Health & the Public Interest (HAPI)

There are a plethora of scholars and policymakers in the Washington DC area. Seminar topics may include cross-cultural views of disease, cultural change and health, the medicalization of normal life, corporate shaping of discourse about illness, the regulation of medical products, placebo effects, symptom formation and healing, the high costs of drugs, creating new diseases, and the opioid epidemic. The seminar series will include student interaction with speakers. Open to all departments.

The weekly seminar series will be a highlight of the program. There are a plethora of scholars and policymakers in the Washington DC area and faculty from other countries that are frequent visitors; we plan to have a dynamic, diverse group of speakers. Seminar topics may include cross-cultural views of disease, cultural change and health, the medicalization of normal life, corporate shaping of discourse about illness, the regulation of medical products, placebo effects, symptom formation and healing, the high costs of drugs, creating new diseases, and the opioid epidemic. The seminar series will include student interaction with speakers and other audience members and will be followed within the next few days by small faculty-run groups in which students will assess the speakers’ evidence, analysis, and rhetoric. Evaluation will be based on a short paper and active participation. *Please note that HAPI 603 is 1-credit and HAPI 604 is 0-credit.

The weekly seminar series will be a highlight of the program. There are a plethora of scholars and policymakers in the Washington DC area and faculty from other countries that are frequent visitors; we plan to have a dynamic, diverse group of speakers. Seminar topics may include cross-cultural views of disease, cultural change and health, the medicalization of normal life, corporate shaping of discourse about illness, the regulation of medical products, placebo effects, symptom formation and healing, the high costs of drugs, creating new diseases, and the opioid epidemic. The seminar series will include student interaction with speakers and other audience members and will be followed within the next few days by small faculty-run groups in which students will assess the speakers’ evidence, analysis, and rhetoric. Evaluation will be based on a short paper and active participation. *Please note that HAPI 603 is 1-credit and HAPI 604 is 0-credit.

There are a plethora of scholars and policymakers in the Washington DC area. Seminar topics may include cross-cultural views of disease, cultural change and health, the medicalization of normal life, corporate shaping of discourse about illness, the regulation of medical products, placebo effects, symptom formation and healing, the high costs of drugs, creating new diseases, and the opioid epidemic. The seminar series will include student interaction with speakers. Open to all departments.

This course will focus on major biological systems and cover aspects of the cardiovascular, respiratory, gastrointestinal and central nervous systems. Students will develop basic knowledge in and appreciation of human function in health and disease. Evaluation will be based on exams.

The efforts of societies to improve health and increase longevity have constituted a major on-going social revolution of the past 200 years. Our work this semester will be a wide-ranging survey of social, economic, demographic and public health perspectives on that movement. Lectures, readings, and class discussions will cover the social history of health in past times, belief systems about the causes of disease and illness, the evolution of major causes of disease over time, the ecology and etiology of major infectious and chronic diseases, social and economic factors affecting the incidence and severity of illnesses, the social and economic consequences of changes in mortality and health, and programs designed to affect health conditions. Issues relating both to currently industrialized countries and developing countries will be discussed.

Health communication encompasses the study and use of communication strategies to inform and influence individual and community decisions that enhance health. The field of health communication is seen to have relevance for virtually every aspect of health and well-being, including disease prevention, health promotion, and quality of life. This three-credit, discussion-based seminar uses a case-study approach to provide a practical overview and working knowledge of health communication and how it can be used to implement public health programs. Readings will comprise theoretical and methodological texts and case studies. Participants will become familiar with a range of resources and agencies, debate the merit of a various approaches, and analyze and assess health communication program and materials.

This course will focus on understanding and critically analyzing medical literature regarding diagnostic, preventive and therapeutic interventions in humans. It will cover basic epidemiology and evidence-based medicine, including the appropriate and inappropriate use of observational studies (cross-sectional, cohort, and case-control studies) and randomized controlled trials. Adverse event assessment through passive and active pharmacosurveillance systems will be covered, as well as premarket pharmaceutical and medical device testing required by regulatory authorities (including preclinical studies, and Phase I, Phase II, and Phase III trials). The course will cover sensitivity, specificity, odds ratios, relative risk, power, and confidence intervals.

The primary purpose of this course is to introduce critical scientific methods in health research and learn to apply them in order to produce empirical research. This course will survey the basics of qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods in health research and practice. By the end of the course, students will have gained a broad understanding of key approaches and learned to select the most appropriate analytic approaches to address a problem or to answer a question. For quantitative skills, we will cover basic research design and statistics including fundamentals of probability, statistical inference, basic statistical assumptions and hypothesis-testing using correlations, non-parametric tests, analysis of variance, and regression. For qualitative skills, we will cover grounded theory, content analysis, ethnographic participant-observation methods, interview techniques, focus groups, archival research, and discourse analysis. This hands-on course is built around a semester-long team project, in which students will design their own research project: selecting an interesting question, proposing methods to address the question, performing literature review and syntheses, and producing a final research presentation and report.

This course uses the principles of economics to study the allocation of resources used to provide health and long-term care. Market inadequacies and market failures that have affected the financing, organization, and delivery of care are examined. The impact of private and public insurance programs on the organization and delivery of health care are analyzed, and the relationships between politics, policies, and health care markets are explored. Basic economics principles are taught and applied to the study of health care. Evaluation will be based on exams. This course is cross-listed with HESY 660.

How do various stakeholders advocate for their issues, and how do they identify parties that support or oppose the public interest? Case studies will be used to demonstrate to students the fact that a particular set of problems requires understanding diverse perspectives and cross-disciplinary approaches in order to create successful medical and public health interventions. Evaluation will be based on papers.

Independent study with an M.S. HAPI faculty member or another supervisor outside of the program

Options for Capstone / Internship projects include working on a research study or health services project with a Georgetown or outside mentor, working with an advocacy group, NGO, state or federal agency, international health organization, or social science or epidemiological research program.

Continuous registration for HAPI Capstone

Continuous registration for HAPI Capstone