The Department of Health Studies offers a major and minor, and students from across campus are welcome to take core courses on health policy (HS 100), global health (HS 101), and epidemiology (HS 250); “patients and providers” (HS 200), which is designed to prepare future clinical healthcare professionals for ethical practice; upper-division courses in areas such as medical humanities, health law, and human nutrition; and special topics sections that focus on new aspects of public health every semester, such as health communication, health and housing, and climate change and health.
The Constitution of the World Health Organization defines health as “a complete state of physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.” The Health Studies curriculum uses a multidisciplinary approach to ensure that students examine all of these dimensions of health through a diversity of scholarly lenses. HS courses also build critical thinking, communication skills, and other competencies that are valuable for all professional pathways.