Required and Elective Courses, 2022-2023
Required and Elective Courses
All students in the PhD in the Health Systems Program must take the required courses listed below. All required courses must be taken for a letter grade except for courses only offered for pass/fail grading. Below you'll find the lists of required and elective courses.
Any application to waive courses must be made in writing (with an approval from the advisor) to the coordinator at least 1 term prior to the start of the course. Even if waivers are granted, students are responsible for course content on comprehensive exams.
Required Courses 2022-23
| Course No. | Course Title | Term | Credits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Health Systems Program Requirements | |||
| 220.605 | Doctoral Seminar in International Health I | 1 | 3 |
| 220.606 | Doctoral Seminar in International Health II | 2 | 3 |
| 221.602 | Applications to Managing Health Services Organizations in LMICs | 1,3 | 3 |
| 220.600 | International Travel Preparation, Safety, and Wellness | 2,3,4 | 1 |
| 221.646 | Health Systems in LMICs* | 2 | 3 |
| 221.620 | Applying Summary Measures of Populations Health to Improve Health Systems** | 2,4 | 3 |
| 221.638 | Health Systems Research and Evaluation in Developing Countries | 3 | 4 |
| 552.608 | Biologic, Genetic, and Infectious Bases of Human Disease | 1,2,3 | 0.5 |
| 220.842 | Doctoral Independent Goals Analysis (IGA) | 1,2 | 1 |
| Research Methods: Biostatistics (choose one of the following series for a total of 16 credits) | |||
|
Statistical Methods in Public Health I Statistical Methods in Public Health II Statistical Methods in Public Health III Statistical Methods in Public Health IV |
1 2 3 4 |
4 each |
|
|
Methods in Biostatistics I Methods in Biostatistics II Methods in Biostatistics III Methods in Biostatistics IV |
1 2 3 4 |
4 each |
|
| Research Methods: Epidemiology | |||
| 340.751 | Epidemiologic Methods I | 1 | 5 |
| 340.752 | Epidemiologic Methods II | 2 | 5 |
| Seminars | |||
| 221.801 | Health Systems Program Seminar I | 1 | 1 |
| 221.802 | Health Systems Program Seminar II | 2 | 1 |
| 221.861 | Doctoral Seminar in Health Systems I (Year 1) | 3 | 1 |
| 221.862 | Doctoral Seminar in Health Systems II (Year 1) | 4 | 1 |
| 221.863 | Doctoral Seminar in Health Systems III (Year 2) | 1 | 1 |
| 221.864 | Doctoral Seminar in Health Systems IV (Year 2) | 2 | 1 |
| Ethics | |||
| 550.860 | Academic and Research Ethics at BSPH | 1 | 0 |
|
550.600 or |
Living Science Ethics Responsible Conduct of Research or Research Ethics and Integrity: US & Int'l Issues |
1,4 3 |
2 3 |
| CITI Training | |||
*PhD students may take the on-campus OR online version
**PhD students MUST take on-campus version ONLY
Elective Courses 2022-23
Fifteen (15) additional credits are required for the PhD program from the following list of elective courses, if not already selected to satisfy another requirement. The courses must cover at least 2 of the 3 blocks detailed below. These courses must be taken for a letter grade with the exception of courses only offered pass/fail grading.
| Course No. | Course Title | Term | Credits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Health Systems Management | |||
| 221.722 | Quality Assurance Management Methods for Developing Countries | 1 | 4 |
| 312.617 | Fundamentals of Financial Accounting | 1 | 3 |
| 312.603 | Fundamentals of Budgeting & Financial Management | 1-4 | 3 |
| 221.608 | Managing NGOs in the Health Sector | 3 | 3 |
| 312.604 | Quantitative Tools for Managers | 2,3,4 | 2 |
| 221.610 | Pharmaceuticals Management for Under-Served Populations | 3 | 3 |
| 312.633 | Health Management Information Systems | 3 | 3 |
| 312.621 | Strategic Planning | 3,4 | 3 |
| International Health Topics | |||
| 180.620 | Food Systems and Public Health | 1 | 4 |
| 221.613 | Introduction to Humanitarian Emergencies | 1 | 2 |
| 221.639 | Health Care in Humanitarian Emergencies | 1,2 | 3 |
| 221.612 | Confronting the Burden of Injuries: A Global Perspective | 2 | 3 |
| 224.689 | Health Behavior Change at the Individual, Household, and Community Levels | 2 | 4 |
| 221.637 | Health Information Systems | 2 | 3 |
| 221.627 | Issues in the Reduction of Maternal and Neonatal Mortality in LMICs | 2 | 4 |
| 221.635 | Advances in Community-Oriented Primary Health Care | 3 | 4 |
| 182.626 | Issues for Water and Sanitation in Tropical Environmental Health | 3 | 2 |
| 221.616 | Ethics of Public Health Practice in Developing Countries | 4 | 2 |
| 221.661 | Project Development for Primary Health Care in Developing Countries | 4 | 4 |
| 221.624 | Urban Health in Developing Countries | 4 | 3 |
| 410.610 | Health and Homelessness | 4 | 3 |
| Health Policy | |||
| 300.600 | Introduction to Health Policy | 1 | 4 |
| 221.614 | International Political Science for Public Health Practitioners | 2 | 2 |
| 300.712 | Formulating Policy: Strategies & Systems of Policymaking in the 21st Century | 2 | 3 |
| 223.687 | Vaccine Policy Issues | 3 | 3 |
| 221.650 | Health Policy Analysis in LMICs | 3 | 3 |
| 300.713 | Research and Evaluation Methods for Healthy Policy | 3 | 3 |
| 300.652 | Politics of Health Policy | 4 | 4 |
| 308.610 | The Political Economy of Social Inequalities and Consequences for Quality of Life | 4 | 3 |
Research/Analytical Methods Electives
Fifteen (15) additional credits are required from the following list of courses. The selected courses must cover at least 2 of the 5 blocks. These courses may be taken for a letter grade or pass/fail grading.
| Course No. | Course Title | Term | Credits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Quantitative Methods | |||
| 140.646 | Essential of Probability & Statistical Inference I: Probability | 1 | 4 |
| 330.657 | Statistics for Psychosocial Research: Measurement | 1 | 4 |
| 340.728 | Advanced Methods for Design and Analysis of Cohort Studies | 1 | 4 |
| 140.647 | Essentials of Probability & Statistical Inference II: Statistical Inference | 2 | 4 |
| 340.606 | Systematic Reviews & Meta-Analysis | 3 | 6 |
| 340.753 | Epidemiological Methods III | 3 | 5 |
| 340.715 | Problems in the Design of Epidemiologic Studies: Proposal Development & Critique | 4 | 5 |
| Health Systems Research & Evaluation | |||
| 221.645 | Large-Scale Effectiveness Evaluations of Health Programs | 2,4 | 4 |
| 309.712 | Assessing Health Status & Patient Outcomes | 2 | 3 |
| 340.717 | Healthy Survey Research Methods | 2 | 4 |
| 380.711 | Issues in Survey Research | 3 | 3 |
| 223.664 | Design and Conduct of Community Trials | 3 | 4 |
| 380.712 | Methods of Analysis of Large Population Surveys | 4 | 3 |
| Qualitative Methods | |||
| 224.690 | Qualitative Research Theory and Methods | 1,3 | 3 |
| 224.691 | Qualitative Data Analysis | 2,4 | 3 |
| 410.710 | Concepts in Qualitative Research for Social & Behavioral Sciences | 2 | 3 |
| 224.692 | Formative Research for Behavioral & Community Interventions | 3,4 | 4 |
| Methods in Specific Topics | |||
| 221.641 | Measurement Methods in Humanitarian Emergencies | 2 | 2 |
| 222.647 | Nutrition Epidemiology | 3 | 3 |
| 380.750 | Migration and Health: Concepts, Rates, and Relationships | 3 | 3 |
| 221.644 | Econometric Methods for Evaluation of Health Programs | 4 | 4 |
| Health Economics** | |||
| 313.601 | Economic Evaluation I | 1 | 3 |
| 313.602 | Economic Evaluation II | 2 | 3 |
| 313.643 | Health Economics | 2 | 3 |
| 221.652 | Financing Health Systems for Universal Health Care | 3 | 3 |
| 313.603 | Economic Evaluation III | 3 | 3 |
| 221.644 | Econometric Methods for Evaluation of Health Programs | 3 | 4 |
| 313.641 | Introduction to Health Economics | 3 | 3 |
| 313.644 | Intermediate Health Economics | 3 | 3 |
| 221.662 | Globalization and Health: Economic Development | 3 | 3 |
| 221.663 | Globalization and Health: A Framework for Analysis | 4 | 3 |
**The Health Systems Program also offers a Health Economics “specialization,” which tracks with school-wide standards set out by the interdepartmental PhD Program in Health Economics. For further information on these courses, see the Health Systems Program Coordinator.