Dickinson Current and Proposed Health Studies Course

Background

Given the scope and complexity of factors influencing individual and community health as well as the complexity of health systems designed to address these factors, it remains an ongoing challenge to organize the subjects of health, health care and medical care in meaningful ways to address teaching, research and service objectives. As we pursue a health care initiative at Dickinson, we too are faced with the challenge of organizing these topics in ways that recognize our multi – disciplinary strengths and our community and global foci. The areas of focus described below represent an integration of programmatic themes present in clinical and administrative health programs offered by the following universities: Harvard University; The University of Pittsburgh; Tulane University; and, The University of North Carolina. It is important to state that the trajectories listed below are to be used as a guide by both faculty and students in the pursuit of health educational, research and service opportunities rather than as clearly defined boundaries on the subject of health.

Health Studies Areas of Focus

Life and Health Sciences:

This focus area incorporates a wide range of disciplines including but not limited to the following: biology; neurobiology; chemistry; biochemistry; genetics; epidemiology; and, biostatistics for the purposes of defining individual and community mental and physical health; explaining technical aspects of medical care interventions; and investigating the diffusion of these technologies into every day medical care use.

Behavioral and Community Health

This focus area examines the development and application of various social and behavioral science theories and methods for the purposes of preventing illness and promoting health through education and other pro active strategies at the community level.

Health, Culture, and Society

This focus area generally reviews questions of health equity and human rights.The focus area represents the work of those in the humanities, sociology, and psychology who document individual health/illness experiences (care givers, patients, others).

Environmental and Occupational Health

This focus area concentrates on the investigation and mitigation of health risks associated with environmental and occupational hazards. The interdisciplinary approach employed by researchers and professionals incorporate risk assessment and management strategies to minimize these adverse outcomes.

Biomedical Ethics and Law

This focus area identifies and investigates emerging ethical and legal issues raised by medicine and biomedical research.

Health Policy and Management

This is a broad ranging focus area routinely researching cost, access, and quality issues as they apply to the financing and delivery of health services at organizational and system levels.

Global Health

This focus area bases its approach on the realization that the world is economically, politically, and technologically connected and interdependent with increasingly mobile populations. Health related issues, concerns and problems are more frequently diffusing across geographic borders and therefore must be investigated, understood and ameliorated at an international level.

Health Studies Topic	Discipline	Course Number	Course Title	Course Status
Life and Health Sciences	Biology	125	Understanding Cancer	Offered*
Life and Health Sciences	Biology	333	Physiology	Offered*
Life and Health Sciences	Anthropology	100	Introduction to Biological Anthropology	Offered*
Life and Health Sciences	Anthropology	216	Medical Anthropology	Offered
Life and Health Sciences	Anthropology	218	Biosocial Aspects of Female Sexuality	Offered
Life and Health Sciences	Anthropology	310	Nutritional Anthropology	Offered*
Life and Health Sciences	Anthropology		Epidemiology	Proposed

Beh. and Com. Health	Psychology		Community Psychology	Offered
	Spanish	231-B	Spanish for the Health Professionals – Adams County	Offered

Health, Culture, Society	Sociology	400	Death and Dying	Offered
Health, Culture, Society	Sociology	333	The Sociology of Health and Illness	Offered*
Health, Culture, Society	Sociology	233	Medical Sociology	Offered
Health, Culture, Society	Soc./Anthro	230/245	Medicine, Society and Science	Offered*
Health, Culture, Society	Psychology		Thinking about Illness	Offered
Health, Culture, Society	American St		Health, Culture and Obesity	Proposed
Health, Culture, Society	American St		Health and Illness Narratives	Offered
Health, Culture, Society	American St	300	Women’s Health	Offered
Health, Culture, Society	History		Social Health in America	Proposed
Health, Culture, Society	Economics	349	Political Economy of the Third World	Offered
Health, Culture, Society	Economics	495	Political Economy of Health	Offered*
Health, Culture, Society	History	495	History of Science	Offered*

E and O Health	Anthropology	214	Ecological Anthropology	Offered
E and O Health	Envi Science	230	International Environmental Challenges	Offered
E and O Health	Economics	222	Environmental Economics	Offered

Policy and Management	IB&M	300R	Health Policy and Management	Offered
Policy and Management	IB&M	300AO	Nonprofit Management	Offered
Policy and Management	Economics	344	Public Finance	Offered
Policy and Management	Economics	351	The Economics and Politics of Regulation	Offered

Ethics and Law	Philosophy	255	Philosophy of Science	Offered
Ethics and Law	Phil./PMGT	220/220	Bio Medical Ethics	Offered*
Ethics and Law	Policy Std.	290	Managing Death	Offered
Ethics and Law	Political Sc.		Biomedical Technology, Policy and Law	Offered

Global Health	Anthropology	216	Medical Anthropology	Offered
	Sociology	237	Global Inequality	Offered
	Sociology	271	Comparative Social Policy	Offered
	Anthropology	245	Health and Healing in Africa	Offered

Service Learning and Change Agency			service learning courses by Professors W. Smith, Sarcone, Davis, Cullen, Rose

Fieldwork			opportunities in several majors to complete
			health related research

Mosaics			Mexican Migration Mosaic and Tanzania Field
			School ( strong health focus)

Internships			refer to listing provided by career center	Completed

Supporting Course Work	Spanish	231-B	Spanish for the Health Professions	Offered*
Supporting Course Work	Anthropology	240	Qualitative Research Methods	Offered
Supporting Course Work	Anthropology	241	Measurement and Quant. in the Social Sciences	Offered
Supporting Course Work	Mathematics	121	Elementary Statistics	Offered*
Supporting Course Work	Psychology	201/202	Research Methods in Cross Cultural Psychology	Offered*

Proposed Courses

Epidemiology Karen Weinstein

Health, Culture, and Obesity Amy Farrell

Social Health in America Kim Rogers

They will submit proposals for new courses through their respective departments.

* - course offered fall, 2008