Course Schedules
Download the OHSU-PSU School of Public Health’s 2023 – 2024 academic year course schedule.
Last Updated: 5.18.2023
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 5.18.2023
Download Winter Planning Schedule
Spring 2024 Planning Schedule
Last updated 5.2.2023
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.
Professionalism, Ethics & Systems Thinking in Public Health – CPH 535 / 635
| Course Code | Credit | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
CPH 535/635 | 3 |
Course Information
Using a case-based format, this course explores key underlying theoretical and professional principles, ethical practices and systems thinking in public health. In-depth examination of sentinel cases will be used to prepare the student for leadership roles in community and public health.
Doctoral students register in the CPH 635 section.
Program Evaluation & Management in Health Services – HSMP 588
| Course Code | Credit | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
HSMP 588 | 3 |
Course Information
Introduces the theory and practice of program evaluation in the health services system. Includes multiple methods and uses of evaluation from the perspectives of managers, health professionals, and health services researchers, with an emphasis on the utilization of evaluation findings in program planning and management in health services. Course learning will be synthesized through a community-based learning experience involving working with a community partner to develop an evaluation framework and methodology for an existing or proposed health program.
Program Plan Evaluation – PHE 471
| Course Code | Credit | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
PHE 471 | 4 |
Course Information
Examines program planning models for health education. Includes needs assessment; program goals and objectives; program content and methodologies, evaluation, budgeting, and proposal writing. Students will gain practical experience in program planning and evaluation through community-based learning. Field work required.
Recommended prerequisite: twelve hours of upper-division coursework in PHE.
Level: Undergraduate
Program Planning – CPH 550 / 650
| Course Code | Credit | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
CPH 550/650 | 3 |
Course Information
This course provides an introduction to program planning and experience in the grant writing process, with an emphasis on public health intervention programs. Students will be introduced to program planning, with an emphasis on logic models. Students will be introduced to the key areas of a proposal that must be addressed in grant writing.
Doctoral students register for the CPH 650 section.
Public Health Program Evaluation – CPH 538 / 638
| Course Code | Credit | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
CPH 538/638 | 3 |
Course Information
Using case study methodology, this course focuses on the acquisition of technical skills in design, data collection and analysis for the purpose of evaluating public health programs. Program justification and evaluation for policy-making purposes will be emphasized. In addition, alternative forms of evaluation will be examined including rapid assessment, participatory evaluation and historical, social networking and other techniques. Students will have the opportunity to examine public health data sets and to design an evaluation focused on a disparate population as well as develop policy based on critical analysis of several types of evaluations.
Doctoral students register in the CPH 638 section.
Qualitative Methods for Health Professionals – UNI 504
| Course Code | Credit | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
UNI 504 | 2 |
Course Information
This course is designed for students from across health and science disciplines to obtain hands-on experience in qualitative research methods. The 2 credit course is designed to promote collaboration across disciplines through an introduction to qualitative approaches, such as interviews, focus groups, and observational procedures, which can be applied across research disciplines as a sole methodology or as part of a mixed-methods design. Students will work in interprofessional teams to plan for and engage in basic data collection and analysis, with a focus on study design, sampling and selection, budgeting for qualitative tasks, data management, coding, content analysis and reporting. Attention will be paid to the specific issues of ethics and confidentiality in qualitative research, as well as the unique challenges of rigor and reproducibility as they apply to qualitative methods. At the end of the course, students will be able to select an appropriate qualitative method, implement it with their target population, analyze the results, and present it clearly.
Qualitative Research Design – PHE 520
| Course Code | Credit | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
PHE 520 | 3 |
Course Information
Presents the philosophical and theoretical bases supporting the development of alternate research paradigms in human inquiry. Essential characteristics of three major alternate paradigms (interpretivist, constructivist, and critical theory) are introduced. Validity, reliability, and related concepts are examined from the perspective of each paradigm. Alternate strategies for inquiry are presented and ethical considerations related to qualitative forms of inquiry are addressed.
Quantitative Research Design & Analysis – PHE 521
| Course Code | Credit | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
PHE 521 | 3 |
Course Information
Introduction to quantitative research design and statistical analysis. Emphasis on development of a research proposal. Topics include descriptive research, experimental and quasi-experimental research, univariate statistical procedures, and methods for planning and writing a research report.
Prerequisites
"Epidemiology I" and "Introduction to Biostatistics"
Research Design in Health Services – HSMP 589 / 689
| Course Code | Credit | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
HSMP 589 / 689 | 3 |
Course Information
Prerequisites
Introduction to Biostatistics
Research in Health & Fitness – PHE 314
| Course Code | Credit | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
PHE 314 | 4 |
Course Information
Examines basic aspects of scientific research related to health and fitness. Topics include: reading and critically evaluating scientific research reports; reviewing interpretation of basic statistical analyses; investigating the fundamental skills for developing a research plan, including problem selection, literature review, instrumentation, ethics and sampling.
Level: Undergraduate
Research Methods and Evidence-Based Practice – CPH 511 / 611
| Course Code | Credit | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
CPH 511 / 611 | 3 |
Course Information
The purpose of this course is to enhance students’ abilities to comprehend critique and apply research methodology and research-based evidence. Students will locate and critically evaluate evidence generated from quantitative, qualitative, and epidemiological methods, with particular attention paid to statistical significance and clinically meaningful outcomes. Students will transform their own clinical inquisitiveness into practice-based researchable questions and focus on the application of research methods in clinical settings. Students will also gain experience in using publicly available databases and displaying data in a variety of formats.
Seminar: Special Topics – EPI 507
| Course Code | Credit | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
EPI 507 | 1 |
Course Information
This seminar is intended for medical, nursing and public health students. It will focus on various topics in the history of medicine and public health during the 19th and 20th centuries in both the United States, Europe and the developing world. The course will introduce the student to the changing face of medical ideas and concerns and will expose the student to some of the major areas of research in the academic discipline of the history of medicine. Rather than taking medicine and medical knowledge as given scientific “truth”, most reading selections will problematize that notion by looking at the social history, politics and construction of disease as well as that of medical agendas. As such, the course will offer literacy, sociological, politics and anthropological approaches to the study of medicine and public health. Through this course, students will not only learn about the major themes about which historians of medicine have written but emphasis will be placed upon learning how to read historical scholarship critically.
- Winter: “Seminar in Medicine and Public Health”
- Spring: “Seminar: Intro to Community Health”
Pre-requisite – MD-MPH students
Social Context of Public Health Policy – CPH 531 / 631
| Course Code | Credit | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
CPH 531/631 | 3 |
Course Information
Public health ethics is a weighing and balancing of the needs of the community with the rights of the individual. Therefore, this course will involve both intrareflective and inter-reflective examination of the social and structural inequalities and injustices within our society, locally and globally, and how they impact policy and ethical practice in public health. The relationship of human rights to health and how human rights cut across law, ethics, policies and advocacy in public health is examined. The role of a human rights perspective will also be addressed as an important part of international health practice.
Doctoral students register for the CPH 631 section.
Social Epidemiology Methods & Theory – PHE 534/634
| Course Code | Credit | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
PHE 524 | 3 |
Course Information
Prerequisites
"Epidemiology I" and "Introduction to Biostatistics"
Social Policy and Public Health – HSMP 584 / 684
| Course Code | Credit | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
HSMP 584 / 684 | 3 |
Research
Examines how social policies influence health, with particular attention to health equity and disparities. Students will develop skills necessary to assess the empirical evidence for, and health implications of social policies in the areas of education, agriculture/nutrition, social welfare/income transfer, employment/labor, housing/built environment, transportation, civil rights, and other policy domains.
Statistical Analysis of Time-to-Event Data – BSTA 514
| Course Code | Credit | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
BSTA 514 | 3 |
Course Information
This course introduces students to analysis of survival (i.e. time-to-event) data, covering methods for estimation, hypothesis testing, and regression methods for censored data with covariates. Methods widely used in the health sciences are covered, including Kaplan-Meier (empirical) estimate of the survival function and its associated statistical tests. The Cox proportional hazards regression model is presented in detail, along with some extensions of this model. As time allows, other topics will be introduced including parametric survival models, frailty models and/or models incorporating competing risks. Power and sample size computations for time-to-event data will also be introduced. Most assignments will be completed using statistical computing software. Contextualizing results in the context of health sciences problems and research questions is stressed throughout the course.
Prerequisites:
A standard pre-calculus course in probability & statistics (e.g. BSTA 511)
A course in applied linear regression models (e.g. BSTA 512)
Calculus is preferred
Statistical Inference I – BSTA 551
| Course Code | Credit | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
BSTA 551 | 3 |
Course Information
Statistical Inference I is the first course of a two term course (BSTA 551 & 552) covering the foundations of statistical inference. It is targeted to graduate students majoring in biostatistics and other disciplines requiring an understanding of statistical theory. The course starts with a review of the probability theory that is the basis for that inference. We will then focus on principles of data reduction and estimation (frequentist and Bayesian methods). We will also introduce hypothesis testing, time permitting.
Prerequisites:
- BSTA 550 Introduction to Probability
- Differential and integral calculus
Statistical Inference II – BSTA 552
| Course Code | Credit | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
BSTA 552 | 3 |
Course Information
The objectives of the two term sequence are to (1) provide students with fundamental principles for conducting statistical inference both via estimation and hypothesis testing and (2) develop the mathematical skills for applying these principles in new situations. In the first term we focus on principles of data reduction and estimation, but will also introduce hypothesis testing if time permits. In the second term we focus on hypothesis testing, interval estimation, and asymptotic results.
Prerequisites:
- BSTA 551 Statistical Inference I
- BSTA 550 Introduction to Probability
- Differential and integral calculus
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 EducationGraduate Student Essentials
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- Resources for Meeting Basic Needs
- Academic Info
- Campus Services
- Accessibility
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- Student Life
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- For Newly Admitted Students
Social Determinants of Health – CPH 521 / 621
CPH 521 / 621
3
Course Information
How do socioeconomic factors “get under our skin”? Why and how socioeconomic inequalities translate into biological outcomes thus shaping health inequalities? What are the drivers of population health and what can we do about it? Such questions are analyzed and debated in this online course.
The overarching aim of this course is to comprehend how socioeconomic and cultural factors shape the health of populations. This course is based on individual and collective discussions of current events guided by landmark scientific articles in public health and the Social Epidemiology textbook. The goal of these discussions is to acquire elements to analyze and interpret complex issues based on theories, methods and evidence regarding the powerful influence of social and economic factors on health.
Doctoral students register for the CPH 621 section.