PUBH.5010 Foundations of Public Health
As defined by the American Public Health Association (APHA), "Public health promotes and protects the health of all people and their communities. This science-based, evidence-backed field strives to give everyone a safe place to live, learn, work and play." This core course provides an understanding of public health history, philosophy, values, concepts, functions, and dynamics to ensure all students are grounded in foundational public health knowledge. The course will allow students to fully understand what public health is, how public health functions and what it does to fulfill its mission not only in the U.S, but globally as well. This course will illustrate the many contemporary challenges facing public health both nationally and globally, dynamics of the U.S. public health system, and factors that influence population health both in the U.S. and globally: thus, establishing the global interconnectivity of health systems which is best exemplified with the latest COVID-19 pandemic.