HHV 395 - Special Topics

Epidemic Cinema Society: Public Health and Film
Instructor
Chillag

The course will explore the history of and contemporary public health, using film to grapple with questions including: why do we pay attention to some public health problems and not others? From whose perspectives are the stories of public health told? How do those representations affect public perceptions and public health practice and policy? The course will require students to engage with public health and documentary ethics as well as critical analysis of how they and others produce and evaluate information about public health. Public health issues addressed will include epidemics, climate change, noncommunicable diseases and others.

SPRING 2021

Current Issues in Public Health- Section A
Instructor
Wessner

As we understandably focus our attention on COVID-19, it is important to remember that another pandemic continues to affect us - HIV/AIDS. In this course, we will explore various aspects of this pandemic. We will examine the science of HIV/AIDS. We will investigate policies that may ameliorate, or exacerbate, the spread of the virus. We will consider the lived experience of people infected with or affected by this virus. We’ll conclude the semester by looking at the intersection of HIV/AIDS and COVID-19 and asking ourselves if one pandemic taught us anything about the other one.

Hybrid, with most class periods offered online and synchronously

Public Health Ethics- Section B
Instructor
Chillag

Those engaged in public health -­whether as professionals or persons and communities affected by public health problems -will encounter challenging ethical issues. Beginning with that premise, this course will address ethical issues in public health practice, research, and policy, providing conceptual frameworks and practical tools. It will grapple with challenging questions about the use of limited resources, restrictive public health measures like quarantine, vulnerable and marginalized persons, health disparities, and globalization. The course will focus on a range of issues affecting public health, including HIV/AIDS, Ebola, COVID-19, climate change, migration, malnutrition, and others, often drawn from case studies based on real-world public health practice.

Online with synchronous and asynchronous components 

Prerequisites & Notes
The course is designed for students with prior exposure to public health issues and concepts. Enrollment in the course requires taking one or more of the following as a prerequisite, or obtaining the permission of the course instructor: Introduction to Public Health; Health Disparities in the US and Beyond; Introduction to Epidemiology; Genes, Environment and Health.

HHV 395 is repeatable for credit.