Courses

All students enrolled in the global public health majors - regardless of school - are required to complete six core global public health courses throughout their time at NYU. The courses are offered by the College of Global Public Health and taught by expert faculty from around the university. In Albert, the courses can be found under the heading of University College and begin with UGPH-GU.

Please note that there may be a few exceptions to the courses below based on specialized degree requirements within a specific major. Students will work with his/her advisor on exact global public health course requirements.

Class Schedules

Fall 2017 Class Schedule [PDF]

Spring 2017 Class Schedule [PDF]

Core Courses


UGPH-GU 10	Health and Society in a Global Context	Fall
This course examines social, behavioral and cultural factors that have an impact on public health in community, national and global contexts. We will consider how health is influenced by factors such as age, gender, culture, race and ethnicity, sexual orientation, and social class. Public health problems and their solutions will be analyzed in light of individual risk factors as well as larger structural forces.
UGPH-GU 20	Biostatistics for Public Health	Fall
This course introduces basic concepts and techniques in the analysis of public health data. It is an applied course, emphasizing use, interpretation and limits of statistical analysis. Real world examples are used as illustrations, and computer-based data analysis is integrated into the course.
UGPH-GU 30	Epidemiology for Global Health	Fall
Epidemiology is the study of the distribution and determinants of health and illness in human populations worldwide. The overall objective of this course is to introduce students to the history, principles, and methods of epidemiology in a global context. Students will also examine epidemiological theories, analytic approaches, and tools from a global health perspective. Finally, students will develop the necessary skills to critically read, interpret, and appraise published epidemiological studies and to locate, use, evaluate, and synthesize information from mass media sources.
UGPH-GU 40	Health Policy in a Global World	Fall
This course introduces students to key concepts in health policy formation, implementation and evaluation in a global context. Using a comparative lens, students explore organization, financing and delivery of health care services and health systems around the world. We examine the role of governmental and non-governmental agencies in delivering care and contributing to a health care infrastructure using case studies and other materials in a comparative approach. Key lessons in the implementation of new health policies and initiatives are explored across the developing world, as well as in a US as students explore health system performance, the quality and cost of care, the management of health care services, the process of health improvement and health reform. The course will use a multidisciplinary approach that employs sociological, political, economics, and ethical perspectives. The objective is to build an understanding of the fundamental ideas, issues, and problems currently debated in global health policy and management and to provide a foundation for future studies and careers in the global health field. Epidemiology in a Global World and Health and Society in a Global Context are recommended but not required pre-requisites for the course.
UGPH-GU 50	Environmental Health in a Global World	Fall
This course will examine some of the key issues and principles of environmental health practice. It will focus on the how environmental health issues are defined and approached by civic groups, governmental officials and researchers. It will highlight how environmental threats come to the attention of the public and weigh the options for addressing these threats. Finally, it will underscore the need for multi-disciplinary approaches in understanding these threats and crafting solutions. We will focus on prevention of environmentally mediated diseases and discuss challenges to effective prevention.
UGPH-GU 60	Undergraduate Experiential Learning in Global Public Health	Fall
The global health undergraduate experiential learning experience has a three-fold goal: It: 1) broadens the student's exposure to public health issues, 2) facilitates opportunities for students to observe public health work and leadership in action, and 3) increases the student's knowledge of specific career opportunities. The integration of didactic and fieldwork experiences provide the student with opportunities to critically reflect on the fieldwork experience, complete a public health project that is mutually beneficial to the student and the university, and synthesizes public health approaches. Students who enroll in section 001 are assigned to small teams to complete their experiential learning fieldwork on the first day of class. Fieldwork focuses on a public health issue on NYU’s New York campus. Permission of the instructor is not required. Students who enroll in section 002 find fieldwork placement at an organization of their choosing. They are required to complete the 90 hours of fieldwork and the academic seminar class concurrently during a semester. Permission of the professor is required, and requires prior approval of fieldwork placement. For more information, please go to: http://giph.nyu.edu/academic-programs/undergraduate/experiential-learning-in-global-public-health.html

Global Public Health Electives

The following courses may be used to satisfy the elective requirement for the global public health major. Please note that the relevant electives use to fulfill the requirement may be taken either through the GPH major (starting with UGPH-GU) or through the major department).


UGPH-GU 45	Controversies and Debates	Fall
The provocative controversy as to whether New York City should ban sugary drinks larger than 16 ounces to lower rates of obesity and diabetes is merely the latest example of the ongoing historical debate over how we should be best protect the public's health while respecting civil liberties. Modern public health began with the sanitation movement in England in the mid-nineteenth century. Since then, health officials have instituted mandatory vaccine programs, detained infectious patients and passed laws to limit smoking, change people's diets and mandate traffic safety measures. Despite the improved health that these measures have helped to produce, industry, politicians and libertarian critics have opposed aspects of these initiatives using the mantle of preserving civil rights. This class will use primary and secondary written documents as well as public-service announcements, movies and documentaries to explore how these issues have been characterized and debated in the United States over the past 150 years. Have specific groups in society been unfairly stigmatized by public health efforts? Do we have the right to compel "better" behaviors if people are only hurting themselves and not others? Did health officials deliberately exaggerate the dangers of "second-hand smoke" to get stricter anti-smoking laws passed? Why do we call drunk driving crashes "accidents" when the behavior of drunk drivers is not at all accidental? How well, from a policy and ethical standpoint, did health officials handle the recent outbreak of Ebola? This course will be multidisciplinary in its attention not only to modern public health debates and their historical precedents but also to the ethical and medical issues raised.
UGPH-GU 80	Public Health Entrepreneurial Ventures	Fall
A new GIPH course focused on creating sustainable and scalable Public Health business models, either as stand-alone entities or within a larger corporation. Teams of undergraduate students will explore specific Public Health needs that can be addressed via innovative, entrepreneurial ventures and gain increased business and entrepreneurship skills in a Public Health context.
UGPH-GU 158	History of Medicine	Fall
No description available