Search: Course, Human Health

The goal of this course is to familiarize students with applications of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and remote sensing (RS) in Public Health. Selected case studies will be presented in order to highlight principles, methods, and techniques of spatial analysis. Topics include making effective disease surveillance maps, color theory and visualization, global positions systems (GPS), remote sensing data acquisition, visualization, classification, and accuray assessment. Relevant studies will be presented for students interested in infectious diseases, vector control, cancer cluster detection, environmental health, and healthcare access. Hands-on exercises and a project will provide practical experience in the use of GIS and RS tools and methods.

The scientific knowledge necessary to assess the hazards of chemical exposure to human male and female reproduction. Includes the effects of exposures in the environment. Nonchemical hazards to reproduction, e.g., radiation, are not discussed.

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.

This course introduces the basic scientific components of environmental and occupational health risk assessment and describes the policy context in which decisions to manage environmental health risks are made. The course presents the quantitative methods used to assess the human health risks associated with exposure to toxic chemicals, focusing on the four major components of risk assessment: hazard identification, dose-response assessment, exposure assessment, and risk characterization. Students use these tools to develop their own risk assessment for an environmental health problem. The course also provides a broad overview of occupational and environmental health regulations with consideration of how hazard, risk, cost, and benefits are considered. Current political controversies about environmental policy will be examined.

This course is designed to provide students with a broad overview of the field of public health and a basic understanding of the contributions of the environmental, behavioral, and management sciences to the practice of public health. A central organizing principle of the course will be the concept of risk, particularly as this relates to an analysis of public health and the environment, behavior, and the management sciences. By the conclusion of this course, students will be able to discuss and describe seminal as well as current theories and methods underlying societal efforts to 1) manage ambient and place-specific toxins; 2) manage behaviors that increase individual and collective risk of illness; 3) build organizations that manage toxins as well as individual and collective risk taking; and 4) use the power of the state to manage toxins as well as individual and collective risk taking.

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.

Comprehensive strategies for the assessment and control of water-related human pathogens (disease-causing microorganisms). Transmission routes and life cycles of commom and emerging organisms, conventional and new detection methods (based on molecular techniques), human and animal sources, fate and transport in the environment, treatment and disinfection, appropriate technology, regulatory approaches, water reuse

Course covers introduction to the basis of common sight reducing visual disorders with major public health implications for society--e.g., myopia, cataracts, diabetic hypertensive eye disorders, developmental disorders (e.g., lazy eye), and environmentally induced disease and disorders (solar eye burns, cataracts). Major approaches to the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of common disorders will be addressed in terms of the biological and optical sciences underlying the treatment or prevention. Impact of eye care on society and health and care delivery will be reviewed

The course will present 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. The basic principles of toxicology will be presented including dose-response relationships, absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion of chemicals. The overall role of environmental risks in the pattern of human disease, both nationally and internationally, will be covered. The engineering and policy strategies, including risk assessment, used to evaluate and control these risks will be introduced.

Introduction to trends and issues in the educational approach to health promotion at the individual and community levels. Presentation of basic information on selected topics (i.e., stress, sexuality, fitness, alcohol and drugs, environmental health), with emphasis on the social and political factors that influence both the definition of health and actual health status.