Community Health is an interdisciplinary concentration that examines patterns of and explanations for, population health and disease; health policy; cross-cultural and international aspects of health; the organizational and social structures through which health services are delivered/received; and the public health system. Courses in the concentration demonstrate the ways in which the social, political, behavioral and biological sciences contribute to the understanding of national and international health care systems, resource allocation, and patterns of population distributions of health and disease.
The concentration provides students with courses in basic research methods and statistics necessary for problem solving and critical thinking in the emerging emphasis on evidence-based health care and public health. Students also have opportunities to interact with agencies that provide, fund, and regulate health care, as well as agencies that offer training in health care activism.
This concentration is relevant for students with an interest in future careers in health care, health policy, and epidemiology; as health care providers, administrators, or policy makers in health care agencies, as public health professionals, or in international health or health law.
Required Courses. There are five required courses: BC 31 (or BC 7), 32, 132, 171 and 191.
Electives. The concentration requires seven elective courses.
A. One from each of the following areas:
1. Health Care Organization and Policy
3. Behavioral and Social Sciences/Prevention
B. Two courses in the University that are health-related, with approval from the concentration advisor.
Honors. An Honors track is available. Honors track students are also required to enroll in BC 195-196 in their senior year to write the honors thesis.
Concentration Advisor: Dr. William Rakowski (William_Rakowski@brown.edu).
Honors Thesis Advisor: Dr. Susan Masterson Allen (Susan_Allen@brown.edu).
Inquiries: Susan Ciriello (Community_Health_Concentration@brown.edu).
Page last updated in April, 2006.