most performances are  not recommended for children under the age of seven

How to Purchase Tickets: 

• Visit the Night Out Night Off  website
• Select the “ Alvin Ailey  ” event on April 3, 2024
• Enter code “UVILLAGE” to unlock the subsidized rates for Graduate students of Color at the University Village 
• Use your Berkeley email address for the ticket purchase.
• Complete the payment process

We look forward to seeing you there and sharing this experience with our University Village  community. 

University Health Services

Coronavirus (covid-19) information, covid-19, spring 2024 .

Updated 1/11/24

With students, faculty, and staff back on campus for the Spring semester, it’s important we all continue to use the preventive tools we have practiced during the last few years to help slow the spread of COVID-19 and other transmissible diseases.  The key, as always, is staying healthy through good food, sleep, stress reduction, and exercise; practicing good self-care and hand/respiratory hygiene; getting any recommended vaccines; and seeking medical care in a timely manner if you are at high risk for severe disease or develop more severe symptoms. 

We are now at a different point in time with reduced impacts from COVID-19 compared to prior years, due to broad immunity from vaccination and/or natural infection, and readily available treatments for infected people.  Public health officials across the state have undertaken a multi-pronged approach to mitigating COVID-19 disease that includes encouraging vaccination, offering and promoting testing and treatment, and promoting practices like mask-wearing.  Priorities for intervention are now focused on protecting those most at risk for serious illness while reducing social disruption that is disproportionate to recommendations for the prevention of other endemic respiratory viral infections.

How do we know how we are doing?

We are unable to track cases across campus as closely as we did in previous years; public health jurisdictions are no longer routinely doing contact investigations in most settings, including ours, and many cases are not being reported and tracked, due in part to the move to at-home antigen testing. 

Instead, we keep in close communication with our local public health authority in tracking community epidemiology and adjusting our response accordingly.   Wastewater data currently shows SARS-CoV-2 increasing locally and nationally, with a slight increase in hospitalization levels , although both are still much lower than prior surges. This is not unexpected for a respiratory virus, given summer travel and possible waning immunity from prior infections and/or vaccines. 

If you think you have been exposed or are a close contact , you can take an over-the-counter rapid antigen test 3-5 days after exposure. Symptomatic students should wear a mask, get tested , and stay home.  See the UHS testing page for more information. 

Stay well, Bears!

What are the symptoms of COVID-19?

• Reported illnesses have ranged from mild symptoms to severe illness and death for confirmed coronavirus (COVID-19) cases.
• Early symptoms may be nonspecific, such as fever, body aches or chills, scratchy throat, and or/mild stomach upset (diarrhea, loss of appetite, nausea, loss of smell).
• A few days later a dry cough may emerge, which can worsen to start including shortness of breath over several days.
• Upper respiratory symptoms like nasal congestion or sneezing are less common.
• Coronavirus can also be asymptomatic, so it is important to get a test if you think you have had an exposure.
• CDC COVID-19 Symptoms

When to get help

• People who have symptoms should stay home, wear a mask, and get tested . 
• Students can call the UHS Nurse Advice Line at (510) 643-7197 for further guidance. 
• People with severe symptoms such as struggling to breathe should call 911. 

Masking Guidelines 

There are currently no masking requirements on campus. 

Regardless of COVID-19 case rates, the CDC recommends masking:

• If you have symptoms of a respiratory infection, such as a cough, runny nose, or sore throat
• In crowded indoor settings, such as in airplanes, trains, and buses 
• In public areas around people who are older or have medical conditions that put them at increased risk for severe COVID-19
• For 10 days after having a significant exposure to someone who has tested positive for COVID-19
• If you have tested positive. See additional guidance at  What to Do If You Test Positive for COVID-19  

COVID-19 Testing

What to do if test positive, workplace exposures, covid-19 vaccines, close contact exposures.

Health Policy PhD

The PhD Program in Health Policy at UC Berkeley is distinguished by its interdisciplinary application of the social and behavioral science disciplines to real-world health issues. Students select a specialty field from among three tracks (Health Economics, Organizations & Management, and Population Health Sciences) while receiving rigorous training in quantitative research methods. Students augment their training through skills and knowledge from UC Berkeley's top-ranked Economics, Political Science, and Sociology departments, as well as the Haas School of Business and the Goldman School of Public Policy. Graduates of the Health Policy program are well prepared to assume academic careers in research and teaching. The program's interdisciplinary social and behavioral sciences approach to health services and policy research is a cornerstone of the PhD program that enables students to tailor much of their coursework to their own research interests.

Contact Info

[email protected]

2121 Berkeley Way, Room 5302

Berkeley, CA 94720

At a Glance

Department(s)

Health Policy Graduate Group

Admit Term(s)

Application Deadline

December 4, 2023

Degree Type(s)

Doctoral / PhD

Degree Awarded

GRE Requirements

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On this page, you will find the description, instructor(s) of record, unit value, and most recent syllabus for each course. NOTE: Syllabi are restricted to the berkeley.edu domain. To view syllabi, current students must log in with a CalNet ID. Prospective students without a CalNet ID may use this page to view course descriptions. For information about applying to the program, refer to Online Program Admissions Requirements . 

Required Public Health Core and Breadth Courses

Your first-year class schedule is fixed and fulfills the required quantitative core and public health breadth courses. This foundational curriculum introduces subjects across public health, the first step toward understanding what courses you will choose in your next 4 semesters.

Through instruction, you will develop the skills necessary to carry out simple statistical analyses and interpret statistical results, with a focus on the role of probability and statistics in public health. The course is designed to be interactive and to provide opportunities to learn to “speak” statistics.

Term(s) Offered: Fall Full Term and Spring Full Term

Instructor: Emily Place, PhD, MPH

R proficiency level: 0 – None

We will be using R, a statistical programming language, and RStudio, an integrated development environment. Both programs are free. You will learn how to install R and RStudio during the first week of classes.

Practice of Statistics in the Life Sciences Fourth Edition (2018) by Brigitte Baldi and David S. Moore

You will learn about health policy and management and health care delivery systems, primarily from a United States perspective. Discover how health policy and management apply concepts from economics, organizational behavior, and political science to the structure, financing, and regulation of public health and the health care delivery systems.

Term(s) Offered: Summer 1

Instructor(s): Timothy Tyler Brown, PhD; Meghana Gadgil, MD, MPH, FACP

A practical guide for policy analysis: The eightfold path to more effective problem-solving . Bardach, E., & Patashnik, E. M. (2019).  CQ Press. (or earlier version). ISBN-13:   978-1506368887 ISBN-10:   1506368883

Health economics . Bhattacharya, J., Hyde, T., & Tu, P. (2013). Macmillan International Higher Education. I SBN-13: 978-1137029966 ISBN-10: 113702996X – This book is available online through the  UCB Library

Explore environmental agents and factors that contribute to disease in developed and developing countries: i.e. furniture flame retardants, combustion of biomass fuels, or the design of buildings and communities. You will receive an overview of core concepts and their applications in exposure assessment, toxicology, epidemiology, and risk assessment.

Instructor(s): Amod Kumar Pokhrel, PhD (FA); Jay Graham, PhD, MBA, MPH (SP)

No required text for this course. Videos and other resources are found on weekly course pages. A weekly course reader in pdf format which includes video transcripts and course readings will also be available on the course site for you to download.

With a focus on major social, cultural, and bio-behavioral determinants of health as they relate to behavioral interventions and policies, you will explore key concepts and important approaches in health and social behavior; assignments will culminate in a final group project involving a community health issue.

Instructor(s): Evan Vandommenlen-Gonzalez, PhD, MPH (FA); Kira Jeter, MPH (SP)

Intended as a first-class in epidemiology, you will study the principles and methods of epidemiology, including descriptive and analytic approaches to assessing the distributions of health, disease, and injury in populations. The emphasis is on developing an understanding of concepts, rather than quantitative methods, although calculations are involved.

Instructor(s): John M Colford Jr., MD, PhD, MPH (FA); Andrew Mertens, PhD, MA, MS (FA); Sandra McCoy, PhD, MPH (SP)

Aschengrau and Seage. Essentials of Epidemiology in Public Health. 2020. 4th Edition. Jones & Bartlett Learning.

(Note: the publication year is 2020)

This multidisciplinary course draws from current topics and emerging competencies in public health professions to guide you in the tools and practices that lead to better solutions. The topics are delivered by discipline experts with whom you will engage in hands-on workshops, lectures, and gatherings during a week-long campus visit.

Instructor(s): Jodi Halpern, MD, PhD; Amy Slater, JD

REQUIRED Bargaining for advantage: negotiation strategies for reasonable people (Second Edition). Shell, G. R. (2006). New York: Penguin Books. – Available digitally through  UCB Library

OPTIONAL Difficult conversations: How to discuss what matters most. Stone, D. (2010). ISBN-10: 9780143118442 ISBN-13: 978-0143118442 ASIN: 0143118447 -Available digitally through  UCB Library

Epidemiology & Biostatistics Courses

This introductory course will serve as the gateway for students into the world of applied IS. It has been designed keeping in mind students looking to gain a preliminary understanding of the principles and practice of IS. The module will provide a broad overview of the theoretical and evidence-based models and frameworks used in the field as well as the barriers and challenges faced by implementation scientists in the real-world application of evidence-based practices, programs and policies.

Term(s) Offered: Spring 1

Instructor(s): Stefano Bertozzi, MD, PhD

There are no required textbooks for this course. You will find all readings on the bCourses site.

This course provides hands-on experience for students to apply their learnings from “PH225AIntroduction to Applied Implementation Science” to global policy contexts. It has been designed to provide practical exposure to the world of IS, by employing the models and frameworks discussed in the introductory module to diverse public health programs around the world.

Term(s) Offered: Spring 2

Prerequisite(s): PHW225A or Demonstrate substantial prior experience in the field of implementation science research and/or practice

This interdisciplinary regulatory science course brings together participants working in regulatory agencies, public health, law, medicine, business, and policy to gain an understanding of the most prominent product regulation issues in the US and abroad. Innovation is needed to address the 21st century’s evolving regulatory landscape, in the context of new technologies, new understanding of diseases, and a sharpened lens on safety. This new exciting area of science requires a new generation of trained regulatory experts and professionals in academic, government, industry, and public health sectors. Building regulatory capacity is important for the US as well as for the rest of the world. Aiming to address this demand for increased training, the course provides the information needed to understand the most important health practice and product regulation issues in the US and abroad from the perspective of current regulatory standards, their standards for evidence, and the role of innovation in regulatory science. The course features networking opportunities with experts from regulatory agencies, biotech, and the pharmaceutical industry. These guest lecturers will discuss the ongoing need for interaction between government, academia, industry, and the public.

Instructor(s): Veronica Miller, PhD

This course provides a rigorous conceptual treatment of probability and statistics and a tour of linear and logistic regression as viewed through that lens. The focus is on understanding via computer simulation and diagrams rather than on algebraic manipulations. As such, this course will help students clarify the assumptions necessary to say a given statistical method is “valid” and how to precisely define such a notion of validity. Knowledge of R (tidyverse) and high school mathematics is required at the level of 142.

Term(s) Offered: Spring Full Term

Instructor(s): Alejandro Schuler, PhD

Syllabus (draft for the residential course)

R proficiency level: 2 – Developing

You will further your exploration of principles and methods of epidemiology, including descriptive and analytic approaches to assessing the distribution of health, disease, and injury in populations and factors that influence those distributions. The emphasis is on concepts, rather than quantitative methods, but some basic calculations will be involved.

Term(s) Offered: Fall Full Term

Instructor(s): John M Colford Jr., MD, PhD, MPH; Andrew N Mertens, PhD, MA, MS

Recommended textbooks: 

Rothman, K.J., S. Greenland, and T.L. Lash.  Modern Epidemiology.  3rd ed. 2008, Philadelphia, PA: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. (ME3 in the reading list).

Szklo M, Nieto JF.  Epidemiology: Beyond the Basics.  4th ed. 2019, Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett.

In the past, we have required the purchase of these two textbooks. We highly recommend purchasing them, especially if you are focusing on epidemiology in your graduate studies.  Modern Epidemiology  in particular is a useful reference as it is denser and more encyclopedic than  Epidemiology: Beyond the Basics.  This course can be completed without purchasing both textbooks, as many of the chapters have been scanned and included in weekly readers. Scans of the textbooks are available as well for online borrowing via UC BEARS (UCB Electronic and Accessible Reserves System). The loan period is 2 hours, though your loan can be renewed if another student hasn’t checked it out after your loan period expires. You’ll need to use your CalNet authentication to check out either book. Links to the textbooks are below. Prior to borrowing, please read additional information and instructions on using this resource  here .

Modern Epidemiology 3rd ed. (Rothman)

Epidemiology: Beyond the Basics 4th ed. (Szklo)

You will examine the principles and methods underlying the use of R, emphasizing multi-disciplinary, collaborative, and “real world” uses. Throughout the course, You will learn real-world principles of data collaboration using R through discussion of case studies as well as through an applied project.

Instructor(s): William Wheeler, PhD, MPH; Lauren Nelson, MPH

Required textbooks are both available online for free:

• Happy Git with R – Bryan
• R for Data Science (2e) – Wickham, Çetinkaya-Rundel, and Grolemund

In this course we will discuss the theory behind effective graphical design, how to apply this theory to communicate health data to different audiences, and how to produce a variety of graphical types using primarily the ggplot command in the statistical analysis program R. There are two to three lectures per week accompanied by readings. Generally, the course content and assignments alternate weekly between theory and R programming. In the second half of the semester,  we will also cover more advanced topics, including: mapping using geographical information systems (GIS); interactive graphics; Microsoft Power BI; and Tableau, with a focus on creating public health dashboards.

Instructor(s): Adrienne Rain Mocello, PhD

Units: 2 or 3

• Tufte, E. R. (2001) The visual display of quantitative information (2nd ed.). Cheshire, Conn.: Graphics Press.
• Wickham, H. and Grolemund, G. (2017) R for data science. O’Reilly.  Available online for free .
• Batra, Neale, et al. The Epidemiologist R Handbook. 2021.  Available online for free .

This 4-unit course will cover modern quantitative methods relevant to epidemiologic research drawing heavily on concepts covered in PHW250B and PHW241. Course topics include regression models for continuous and discrete outcomes, models for analysis of matched data, Kaplan-Meier estimation, survival distributions, and models for parametric and semi-parametric survival analysis. We will also cover methods for confounder selection, dose-response modeling, and interaction and effect modification. The course format will include 4 hours of lecture and 2 hours of lab per week. Most lectures and labs will be delivered live (synchronous). Students requiring a more flexible experience can view recorded lectures and attend a lab section held in the evening. Completion of PHW250B (Epidemiologic Methods II) and PHW241 (Intermediate Biostatistics for Public Health) is required to enroll; completion of a course in R or practical experience with R is highly recommended.

Instructor(s): Patrick Bradshaw, PhD, MS, MS

R proficiency level: 3 – Proficient

Vittinghoff E, Glidden DV, Shiboski SC, McCulloch CE. Regression Methods in Biostatistics, 2nd. 2012. (Electronic version available online through UC Berkeley Library website.)

With the ongoing “data explosion”, methods to delineate causation from correlation are perhaps more pressing now than ever. This course will introduce a general framework for Causal Inference in Public Health: 1) clear statement of the research question, 2) definition of the causal model and effect of interest, 3) assessment of identifiability, 4) choice and implementation of estimators including parametric and non-parametric methods, and 5) appropriate interpretation of findings. The statistical methods include G-computation, inverse probability weighting (IPW), and targeted minimum loss-based estimation (TMLE) with machine learning.

Prerequisite(s): PHW241 or instructor permission

Instructor(s): Laura B. Balzer, PhD

Students learn (through lectures and graded student presentations and projects) to design clinical and population-level field trials. Topics: formulation of a testable hypothesis; identification of appropriate populations; blinding (including indices for assessment); randomization (including traditional and adaptive randomization algorithms); sample-size estimation; recruitment strategies; data collection systems; quality control and human subjects responsibilities; adverse effects monitoring; improving participant adherence; use of surrogate outcomes.

Instructor(s): John M Colford Jr., MD, PhD, MPH

The following readings are required (specific chapters and sections assigned throughout the semester):

•   Fundamentals of Clinical Trials (5th ed) by Friedman et al –  Electronic version available for free download through UC Libraries ( Fundamentals of Clinical Trials )
•   Randomised Controlled Trials  (2nd edition) by Jadad et al
•  Impact Evaluation 2nd edition by Paul Gertler (free download):  http://www.worldbank.org/en/programs/sief-trust-fund/publication/impact-evaluation-in-practice
• A great resource for impact evaluations and trials by JPAL:  Resources and Tools for Impact Evaluation

You will learn why and how clusters of illnesses/epidemics are investigated. Methods and approaches required for such investigations will be discussed in detail, with a specific focus on basic concepts, developing case definitions, laboratories, surveillance, epidemiology of outbreak data, hypotheses, and communication of results, all in relation to outbreak investigations.

Term(s) Offered: Fall 2

Instructor(s): Wayne Enanoria, PhD

MacDonald P.D.M.  Methods in Field Epidemiology , 2012; Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.

ISBN-13: 978-0763784591

Building upon the competencies of epidemiology and biostatistics, we will explore surveillance, mitigation, preparedness, and response and recovery (from natural and “man-made” emergency events). You will develop familiarity with the major categories and classifications of disaster events, including weapons of mass destruction, including how the public health system integrates with the National Response Plan and Framework.

Instructor(s): Eric Gebbie, DrPH, MIA, MA; Michelle Larson, PhD

Public Health Management of Disasters​ Landesman, L. (2017). ​ fourth edition. APHA Press, DC. ISBN-13:   978-0875532790 ISBN-10:   9780875532790 -Available digitally through  UCB library

Social vulnerability to disasters. Thomas, D. S., Phillips, B. D., Lovekamp, W. E., & Fothergill, A. (Eds.). (2013). CRC Press. – Available digitally through  UCB Library

More than 1400 different infectious diseases recognized today are distinct from other diseases because they affect all human organ systems and contribute to the burden of many other types of disease: 175 new such diseases have emerged in the past 30 years. You will explore the framework through which all infectious disease problems can be addressed.

Term(s) Offered: TBA

Instructor(s):  John E Swartzberg, MD

During this course, you will be provided with links to PDF files of articles and other materials from the UC Berkeley Library Collection.

This course is designed for students who may be interested in working in countries where contaminated water, inadequate sanitation and poor hygiene (WaSH) are the cause of serious health problems. In this course, important concepts in WaSH will be covered so that students can understand what is needed to develop, implement, monitor and evaluate a WaSH program. It emphasizes concepts that are needed to develop effective, appropriate, accessible and affordable WaSH interventions to reduce the global burden of disease.

Term(s) Offered: Summer 2

Instructor(s):  Jay Graham, PhD; Anoop Jain, DrPH

This class is an introduction to the use of the SAS programming language for managing, cleaning and analyzing biomedical data.

Note: this is a Residential course with optional (online) synchronous sessions.  No required attendance on campus.

Instructor(s): Sadie Costello, PhD, MPH

The Little SAS Book: A Primer 5th Edition, Lora D. Delwiche, Susan J. Slaughter, SAS Institute.

Global Health Courses

Using the Murray-Frenk health systems framework, you will engage in a real-world, practical analysis of health systems, along with engaging in current debates about health systems, health financing, and UHC in the international community. Assess health system performance based on quality, cost, and access metrics.

Instructor(s): Neelam Sekhri Feachem, MS

You will apply essential concepts of global health to current challenges through course activities, assignment, and readings. Guest lectures will present global health experts detailing real world initiatives, encouraging critical thinking approaches through the application of tools and frameworks that address diverse global health needs.

Instructor(s): Hildy F Baker, PhD, MHS; Arthur L Reingold, MD

Ethical frameworks, theories, and historical references are used to elevate the ethics conversation to the global stage, linking theory to practice in research, experiential learning, and delivery. Consider ethical questions about the delivery of global public health and the roles of governments, academic institutions, organizations, health professions, and citizens as stewards of public health.

Instructor(s): Rohini J. Haar, MD, MPH; Rebecca Deboer, MD, MPH

Health Policy and Management Courses

This course serves as an introduction to key topics in health policy making in the United States, with a focus on policy analysis methods. Using the policy analysis framework of Eugene Bardach’s Eightfold Path first introduced in PHW200E, the course will explore the entire policy analysis process from the identification of a problem, to the evaluation of policy solutions, and finally to the techniques and formats for effective health policy communications.

Over the course of 8 weeks students will learn, practice and refine policy analysis skills in a team setting through a series of practical exercises. We will touch on the role of research and evidence in forming health policy, and the critical use of data and visualization in health policy contexts. Topics will include current and pressing issues in American health policy with ongoing discussions on equity, intersectionality and racial justice in policy analysis and decision-making.

Upon successful completion of the course, students will gain both a solid understanding of, and the practical skills to complete, the following:

• Build critical policy analysis skills to identify and evaluate the methods used for developing policy alternatives and understand the impact of existing public health policies.
• Critique the role of research and evidence in public health policy formation and evaluation.
• Describe our country’s institutional players (i.e., legislative, administrative, judicial), their roles in policy making and how to influence policy outcomes.
• Apply learned policy analysis skills to proposed and existing public health policies.
• Leverage critical analysis tools of language and framing to develop and advocate health policies in verbal and written communication deliverables.

Term(s) Offered: Summer 2, Fall 2

Instructor(s):  Irina Titova, MPH, MPP; Lizzie Jekanowski, MPH, MPP

This course examines the policy framework for biomedical technology, including medical devices, drugs, diagnostics, digital therapeutics, and algorithms. Emphasis will be placed on the funding of research and development, the protection of intellectual property, FDA market authorization, insurance coverage, and algorithm design. While, the focus will be on the US, the course will examine industrial policy and innovation nationalism within a global context.

Instructor(s): James Robinson, PhD, MPH

The focus is on your development of leadership skills in strategic planning, analysis, and implementation. Emphasis is placed upon the leader’s role in simultaneously taking into account a wide variety of internal and external factors to improve organization and system performance in meeting the health needs of individuals and communities. Prior professional or coursework experience required

Instructor(s): Kimberly MacPherson, MPH, MBA; Sheila Sabahat Baxter-Lamb, MPH; Grace Marie Scott, MPH; Renee Clarke, MPH, RN, BSN

Managing Health Care Business Strategy. George B Moseley III. Second edition. Burlington, MA: Jones and Bartlett Learning, 2018.

HBR’s 10 Must Reads on Strategy for Healthcare Boston, MA: Harvard Business Review Press, 2018.

A solid understanding of organizational behavior is critical for managing complex demands and arrangements in public health organizations. Through exploring the active theories and perspectives in management and organizational theory, you will gain a solid comprehension of a diverse set of frameworks and theories relevant to understanding healthcare delivery and public health organizations.

Term(s) Offered: Fall 1

Instructor(s): Hector Rodriguez, PhD, MPH

Hackman JR. Leading Teams:  Setting the Stage for Great Performances. Boston, MA: Harvard Business Press; 2002

Management of Healthcare Organizations: An Introduction 

Olden PC. Management of Healthcare Organizations, An Introduction. Health Administration Press, 3rd Edition, 2019

The U.S. spends a great deal on health care, yet has relatively poor health outcomes, quality of care, and equity. You will examine how this situation can be improved by analyzing markets and government policy, including identifying contexts where the free market operates relatively well versus poorly and debating the role of government in health and healthcare.

Instructor(s): Brent Fulton, PhD, MBA

The Economics of Health and Health Care, Folland S., Goodman, A.C., and Stano, M.(2017). 8th ed.New York, NY: Routledge.

Cost-effectiveness and cost-benefit analysis tools are applied to the evidence base for population health interventions and policies. You will engage with community and clinical preventive services, systemic population health management innovations, behavioral economics approaches, and policies targeting upstream social determinants of population health.

Term(s) Offered: Spring 1 Note that students may not take both 226C & 226F for credit. Please only register for one of these courses.

Instructor(s): William H. Dow, PhD

Cost-Effectiveness Analysis in Health: A Practical Approach, 3rd Edition. Muennig, Peter and Bounthavong, Mark. (2016). Jossey-Bass. ISBN: 978-1-119-01126-2 This book is available online from the UC Berkeley Library

Cost-Effectiveness Analysis in Health: A Practical Approach, 3rd Edition. Muennig, Peter and Bounthavong, Mark. (2016). Jossey-Bass. ISBN: 978-1-119-01126-2 This book is available online from the UC Berkeley Library

Through a case study format, employing the quantitative functions in Excel, you will gain the basic financial and accounting skills needed by all health professionals. Consider financial decision making in an applied manner, interpret financial statements and ratio analysis, and conduct investment assessments in discounted cash flow, healthcare pricing strategies, and cost-volume-profit/break-even analysis.

Instructor(s): Kimberly MacPherson, MPH, MBA

Nutrition & Community Health Sciences Courses

You will employ digital innovations and social media to promote healthy behaviors and policy in 6 online weeks. Several guests will visit the online class, including public health professional who are currently engaged in new media and digital communications activities.

Instructor(s): Jessica Watterson, PhD, MPH

You will build the necessary skills to plan effective public health programs through examination of the principles and methods underlying program planning; With an emphasis on multi-disciplinary, collaborative, and “real world” planning processes, the course offers a real-world application of program planning principles, along with through critique and discussion of case studies.

Instructor(s): Sharon O’Hara, DrPH, MPH, MS; Brigid Cakourous, DrPH, MPH

Note: this course was previously numbered PHW206.  The course content remains the same and fulfills the same requirement for the Public Health Nutrition Concentration.

This course covers core principles of nutrition and health and provides an overview of the major nutritional needs and issues faced by women of reproductive age, infants, children, and adolescents in the United States and globally, with selected topics explored in greater depth. This course will also explore disparities in various health outcomes related to maternal and child nutrition and provide students the opportunity to apply the course concepts at a personal and programmatic level.

Term(s) Offered: Fall 1 (moved from Summer 2 starting in 2023)

Instructor(s): Sarah Zyba, PhD

Nutrition  Basics: An Active Approach Zimmerman, Z. & Snow, B .  (2021).   v2.1.  FlatWorld Knowledge

Electronic version available for purchase at: https://students.flatworldknowledge.com/course/2597084. (Online Access $29.95; Online Access + E-Book Download $49.95)

* Note that this book is not available through the library, but the 2021 version contains updated information so we do recommend purchasing the most recent version (in any one of the formats offered).

Nutrition assessment tools are used to evaluate an individual’s or population’s nutrition status and/or risk of specific nutrient excess or deficiency. This 3-unit course will discuss various dietary, anthropometric, clinical, and biochemical nutrition assessment tools and provide you with skills to determine which assessment tools are needed based on program/research project goals, how to interpret nutrition assessment survey results and apply them to populations, and critically evaluate the metrics used to define different types of malnutrition.

Nutritional Assessment 7th edition by David Nieman ISBN10: 0078021405 ISBN13: 9780078021404 Copyright: 2019

This course examines the historical origins of food and nutrition improvement programs in the United States, including the political and administrative conditions that led to the development of these programs. It also examines the goals, design, operations, and effectiveness of some of these programs: Food Stamp Program, the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), the National School Lunch Program, the School Breakfast Program, Head Start, the Child Care Food Program, and the Elderly Nutrition Program.

Instructor(s): Hannah Thompson, PhD, MPH

The Anti-Racist and Racial Justice Praxis Spring Student Elective is a semester-long student elective course for continuing MPH and DrPH students. This class will cultivate champions to develop an anti-racist analysis of public health, present a set of anti-racist public health tools, and build skills necessary for advancing an anti-racist agenda within the field.

Prerequisite: HSB Breadth Course (PHW200G)

Instructor(s): Zea Nachama Malawa, MD, MPH; Jenna Gaarde, MPH

Though exposure to the “life course” of a public health evaluation, from initial planning to implementation and sharing results, you will design an evaluation that informs program and policy decisions, using both qualitative and quantitative methods. Small groups will work together to develop a real-world evaluation plan.

Instructor(s): Mara Decker, DrPH, MPH

Evaluation Fundamentals: Insights into Program Effectiveness, Quality, and Value. Arlene Fink. 3rd Edition. Sage Publications. 2015.

You will practice survey research in its different forms, including traditional pencil-and-paper surveys, telephone interviews, and web surveys. Using a project topic of your choice, you will develop a survey instrument and write a research plan to use that instrument. Start thinking about one of your favorite public health research areas!

Term(s) Offered: Spring 1, Summer 2

Instructor(s): Jylana Sheats, PhD, MPH

Ruel, E., Wagner III, W. E., & Gillespie, B. J. (2015).  The practice of survey research: Theory and applications . SAGE Publications.

Blair, J., Czaja, R. F., & Blair, E. A. (2013).  Designing surveys: A guide to decisions and procedures . Sage Publications.

Dietary patterns play an important role in non-communicable disease development and progression. In this course we will discuss how food impacts metabolism and health; trends in diet-related diseases in the United States; and the intersection of diet, culture, racism, and society and how they influence and affect both diet-related disease patterns and the solutions designed to address diet-related diseases in the United States.

Terms offered: Spring 2

Instructor(s): Sarah Zyba, PhD; Meghana Gadgil, MD, MPH, FACP

Spatial Data Science for Public Health Courses

PHW272A is an introductory course in geographic information systems (GIS) that covers topics such as cartography and the processing, visualization, and description of spatial public health data. The course will introduce principles, methods, and techniques that enable students to acquire, manipulate and effectively display spatial data. As maps have become an increasingly popular and powerful means of communicating the spatial complexity of health and disease data, public health researchers and practitioners can increase the impact of their work by using GIS to convey information and synthesize data from multiple sources. The course will cover basic GIS concepts, such as coordinate systems, layering, buffering, joining, merging, and aggregating spatial data, conducting spatial queries, and appropriate visualization of spatial data. Students will gain hands-on practice working with and reporting on a range of spatial health data, through activities that teaches use of R as a GIS platform.

Instructor(s): Amod Pokhrel, PhD, MS

Which spatial data science course is right for me? The GIS Course Matrix might help you with your decision. There are two tabs in the matrix: the first tab provides a comparison of what our three OOMPH courses cover and the second tab compares all GIS courses offered at Berkeley Public Health. If you are considering the residential course options, please see our policy on taking residential courses in the Student Manual under “Program Requirements”.

Still have questions? Please reach out to your faculty advisor .

Students who have completed PHW272A or gained permission from the instructor can enroll in PHW272C. In PHW272C, students will increase their proficiency in the application of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to public health data. The course will cover the theory and methods behind the analysis of patterns of health and disease in space as students will learn how to perform a wide variety of space and space-time analyses. The course will introduce statistical techniques for describing, analyzing and interpreting layers of mapped health data, including the acquisition and classification of remote sensing data. Overall, through this series, students will gain a deeper understanding of the role of locational information in improving our understanding of patterns of health and disease, and the factors that give rise to them.

Prerequisite: PHW272A

Instructor(s): Adam Readhead, PhD, MPH

Geographic information systems (GIS) are increasingly central to public health practice. Therefore, the goal of this course is to familiarize students with the principles, methods, and techniques necessary to apply GIS in diverse public health settings. Through weekly readings and discussions, case studies are presented to introduce the application of GIS technologies (including maps for visualizing clusters, mobile phone-Apps for data collection, and spatial analyses such as proximity analysis and relationships). The course includes assignments aimed at acquiring experience on the use of GIS for infectious disease control, disease cluster detection, environmental justice, health services data mapping, and others. The culminating project is a Story Map in which students use maps they’ve created as well as additional narrative text, images, and optional videos to tell a story that could be used for community health education or influencing policy. This is an introductory course that uses ArcGIS Online. There is no coding. There are no prerequisites.

Instructor(s): Charlotte Smith, PhD, MA