BIOE Electives
BIOE 550 Bioethics and Society. Staff (). This is a topics course - for information on the topic
currently being offered, please go to the course listing on the Bioethics website:
http://www.med.upenn.edu/mbe.
This set of courses will deal with bioethical issues in popular culture addressed from a social
science perspective. Courses to be offered include: "Sociology of Bioethics," and "Media and the
Doctor-Patient Relationship."
BIOE 570 Bioethics & Policy. Staff (). This is a topics course - for information on the topic
currently being offered, please go to the course listing on the Bioethics website:
http://www.med.upenn.edu/mbe.
This set of courses will look at bioethical topics from either a legal or public policy perspective.
Past courses have included: Ethics of Managed Care, Law, Medicine and Policy, and Legal
Aspects of Healthcare in America.
BIOE 580 Research Ethics. Merz (Spring).This class is intended to give students a broad
overview of research ethics and regulation. The students will come out of the class with an
understanding of the moral bases of scientific ethics and the historical evolution of biomedical
research ethics. Students will be fully conversant with the development, implementation, and
limitation of US human subjects regulation. The course will include reading assignments and
lectures addressing the following topics: ethics and morality in science, science in society;
scientific integrity; misconduct: from FFP to MIM; conflicts of interest; collegiality, publication,
and authorship; ethics codes and regulation; research with human subjects; historical review of
human experimentation; human subjects regulation (HHS, FDA), Institutional Review Boards;
informed consent, waivers, vulnerable populations, privacy and the confidentiality of records;
and research on animals.
BIOE 590 Philosophical Topics in Bioethics. Staff ().This is a topics course - for information
on the topic currently being offered, please go to the course listing on the Bioethics website:
http://www.med.upenn.edu/mbe.
This set of courses provides a philosophical perspective on bioethical topics and issues. This can
include courses that integrate ethical theory with concern for particular applications of theory or
conceptual issues in medicine, health care, and the life sciences. Past courses have included
Philosophy of Death and Dying, Genetics and Ethics, Philosophy of Medicine, Pragmatic
Bioethics, and Feminism and Bioethics.
CAMB Electives
CAMB 609 Vaccines & Immune Therapeutics. Weiner, Offit, Emini, Boyfer (Fall).
Vaccination is the most successful medical technological intervention. The goal of this course is
to expand on students' general understanding of the immune system and to focus this
understanding towards the application of vaccination and immune therapies for the 21 century.
Furthermore, the course will give the student a sense of how these principles are applied to
vaccine and immune therapeutic development. The course covers basic science as well as the
clinical, regulatory, ethical, and political issues and implications of modern vaccines and world
health.
Initial lectures review immune mechanisms believed to be responsible for vaccine induced
protection from disease. Subsequent lectures build on this background to explore the science of
vaccines for diverse pathogens, including agents of bioterrorism as well as vaccines for cancer.
An appreciation for the application of laboratory science to the clinical development and studies
of vaccines is provided in the next section of the course along with lectures, which focus on the
regulatory, safety, and ethical implications of vaccines in different world situations. The
financial implications of specific vaccines on global health is one focus of the course.
The course is lecture style with many, many guest lecturers who are experts in their particular
area of vaccine development. There are required readings to provide the student context and
background for the diverse lectures topic. Students are graded on course participation, and a final
project/exam. The project is to design in a powerpoint report a vaccine strategy for a current
disease or pathogen of importance that does not as yet have an effective vaccine or immune
therapy. Strategies used should build on the material presented in the class lectures. The course is
intended for graduate students or medical students in various MS, Ph.D., or MD/Ph.D. programs
on the campus, as well as local scientists and professionals in the community. As a prerequisite
students should have taken biology, biochemistry, or immunology courses at the advanced
college level.
COMM Electives
COMM 575 Social Psychology of Communication. Capella (). Contributions of social
psychology to understanding communication behavior: message systems; social cognition;
persuasive communications; attitude formation and change; face-to-face interactions and small
group situations; strategies of attributional and communicative interpretation; mass
communication effects; social influence and networks.
COMM 637 Public Health Communication. Capella ().Theories of health behavior change and
the potential role for public health communication; international experience with programs
addressing behaviors related to cancer, AIDS, obesity, cardiovascular disease, child mortality,
drug use and other problems, including evidence about their influence on health behavior; the
design of public health communication programs; approaches to research and evaluation for
these programs.
DEMG/SOCI Electives
DEMG/SOCI 633 Population Processes I. Elo, Ewbank, Kohler, Preston, Soldo (Fall).
Population Processes (PP) I is part of a two-course sequence designed to introduce students to
the core areas of demography (fertility, mortality, migration, and population aging) and recent
developments in the field. PP I is designed as a survey course to introduce students to a broad set
of issues in health and mortality, and individual and population aging. The course covers topics
in demographic and social perspectives on health and mortality in developed and developing
countries and topics in population aging, such as global trends in disease, disability, and aging,
biologic and social aspects of aging, and health inequalities at older ages. The course format
consists of lectures and class discussions. The tow course sequence is required of Ph.D. students
in Demography. Others interested in enrolling in only one of the courses may do so with the
permission of the Chair of the Graduate Group in Demography.
DEMG/SOCI 634 Population Processes II. Kohler, Smith ().Population Processes (PP) II is a
part of a two-course sequence designed to introduce students to the core areas of demography
(fertility, mortality, migration, and population aging) and recent developments in the field. PP II
focuses on biological, social, and demographic factors explaining levels, trends, and differentials
in human fertility transition with an emphasis on the historical and current course of fertility
transition in developed and developing countries. In addition the course covers topics in family
demography. The course format consists of lectures and class discussions. The two course
sequence is required of Ph.D. students in Demography. Others interested in enrolling in only one
of the courses may do so with the permission of the Chair of the Graduate Group in
Demography.
EAS Electives
EAS 501 Energy and Its Impacts: Technology, Ecology, Economics, Sustainability. Staff
(Fall). The objective is to introduce students to one of the most dominating and compelling areas
of human existence and endeavor: energy, with its foundations in technology, association to
economics, and impacts on ecology and society. This introduction is intended both for general
education and awareness and for preparation for careers related to this field. The course spans
from basic principles to applications. A review of energy consumption, use, and resources;
ecological impacts, sustainability and design of sustainable energy systems; methods of energy
analysis; forecasting; electricity generation systems (steam and gas turbine based power plants,
fuel cells), energy for transportation (cars, aircraft, and ships); nuclear energy and wastes;
renewable energy use: solar, wind, hydroelectric, geothermal, biomass; prospects for future
energy systems: fusion power, power generation in space.
EAS 503 Energy Systems and Policy. Staff (Fall). This is a survey course that will examine the
current U.S. energy industry, from production to consumption, and its impacts on local, regional,
and the global environment. The course will seek to provide a fuller understanding of existing
energy systems, ranging from technical overviews of each, a review of industry organization, and
an exploration of the well-established policy framework each operates within. Near-term
demands upon each energy supply system will be discussed, with particular focus on
environmental constraints.
EDUC Electives
EDUC 514 Education in Developing Countries. Wagner (Fall). This seminar will cover a
number of topics in human development (e.g., fertility, health, sex-roles) and education (e.g.,
pre-school interventions, literacy campaigns, non-formal education,technology innovations)in
developing countries that have received attention from researchers and policy planners, and in
the work of international agencies such as UNICEF, UNESCO, World Bank and USAID.
EDUC 661 Language Diversity and Education. ().
ENVS Electives
ENVS 637 Global Water Issues. Laskowski ().Water- related illnesses are estimated by some to
kill up to 5000 people per day worldwide and many of these casualties are children. This course
will explore the causes of this global crisis and what is being done to address the issue. It will
provide an overview of international agreements, wastewater and water supply issues,
technological advances, political/financial/cultural and other barriers to success, and what
students can do to become involved in resolving the issues. Guest lecturers and case studies will
provide insights to problems in problem areas around the world. Students will be asked to
evaluate specific problems and suggest improved approaches to improving access to clean water.
ENVS 638 Global Water Policy and Governance. Laskowski (). At the turn of the 21st century
the United Nations established a series of goals to assist developing countries. These Millennium
Development Goals [MDG] include targets for water and sanitation: " by the year 2015 to reduce
by one half the percent of the world's population that does not have access to safe water and
adequate sanitation". This course explores the policies and actions being taken by the world
community, the United States, and NGOs to meet these targets. It will also address water
governance issues such as financing, community leadership, and capacity building for
water/sanitation in developing countries. Two
mandatory full-day field trips are included [one to the United Nations in New York City; another
to US Government leaders in Washington, DC].
EPID Electives
EPID 656 Research Methods in Infectious Diseases Epidemiology. Gross, Lautenbach ().
This is an advanced course addressing epidemiological issues as they apply to important clinical
topics in infectious diseases. Lectures and discussions will serve two primary goals: 1) to explore
epidemiologic methods specific to infectious diseases (e.g. adherence to therapy) or which have
important applications to infectious diseases (e.g. molecular epidemiology); and 2) to explore the
epidemiology of particular infectious diseases or syndromes (e.g. HIV). This course will
acquaint students with the classic literature in the field of infectious diseases epidemiology, teach
advanced epidemiological principles using a problem-based approach, and demonstrate the
strengths and weaknesses of research methodologies as they have been applied to infectious
diseases.
HCMG Electives
HCMG 859 Comparative Health Care Systems. Danzon (Fall). This course examines the
structure of health care systems in different countries, focusing on financing, reimbursement,
delivery systems and adoption of new technologies. We study the relative roles of private sector
and public sector insurance and providers, and the effect of system design on cost, quality,
efficiency and equity of medical services. Some issues we address are normative: Which systems
and which public/private sector mixes are better at achieving efficiency and equity? Other issues
are positive: How do these different systems deal with the tough choices, such as decisions about
new technologies? Our main focus is on the systems in four large OECD countries- Germany,
Canada, Japan, and the United Kingdom - but we also look at other countries with interesting
systems - including Italy, Chile, and Singapore and developing countries including China and
India. We will draw lessons for the U.S. from foreign experience and vice versa.
HCMG 868 Private Sector Role in Global Health. Sammut (). This course explores
entrepreneurial and other private sector solutions for both health services and access to
medicines and technology in the developing world and other underserved areas. The course also
encompasses study of creative solutions such as drug development partnerships, public-private
partnerships, and other incentive programs to engage the private sector in development of
vaccines and medicines for tropical and neglected diseases, as well as therapeutic approaches and
care systems for the rapidly growing problems of chronic diseases in populations in the
developing world. The course goal is not to duplicate a conventional international public health
course, but to build upon what is conventionally known and taught in such courses from a
managerial solutions-oriented perspective. Learning is driven through readings, class discussions
and a series of guest speakers representing the full range of global health issues. The major
assignment in the course is a group student project.
HSOC Electives
HSOC 421 Medicine and Development. Feierman (Fall). This course is devoted to readings
and research about medicine and development in resource-poor countries. The focus is on
medical instiutions and practices as seen within the broader context of development. We try to
understand changing interpretations of how development takes place--of its relationship to
technical knowledge, power and inequality. The course give students the opportunity to do
intensive original research.
LAW Electives
LAW 606 Refugee Law. Staff (). This course will explore the origins of “refuge” or “asylum”
including the myriad of human rights violations that force people to flee and seek protection,
public policy issues such as US laws and regulations that govern asylum, and international
agencies that are involved in the process of granting protection. The course will cover both the
international refugee law and human rights context of State practice with reference to
international treaties and customary international law. The course will begin with a review of
The United Nations 1951 Convention and 1967 Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees - the
standard against which refugee protection will be measured. We will study the dimensions,
responsibilities and realities of the Office of the United National High Commissioner for
Refugees which monitors implementation of this treaty. We will then cover regional practice
relating to refugees in Europe, Latin America and Africa and Asia and briefly discuss root causes
reasons of current and potential population displacements The major portion of the course,
however, will deal with US statutory, regulatory and case law determining who is and is not a
refuge vis-a-vis the 1980 Refugee Act, implementing regulations, and administrative and judicial
decisions law. To better understand and see how theory is put into practice, especially as it
relates to deterring refugees from entering the US through their detention students may be
involved in interviewing asylum seekers. The course will conclude by looking at the
international institutional response to refugee problems. We will conclude with a discussion of
ancillary refugee issues such as, restricted employment and welfare entitlements, expedited
procedures, and returns to safe countries. By the end of the course, students should be able to: 1.
Understand the international framework for refugee determinations 2. Understand the US
domestic framework including legislation, regulations and judicial decisions, for refugee and
asylum related issues 3. Show competency in conducting an intake of an asylum seeker and
developing a case analysis 4. Research Country Conditions regarding human rights violations 5.
Prepare An Application for Asylum, Form I-589 and understand US regulations dealing with
asylum adjudication 6. Prepare an Affidavit attesting to the asylum seeker's claim for asylum 7.
Prepare a packet with evidence to support the claim for asylum.
LAW 660 Public International Law. Staff (). This course introduces students to the legal rules
and institutions that govern the international political system. The course provides a formal
introduction to international law and emphasizes the relationships between law and politics in the
behavior of states, institutions, and individuals in world politics. International law is both more
relevant and more interesting today than ever before. From the war against terror to the war in
Iraq; from the challenges of free trade to the dangers of environmental destruction; from
prisoners in Guantanamo Bay to former heads of state appearing in court, international law has a
direct bearing on many of the key issues in international affairs. This course examines how
international law is created, how it operates, and what effect it has on these and other issues in
contemporary international relations. The course begins with an introduction to the nature and
structure of the international legal system. Topics include: the subjects and forms of international
law, the key institutional actors, the theoretical background to the international legal system, and
the relationships between international law and international relations. The second part of the
course turns to substantive legal issues. Topics include: international economic law and the
debates surrounding the WTO; international criminal law and the International Criminal Court;
the protection of human rights; the use of force and the invasions of Kosovo and Iraq; the
proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and the future of the United Nations. Additional
topics may be added or substituted if international events and student interest so warrant. This is
a 1L elective course and 1Ls will have a max of 80 seats (of 110) in the course.
LGST Electives
LGST 220/820 Medicine and Development. Robertson (Fall). This course is a
multidisciplinary, interactive study of business ethics within a global economy. A central aim of
the course is to enable students to develop a framework to address ethical challenges as they
arise within and across different countries. Alternative theories about acting ethically in global
environments are presented, and critical current issues are introduced and analyzed. Examples
include bribery, global sourcing, environmental sustainability, social reports, intellectual
property, e-commerce, and dealing with conflicting standards and values across cultures. As part
of this study, the course considers non-Western ethical traditions and practices as they relate to
business.
LGST 230/830 Social Impact and Responsibility: Foundations. Hsieh (Fall). What role can
business play in meeting societal needs in protecting the environment, improving health, or
eradicating poverty? Does business have a responsibility to help meet these needs? What are
successful examples of business approaches to meeting these needs? Are there limits to what can
and should be done through business? This survey course provides students the opportunity to
engage in an analysis of these and other issues that lie at the foundation of social impact and
responsibility as an area of study. Through cases, conceptual readings and guest lectures from
practitioners, the course is designed to help students address the question: “How should business
enterprises and business thinking be engaged to improve society in areas not always associated
with business?”
NURS Electives
NURS 516 International Nutrition: Political Economy of World Hunger. Chrzan (). A
detailed consideration of the nature, consequences, and causes of hunger and undernutrition
internationally. Approaches are explored to bringing about change, and to formulating and
implementing policies and programs at international, national, and local levels, designed to
alleviate hunger and under-nutrition.
NURS 545 Maternal and Infant Care in the Americas. Guidera (). This clinical elective will
provide an intensive historical, sociopolitical, and cultural perspective of health and health care
delivery in the Americas with a special emphasis on Latin America and the Caribbean.
Classroom, direct clinical care and field experiences are designed to provide students with a
broad view of the history and culture system of the country of focus. The delivery of health care
to women and children will be explored from a sociopolitical, cultural and historical context.
Service learning experiences are an integral component of this course. The course includes 5
seminars on campus and 10-14 days on site in the country of focus. The country of focus may
vary each semester.
NURS 562 Case Study in Complementary & Alternative Medicine. Cuellar (). This course
will examine the use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) in health promotion and
disease prevention, as well as in acute and chronic health conditions, through evidence-based
research and practice. Implications of CAM on culture, health disparities, society, economics,
safety, legal, ethical, and health policy issues will be explored and discussed.
NURS 688 Complementary/Alternative Therapies in Women’s Health. Grube (Fall). The
dramatic rise in the use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) by the American
public requires that the contemporary health care practitioner have an awareness of CAM
therapies and modalities currently available. The end result of this is course will not be
proficiency in the practice of any of these modalities in particular, but rather a basic
understanding of each approach to common conditions and their potential contribution to health
and well-being. The focus of the CAM modalities discussed in this course will center on their
use in women's health care provision.
PUBH Electives
PUBH 517 Geography and Health. Branas, Hiller, Weibe (). This course will provide an
introduction to GIS in public health research and practice. Through a series of lectures and labs
students will explore theories linking health and the environment, spatial analysis and spatial
epidemiology, and applications of GIS-related data collection and analysis.
PUBH 519 Issues in Global Health. Nathanson (Fall). This course presents an overview of
issues in global health from the viewpoint of many different disciplines, with emphasis on
economically less developed countries. Subjects include: millennium goals; measures of disease
burden; population projections and control; environmental health and safe water; demography of
disease and mortality; zoonotic infectious diseases; AIDS and HIV prevention; vaccine
utilization and impact; eradication of polio virus; chronic diseases;tobacco-associated disease
and its control; nutritional challenges; social determinants of global health; harm reduction and
behavioral modifications; women's reproductive rights; health economics and cost-effective
interventions; health manpower and capacity development; bioethical issues in a global context.
PUBH 598 Immersion Experience in Global Public Health. Nguyen ().This independent
educational experience seeks to provide motivated students with the opportunity to expand their
knowledge in global health through focusedexperiential learning at international sites that
provide direct public health services. Such learning will allow students to gain real-world
experience concerning the core competencies of public health (health policy, behavior/ social
sciences, environmental health, epidemiology, or biostatistics).
SDM Electives
SDM 612 Local and Global Public Health. Staff ().
SOCI Electives
SOCI 640 Global Health and Health Policy. Aiken (). This participatory interdisciplinary
seminar course examines contemporary issues in public health policy and global health. The
organizing framework is social determinants of health. We consider evidence that inequalities in
education, income, and occupation influence health status, and the policy dilemma that broad
interventions to improve population health may increase health disparities. We critically examine
whether prevention is always better than cure, and what modern medicine has to offer in terms of
health. We explore the public policy process in health using the "tobacco wars" as a case
example, of how politics, policy, law, commercial interests, and research intersect to affect the
public's health. We examine whether global health is in a state of decline, and the extent to which
failures in public health, public policy, and foreign policy have contributed to increasing threats
to world health. Likewise we will examine the potential for greater integration of health into
foreign policy to create global infrastructure upon which to advance health. We will examine the
global health workforce and the impact of widespread global migration of health professionals
on receiving and sending countries.
There are no prerequisites. The course is designed for graduate students in the social and
behavioral sciences, health professions, public health, business and law. Advanced
undergraduate students will be admitted with permission.
SWRK Electives
SWRK 798 International Social Work: Practicing in the Global South Shown. This
interdisciplinary course will introduce students to societal problems in the developing world;
familiarize them with global professions in social work, education, public health, etc.; and
prepare them for overseas/cross-cultural practice. Through the course students will identify
numerous strategies and skills social workers and other professionals have used to
collaboratively build interventions within the social welfare, education, health care and
sustainable community development arenas.
The course will expose students to alternative views of development as they relate to individual,
interpersonal, family, community, societal and international change. Students will learn about the
history of specific global problems, how cultures affect response, different social services
delivery systems, and initiatives aimed at resolution. Students will explore a specific
development issue within a country and community, e.g., human trafficking, disaster relief, water
& sanitation, womenʼs empowerment, microfinance, etc.
VCSN Electives
VCSN 631 Ecological Epidemiology. Staff ().
VMED Electives
VMED 607 Veterinary Public Health. Staff ().