Community and Global Health, MHS

Overview

Graduate Program

Complex public health problems require multidimensional and multidisciplinary solutions. Clark University’s Master of Health Science (MHS) in Community and Global Health, offered through the world-renowned International Development, Community, and Environment Department (IDCE), is ideal for students who are committed to health care as a right, not a privilege, and who believe in social justice and equity for all members of society.

Given the many factors that affect a person’s health, the study of public health is by necessity transdisciplinary, combining natural science and technology with social science and policy. Areas of focus include Social determinants of health and health inequities, Geographic information systems (GIS) and health, Health policy, and Research at the community level.

Through the Community and Global Health, MHS program student can:

• Engage with our close-knit community in a dedicated house for IDCE students that contains classrooms, faculty offices, lounges and a computer lab.
• Live in our Social Change House with other IDCE graduate students.
• Take part in international symposia on topics such as the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals.
• Get involved with the community through our department’s student organizations.

See www.clarku.edu/master-health-science-community-global-health   for details about the Community and Global Health program.

Graduate Requirements

The MHS curriculum offers some flexibility in sequencing of courses and areas of concentration. Faculty will work with individual students to address their specific needs including, if necessary, coordination with other programs.

You can choose from two concentrations.

Community Health: This concentration focuses on key community concerns in the U.S. Topics include health inequities, healthy nutrition and active living, community mental health, diversion programs to steer youths away from gangs and sexual exploitation, and other factors that impede people’s ability to live healthy lives. Students will also learn about how community health monitoring and evaluation, and national policies influence how people and communities experience health and care.

Global Health: This concentration addresses global health concerns, such as maternal mortality; the spread of infectious diseases, such as Zika virus; lack of access to basic services, such as water and sanitation, and the increase of non-infectious diseases, such as diabetes and hypertension, in developing countries. Students will also learn about the outcomes and frameworks of the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).

I. One unit determined by concentration:

  IDCE 377 - Approaches to Global Health   or IDCE 30330 - Approaches to Community Health  

II. Six Core Units

IDCE 377 Approaches to Global Health  

IDCE 30330 Approaches to Community Health  

IDCE 308 Health (in)equity: social determinants and policy solutions  

IDCE 398 Internship  or IDCE 399 Directed Study  

IDCE 30213 Master’s Final Research Paper  

III. Two Electives

IDCE 30229 Program Monitoring and Evaluation  

IDCE 333 Development Mgmt in Developing Countries  

IDCE 30282 Community Based Health Research  

IDCE 30105 Inequality and Poverty: Measurement, Determinants, Consequences, and Responses  

IDCE 30241 Environmental Toxicology  

IDCE 30103 Networks and Analytics of Development  

IDCE 30225 Grant Writing for Community Developers  

IDCE 311 Special Topics in Community and Global Health  

IDCE 30360 Spatial Analysis for Health  

MSIT 3440 Special Topics: Information Technology  

IV. Five Topical Units

IDCE 320 Food Production, Environment, and Health  

IDCE 30101 The Political Economy of Food and the Ethics of Eating  

IDCE 30248 - Gender and Health  

IDCE 30270 - Environment, Poverty and Health  

IDCE 307 Culture, Health, and Power: Introduction to Medical Anthropology  

MPA 3030 - United States Health Care Policy  

IDCE 311 Special Topics in Community and Global Health  

Program Faculty

Tim Downs (IDCE)

Ellen Foley (IDCE)

Marianne Sarkis (IDCE)

Yelena Ogneva-Himmelberger (IDCE)

Laurie Ross (IDCE)

Affiliated faculty:

Nicole Overstreet (PSYC)

Esther Jones (HS)

Patrick Derr (PHIL)

Daniel Lambert (PSYC)

Esteban Cardemil (PSYC)

Rosalie Torres-Stone (SOC)

Kathleen Jordan (MPA)

Dave Thurlow (CHEM)

John Chetro-Szivos (SPS)

Courses