Global Health Program
[ courses ]
Social Science Building, Second Floor
http://globalhealthprogram.ucsd.edu
All courses, faculty listings, and curricular and degree requirements described herein are subject to change or deletion without notice. Updates may be found on the Academic Senate website: http://senate.ucsd.edu/catalog-copy/approved-updates/.
Global health is at once an increasingly popular new field of study, an urgent social concern, and a powerful interdisciplinary intellectual synthesis aimed at understanding and productively intervening in processes of health, illness, and healing across the globe. Two senses of the term global structure the program’s curriculum: The first defines a geographical space that is planetary and international; the second is an intellectual scope that is holistic and interdisciplinary. Undergraduate degrees in the Global Health Program (BA and minor) are designed to provide students with an in-depth understanding of factors related to illness, health, and healing from a comparative and interdisciplinary perspective that transcends national borders and regional interests and takes cultural difference and cross-cultural diversity fully into account. Global health is directly concerned with achieving equity in health for people worldwide. It is a synthesis of population-based prevention, individual-level clinical care, health policy and program development, and cross-cultural understanding of variations and commonalities in the experiences with and causes of illness, the process of becoming and staying well, and the practices of healing.
The Global Health Program covers a wide range of topics, including health care, health education, environmental effects on health, infectious disease, mental health, health inequalities, medical sequelae of natural disaster or political violence, indigenous healing practices, nutrition, and reproductive health. The program’s degrees are designed to be intellectually comprehensive, integrating the social sciences, biological sciences, and humanities. In addition, they combine academic and experiential learning, as well as strike a pedagogical balance between the acquisition of hard skills, theory, and real-world knowledge. An important feature of the program is a Global Health Field Experience at a research, service, or clinical site either in the United States or abroad, which for majors culminates in a capstone seminar and senior thesis. This program of study helps to prepare students for a career in research and teaching, immigrant service-providing organizations, government agencies, health sciences, or law. The unique research and writing opportunities offered by this minor also make it an excellent preparation for medical and graduate school.
The Bachelor of Arts in Global Health
All courses applied to the major must receive a letter grade of C– or better. The major will require nine core courses, the primary function of which is to ground all students in the hard skills, analytic tools, and fluency in the debates expected of someone with an expertise in global health.
I. Lower Division Core Requirements:
(12 units/3 courses)
All students will take the following:
- HILD 30. History of Public Health
- One of the following courses:
SOCI 40. Sociology of Health-Care Issues OR
SOCI 30. Science, Technology, and Society OR
SOCI 70. General Sociology for Premed Students OR
PHIL 26. Science, Society, and Values - One statistics class:
Choose one from PSYC 60, POLI 30, MATH 11/11L.
II. Upper-Division Core Requirements:
(24 units/6 courses)
All students will take the following:
- ANSC 148. Global Health and Cultural Diversity
- GLBH 181. Essentials of Global Health
- MGT 173. Project Management in the Health Services
- One course in policy analysis:
POLI 160A. Introduction to Policy Analysis
POLI 170A. Introductory Statistics for Political Science and Public Policy
USP 147. Case Studies in Health-Care Programs/Poor and Underserved Populations
HISC 180. Science and Public Policy
ECON 130. Public Policy (prerequisite ECON 2 or ECON 100A)
ENVR 110. Environmental Law
USP 133/SOCI 152. Social Inequality and Public Policy
USP 171. Sustainable Development
To be taken senior year:
- GLBH 150A. Capstone Part One (winter)
- GLBH 150B. Capstone Part Two (spring)
In their senior year, graduating students will participate in a two-quarter seminar open only to Global Health majors. The seminar will reflect the unique resources of UC San Diego’s college system by treating the relation between global health and each of the themes highlighted by the colleges: international relations, environmentalism, law/ethics, technology, humanities, and public service. The seminar will also provide an opportunity to expand, deepen, and share the insights of their Global Health Field Experience with members of their cohort. The first quarter will consist of intensive reading and discussion in fields related to each student’s primary interest and building on their field experience. The second quarter will be a workshop with critical input from all participants focused on preparing a senior thesis that will provide an important credential for students in the next stage of their careers and as they prepare applications for graduate academic or professional training. A capstone conference in the spring quarter of each year will assemble all Global Health majors and minors and be open to the campus community. The conference will feature a guest speaker with a distinguished reputation in global health along with presentations of theses by graduating participants in the BA Global Health. (Students must complete their Global Health Field Experience requirement prior to enrollment in the senior capstone.)
III. Field Experience Requirement:
The Field Experience project will be carried out at a research, service, or clinical site either in the United States or abroad. Field Experience will be approved by the Advisory Committee, along with the Study Abroad UC San Diego office (for international placements) and Academic Internship Program (for domestic placements). The project will focus on issues relevant to global health, including health care, health education, environmental effects on health, infectious disease, mental health, health disparities, medical sequelae of natural disaster or political violence, indigenous healing practices, nutrition, and reproductive health. In accord with the campus’s Education Initiative, the Global Health Field Experience will enhance knowledge, skills, and sensitivities, thus engaging “mind, hands, and heart” to create a learning outcome that is scientific, pragmatic, and humanistic.
Field Experience Requirement:
- Minimum one hundred hours distributed over no more than three programs
- May be completed domestically or abroad (upon approval)
- May be noncredit or credit bearing (see below)
The Field Experience must meet the following criteria:
- Require meaningful, challenging work from students while serving the agency’s clients/goals.
- Provide the student with direct contact with clients or those who directly serve clients.
- Provide the student with an opportunity to become knowledgeable about aspects of global health and see global health issues in practice.
- Include on-site orientation, training, and supervision by a designated person in the agency.
- Students must demonstrate adequate health insurance and participate in a predeparture orientation for abroad programs.
Credit-bearing field experience:
Upon approval by petition, a student may enroll in a maximum of two Independent Study (GLBH 199) or Directed Group Study (GLBH 198) courses under mentorship of an affiliated faculty member. This will provide academic credit for the noncredit-bearing Field Experience, through required readings, reflective journals, papers, etc., as determined by agreement between the student and faculty member. The academic result will be to place their Field Experience in the context of the interdisciplinary scholarly literature on global health. When credit is granted either through the program itself or through our GLBH Independent Study/Directed Group Study, this credit will count as an elective toward the major.
IV. Electives:
There are eight required electives. Six of these must be upper division. The elective requirement is designed to reinforce the interdisciplinary character of the field of global health. Students must have course work across the major disciplines, including one in ethics and another in global processes.
Biological Sciences:
(Choose three.) Not all courses are taught every year.
Lower Division: (nonmajor courses)
- ANTH 2. Human Origins
- BILD 3. Organismic and Evolutionary Biology
- BILD 18. Human Impact on the Environment
- BILD 22. Human Nutrition
- BILD 26. Human Physiology
- BILD 36. AIDS, Science, and Society
- BILD 38. Dementia, Science, and Society
- BILD 60. Biology and Diversity: Use and Misuse of Science to Justify Bias, Inequity, Exclusion, and Prejudice
- COGS 11. Minds and Brains
- COGS 17. Neurobiology of Cognition
- ENVR 30. Environmental Issues: Natural Sciences
Upper Division: (prerequisites listed in parentheses)
- BIBC 102. Metabolic Biochemistry
- BIBC 120. Nutrition (BIBC 102, CHEM 140A/140B)
- BICD 100. Genetics (BILD 1)
- BICD 110. Cell Biology (BIBC 100 or BIBC 102)
- BICD 136. AIDS, Science, and Society (BILD 1, BILD 2 recommended)
- BICD 140. Immunology (BICD 100, BIMM 100)
- BIEB 150. Evolution (BILD 3 and BILD 1 or BIEB 143)
- BIEB 176. Conservation and the Human Predicament (ANTH 2 or BILD 3)
- BIMM 100. Molecular Biology (BIBC 100 or BIBC 102, BICD 100)
- BIMM 110. Molecular Basis of Human Disease (BICD 100, BIBC 102, BIMM 100)
- BIMM 114. Virology (BIMM 100)
- BIMM 124. Medical Microbiology (BIBC 100 or BIBC 102 recommended)
- BIPN 100. Human Physiology I (BILD 1 and BILD 2)
- BIPN 102. Human Physiology II (BIPN 100)
- BIPN 134. Human Reproduction
- COGS 174. Drugs: Brain, Mind, and Culture
- FPMU 101. Epidemiology (FPMU 40 and PSYC 60 or MATH 11)
- FPMU 102. Biostatistics in Public Health (FPMU 101 or PSYC 60 or MATH 11)
- HDP 110. Brain and Behavioral Development (HDP 1 or PSYC 101)
Medical Social Sciences:
(Choose three; prerequisites listed in parenthesis.)
Not all courses are taught every year.
Anthropology
- ANSC 101. Aging: Culture and Health in Late Life Human Development
- ANSC 105. Global Health and Inequality
- ANSC 106. Global Health: Indigenous Medicines in Latin America
- ANSC 121. Psychological Anthropology
- ANSC 125. Gender, Sexuality, and Society
- ANSC 129. Meaning and Healing
- ANSC 143. Mental Health as a Global Health Priority
- ANSC 144. Immigrant and Refugee Health
- ANSC 146. A Global Health Perspective on HIV/AIDS
- ANSC 147. Global Health and the Environment
- ANSC 149. Gender and Mental Health
- ANSC 150. Culture and Mental Health
- ANSC 155. Humanitarian Aid: What Is It Good For?
- ANSC 156. Mad Films
- ANSC 164. Introduction to Medical Anthropology
Communication
- COMM 114J. CSI: Food Justice
- COMM 167. Reproductive Discourse and Gender (COMM 10, COMM 100A, and COMM 100B or 100C)
Critical Gender Studies
- CGS 114. Gender, Race, Ethnicity, and Class
Economics
- ECON 140. Economics of Health-Care Producers
- ECON 141. Economics of Health-Care Consumers
Ethnic Studies
- ETHN 142. Medicine, Race, and the Global Politics of Inequality
Family Medicine and Public Health
- FPMU 102. Biostatistics in Public Health
- FPMU 110. Health Behavior and Chronic Disease
Global Health
- GLBH 198. Directed Group Study
- GLBH 199. Independent Study in Global Health Field Experience
Latin American Studies
- LATI 122A. Field Research Methods for Migration Studies: Seminar
Political Science
- POLI 111D. Social Norms and Harmful Practices
Psychology
- PSYC 100. Clinical Psychology
- PSYC 101. Developmental Psychology
- PSYC 124. Clinical Assessment and Treatment
- PSYC 125. Clinical Neuropsychology
- PSYC 134. Eating Disorders
- PSYC 155. Social Psychology and Medicine
- PSYC 168. Psychological Disorders of Childhood
- PSYC 172. Psychology of Human Sexuality
- PSYC 179. Drugs, Addiction, and Mental Disorders
- PSYC 181. Drugs and Behavior
- PSYC 188. Impulse and Control Disorders
Scripps Institution of Oceanography
- SIO 189. Pollution, the Environment, and Health
Sociology
- SOCI 113. Sociology of the AIDS Epidemic
- SOCI 134. The Making of Modern Medicine
- SOCI 135. Medical Sociology
- SOCI 136E. Sociology of Mental Illness: An Historical Approach
- SOCI 136F. Sociology of Mental Illness in Contemporary Society
- SOCI 138. Genetics and Society
- SOCI 143. Suicide
Urban Studies and Planning
- USP 144. Environmental and Preventive Health Issues
- USP 145. Aging: The Social and Health Policy Issues
- USP 147. Case Studies in Health-Care Programs/Poor and Underserved Populations (if not taken for upper-division policy analysis requirement)
Medical Humanities:
(One course)
Anthropology
- ANSC 129. Meaning and Healing (if not taken for a medical social science course)
Critical Gender Studies
- CGS 111. Gender and the Body
History
- HISC 115. History of Modern Medicine
- HISC 116. History of Bioethics
Literature
- LTCS 155. Health and Illness in Global Culture
- LTCS 165. Politics of Food
Philosophy
- PHIL 150. Philosophy of the Cognitive Sciences
- PHIL 163. Biomedical Ethics
- PHIL 164. Technology and Human Values
- PHIL 173. Topics in Bioethics
Global Processes:
(One course)
Anthropology
- ANBI 132. Conservation and the Human Predicament
- ANSC 100. Global Anthropology and Ethnography of Social and Cultural Movements
- ANSC 140/HMNR 101. Human Rights II: Contemporary Issues
- ANSC 145A. International Politics and Drugs
- ANSC 160. Nature, Culture, and the Environment
- ANSC 168. The Human Condition
Communication
- COMM 112G. IM: Language and Globalization
- COMM 114J. CSI: Food Justice (if not used for medical social science elective)
- COMM 156. Colonialism and Culture
- COMM 179. Media and Technology: Global Nature and Global Culture
Ethnic Studies
- ETHN 142. Medicine, Race, and the Global Politics of Inequality
Latin American Studies
- LATI 122B. Field Research Methods for Migration Studies: Practicum
Political Science
- POLI 113A. East Asian Thought in Comparative Perspective
- POLI 122. Politics of Human Rights
- POLI 125. Gender, Politics, and Globalization
- POLI 125B. The Politics of Food in a Global Economy
- POLI 127. Politics of Developing Countries
- POLI 140D. International Human Rights Law: Migrant Populations
- POLI 145A. International Politics and Drugs
- POLI 150A. Politics of Immigration
Sociology
- SOCI 127. Immigration, Race, and Ethnicity
- SOCI 185. Globalization and Social Development
- SOCI 188E. Community and Social Change in Africa
The Global Health Minor
The Global Health minor covers a wide range of topics relevant to global health including health care, health education, environmental effects on health, infectious disease, mental health, health inequalities, medical sequelae of natural disaster or political violence, indigenous healing practices, nutrition, and reproductive health. This program of study helps to prepare students for a career in research and teaching, immigrant service-providing organizations, government agencies, health sciences, or law. The unique research and writing opportunities offered by this minor also make it an excellent preparation for medical and graduate school.
The minor consists of a total of seven courses (twenty-eight units), at least five of which must be upper-division courses. All courses applied to the minor must receive a letter grade of C– or better.
1) Required Core Courses
All students will take the following required courses, which will introduce them to the field of global health from the dual perspective of public health and the health sciences on the one hand and the medical social sciences on the other.
HILD 30. History of Public Health
Explores the history of public health, from the plague hospitals of Renaissance Italy to the current and future prospects for global health initiatives, emphasizing the complex biological, cultural, and social dimensions of health, sickness, and medicine across time and space.
Choose two of the following courses:
ANSC 148. Global Health and Cultural Diversity
Introduction to global health from the perspective of medical anthropology on disease and illness, cultural conceptions of health, doctor-patient interaction, illness experience, medical science and technology, mental health, infectious disease, and health-care inequalities by ethnicity, gender, and socioeconomic status. Prerequisites: upper-division standing.
GLBH 181. Essentials of Global Health
Illustrates and explores ecologic settings and frameworks for study and understanding of global health and international health policy. Students acquire understanding of diverse determinants and trends of disease in various settings and interrelationships between sociocultural and socioeconomic development and health. Prerequisites: upper-division standing.
MGT 173. Project Management in the Health Services
This course covers efficient techniques for managing health services projects, including both the technical aspects of project management as well as the human-capital management issues associated with blending administrative and technical staff with health-care professionals. Topics include scheduling methods, milestone setting, governmental regulations, resource allocation, interpersonal skills, and performing research and development projects—all with a health services focus. Prerequisites: upper-division standing.
2) Health-Related Biological Science
All students will take at least one biological science course relevant to global health, selected from the approved list of electives for the minor:
Lower Division: (nonmajor courses)
- ANTH 2. Human Origins
- BILD 3. Organismic and Evolutionary Biology
- BILD 18. Human Impact on the Environment
- BILD 22. Human Nutrition
- BILD 26. Human Physiology
- BILD 36. AIDS, Science, and Society
- BILD 38. Dementia, Science, and Society
- BILD 60. Biology and Diversity: Use and Misuse of Science to Justify Bias, Inequity, Exclusion, and Prejudice
- COGS 11. Minds and Brains
- COGS 17. Neurobiology of Cognition
- ENVR 30. Environmental Issues: Natural Sciences
Upper Division: (prerequisites listed in parentheses)
- BIBC 102. Metabolic Biochemistry
- BIBC 120. Nutrition (BIBC 102, CHEM 140A-B)
- BICD 100. Genetics (BILD 1)
- BICD 110. Cell Biology (BIBC 100 or BIBC 102)
- BICD 136. AIDS, Science, and Society (BILD 1, BILD 2 recommended)
- BICD 140. Immunology (BICD 100, BIMM 100)
- BIEB 150. Evolution (BILD 3 and BILD 1 or BIEB 143)
- BIEB 176. Conservation and the Human Predicament (ANTH 2 or BILD 3)
- BIMM 100. Molecular Biology (BIBC 100 or BIBC 102, BICD 100)
- BIMM 110. Molecular Basis of Human Disease (BICD 100, BIBC 102, BIMM 100)
- BIMM 114. Virology (BIMM 100)
- BIMM 124. Medical Microbiology (BIBC 100 or BIBC 102 recommended)
- BIPN 100. Human Physiology I (BILD 1 and BILD 2)
- BIPN 102. Human Physiology II (BIPN 100)
- BIPN 134. Human Reproduction
- COGS 174. Drugs: Brain, Mind, and Culture
- FPMU 101. Epidemiology (FPMU 40 and PSYC 60 or MATH 11)
- FPMU 102. Biostatistics in Public Health (FPMU 101 or PSYC 60 or MATH 11)
- HDP 110. Brain and Behavioral Development (HDP 1 or PSYC 101)
Taking any of these courses to fill this requirement of the minor does not preclude a student from taking another course in this list as an elective for the minor.
3) Global Health Minor Field Experience (Optional)
Global Health minors may choose to complete a 100-hour Global Health Field Experience Requirement to complement their course work.
The Field Experience project will be carried out at a research, service or clinical site either in the United States or abroad. Field Experience will be approved by the advisory committee, along with the Study Abroad UC San Diego office (for international placements) and Academic Internship Program (for domestic placements). The project will focus on issues relevant to global health, including health care, health education, environmental effects on health, infectious disease, mental health, health disparities, medical sequelae of natural disaster or political violence, indigenous healing practices, nutrition, and reproductive health. In accord with the campus’s Education Initiative, the Global Health Field Experience component will enhance knowledge, skills, and sensitivities, thus engaging “mind, hands, and heart” to create a learning outcome that is scientific, pragmatic, and humanistic.
Field Experience Requirement
- Minimum one hundred hours distributed over no more than three programs
- May be completed domestically or abroad, upon approval
- May be noncredit or credit-bearing (see below).
The Field Experience must meet the following criteria:
- Require meaningful, challenging work from students while serving the agency’s clients/goals.
- Provide the student with direct contact with clients or those who directly serve clients.
- Provide the student with an opportunity to become knowledgeable about aspects of global health and see global health issues in practice.
- Include on-site orientation, training, and supervision by a designated person in the agency.
- Students must demonstrate adequate health insurance and participate in a predeparture orientation for abroad programs.
Credit-bearing field experience:
Upon approval by petition, a student may enroll in a maximum of two Independent Study (GLBH 199) or Directed Group Study (GLBH 198) courses under mentorship of an affiliated faculty member. This will provide academic credit for the noncredit-bearing Field Experience through required readings, reflective journals, papers, etc., as determined by agreement between the student and faculty member. The academic result will be to place their Field Experience in the context of the interdisciplinary scholarly literature on global health. When credit is granted either through the program itself or through our GLBH Independent Study/Directed Group study, this credit will count as an elective toward the minor.
4) Elective Course Work
Students will complete three elective courses from the following list:
ANSC 101. Aging: Culture and Health in Late Life Human Development
ANSC 105. Global Health and Inequality
ANSC 106. Global Health: Indigenous Medicines in Latin America
ANSC 121. Psychological Anthropology
ANSC 125. Gender, Sexuality, and Society
ANSC 129. Religion and Healing
ANSC 143. Mental Health as Global Health Priority
ANSC 144. Immigrant and Refugee Health
ANSC 146. A Global Health Perspective on HIV
ANSC 147. Global Health and the Environment
ANSC 149. Gender and Mental Health
ANSC 150. Culture and Mental Health
ANSC 155. Humanitarian Aid: What Is It Good For?
ANSC 156. Mad Films
ANSC 164. Introduction to Medical Anthropology
CGS 111. Gender and the Body
COMM 114J. CSI: Food Justice
COMM 167. Reproductive Discourse and Gender
ECON 140. Economics of Health Producers
ECON 141. Economics of Health Consumers
ETHN 142. Medicine, Race, and the Global Politics of Inequality
FPMU 110. Health Behavior and Chronic Diseases
GLBH 181. Essentials of Global Health (if not taken for core course)
GLBH 198. Directed Group Study
GLBH 199. Independent Study in Global Health Field Experience
HISC 115. History of Modern Medicine
HISC 116. History of Bioethics
LATI 122A. Field Research Methods for Migration Studies: Seminar
LTCS 155. Health and Illness in Global Culture
LTCS 165. The Politics of Food
MGT 173. Project Management: Health Services (if not taken for core course)
PHIL 150. Philosophy of the Cognitive Sciences
PHIL 163. Biomedical Ethics
PHIL 164. Technology and Human Values
PHIL 173. Topics in Bioethics
POLI 111D. Social Norms and Global Development
PSYC 100. Clinical Psychology
PSYC 101. Developmental Psychology
PSYC 124. Clinical Assessment and Treatment
PSYC 125. Clinical Neuropsychology
PSYC 134. Eating Disorders
PSYC 168. Psychological Disorders of Childhood
PSYC 172. Psychology of Human Sexuality
PSYC 179. Drugs, Addiction, and Mental Disorders
PSYC 181. Drugs and Behavior
PSYC 188. Impulse and Control Disorders
REV 160 and 165 GS. Public Health and Epidemiology I and II
SOCI 113. Sociology of the AIDS Epidemic
SOCI 134. The Making of Modern Medicine
SOCI 135. Medical Sociology
SOCI 136E. Sociology of Mental Illness: An Historical Approach
SOCI 136F. Sociology of Mental Illness in Contemporary Society
SOCI 138. Genetics and Society
SOCI 143. Suicide
SOCI 173. Sociology of Health, Illness, and Medicine
SIO 189. Pollution, Environment, and Health
TWS 198. Contemporary Issues in Global Health
USP 144. Environmental and Preventive Health Issues
USP 145. Aging: Social and Health Policy Issues
USP 147. Case Studies in Health Care Programs/Poor and Underserved Population