School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine: Course Descriptions
2008-2009 Academic Year
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treatment of the health problem. The course helps students understand the
dynamic tension that exists between various stakeholders involved in the disease
intervention process and how these tensions play out in the public and global
policy arena. The course will be transdisciplinary, emphasizing the connections
between the biologic nature of disease and the social, economic and political
context in which policy for dealing with disease is developed. Examples of
diseases that may be addressed are AIDS, tuberculosis, heart disease, and breast
cancer.
SPHU 420 Implementing-Evidence Based Public Health (3)
This course introduces the student to the scientific, epidemiological,
organizational and management skills needed in designing and obtaining funding
for an evidence-based public health intervention within an organizational or
community setting. Students become familiar with the role and operation of not-
for-profit organizations, foundations, national and international government
agencies, and the local community in this process. Students learn to access
publicly available and electronic information provided by these agencies and
organizations. The course illustrates how evidence-based public health is used by
funding agencies in developing and awarding grants and by public health
providers and community contractors in applying for and receiving them.
Emphasis is placed on how evidence-based public health is used in writing grant
proposals and students have an opportunity to write a grant proposal as part of the
course.
Health Informatics
SPHU 330 Information Management (3)
This course, an introduction to information management, covers the history of
concepts in data, information, knowledge and wisdom, and elements of design of
databases, data-entry techniques and queries of databases. Application of
computers in medicine, biology and public health will include: medical records;
issues of coding, storage and retrieval of medical data; systems of classification
and medical nomenclature; use of census data, vital and survey data; database
management systems; preparation of presentation graphics, tables and maps;
imaging; computer assisted decision support; monitoring devices; evaluation of
systems; standards and data security.
SPHU 430 Technology in Education and Communication (3)
This course introduces the design and development of websites for educational
material available through the Internet information retrieval; covers the
preparation of research protocols, oral presentations and written reports, issues in
distance learning, fundamentals of distance learning; and telemedicine.
SPHU 431 Topics in Bioinformatics (3)
This course introduces application of computing, mathematics and engineering to
selected fields: gene sequencing in the identification of disease, imaging,
diagnostic decision making, artificial intelligence, proteomics, geographic
information systems, and data mining.