Global Health Science and Practice
The Global Health Science and Practice (GHSP) concentration prepares students to address health issues that transcend national boundaries, with an emphasis on improving health equity and justice worldwide. This concentration equips students with the knowledge and skills to analyze global health challenges, design effective public health interventions, and develop policies to improve health outcomes in diverse populations locally and globally. Coursework includes, but is not limited to, topics on infectious and chronic diseases, health systems strengthening, global health governance, epidemiology, and social and environmental determinants of health. In addition, students will gain rigorous methodological skills in implementation science and quantitative and qualitative research. Students learn to work collaboratively across cultures and disciplines, preparing them for careers in international organizations, non-profits, government agencies, and academia.
Specific areas of interest across our global health faculty, which reflect in our curriculum, include One Health and pandemic preparedness; infectious diseases epidemiology; water, sanitation, and hygiene; global mental health, and maternal and child health. Given our location in Boston’s Chinatown neighborhood, students will also have opportunities to engage in educational and practice opportunities with local-global intersections, including with organizations serving immigrant and refugee communities. Students will also have opportunities to connect with other faculty broadly across Tufts University and to communicate about their global health experiences through the Tufts Center for Global Public Health.
Skill & Competencies
- Evaluate differences in drivers of disease, risk factors, or health outcomes worldwide, with an emphasis on disparities across global settings.
- Apply concepts and approaches for forming ethical global collaborations based on allyship, in a manner that reflects an understanding of contemporary discourses on decolonizing global health.
- Assess roles of international and community-based public health organizations in the implementation of global public health interventions and programs.
- Apply qualitative or quantitative methodological approaches to collecting or analyzing data, in a manner that reflects understanding of unique challenges with data collection, management, security, or dissemination in global settings.
- Implement systematic approaches to synthesize or interpret research findings on a global health topic.
- Apply an implementation science theory, model, or framework to address a health care delivery or public health challenge in a global setting.
Mandatory Coursework in Addition to the Core Curriculum
- PH248: Introduction to Global Health and Development
- PH0250: Implementation Science: Global Perspectives
In addition to the two courses above, students will also have to pick at least one additional global health topic-oriented courses from Course Cluster A and at least one additional methodology-oriented courses from Course Cluster B. Students in the GHSP concentration will be encouraged to join sections of Cluster B courses that deliver methodological content using examples from global settings.
-
- PH261: Global Maternal and Child Health
- PH218: Global One Health: How Intersections between Humans, Animals, and the Environment Shape Our World and the Future of Public Health
- PH224: Infectious Diseases Epidemiology
-
- PH 290: Qualitative Methods and Data Analysis (a section of this course is taught primarily using global health examples)
- PH 206: Intermediate Biostatistics (a section of this course is taught primarily using global health examples)
-
Students may take global health-related courses that enhance topic-oriented or methodological knowledge within the MPH program or from other schools across Tufts University. While numerous graduate-level course with global health-related content are available across Tufts, we have listed a few representative examples below.
Examples of topic-oriented elective courses
- PH 279: Climate and Health
- DHP-P288 Climate Change: Risk and Adaptation for Food Systems and Beyond
- DHP-D241 Climate and Migration
- DHP-D255 Environmental Humanities and Global Health
- DHP-D239 Forced Migration
- DHP-D230 Humanitarian Action in Complex Emergencies
- NUTR – 0324 International Humanitarian Response
- NUTR – 0222 Gender, Culture, and Conflict in Complex Humanitarian Emergencies
- DHP-D237 Nutrition in Complex Emergencies: Policies, Practice and Decision-making
- DHP-D253 Global One Health Diplomacy: Holistic Approaches to Global Health Challenge
- DHP-D251 Leadership and Global institutions: The UN and Beyond
Examples of methodological elective courses
- PH 280: Introduction to systematic review (a section of this course is taught primarily using global health examples)
- PH 281: Intermediate systematic review (a section of this course is taught primarily using global health examples)
- DHP-P207 GIS (Geographic Information Systems) for International Applications
- DHP-D258 Introduction to Data Science for Global Applications
- DHP-P289 Advanced GIS (a section of this course is taught primarily using global health examples)
Applied Practice Experience (APE) and Integrated Learning Experiences (ILE)
Students in the GHSP concentration may complete their APE or ILE in global settings. TUSM has pre-existing relationships with sites in global settings, including Christian Medical College in Vellore, India; University of Ghana in Accra, Ghana; and University of Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Additional sites and opportunities may be co-developed by students and GHSP faculty.
Students in the GHSP concentration may also complete their APE or ILE with domestic organizations that work on global health-related issues or with organizations that focus on immigrant or refugee health, including organizations in the Boston Chinatown neighborhood.
Learn More About the APE & ILE