MPH/MS in Epidemiology Spring Courses

MPH0002 Public Health Surveillance

Credits: 3 Offered: Spring 1

Public health surveillance is the ongoing systematic collection, analysis, and interpretation of data to prevent and control disease. This course will introduce students to local, national and global surveillance systems, including NHANES, BRFSS, NYC Community Health Survey. Through class lectures, demonstrations and lab assignments students will link health data to public health practice. The course is a requirement for students in the Health Promotion Disease Prevention track.

MPH0014 Program Planning

Credits: 3 Offered: Spring 1

Students will learn to design an evidence-based and culturally appropriate public health program, in both US and developing country contexts. Specifically, students will gain competence in analyzing local needs and resources; developing an evidence-based and technically and programmatically sound causal pathway; articulating program objectives; designing relevant program partnerships and technical components; and designing the program's monitoring and evaluation plan, implementation plan and budget.

Pre-requisite: Completion of 1-2 terms in the Program.

MPH0021 Seminar in Applied Preventive Medicine

Credits: 1 Offered: Spring 1

This weekly seminar focuses on current local, national, and international issues in public health and preventive medicine. Discussions center on critical review of new published literature in public health and include topics related to health policy, economic and legal issues, and the impact of these issues on the health of populations. There will be didactics on public health ethics, risk communications and preventive medicine research as well as critical review of enrolled student research or theses. On a rotating basis, each student is responsible for setting the agenda and chairing seminar discussions.

Pre-requisites: MPH0400 Introduction to Epidemiology MPH0300 Introduction to Biostatistics

Students who are not Residents in the Department of Preventive Medicine must receive permission from Course Director prior to enrolling in this course.

MPH0023 Culminating Experience Seminar

Credits: 1 Offered: Spring 1

This seminar is designed for second year students who will be completing a capstone for their Culminating Experience. These words are more than a paper - They are major independent projects that requires you to design, implement, and present professional work of public health significance. This course will help you design your Culminating Experience, start writing your works, and give and receive feedback from peers. The course is heavily interactive. We will work with materials provided primarily by the students. By the end of the term, you should be ready to complete your Culminating Experience. Pre-requisites: MPH0320 Research Methods or MPH0720 Preparation for Global Health Fieldwork Students must have their Culminating Experience Statement of Support and Project Outline submitted to the Program Office before registering for this course.

MPH0216 Health Promotion Strategies

Credits: 3 Offered: Spring 1

Health promotion involves the therapeutic use of lifestyle strategies, such as a predominantly whole food, plant-based diet, exercise, stress management, tobacco and alcohol cessation, and other non-drug modalities to prevent, treat, and reverse chronic disease. It is the practice of educating, equipping, and empowering individuals with the information and resources they need to protect their health and fight disease. This course offers the knowledge and skills recommended by a national panel of representatives from physician and health professional organizations as the basis for providing quality health promotion in lifestyle medicine services. Topics covered include the fifteen core competencies identified by the panel which focus on clinical processes, as well as a review of key modalities: nutrition, physical activity, sleep, coaching behavior change, tobacco cessation, managing risky alcohol use, and stress management/emotional wellness. The course provides basic grounding in the field of health promotion (HP) and in lifestyle medicine (LM), and focuses on practical skills for public health practitioners.

Pre-requisite: MPH0002 Public Health Surveillance

MPH0092 Applied Practice Experience

Credits: 3 Offered: Spring 1

For students who matriculated in or after Fall 2017 The Applied Practice Experience provides the student with an opportunity to translate theory into practice within a public health setting. The Applied Practice Experience Proposal must be submitted to the Office of Public Health Practice for approval prior to the beginning the experience. Students who matriculated in the Fall 2017 term or later will register for MPH0092 to satisfy the fieldwork requirement. Pre-requisites: Applied Practice Experience Proposal ‚Students should complete at least 15 credits of MPH coursework before starting the Practicum.

MPH0095 Independent Study for Public Health

Credits: 1-3 Offered: Spring 1

An Independent Study is an elective option, providing the student with an opportunity to delve more thoroughly into an area of public health of specific interest to him/her. An Independent Study Proposal should be submitted at least six weeks prior to the anticipated start of the proposed project/course of study. This is to ensure that the goals meet the overall objectives of the Master of Public Health Program before a student commits any time and energy. Approval, when granted, is conditional upon the student completing all of the outlined requirements. The student must submit a Postscript Report and request that the faculty sponsoring the Independent Study complete the Evaluation Form. Final credits are awarded at the end of the project by approval of the Program Director. Three credits are the maximum number of credits that may be awarded to any Independent Study. One credit represents approximately 45 hours of work. Please note that students will not receive any more than three credits for one project/course of study. Each student may complete no more than two independent study projects. An Independent Study must be a unique experience. Material covered during an independent study project should be highly targeted and not simply a review of the regularly offered coursework. Independent study projects should not be attempts to take MPH courses that are offered routinely during the academic year. Students should not expect an Independent Study project to exempt them from required courses without approval by the Specialty Track Advisor and the Program Director. Please see the Student Handbook for the full policy and procedures associated with the Independent Study option.

MPH0097 Culminating Experience

Credits: 3 Offered: Spring 1

Students who are completing a First Author Manuscript or Capstone should register for MPH0097 Culminating Experience (students who are completing a Master’s Thesis should register for MPH0099 only). Students register for their Culminating Experience in their last term before degree conferral, while preparing to submit their First Author Manuscript or Capstone. Please refer to the MPH Culminating Experience Guide as a resource for the steps that need to be taken to fulfill the Culminating Experience requirement.

MPH0099 Thesis: Masters in Public Health

Credits: 3 Offered: Spring 1

Students who are completing a Master’s Thesis should register for MPH 0099 in their last term before degree conferral, while preparing to submit their Thesis. Please refer to the MPH Culminating Experience Guide as a resource for the steps that need to be taken to fulfill the Culminating Experience requirement.

MPH0103 Strategic & Program Management

Credits: 3 Offered: Spring 1

This course is an introduction to understanding; the competencies, roles and responsibilities of public health and health managers; health organizations, which are complex and changing in response to community needs and to changing environments; the skills required to establish and maintain organizational culture and organizational change; and talent and team management. Through readings, class discussion and the analysis of case studies, students, will have an opportunity to explore and identify key management and leadership challenges impacting public health and health; formulate and evaluate alternative solutions to problems; learn verbally and in writing to present analysis of managerial plans and proposals. The course will emphasize skill development in the management of mission, strategy, operations and the business aspects of health organizations.

MPH0111 Organizational Behavior & Human Resources

Credits: 3 Offered: Spring 1

Human resource management in health organizations and the relationship between HR, organizational strategy, and organizational behavior is the focus of this course. We will analyze human work behavior at the individual, interpersonal, team and organizational levels. Included are topics such as motivation, communication, group and team dynamics, leadership, decision-making, job and organization design, conflict management, organizational culture and identity, and organizational change. We will apply organizational behavior theory and explore the factors that affect behavior, performance, and job satisfaction of people working in organizations. The objectives of the course will be to understand the characteristics and processes of work organizations; to successfully develop management skills; to apply the skills of management and impact organizational behavior and performance.

MPH0105 Health Economics

Credits: 3 Offered: Spring 1

The intent of this course is to train future public health practitioners on the economic and political questions that emerge in the process of developing health systems. The various sessions during the course will review core economic principles applied to the role of governments, the private sector and the competitive marketplace. The course will provide an overview of traditional microeconomic theory and practice as applied to demand, supply, competition, monopoly, and social welfare. It will drill down on topics such as role of governments, private sector, market competition, government failure and market failure. Special sessions will be devoted to topics on clinical services, non-clinical services, the health care workforce, health financing, the health related manufacturing sectors (pharmaceuticals, medical technology and information technology) and leadership/health management. Special attention will be paid to the implication of the Covid 19 crisis for the economic function and performance of health care system and its major components. The major course output will be guided, semester-long exercises in analyzing and developing strategic development plans from a public health professional’s perspective to guide political and economic decision making. The focus on health systems is a concrete means to understand the more general competencies involved in the application of economic analysis, which include political, financial, technical and organizational skills. The course will link to the ongoing health care reform debate to help participants understand the underlying economic issues raised by the reforms.

MPH0212 Life Cycle of Violence: Implications for Public Health

Credits: 2 Offered: Spring 1

According to Healthy People 2020, “Acts of violence are among the top 15 killers of Americans of all ages.” Once thought of solely as a criminal justice issue, violence prevention and intervention have been embraced as a major public health issue. The television drama, Law and Order: Special Victims Unit (SVU), claims to be “fictional” and states that their show “does not depict any actual person or event.” Yet many episodes strongly resemble real-life situations “ripped from the headlines,” with a few added twists and turns to enhance the plot! Students will view SVU episodes and read peer reviewed articles to guide interactive discussions on the impact of violence over the course of the lifespan on health and wellbeing. Insights from this course will drive more thoughtful and informed practice when working with this important leading health indicator.

MPH0211 Substance Abuse & Public Health

Credits: 2 Offered: Spring 1

Substance abuse is epidemic across NYC and the country. Approximately 20.6 million people ages 12 and over struggle with substance abuse or addiction. Substance abuse is a public health crisis and touches the lives of children, adolescents, and adults across all racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic backgrounds. The course will explore the intersection of Substance Abuse and Public Health. Topics include substance abuse and mental illness, tobacco control, the epidemic of substance abuse in NYC, marijuana and teens, decriminalizing drug use, overdose in the ER, binge drinking on college campuses, environmental and genetic risk factors for opioid addiction, as well as other topics. This problem-based course will be seminar style with experts as well as an emphasis on exposure to recovering addicts coupled with evidence-based practice, policy, and research. Students may attend an AA or NA meeting. At the end of the course, they will present on a controversial area of addiction. Students who successfully complete this course will be able to: Assess the social, cultural, political, economic, and environmental factors that promote or prevent substance abuse in an individual or community. Design an intervention or program to prevent or manage substance abuse on a population level. Identify the behavioral and neurobiological effects of substance abuse

MPH0120 Managed Care & Healthcare Reform

Credits: 3 Offered: Spring 1

Following a brief survey of the 3000 year history of insurance, the course will focus on health insurance and reform in this country before examining the variety of techniques used by managed care organizations and various national health systems to balance health expenditures, access and quality of healthcare. Through weekly Socratic-type discussions about contemporary healthcare controversies, the course will help develop students’ critical thinking about health policy alternatives and managerial decision-making. Feedback on short weekly essays, student presentations, and a final essay will help students improve their written and presentation skills.

MPH0305 Introduction to Qualitative Research Methods

Credits: 3 Offered: Spring 1

Qualitative research involves the collection and rigorous analysis of observations, interviews, and other records of human activity so that we can come to a richer understanding of structures, processes, and perspectives that drive or shape human behavior, particularly when it comes to health. This course is designed to introduce students to qualitative research methods and will use a combination of didactic, interactive, and applied techniques to teach knowledge and skills relevant to qualitative research. The course emphasizes practical skills of qualitative research design, data collection (i.e., interviewing, focus group facilitation) and data analysis. By the end of the course students will develop skills in how to formulate appropriate qualitative research questions, determine which qualitative data collection method is most appropriate, collect qualitative data using interviews and focus group discussions, and analyze qualitative data. Students will be exposed to different styles of presenting qualitative research results and will consider different ways in which qualitative data is used in practice.

MPH0412 Epidemiology II

Credits: 3 Offered: Spring 1

Epidemiology is the study of the distribution and determinants of health-related states and events in specified populations, and the application of this knowledge to control health problems. This course will introduce students to concepts that guide the design and analysis of various epidemiologic study designs, including counterfactuals, confounding, effect measure modification, measurement error and bias, as well as practical considerations. In parallel with lectures and assigned readings, lab sessions will guide students through applications of these concepts, including constructing causal diagrams and using SAS software for epidemiologic analysis. Pre-requisites: MPH0400 Introduction to Epidemiology MPH0300 Introduction to Biostatistics Basic SAS proficiency

MPH0413 Introduction to Epidemiology Data Analysis with R

Credits: 3 Offered: Spring 1

R is an open-source language widely used by epidemiologists to manage and clean data, carry out statistical analyses of epidemiologic data, and produce high-quality figures for research communications. This course will give students a solid foundation in the most important tools for performing epidemiology data analyses using R. Students will learn how to import data into R, merge datasets, clean and transform variables, visualize, and model population data. Emphasis will be given to modeling approaches for association estimates calculation such as beta coefficients, relative risks, and odds ratios using R. Students will be given hands-on training during class and work on an epidemiologic project using R. Prior programming experience is helpful but not necessary.

MPH0417 Mental Health in the Modern Age

Credits: 3 Offered: Spring 1

Mental health is a critical component for high quality of life. Poor mental health is in and of itself aversive, and can lead to poor physical health and in some cases even death. The purpose of this course is to develop understanding modern conceptualizations of mental health on a population level. This will be accomplished by: studying mental health within the context of its historical perspectives, providing foundational learning on the major classifications of mental health disorders and their impact on society, and providing insights into what is, and what factors lead to, “good” or positive mental health. Pre-requisites: MPH 0400 Introduction to Epidemiology

MPH0419 Environmental and Occupational Epidemiology

Credits: 3 Offered: Spring 1

This course focuses on the fundamentals of epidemiological methods specific to environmental and occupational health research. The course will provide students with an insight to appropriate study designs and methodologies to investigate health effects of environmental and occupational exposures in different settings. These include essential concepts involved in generating research hypotheses, as well as environmental and occupational health specific issues such as use of exposure biomarkers, exposure sampling and modeling of exposures, study design issues, confounding and other types of bias, and phenotyping issues as they relate to environmental and occupational factors. We will also review novel data analytic strategies unique to environmental and occupational health (e.g. exposure mixtures), the nascent field of exposomics, and the interpretation of the study findings and public health implications for environmental and occupational epidemiological research. The students will also learn the techniques for critical appraisal of environmental and occupational epidemiological studies. These are achieved through lectures with in-depth discussion of current research status on environmental and occupational epidemiology, readings, homework assignments, mid-term exam, hands-on statistical analysis workshops, and a final project.

MPH0500 Introduction to Environmental Health

Credits: 3 Offered: Spring 1

This course provides an overview of important topics in environmental and occupational health. The classroom sessions will focus on the health effects of exposures arising from air, water, food, work, built environment, and climate change. Case studies, current events, and relevant public health data tools will be emphasized. Small group sessions will allow students to explore and interpret environmental health data and discuss this data in context of common environmental public health case studies. Applicable principles of risk communication, toxicology, environmental epidemiology, and preventive medicine, as well as fundamentals of occupational and environmental laws and regulation will be discussed. The course provides basic underpinnings of the theory and practice of environmental health, and provides a structural framework for thinking about the field as a public health discipline.

MPH0705 Racism and Public Health in the United States

Credits: 3 Offered: Spring 1

The Racism and Public Health in the United States Course will provide an introduction to the history of racism in the United States and its impact on social determinants of health. The Course aims to provide a contextual framework for examining structural racism as one of the root causes of health disparities. The Course will provide an overview of how social determinants of health not only impact an individual's health outcomes but also have an impact on future generations. This Course will highlight long-standing racism and racist policies in the United States that have adversely impacted BIPOC communities. The Course will introduce students to the concepts of racism in healthcare, structural racism, individual racism, and interpersonal racism. The Course content will discuss how public health policies, their implementation, budget and funding, impact the social determinants of health. By examining the ways that social determinants of health are being conceptualized by epidemiologic and social science tools, such as fundamental cause theory, structural violence, intersectionality and capabilities frameworks, students will explore ways to operationalize these understandings into their public health research and program intervention strategies. The goal will be to shift the conversation from race to racism as the root cause of health inequities in the Black population. This Course will be conducted via a series of didactics, case discussions, guest lectures and group discussions as well as a round table conference of experts in the field. The students will also be encouraged to participate in a survey to discern their understanding of the subject matter. Students may be required to participate in focus groups to ensure that the Course is being conducted in a respectful environment which is fostering learning and growth.

MPH0707 Humanitarian Aid in Complex Emergencies

Credits: 3 Offered: Spring 1

This is an upper level global health course informed by the course director’s experience as advisor to the Director-General of the World Health Organization. This course will explore current public health and humanitarian crises and address the tensions between aid practitioners and academics, between countries and international agencies, health and human rights using historical and current case studies of outbreaks, armed conflict, natural disaster, and climate change. Students will develop critical thinking and hone written communication skills such as opinion pieces in order to inform and engage in public debate. How should international relief efforts respond to modern humanitarian emergencies that have become chronic, expensive, political and unpopular with governments increasingly focused on populism? In armed conflicts, how do officials delivering humanitarian aid ensure that assistance does not provide subsistence to warring factions? For the COVID-19 pandemic, are public-health officials striking the right balance in the global South between a reliance on technical innovations and the need to develop basic health care? This course will examine issues including the politicization of international response and the role of the World Health Organization and United Nations agencies and other international organizations.

MPH0812 Applied Linear Models I

Credits: 3 Offered: Spring 1

Regression analysis is a widely used set of methods for exploring the relationships between response variables and one or more explanatory variables. This course provides an introduction to regression methods for a single continuous response variable. Both linear and curvilinear regression models are considered. Model assumptions, and regression diagnostics for assessing those assumptions, are explored in detail. Strategies for model selection are presented. The emphasis is on concepts and application rather than on underlying theory. As mathematical results are presented without proof, students are not required to be proficient in calculus or matrix algebra. Pre-requisites: MPH0300 Introduction to Biostatistics

MPH0802 Statistical Computing with SAS

Credits: 2 Offered: Spring 1

This course provides students with the skills needed to utilize SAS systems for data management in order to prepare datasets for statistical analysis. In addition, procedures that are used to conduct basic statistical analyses and produce graphical output will be covered. Students will be given hands-on training using sample data provided by the instructor as well as (optionally) data from their own work. Recommended Pre-requisite: MPH0300 Introduction to Biostatistics

MPH0710 Global Environmental Change

Credits: 3 Offered: Spring 1

Climate change is not a single problem, but a lens through which to view myriad changes to our environment that will determine the future for humans on this planet. Changes to biodiversity, hydrological systems, land use, waste management, energy production, distribution of environmental toxicants; these and more are all part of the larger category of global environmental change. This course will focus on how global environmental change is affecting human health, presenting major challenges to physicians, scientists, institutions, governments and communities. There are solutions, and public health messengers must be informed to bring those solutions to the decision-makers in our neighborhoods and around the world.

MPH8001 Maintenance of Matriculation

Credits: 0 Offered: Spring 1

Matriculated students must either register for at least one credit-bearing course or register for "Maintenance of Matriculation" for every term, up until graduation. Maintenance of Matriculation allows students continued access to essential academic and student services, such as access to the ISMMS network and email; however, students on Maintenance of Matriculation status will not be eligible for financial aid. Students with compelling circumstance who wish not to maintain their matriculation status but need to discontinue their studies for a period of time can apply for a Leave of Absence from the program (see Leave of Absence and Withdrawal section). The Maintenance of Matriculation fee is $500 per academic semester or $333 per term for students in programs on trimesters