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School of Public Health

DrPH COURSE DESCRIPTIONS

DrPH CORE COURSE DESCRIPTIONS: Each course represents 3 credits for a total of 12.

BIOS 7200: Quantitative Research Methods for Public Health Practice (3)

This course uses an epidemiologic approach to analyze population-based studies drawn from secondary data to assist in public health decision-making. Students will work with national public datasets to address issues surrounding the analysis of epidemiologic research questions. Scientific and policy implications of the research will be addressed and the translation of results into programs and policies will be examined.

PUBH ####: Study Design in Public Health in Public Health Practice  (3)
HPMG 7200: Public Health Management and Ethics (3)

The Institute of Medicine has called for a public health leadership that "defines vision, focuses effort, optimizes resources, builds and sustains systems, facilitates communication and learning, fosters productive relationships and attends to success, planning, and knowledge transfer." This seminar seeks to equip students with these public health management and ethical skills across a wide range of practice settings. Emphasis will be given to cross-disciplinary approaches to addressing and resolving public health problems through the development of key management and leadership skills. Special attention is given to ethical considerations in strategic planning, decision-making and problem solving, and the requirements governing the conduct of human research. Course content will be a mix of case studies and in-class presentations from students and invited guests.

PUBH 7200: Public Health Policy and Politics Seminar  (3)

This course will go beyond the basics of health policy (actors, processes, etc.), and require students to apply their knowledge of the framework of the American health care system toward the end of evaluating contemporary developments. Students will analyze different models of reform, and discover how the health care system comes to reflect the values prioritized by a given nation. The course will explore in systematic fashion how local, state, and federal bodies work in concert to collectively comprise what we call the American health care system, as well as the ways in which actors fail to work together--uncovering the 'asystematic' aspects of our country's arrangements in the arena of health care. Students will also learn how health care providers, specifically, relate to the broader system, and some of the ways in which they can hope to effect change.

 

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COMMUNITY HEALTH SCIENCES CORE COURSES (12 credits)

CHSC 7201: Qualitative Research Methods for Public Health Practice (3)

This course offers advanced training in qualitative methods and analysis. Students will explore a range of qualitative research methods, including participant observation, unobtrusive methods, in-depth interviewing, and focus groups. They will carry out hands-on observation and interviewing during the course and will receive feedback from the instructor and other class participants. Research design issues will be discussed along with the use of qualitative data for health education theory building and program planning. Readings draw on different methodological guidelines, including Grounded Theory approaches.

CHSC 7202: Methods of Community Intervention and Research: (3)

Active academic and community partnerships are vital for improvements in community health and for reducing health-related disparities.

Thie course will review key methods for engaging in community-based research, will involve students in active discussion and debate regarding current issues in the conduct of community-based research, and will provide an interdisciplinary perspective on how these approaches are applied across public health disciplines.

CHSC 7203: Program Evaluation: Theory, Practice, and Research (3)

This course focuses on the application of program evaluation models and approaches. Addresses formative and summative evaluation strategies for health promotion programs, and incorporates decision-making surrounding the use of quantitative and qualitative methods of assessment. Examines the planning of evaluation, construction of instruments and strategies of measurement, and methods of effective data collection, management, and analysis.

CHSC 7204: Seminar in Health Promotion (3)

This course is an in-depth exploration of topics and issues related to the design and conduct of health promotion programs and accompanying evaluations, with a focus on programs that seek to address disparities in health outcomes and public resource allocation. Students will develop expertise on a specified topic of interest, will develop a detailed multi-level analysis of a specific risk factor, and will critically analyze the evidence-base for programs designed to reduce identified risk factors.

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COMMUNITY HEALTH SCIENCES FIELD EXPERIENCE (3 credits)

PUBH 7000: Field Experience (3)

Students will gain in-depth work experience through supervised internships relevant to the student's career plans. The field practice is selected jointly by the student and the faculty advisor, and will involve opportunities to apply skills related to program planning, implementation, and/or evaluation as applied to behavior change efforts.

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COMMUNITY HEALTH SCIENCES ELECTIVE COURSES: 2 elective courses, at 3 credits, each for a total of 6 credits

CHSC 7300: Models and Theories of Health Behavior (3)

The course will involve an examination and critique of current and evolving models of health promotion and behavior change. An emphasis on this course will be the selection and utilization of health behavior theories to the design, measurement, and evaluation of public health interventions. Students will gain skills in the application of major individual, social, and community-level approaches to behavior change.

CHSC 7301: Psychosocial and Behavioral Epidemiology (3 credits)

This course provides an in-depth exploration into the social, psychological, and behavioral issues that influence patterns of health and health care delivery. The focus is on the integration of the biomedical, social, psychological, and behavioral factors that must be taken into consideration when public health initiatives are developed and implemented. The course will also include the application of epidemiologic methods to the study of social, psychological, and behavioral influences on health, disease, and recovery/mortality. Students will explore in depth both micro and macro level determinants of a public health issue and explore themes of social justice as it pertains to public health disparities.

CHSC 7302: Health Communication Theory and Practice (3 credits)

This course will examine how health communication theory, marketing, and theories of behavior can be utilized to construct health communications that have the greatest impact on public health. Students will gain exposure to the practice and theory involved in communication design through critiques of health promotion interventions and campaigns and through development of communications to address public health issues.

CHSC 7303: Survey Research Methods (3 credits)

This course provides students with knowledge and skills in the design, sampling, implementation, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of results of surveys.

Lectures will focus on designing and assessing the items used to assess risk and protective factors and related public health outcomes. Students will have the opportunity to design measures and to assess survey data using statistical software packages.

CHSC 7304: Culture, Class, and Ethnicity in Health Promotion (3 credits)

This course is a series of experiential training exercises to develop skills for practitioners who will conduct interventions or research with target populations of various cultures, social classes, and ethnicities. Emphasis is on critical awareness of the practitioner's own values and presumptions, historical experiences of abuse in public health programs, in-depth understanding of the values and perspective of target populations, and the development of leaders from within the target population.

CHSC 7305: International Case Studies in Community Health (3 credits)
This course will explore topics and issues related to public health in communities in selected countries through in-depth analysis and discussion of case studies. Themes and countries covered during each course may vary in different semesters.

 

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ENVIRONMENTAL & OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH SCIENCES CORE COURSES: Four courses of 3 credits each for a total of 12 credits

EOHS 7202: Advanced Topics in Risk Assessment and Management (3)

This course reviews the core foundations of risk assessment including hazard identification, dose response, exposure assessment, and risk characterization and provides practical experience in the study of risk management. Students will have the opportunity to explore in-depth how risk assessment and management serve as an interface between science and policy, and how risk communication can present ethical challenges to public health practitioners. Specific case studies will focus on risk management and communication issues in urban and immigrant populations.

EOHS 7203: Environmental Health Policy and Management Systems (3)

This course examines the social, political, and legal foundations of the policy and management of current environmental health issues. This course focuses on environmental and occupational health laws, regulations, and guidance concerning air and water pollution, pesticide and toxic chemical manufacture and use, worker protection, disposal of solid and hazardous wastes, and worker and community right-to-know issues. Students will gain a thorough understanding of existing occupational and environmental health management systems and regulatory requirements and through structured assignments and presentations will understand local and international environmental and occupational health issues, environmental justice, workers compensation, and state/federal agencies in a systems framework.

EOHS 7204: Organization of Work, Occupational Stress, and Health (3)

This course provides an in-depth evaluation of current topics related to psychosocial occupational and environmental health. The application of public health principles and decision-making processes will be discussed in relation to the prevention of injury and disease, health promotion and protection of worker populations from psychosocial occupational and environmental hazards.

EOHS 7205: (Formerly EOHS 7305: Food Safety Issues): Safety of the Food Supply (3)
Substantial public health resources are devoted to assure that the food chain from American and imported venues are free from pathogens and toxic chemicals. There are strict governmental standards and mandates and delegated responsibility for enforcement. Food borne illness has severe economic costs and consequences for those affected and for those responsible. Epidemiologic investigations and root cause analysis provide evidence for corrective actions and deterrence to continue to provide a safe table.

Environmental Health Sciences Field Practice - One practice course of 3 credits

The field experience provides depth to the core DrPH by reinforcing the didactic core coursework through structured field practice. It acts as a bridge to the dissertation research through application of research methods learned in the core courses to environmental health situations that address urban and immigrant health issues in the local community. Under the guidance of the instructor and in collaboration with community environmental health project leaders, students will have a structure hands-on experience that will call upon core skills in survey/evaluation research, monitoring and health analysis. Students will be expected to produce an environmental assessment and to communicate the findings to community participants.

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ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH SCIENCES ELECTIVE COURSES: Two courses of 3 credits each for a total of 6 credits

EOHS 7300: Advanced Topics in Occupational Health (3)

Surveys the history of occupational health, the continuum from exposure to disease, the hierarchy of controls in the workplace, occupational health hazards, legal and regulatory issues, provision of occupational health services, and methods in comprehensive workplace health improvement. A series of case studies will examine local, national, and global issues and will provide practical up-to-date knowledge in assessing and solving occupational health problems.

EOHS 7301: Emerging Issues in Local, National and Global Environmental Health (3)

Examines current and emerging environmental health issues such as water pollution, sanitation, urban poverty, war, pollution, food security, pesticides, hazardous waste, economic globalization, global warming, and energy usage. This course will explore the connections between these issues and public policies in developing and developed countries alike as well as the implications for the health of urban and immigrant groups.

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EPIDEMIOLOGY CORE COURSES: Four courses of 3 credits each for a total of 12 credits

EPID 7201: Advanced Epidemiological Research Methods I (3)

This course explores the nature of causal inferences in epidemiology, and the methods by which they may be determined. Most sessions involve student presentations of relevant examples from the epidemiologic literature to illustrate concepts and methods, followed by general discussion. Topics to be covered include assessing bias, confounding and interaction, dealing with threats to validity and issues of reporting and application of epidemiologic results.

EPID 7202: Advanced Epidemiological Research Methods II (3)

This course uses the SAS statistical software package to perform advanced quantitative methods used in the analysis of case-control studies and cohort studies. Students will acquire experience with the following types of data analysis: stratification, Mantel-Haenszel methods, survival and life tables, Kaplan-Meier methods, logistic regression, Poisson regression, Cox regression (proportional hazards), and generalized estimating equations (GEE).

BIOS 7201: Probability Theory (3)

This course will provide an introduction to probability theory.  Topics to be covered include probability distributions (e.g., normal, binomial, Poisson), independence, conditional probability, joint distributions, expectation and moment generating functions, and the central limit theorem.

BIOS 7202: Statistical Inference (3)

This advanced level course is designed to provide students with an introduction to applied statistical inference, including probability and probability distributions, sampling theory, correlation and regression, principles of statistical inference, goodness of fit, and small sample distributions.

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EPIDEMIOLOGY ELECTIVE COURSES: Two courses of 3 credits each for a total of 6 credits

EPID 7203: Principles of Surveillance and Disease Control (3)

Public health surveillance is the continuous systematic collection, analysis, and interpretation of data essential to the planning, implementation, and evaluation of public health practice. Success depends upon the timely dissemination of these data to practitioners trained in interventions that prevent and control disease. This course reviews the major epidemiological surveillance programs, such as the National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System, and newer approaches like syndromic surveillance. Students will have hands-on experience in utilizing selected datasets and will be expected to demonstrate competence in the accessing and management database systems.
Prerequisites: BIOS 5200, EPID 7200, EPID 7202

EPID 7300: Epidemiology of Communicable Disease (3)

This course reviews the use of epidemiologic methods in the assessment of selected communicable diseases of national and international importance. Students focus on methods of transmission, the role of surveillance, and methods of control and prevention. Specific disease examples to be covered will include: tuberculosis, HIV, legionellosis, SARS, influenza, measles, Lyme disease, syphilis, as well as nosocomial, food-borne, and enteric infections. The principles of controlling antibiotic-resistant organisms will receive special attention. Students use case studies to practice the skills necessary for an outbreak investigation and other common procedures in this field.
Prerequisites: BIOS 5200, EPID 5200, EPID 7204

EPID 7301: Molecular Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Toxicology (3)

This course presents the techniques used in genetic and molecular epidemiology. Emphasizes the scientific basis of molecular epidemiology and provides examples of the application of molecular biology, analytical chemistry, and toxicology to the study of chronic disease etiology and its public health application. Topics to be covered include fundamental concepts of genetics; study designs and methods of statistical analysis used to evaluate the role of genetic inheritance in the occurrence of human disease; techniques to determine the location of the gene(s) and allele responsible for a disease; ethical implications of genetic research and databanks; common genetic diseases and their control; and use of genetic and molecular techniques in human exposure assessment.
Prerequisites: EPID 7201, EPID 7202

EPID 7302: Cancer Epidemiology (3)

This course reviews the concepts and methodological issues in epidemiologic studies of cancer etiology and control. Students learn the molecular and cellular basis of cancer, the role of experimental studies in assessing human risk, the classification and nomenclature of human cancer and the morphology, as well as the natural history and etiologic importance of precursor lesions. Students will examine in depth a variety of types of cancer of public health significance and discuss the role of public health practitioners in cancer control and cancer screening.

EPID 7303: Chronic Disease Epidemiology (3)

This course focuses on the epidemiologic concepts and methods appropriate to the study of chronic (mostly non-infectious) diseases and diseases of unknown etiology. Students will compare the approaches in descriptive, analytic, and experimental epidemiology for chronic disease with those for acute infectious diseases. Students will develop an extensive understanding of the epidemiologic, etiologic, pathophysiologic, and clinical features of important prevalent and emerging chronic diseases, including cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, arthritis, chronic obstructive lung disease, neurologic disorders, and mental illness. The class will examine risk assessment and applied epidemiologic methods to prevent or limit specific chronic diseases.

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FIELD EXPERIENCE

PUBH 7000: Field Experience - 1 course of 3 credits

Provides depth to the core DrPH by reinforcing the didactic core coursework through structure field practice and acts as a bridge to the dissertation research through application of research methods learned in the core courses to actual public health epidemiological practice.

Under the guidance of the instructor and in collaboration with governmental or community resources, students will have a structured hands-on experience. Examples of potential sites are: hospital departments of infection control or tumor registries; the New York State Department of Health Zoonoses Program; the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene HIV Epidemiology Program. Students will be expected to write a written report on the experience and to make a professional presentation of their experience at the interdisciplinary Doctoral Departmental seminar.

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Qualifying Examination including Written and Oral Sections:

 

DrPH DISSERTATION

PUBH 8001: DrPH Dissertation

The DrPH dissertation is a twelve-credit experience extending, on average, over a three year period. The topic of the dissertation must address a significant public health problem in the student's specialty area.

Dissertation Development

The student, having advanced to candidacy, has one (1) year to develop his/her dissertation proposal and defend it before his/her dissertation committee and the public. The proposal must contain the following elements:

  • Study Aims and Hypothesis
  • Relevant Review of the Literature
  • Design and Methods complete with statistical analysis
  • Protection of Participants
  • Proposed Timeline

The dissertation must represent the original thinking and analysis of the student. It does not necessarily require the collection of new data; but it must demonstrate that the candidate is capable of independent scientific analysis at an advanced professional level.

Oral Presentation of Proposed Dissertation Topic: No credit

There will also be an oral presentation of the dissertation topic - no more than 30 minutes -- by the student to his/her dissertation committee and the public. The presentation will be followed by questioning from the student's dissertation committee and the public. The purpose is to ascertain that the proposed work is appropriate and that the student has the adequate knowledge of the topic and the skills to complete the work successfully.

The Dissertation:

Throughout the development, implementation, and evaluation of the dissertation project, the student should meet regularly with his/her dissertation chair (student's advisor). As necessary, the student should also meet with other members of his/her committee to review specific portions of the proposal as appropriate to their expertise. Periodic revisions should be circulated to all members of the committee upon approval of the committee chair. Revisions should be noted in a cover memo to the committee members such that they will be kept up to date.

When the study is deemed completed and ready, final approval must be received, in writing, from the chair of the dissertation committee with agreement from all members of the committee. This process must be completed at least one (1) month prior to the proposed date for the study defense. With the designated approval, the defense date will then be scheduled.

The Defense

There are two (2) portions to the defense:

  • Public presentation of the student's research, 30 minutes, with questions and comments from attendees, followed by
  • Closed session with dissertation committee, and any members of the DrPH Program faculty, to discuss any particular details of the dissertation and/or defense.

Note that the committee may either accept without change the student's study or, alternately, require additional clarification regarding key points of the study. The dissertation (study) achieves final approval when all members of the committee agree that the written dissertation and presentation have been satisfactorily completed. The student is strongly encouraged to prepare the study for submission to a peer-reviewed journal for publication.

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