Course Description 

PUBH 5110: Fundamentals of Public Health Practice
Overview of the historical perspectives, content, scope, processes and progress of public health practice in the United States over the past 150 years in relation to current and future health needs. The core functions of public health, intervention programs and services, unique features of public health, levels of prevention and the roles of governments (local, state, federal) in public health practice are explored.

PUBH 5111: Biostatistics & Computer Applications
This course covers both parametric and non-parametric statistics. The course will cover t-test for independent means and t-test for non-independent means, the use of Chi-Square statistics tests, regression statistics, and the analysis of variance (ANOVA), use of the arithmetic and geometric prediction involving population data. Epi-info and SPSS software will be used to analyze relatively large population data.

PUBH 5112: Environmental Health and Safety
This course covers the relationship between environmental exposures and diseases. Air pollution control, water pollution control, occupational health and safety, food safety, hazardous and solid waste management issues are discussed. The role of regulatory agencies, individuals and community groups in the management of environmental hazards and toxins is explored.

PUBH 5113: Epidemiology
This course focuses on the principles and methods of epidemiology. Students are exposed to techniques for interpreting epidemiological data and the approaches used for infectious and non-infectious diseases. Attention is given to the applications of quantitative analysis of genomic epidemiological data, clinical data and the prediction of demographic data and methods for the evaluation of health services.

PUBH 5114: Principles of Health and Policy Management
The course examines marketing as a management tool; application of marketing to health care: the marketing process, marketing resources, and strategies for accomplishing marketing objectives, health care personnel policies and programs, human resources requirements, recruitment, development, performance appraisal, salary and wage administration, and management/labor relations in the health industry.

PUBH 5115: Behavioral, Social & Cultural Aspects of Health Disparities
Examines the behavioral, cultural and social contexts of health disparities, their consequences, and implications for the health of minority populations. It discusses the history of health disparities, inequity, and inequality while highlighting their differences; the role of cultural competence and government efforts at reducing health disparities.

PUBH 5116: Community Health Risk Assessment
Advance study of the principles and practice of conducting community-based assessment of risk factors for poor health and health outcomes will be explored. It includes the discussion of individual, group, and contextual factors that contribute to poor health and outcomes and how to measure them. Collaboration among local and state public health departments, voluntary health agencies, and other community organizations is emphasized.

PUBH 5117: Research Methods in Health Sciences
This course covers the principles and strategies of scientific research in the health professions. The course covers the fundamentals of defining a research problem, designing a study, measuring variables, selecting a sample, analyzing data. Emphasis is placed on developing skills needed for analyzing research and assessment of health behaviors, and the selection of health problems and design of research proposals for individual student research projects.

PUBH 5121: Ethical and Legal Issues in Public Health
This course will analyze the ethical issues in public health practice.  Students will learn a systematic process to prioritize and justify public health decision-making and action based on ethical principles and values.  It will review concepts, theories, and ideas from a variety of disciplines including philosophy, political science, law and economics.

PUBH 5122 & 5123: Field Practicum I & II/Capstone Project
The community health practicum provides an integral part of professional education that complements and supports the learning process in the classroom. The experience provides the student with opportunities to apply knowledge and skills learned in the classroom to a variety of field work situations and to test new approaches and techniques in solving problems. The practicum is a meaningful learning experience that contributes positively to the student’s professional development and public health practice. A faculty member will coordinate the field work experience in collaboration with the site preceptors.

PUBH 5124 & 5125: Thesis Proposal and Research & Defense
Students will participate in an independent research project under the supervision of a research mentor. The project will focus on individual and community health interests and problems through literature search, definition of the problem, use of theoretical and conceptual framework, methodology for data collection, analysis, findings, discussion implications and conclusion.

PUBH 5126: Biological Basis of Public Health
Course introduces concepts of disease and disease causation with emphasis on determinants, pathophysiology, social and behavioral factors. Describes both communicable and non-communicable disease distributions at the local, state and national levels with an understanding of the three levels of prevention and community-based intervention strategies for urban and underserved communities. The course is specifically designed for non-health science-oriented graduate public health science students.

PUBH 5127: Management of Health Care Organization
Organizational structures, roles and service delivery of health care organizations such as, for profits, non-profits (community based organizations), hospitals, long term facilities, nursing homes, home health agencies and the public sectors (public insurance, government public health sectors) are explored. Students will also learn  leadership skills and problem solving techniques needed for successful management of diverse healthcare settings and bodies.

PUBH 5128: Health Program Design, Planning, and Evaluation
This course provides the theoretical foundations of program planning and evaluation (including needs assessment, program monitoring, and outcome evaluation), and their applications in public health. Students will design a program plan comprising goals, objectives, implementation, and evaluation.

PUBH 5129: Entrepreneurship in Health care Delivery
This course evaluates opportunities and threats to entrepreneurial endeavors in the health care industry. Explores strategies and designs for health care business development, marketing and financing. Pre-requisites: Introduction to Public Health; Principles of Health Policy & Management.

PUBH 5130: Ethical, Legal and Regulatory Aspects of Public Health Practice.
The course focuses on ethical principles and legal obligations of health care providers to patients. Legal issues relating to public health services given in local agencies, hospital/doctor malpractice, informed consent and patient’s rights in response to state and federal laws will be covered. The course also explores the rights and wrongs of public health service provision with emphasis on the U.S legal system and WHO health service requirements. Learning will include weekly case study examples on these issues by students to evaluate their legal understanding of the rules of Public Health Practice.

PUBH 5131: Health Economics and Financial Management
This course presents economic analysis and the use of managerial economics to study the health care system: demand for medical services; role of health insurance; productivity and cost measurement; labor markets and competition. It examines the principles, models and practical methods for the economic evaluation of health care services, the finance in health care and recent developments in financial management of health care organizations. Applications of financial management techniques to specific problems facing health care managers, budgeting, cost behavior and forecasting, revenue and expense analysis; and strategic planning in health care agencies will be discussed.

PUBH 5132: HIV/AIDS in People of Color: Evidence-based Interventions
This course examines the racial and ethnic disparities in rates of transmission, incidence, prevalence and mortality related to the HIV/AIDS epidemic at the local, national and global levels. Emphasis is placed on the unique and complex dynamics of the epidemic among racial and ethnic minorities in the United States and evidence-based interventions including diffusion of effective behavioral interventions to address HIV risk behaviors. It also discusses biomedical and environmental determinants of HIV infection, and public policy challenges and barriers to HIV prevention among communities of color.

PUBH 5133: Public Health Aspect of Aging
Examines the social, psychological, and physiological changes that occur with increasing age. Using a multidisciplinary approach, it discusses public health approaches to meeting the needs of older people and the public and private policies that affect older people and their families.

PUBH 5134: Global Health
The historical evolution of global health will be explored. The health and economic implications of globalization will be explored from epidemiological perspectives. Emphasis is placed upon understanding of the problems of planning and managing WHO primary health care programs, particularly among people in developing nations where there are relatively high rates of infant mortality, protein energy malnutrition, financial constraints and weak public health infrastructures.

PUBH 5135: Health Care Informatics
Introduction to health informatics involves a broad coverage of technology concepts underlying general computing and information management as it is applied to the continuum of healthcare delivery. Topics includes computer networks, communications protocols, data architecture, Internet, basic computer security, database management, graphical user interfaces, client/server systems and enterprise applications. This course cannot be taken for credit by students who are health information managers.

PUBH 5136: Social, Behavioral, and Cultural Theories in Health Promotion
This course provides the fundamental concepts in social science theories and perspectives that comprise the foundation of health education theory and behavior change. Also provided are competencies for developing a conceptual framework for understanding, predicting, and facilitating behavior change. Students will be introduced to ways behavioral change theories can be applied and translated into specific community health education advocacy and policy-level interventions. Principles of citizen participation, empowerment, coalition and partnership effectiveness as well as social marketing strategies are emphasized.

PUBH 5151: Advanced Epidemiology

This course is designed to provide an in-depth understanding of the principles and methodologies used in Epidemiology for practical application, and critical appraisal for interpretation of epidemiological research.