Course Schedules
Download the OHSU-PSU School of Public Health’s 2023 – 2024 academic year course schedule.
Last Updated: 10.9.2023
Course Schedules by Term
Summer 2023 Planning Schedule
Last updated 5.2.2023
Download Summer Planning Schedule
Fall 2023 Planning Schedule
Last updated 5.18.2023
Download Fall Planning Schedule
Winter 2024 Planning Schedule
Last updated 10.20.2023
Download Winter Planning Schedule
Spring 2024 Planning Schedule
Last updated 10.9.2023
Download Spring Planning Schedule
View previous academic years course schedules per term for School of Public Health students – Archived GR Schedules.
SPH Course Descriptions
Descriptions of all School of Public Health courses can also be found in the course catalog of the most recent edition of the PSU Bulletin.
Categorical Data Analysis – BSTA 513 / 613
| Course Code | Credit | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
BSTA 513/613 | 4 |
Course Information
Categorical Data Analysis (Biostatistics III) is the third course in the required sequence for Biostatistics Certificate Program and the MPH EPI and MPH Biostats programs.
This course covers topics in categorical data analysis such as cross tabulation statistics, statistics for matched samples, and methods to assess confounding and interaction via stratified tables. Students will learn logistic regression, and relate results back to those found with stratified analyses. Similar to Linear Regression in BSTA 512, topics for logistic regression will include parameter interpretation, statistical adjustment, variable selection techniques and model fit assessment. Students will have the opportunity to briefly explore other analysis methods, such as Poisson regression, ordinal logistic regression, etc. Most homework assignments for this course are to be completed using statistical software.
Doctoral students register for the BSTA 613 section.
Prerequisites:
- BSTA 511/611 Estimation & Hypothesis Testing for Applied Biostatistics
- BSTA 512/612 Linear Models
Chronic Disease Epidemiology – EPI 576 / 676
| Course Code | Credit | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
EPI 576 / 676 | 2 |
Course Information
This course is designed for MPH Epidemiology and Biostatistics majors. The course is intended to give students a good understanding of the epidemiology of the major chronic diseases in developed countries. It covers three aspects of chronic disease: 1) epidemiology methods used in their study, 2) epidemiologic findings and current status of epidemiologic research into various chronic diseases, and 3) the epidemiology of the major risk factors for chronic diseases. The course is based on presentations by researchers and public health practitioners expert on specific chronic disease topics. Students will gain familiarity with some of the classic epidemiologic studies and with some of the innovations to obtaining knowledge contributed by epidemiology.
Doctoral students register for the EPI 676 section.
Prerequisites
"Epidemiology I" (EPI 512 or 612; or PHPM 512 or 612; or CPH 541 or 641; or PHE 530)
Concepts of Environmental Health – ESHH 511 / 611
| Course Code | Credit | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
ESHH 511 / 611 | 3 |
Course Information
An intensive course designed to familiarize students with fundamentals of environmental health from a scientific and conceptual perspective. Topics are considered within multi-causal, ecological, adaptive systems, and risk-assessment frameworks. Includes consideration of biological, chemical, and physical agents in the environment, which influence public health and well-being.
Doctoral students register for the ESHH 611 section.
Current Issues in Public Health – EPI 566
| Course Code | Credit | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
EPI 566 | 2 |
Course Information
This course is designed to introduce students to public health in a seminar-style (presentation-discussion) exploration of the basic principles, structures, and functions of public health, and selected important issues in the public health community. This will involve inviting public health and preventive medicine professionals from OHSU, PSU, and the community to present, and facilitate discussion of, their perspectives and current work related to these public health topics and issues.
Epi Doctoral Dissertation – EPI 603
| Course Code | Credit | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
EPI 603 | 1-12 |
Course Information
This course is intended to provide the capstone project and prepare doctoral students to achieve mastery in health & scientific content in an area of public health epidemiology.
Grade mode: Pass / No Pass.
Epi Doctoral Seminar – EPI 610
| Course Code | Credit | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
EPI 610 | 3 |
Course Information
The principal goals of this seminar class are to: 1) Familiarize students with the historical development, philosophy and culture of the discipline of epidemiology; 2) Explore, critique, and have in-depth discussions regarding the current state of epidemiology practice and science; and 3) Formulate innovative research questions and epidemiology study designs to answer important health-related scientific questions for the future. One additional focus of this seminar is to learn to construct research ideas and incorporate strong advanced and auxiliary methods topics and discussion based on students planned dissertations topics.
Epi Doctoral Seminar II – EPI 611
| Course Code | Credit | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
EPI 611 | 2 |
Course Information
This advanced elective doctoral-level course synthesizes across students’ prior training in epidemiology, biostatistics, applied research, and the disciplines/content areas that are required for students’ doctoral research. Building on this foundation, and drawing from doctoral students’ and the instructor’s expertise, this course aims to facilitate the intellectual development required to conduct and present original epidemiologic research.
Prerequisites
Epi Doctoral Seminar I
Epi Journal Club – EPI 630
| Course Code | Credit | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
EPI 630 | 1 |
Course Information
This is an elective course for epidemiology track masters students. Doctoral students are required to register for at least two terms (one credit each) during the first two years of their program. This course is intended to extend students’ understanding of the field of epidemiology and public health research, and their ability to explore and critique research methods with an emphasis on very current epidemiologic peer-reviewed papers. In weekly sessions, the instructor, guest faculty, and students, will prepare one peer-reviewed article for class discussion that demonstrates or involves innovative public health content or methods. A secondary goal of this class is to prepare students to perform peer-review themselves (e.g., for journals, study sections) using examples of this work from faculty.
Grade mode: Pass / No Pass.
EpiData Analysis & Interpretation – EPI 536 / 636
| Course Code | Credit | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
EPI 536 / 636 | 4 |
Course Information
Students will apply epidemiologic and biostatistical principles to the analysis of a public health dataset. Hypotheses are formulated based on datasets provided to the class and a brief literature review of the public health need for the research. Students work in small groups to plan, organize, and conduct analyses leading to final oral and written presentations of their findings. Class time held in the computer lab allows for hands-on experience with data quality assessment, preparation of datasets and variables for analysis, and multivariable modeling. Emphasis is on planning and communicating analytic plans that reflect the causal models generated by students and allow for assessment of confounding and interaction.
Prerequisites:
- EPI 512 Epidemiology I
- EPI 513/613 Epidemiology II: Methods
- EPI 514/614 Epidemiology III: Causation
- BSTA 511/611 Estimation & Hypothesis Testing for Applied Biostatistics
- BSTA 512/612 Linear Models
- BSTA 513/613 Categorical Data Analysis
- For those taking EPI 636, the additional prerequisite is BSTA 515 Data Management & Analysis in SAS.
Epidemiology I – EPI 512 / 612
| Course Code | Credit | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
EPI 512 / 612 | 4 |
Course Information
This is the first course in a three course sequence designed for MPH Epidemiology and Biostatistics majors. Textbook based; e.g. Gordis Epidemiology. Basic epidemiological principles applicable to infectious and non-infectious diseases, host-agent-environmental relationships, and concepts of disease causation will be reviewed. Students will gain familiarity with epidemiologic measures such as incidence, prevalence, mortality, natality, case fatality, relative risk and other rates and ratios and will use age-adjustment and other standardization techniques. Types and sources of public health data will be reviewed, their use in comparing groups, and statistical significance. Epidemic curves, outbreak investigation principles, surveillance concepts and basic designs of observational studies and sources of bias will be covered.
Students in the MPH Epidemiology and MPH Biostatistics programs should take the on-campus Epi I course.
Doctoral students register for the EPI 612 section.
Epidemiology II: Methods – EPI 513/613
| Course Code | Credit | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
EPI 513/613 | 4 |
Course Information
This course is the second in a three course sequence designed for the MPH in Epidemiology and MPH in Biostatistics majors. Students will develop skills in recognizing strengths and weaknesses of various epidemiologic study designs; describing sources of bias that can distort measures of effect/association; and designing case-control studies, cohort studies, and randomized clinical trials. The class will also explore additional study designs used less frequently, such as nested case-control studies and case-crossover studies. Students will gain experience in recognizing and evaluating the role of confounding in data derived from epidemiologic studies. Additional tutorial sessions, to be scheduled at a time convenient for the students, will include problem-solving exercises focused on study design and analysis. Written homework assignments and problem-oriented learning will occupy a central role in facilitating mastery of epidemiologic methods and issues.
Prerequisites:
- EPI 512/612 Epidemiology I
- BSTA 511/611 Estimation and Hypothesis Testing for Applied Biostatistics
Epidemiology III: Causation – EPI 514 / 614
| Course Code | Credit | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
EPI 514 / 614 | 4 |
Course Information
This is the third course in the epidemiology research methods series and is designed to develop your ability to apply your knowledge and skills to the evaluation of cause. Students will become familiar with epidemiologic concepts of disease causation, develop skills in assessing the epidemiologic literature to arrive at causal conclusions, and learn to use those assessments and conclusions to arrive at justifiable plans for action. Early in the academic quarter, lecture presentations and readings will provide the key epidemiologic concepts and principles involved in making judgments about causation. Discussions in Small Groups will focus on seminal journal articles to reinforce students’ understanding of these concepts. Case studies will also be covered in Small Groups, in which students will review and discuss sets of papers on public health topics that require a rigorous assessment of cause. For each of these topics, students will complete formal written papers (assessments) and participate in discussions using an evaluation framework developed for this course. This framework involves assessing the quality and validity of the epidemiologic evidence to support causation and recommending a course of action to protect public health. Students will share the responsibility of leading the Small Groups, and will be assigned a week to lead the class discussion.
Prerequisites:
- EPI 512/612 Epidemiology I
- EPI 513/613 Epidemiology II: Methods
- BSTA 511/611 Estimation & Hypothesis Testing for Applied Biostatistics
- BSTA 612/612 Linear Models
Estimation and Hypothesis Testing for Applied Biostatistics – BSTA 511 / 611
| Course Code | Credit | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
BSTA 511/611 | 4 |
Course Information
This course covers a broad range of basic statistical methods used in the health sciences. The course begins by covering methods of summarizing data through graphical displays and numerical measures. Basic probability concepts will be explored to establish the basis for statistical inference. Confidence intervals and hypothesis testing will be studied with emphasis on applying these methods to relevant situations. Both normal theory and nonparametric approaches will be studied including one- and two-sample tests of population means and tests of independence for two-way tables. Students will be introduced to one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), correlation, and simple linear regression. The course focuses on understanding when to use basic statistical methods, how to compute test statistics and how to interpret and communicate the results. Computer applications are included as part of the course to introduce students to basic data management, reading output from computer packages, interpreting and summarizing results.
Doctoral students register for the BSTA 611 section.
Health Systems Organization – HSMP 574 / 674
| Course Code | Credit | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
HSMP 574 / 674 | 3 |
Course Information
This course introduces basic concepts and issues in the organization, financing, and delivery of health services. The emphasis is on the systemic aspects of health services production and delivery which address the health needs of populations with respect to death, disease, disability, discomfort, and dissatisfaction. Students will examine the inter-relationships of system structures, subsystems, and processes, as well as their interactions with the larger social, cultural, economic and political environments in which they exist. The focus is on the United States, with international comparisons used to illustrate similarities and differences.
HIV/AIDS Epidemiology – EPI 556
| Course Code | Credit | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
EPI 556 | 3 |
Course Information
The course will start with a review of the known characteristics and pathology of the human immunodeficiency virus infection and the pathogenesis of the clinical acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. Biological and behavioral factors that determine the risks of transmission of the HIV infection will be emphasized and public health prevention strategies will be evaluated. The global HIV epidemic will be considered along with the impact of HIV infection on vulnerable populations, especially women and children. Ethical factors and the impact of stigma will be discussed.
Prerequisite: EPI 512, “Epidemiology I”
Infectious Disease Epidemiology – EPI 568 / 668
| Course Code | Credit | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
EPI 568 / 668 | 2 |
Course Information
This course provides students with an opportunity to apply epidemiologic principles to infectious disease, including implementation of control measures based on epidemiologic investigation. It includes a didactic section on specific infectious diseases, followed by a classroom study of both endemic and epidemic outbreaks. There will be in-class exercises on each of the infectious diseases, including the testing of hypotheses based on epidemiologic findings leading to a discussion of control measures.
Doctoral students register for the EPI 668 section.
Recommended Prerequisite: EPI 512, “Epidemiology I”
Intro Rsrch/Proposal Designs – EPI 540 / 640
| Course Code | Credit | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
EPI 540 / 640 | 3 |
Course Information
This course provides an introduction to research design and proposal writing. It builds upon concepts of epidemiology and biostatistics to enable students to develop a study plan to conduct public health research that is efficient, effective, and ethical. Writing a research proposal is a skill necessary in the professional practice of public health. During this course, students will prepare a written proposal that includes a concise statement of the research question, testable hypotheses, appropriate specific aims, and a plan of work. Students will learn how to formulate a logical argument to establish the significance of their question and to defend their approach. All of the elements of the study plan will be developed, including choice of design, sample size and power, sampling design and recruitment of subjects, measurement of predictor and outcome variables, control of bias and confounding, and statistical analysis. Limited time will be spent on an introduction to budget development and project management. The major product of the course is the completion of a research proposal, which will be prepared according to the submission requirements of a federal funding agency.
Doctoral students register in the EPI 640 section.
Recommended Prerequisite: EPI 512, “Epidemiology I”
Linear Models – BSTA 512 / 612
| Course Code | Credit | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
BSTA 512/612 | 4 |
Course Information
This course is the second course in the required sequence for all Graduate Biostatistics program, the MPH Epidemiology track, and the PhD Epidemiology program. This course expands on the analyses techniques presented in BSTA 511. In particular, we focus on multiple regression analysis and various analysis of variance techniques ending with a conceptual overview of techniques for correlated continuous outcomes (i.e., random effects and repeated measures). Classes consist of lecture, examples of data analysis and Stata and/or R computer application techniques. Written homework assignments and data analysis projects are used to assist in mastery of the analysis methods.
Doctoral students register for the BSTA 612 section.
Prerequisites
BSTA 511 / 611, "Estimation & Hypothesis Testing for Applied Biostatistics."
Medicine & Public Health Seminar – EPI 507
| Course Code | Credit | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
EPI 507 | 1 |
Course Information
This course will involve a series of public health/epidemiology seminar sessions with a presentation-discussions format focused on issues of interest to both clinicians and public health practitioners, particularly those relevant to the interface between medicine and public health.
Mentored Epi Research – EPI 650
| Course Code | Credit | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
EPI 650 | 1-6 |
Course Information
This course is based on moving the skill set of prior epidemiologic methods, research, and biostatistical courses into a deeper contemplation and synthesis across methods and theories in epidemiology. The course is intended primarily for doctoral students in epidemiology and is an elective for the PhD in Epidemiology students. MPH students in the epidemiology track and other PhD students may take the course with permission from their individual instructor.
Grade mode: Pass / No Pass.
Interprofessional Education Course Schedule
Interprofessional education occurs when students from two or more professions learn about, from, and with each other to enhance collaboration and improve health outcomes. At least 1 credit of Interprofessional Education is required by all MPH degree programs.
Most courses with OHSU subject code IPE (Inter-Professional Education) or UNI (University Curriculum) satisfy the Interprofessional Education requirement. Other courses may also serve; consult your advisor.
For a list of IPE and UNI courses, descriptions, and their intended schedule download the spreadsheet. This list is subject to change, contact the course instructor if you would like to enroll.
Interprofessional Education