Global Health and Health Policy Jump To: Jump To: Program Offerings Minor Offering type Minor Princeton students are part of a new global health generation — a generation that witnesses first-hand the pressing health challenges in the world and wants to do something about them. The minor in Global Health and Health Policy (GHP) equips students with the cutting-edge tools, real-life experiences and critical perspectives to make meaningful change in the health sphere.The minor in Global Health and Health Policy provides students a foundational grounding in the core interdisciplinary issues of global health. These include the biological, social and environmental determinants of health; public health policy and politics; epidemiology; comparative approaches to health-care provision; medical anthropology; health ethics; and social justice. Participating students learn about and collaborate with diverse communities around the world and in the United States.Students from all majors are welcome. Goals for Student Learning Students gain knowledge of the fundamental principles of global health as drawn from natural science, social science and the humanities, and explore the ways in which these principles interact with each other across disciplines.Students develop skills in policy analysis, critical thinking and ethical reasoning as they are applied in global health contexts.Students demonstrate analytical research skills and mastery of interdisciplinary approaches to global health through a capstone written project in their senior year.Students improve understanding of challenges involved in applying global health principles to real-world contexts through experiential learning opportunities including summer internships.Students develop relationships with cohort classmates across disciplines — learning from each other as they jointly take core courses, participate in GHP colloquium lectures and participate in other minor-related activities. Prerequisites By the end of sophomore year, prospective applicants must complete one Foundations prerequisite course and one Statistics prerequisite course, with a grade of B or higher.Foundations prerequisite course options include: ANT 240, ENV 210 A/B, GSS 201, ISC-231-234, MOL 101, MOL/EEB 211, MOL/EEB 214, ECO 100, PSY 101, SOC 101, SPI 298, URB 201, EEB 309, EEB 314, EEB 327, and EEB 328.Statistics prerequisite course options include: ECO 202, EEB 355, MOL 290, ORF 245, POL 345, PSY 251, SML 201, SOC 301, SPI 200, ECO 302, ECO 312, and ORF 405.Applicants should also have maintained a cumulative 3.0 GPA through the time of application. Students with a cumulative GPA below 3.0, or who have not completed both prerequisite courses, may still apply to the minor during the sophomore spring with an explanation of any extenuating circumstances. Admission to the Program Students apply to the minor in the spring semester of their sophomore year. The application opens in late February and closes in late March. In the application, students describe their past engagement with the field of global health and health policy, their motivations for completing the minor and their notional global health research interests. All students meeting the baseline qualifications will be accepted to the minor, and will be notified by early April. Program of Study The minor in Global Health and Health Policy consists of three elements: coursework, summer internship, and capstone research project.Core CoursesStudents take two core GHP courses together as a cohort during their junior year. They are GHP 350: Critical Perspectives in Global Health Policy (fall semester) and GHP 351: Epidemiology: An Ecological and Evolutionary Perspective (spring semester). Exceptions to the core courses being taken during the junior year can be made when a student will be studying abroad, is on a leave of absence or will otherwise be off-campus; or when a student has a timing conflict with a required concentration course. These core courses may not be taken on a pass/D/fail basis.Elective CoursesStudents must take four additional elective courses in global health. Students may choose from an elective list that is curated and approved in advance every semester by the minor. In spring 2023 there were 60 preapproved GHP electives, and in fall 2022 there were 38 preapproved GHP electives.Guidelines on Elective CoursesThree of the four electives must be taken in junior or senior year.One elective may be taken in the first year or sophomore year.Students may petition to the minor for a course to be approved as a GHP elective prior to the start of the semester. Elective petitions will not be accepted after the start of the semester or after the course has been completed.Elective courses may be at the 200-, 300-, or 400 level. Students may petition to the minor for a 500-level course to be approved as a GHP elective on an individual basis. 100-level courses will not be approved as electives.A student may count a maximum of two 200-level courses toward the four-elective total. If a cross-listed course carries both a 200- and 300-level course number, it will count as a 200-level course for purposes of this requirement.At least one elective course must not be listed or cross-listed with the student’s major.One course taken off-campus, including study abroad courses, may be taken as an elective with prior minor approval.One elective course may be taken on a pass/D/fail basis. Any course taken off-campus would count toward this limit. Additional Requirements Summer InternshipGHP students will complete an internship or research experience during the summer between junior and senior year. This provides students an opportunity to apply concepts from the core GHP courses and any electives taken to date in a real-world context. This experience must be full-time and must be a minimum of eight weeks in duration. The internship may be remote. All internships must be approved in advance by the minor.Capstone Research ProjectGHP students will write a senior thesis or research paper that addresses or relates to global health in an interdisciplinary manner. The requirement can be fulfilled in three ways, including a departmental thesis that fully integrates a global health topic; a final chapter added to a technical or lab-based thesis that connects the preceding content to a global health topic; or an original research paper on a global health topic. Faculty Director Heather H. Howard (co-director) C. Jessica E. Metcalf (co-director) Alexander Ploss (acting) Executive Director Gilbert D. Collins Executive Committee Amy B. Borovoy, East Asian Studies Angela N. Creager, History Janet M. Currie, Schl of Public & Int'l Affairs Pascaline Dupas, Schl of Public & Int'l Affairs Noreen Goldman, Schl of Public & Int'l Affairs Andrea L. Graham, Ecology & Evolutionary Biology Bryan T. Grenfell, Schl of Public & Int'l Affairs Kate Ho, Economics Heather H. Howard, Schl of Public & Int'l Affairs Yibin Kang, Molecular Biology C. Jessica E. Metcalf, Schl of Public & Int'l Affairs AJ te Velthuis, Molecular Biology Associated Faculty Elizabeth M. Armstrong, Schl of Public & Int'l Affairs Bonnie L. Bassler, Molecular Biology Ruha Benjamin, African American Studies He Bian, History João Biehl, Anthropology Mark P. Brynildsen, Chemical and Biological Eng Elizabeth A. Davis, Anthropology Andy P. Dobson, Ecology & Evolutionary Biology Thomas Fujiwara, Economics Zemer Gitai, Molecular Biology John T. Groves, Chemistry Katja Guenther, History Elizabeth Harman, Philosophy Brooke A. Holmes, Classics Niraj K. Jha, Electrical & Comp Engineering Ilyana Kuziemko, Economics Simon A. Levin, Ecology & Evolutionary Biology A. James Link, Chemical and Biological Eng Sanyu A. Mojola, Sociology Celeste M. Nelson, Chemical and Biological Eng Daniel A. Notterman, Molecular Biology Alexander Ploss, Molecular Biology Joshua D. Rabinowitz, Chemistry Carolyn M. Rouse, Anthropology Matthew J. Salganik, Sociology Mohammad R. Seyedsayamdost, Chemistry Eldar Shafir, Psychology Erik J. Sorensen, Chemistry Keith A. Wailoo, History Sits with Committee Esther Annan Angus S. Deaton Hanna Ehrlich Arbel Griner Robert K. Prud'homme Daniel Rubenstein For a full list of faculty members and fellows please visit the department or program website. Courses GHP 350 - Critical Perspectives in Global Health Policy (also SPI 380) Fall SA Introduces disease and healthcare problems worldwide and examines efforts to address them. Via an interdisciplinary approach, identifies the main actors, institutions, knowledge, and values at play in the "global health system", and explores the environmental, social, political, and economic factors that shape patterns and variations in disease and health across societies. Topics include: development and governance of disease; technological change and public health; human rights and social justice; measuring health outcomes; and the shifting role of states, civil society, and public-private partnerships in healthcare delivery. Two lectures. J. Biehl GHP 351 - Epidemiology: Unpacking Health with Classic Tools, Ecology and Evolution (also EEB 351/SPI 381) Spring Focuses on the distribution and determinants of disease. Diverse methodological approaches for measuring health status, disease occurrence, and the association between risk factors and health outcomes will be presented via classic and contemporary studies of chronic and infectious illness and disease outbreaks. Emphasis on: causal inference, study design and sampling, bias and confounding, the generalizability of research, health policy and research ethics. Prerequisite: an approved basic statistics course. Two 90-minute lectures, one preceptorial. C. Metcalf AAS 303 - Topics in Global Race and Ethnicity (also GHP 313/GSS 406/HUM 347) Not offered this year HA or SA This seminar uses the prevailing analytical tools and critical perspectives of African American Studies to consider comparative approaches to groups, broadly defined. Students will examine the intellectual traditions, socio-political contexts, expressive forms, and modes of belonging of people who are understood to share common boundaries/experiences as either (1) Africans and the African Diaspora outside of the United States; and/or (2) non-African-descended people of color within the United States. Staff ANT 403 - Race and Medicine (also AAS 403/GHP 403) CD or EM This course examines culture's role in reproducing health inequalities in the United States. Different populations have very different levels of access to care, environmental exposures, and cultural beliefs about health and well-being. Institutional cultures also influence how different patients are treated, how evidence is used to determine treatments, and how healthcare priorities are articulated and funded. Additionally, this course explores how medical care is influenced at a national level by health policies. These factors ultimately impact population health and patients' experiences with life, death and chronic disease. C. Rouse CBE 440 - Physical Basis of Human Disease (also GHP 450/MOL 440) Spring This course covers major diseases (cancer, diabetes, heart disease, infectious diseases), the physical changes that inflict morbidity and mortality, the design constraints for treatment, and emerging technologies that take into account these physical hurdles. Taking the perspective of the design constraints on the system (that is, the mass transport and biophysical limitations of the human body), the course will survey recent results from the fields of drug delivery, gene therapy, tissue engineering, and nanotechnology. Two lectures. C. Nelson CBE 447 - Metabolic Engineering (also GHP 457) Not offered this year SEN Introduction to engineering metabolism. The objective of this course is to introduce students to current techniques and challenges within the field of metabolic engineering. Specific topics include introduction to metabolism, transcriptional regulation, signal transduction, flux balance analysis, and metabolic flux analysis. Designed for upper division students in engineering, chemistry, and molecular biology. Two lectures. Prerequisites: MOL 214 or equivalent. M. Brynildsen CLA 231 - Ancient Greek and Roman Medicine: Bodies, Physicians, and Patients (also GHP 331/HIS 231/HLS 231) Spring EM or HA Where does medicine begin in the West? In this course, we will go back to the earliest medical texts written in ancient Greece that try to give an account of disease as a natural phenomenon that happens inside the biological body. Our aim is not simply to reconstruct the theories of health and disease that these authors put forth. It is also to see the kinds of questions and problems that arise when healers take responsibility for the care and treatment of bodies. B. Holmes ECO 332 - Economics of Health and Health Care (also GHP 332) Spring SA This course will provide an opportunity to apply the concepts and methods studied in economics core courses to analyze selected topics in health economics. Topics will change from year to year. Prerequisites depend on topic. Two 90-minute lectures and one precept. K. Noonan EEB 327 - Immune Systems: From Molecules to Populations (also GHP 327/MOL 327) Fall SEN Why is there immunological polymorphism in animal populations? Why do immune systems work as they do? This course examines the theories of host-parasite coevolution, including optimal host resource allocation to immune defense in light of parasite counter-strategies, and assesses the empirical evidence by which these theories are tested. Students look at the evolutionary ecology of mechanisms used by immune systems to recognize and kill parasites, finding similarities across animal taxa. Finally, students will map immune mechanisms onto host phylogenies to understand the order in which different mechanisms arose over evolutionary time. A. Graham EEB 328 - Ecology and Epidemiology of Parasites and Infectious Diseases (also GHP 328) Not offered this year SEL An introduction to the biology of viruses, bacteria, fungi, protozoa, worms, arthropods, and plants that are parasitic upon other animal and plant species. The major emphasis will be on the parasites of animals and plants, with further study of the epidemiology of infectious diseases in human populations. Studies of AIDS, anthrax, and worms, and their role in human history, will be complemented by ecological and evolutionary studies of mistletoe, measles, myxomatosis, and communities of parasitic helminths. Limited to students in the Tropical Ecology Program in Panama. A. Dobson MOL 423 - Molecular Basis of Cancer (also GHP 423) Spring We will explore the molecular events leading to the onset and progression of human cancer. We will review the central genetic and biochemical elements that make up the cell cycle, followed by a survey of the signal transduction pathways and checkpoints that regulate it. We will discuss oncogenes, tumor suppressor and mutator genes that act in these pathways and review the role of viral oncogenes and their action on cells. We will investigate the role of cancer stem cells and the interaction between tumor and the host environment. We will explore specific clinical case studies in light of the molecular events underlying different cancers. Y. Kang MOL 425 - Infection: Biology, Burden, Policy (also GHP 425/SPI 355) Not offered this year SEN This course will examine fundamental determinants of human microbe interaction at the biological and ecological levels. The focus will be on major global infectious diseases, their burden of illness and policy challenges for adequate prevention and control. Each infectious agent will be discussed in terms of its biology, mechanisms of pathogenesis, and epidemiology, as well as strategies for its control. Specific emphasis will be placed on the public health aspects of each disease. Prerequisite: MOL 101, MOL 214, or permission of instructor. One three-hour lecture. T. Shenk MOL 433 - Biotechnology (also CBE 434/GHP 433) Spring SEN This course will consider the principles, development, outcomes and future directions of therapeutic applications of biotechnology, with particular emphasis on the interplay between basic research and clinical experience. Topics to be discussed include production of hormones and other therapeutic proteins, gene therapy, oncolytic viruses, and stem cells. Reading will be from the primary literature. Prerequisite: MOL 214. S. Flint MOL 459 - Viruses: Strategy and Tactics (also GHP 459) Fall SEN Viruses are unique parasites of living cells and may be the most abundant, highest evolved life forms on the planet. The general strategies encoded by all known viral genomes are discussed using selected viruses as examples. A part of the course is dedicated to the molecular biology (the tactics) inherent in these strategies. Another part introduces the biology of engagement of viruses with host defenses, what happens when viral infection leads to disease, vaccines and antiviral drugs, and the evolution of infectious agents and emergence of new viruses. Prerequisite: MOL 214 or permission of instructor. I. Cristea MOL 460 - Diseases in Children: Causes, Costs, and Choices (also GHP 460/STC 460) Fall EM Within a broader context of historical, social, and ethical concerns, a survey of normal childhood development and selected disorders from the perspectives of the physician and the scientist. Emphasis on the complex relationship between genetic and acquired causes of disease, medical practice, social conditions, and cultural values. The course features visits from children with some of the conditions discussed, site visits, and readings from the original medical and scientific literature. Prerequisite: MOL 214. Two 90-minute classes and an evening 90-minute precept. D. Notterman NEU 447 - Neuroimmunology: Immune Molecules in Normal Brain Function and Neuropathology (also GHP 447/MOL 447) Not offered this year SEN In this course, we will explore the diverse and complex interactions between the brain and the immune system from the perspective of current, cutting-edge research papers. In particular, we will focus on the molecular mechanisms of these interactions and their role in brain development and function as well as their potential contributions to specific neurological disorders, including autism. In the process, students will learn to read, critically evaluate, and explain in presentations the content of articles from the primary literature. Prerequisites: MOL 214/215. L. Boulanger