Global Health Studies Program
About Global Health Studies Program
The Global Health Studies Program (GHSP) is a unique interdisciplinary, international, and experiential program of study for both graduates and undergraduates. The Global Health Studies Program provides students a holistic overview of the complex processes influencing dominant health and disease experiences around the globe. The GHSP focuses not only on the manifestations of significant diseases and clinical health services but also on the underlying forces and institutions such as technology, politics, culture, legal structure, history and economy, which together influence health and disease patterns.
The Program offers a variety of courses and a certificate and a minor. In addition the Program provides courses and fieldwork opportunities that meet the requirements for the Masters in Public Health, Global Health Focus Area and for the B.A. in International Studies thematic area in global health.
The Global Health Studies Program is an institutional member of the Global Health Council and our students are eligible to enroll as Associate Professional members. Use your UI ID, select The University if Iowa GHSP as the institutional affiliation, and give your UI email address.
As a field, global health studies assume that health everywhere is subject to the dynamic processes of change impacting advanced Western societies as well as less developed societies and that the social roots and construction of health and disease require solutions beyond those provided by the health sciences or the pharmaceutical or the biotechnology industries. Additionally, the GHSP acknowledges that creative responses to these challenges are evolving on many fronts and can no longer be expected to flow only from the industrialized to the non-industrialized world.
In this era of globalization, societies are rapidly becoming more interdependent on each other. In recognizing these trends, the University of Iowa has adopted a strategic plan underlining the importance of interdisciplinary thinking and international competency. The Global Health Studies Program responds to this mandate and strives to ensure that students acquire the skills, experiences, and insights necessary to enable them to respond to this interconnected world. As a field of inquiry, Global Health Studies is inherently interdisciplinary and international in content.
This site introduces the Global Health Studies Program, its courses, activities, Certificate, associated faculty, and the variety of opportunities for program-related international study, research and internships.
Mission
The primary objective of the University of Iowa Global Health Studies Program is to educate students about the health transitions occurring globally in the wake of dynamic global environmental, political, economic, and social changes, and to prepare these students for occupations that increasingly demand critical interdisciplinary and international thinking skills and perspectives.
The program organizes both on-campus and overseas activities for students and faculty, enabling them to gain familiarity with the major issues of global health.
Breadth and Scope
Global Health Studies Program faculty and students consult, collaborate, and cooperate with a multitude of faculty and disciplines across the UI campus, the state of Iowa, and all over the world. Working relationships and linkages with a wide variety of grassroots, university, NGO, or government-based local and national experts and programs in global health exist in locales as diverse as the Dominican Republic, Thailand, Iceland, El Salvador, Nepal, Kenya, the Middle East, India, Eastern Europe, Russia, and others.
Areas of inquiry are equally diverse and include, for example: evaluations of the health effects of violence against women in El Salvador or the health challenges for women in the traditional Bedouin communities, the individual and community impacts of landmines and their related injuries in Uganda, tuberculosis control programs in rural Thailand, medical waste disposal challenges for the small island state of Malta, and water related health and development issues in Nepal.
Activities of the GHSP
- Development and sponsorship of innovative and unique interdisciplinary and team taught courses addressing significant global health issues and challenges
- Development and sponsorship of appropriate and innovative sites for study and research abroad of significant global health issues
- Sponsorship of a certificate program that consists of 25 credit hours of concentrated study and research in global health studies at both the undergraduate and graduate levels
- Faculty advisors for students interested in research or careers in health related occupations internationally
- Cross campus events, workshops, symposia, and conferences, to engage other faculty and visitors with an interest or expertise in international research and global health issues
- Special undergraduate research opportunities with Global Health Studies faculty members for independent study credit
- Development of other customized opportunities for students and faculty to share information, research results, and experiences addressing global health issues through coordination and consultation with other colleges and departments within the University of Iowa, across the state and region, and around the world, as opportunities and interest arise.