Course Descriptions

Will introduce students to the concepts and basic methods used in epidemiology to evaluate the distribution and determinants of disease and health interventions in public health. It is a core course for students in the Master of Public Health program, but open to other health science students.

Weekly hours: 1.5 Lecture hours and 1.5 Practicum/Lab hours
Note: Students with credit for CHEP 800 will not receive credit for this course.

An introduction to theory, research, and practice in health promotion. Topics include: empowerment and community, health promotion strategies at the individual, group, community and policy levels.

Weekly hours: 3 Seminar/Discussion hours
Note: Students with credit for CHEP 803 will not receive credit for this course.

Provides an overview of the field of community health, including health care organization and community-based approaches to health promotion and disease prevention.

Note: Students with credit for CHEP 804 will not receive credit for this course.

Designed for students who wish to understand basic bio-statistical methods and principles as they apply to public health data. The methods include descriptive statistics, confidence intervals and hypothesis testing, analysis of variance, non-parametric methods, multiple regression and logistic regression. The emphasis of the course is on applications of these methods to public health data, on correct interpretations of the resulting analyses as to be presented to both public health professionals and general lay audiences, and on the critical appraisal of these methods as used in the public health literature. The course also introduces the computer software program SPSS as it applies to the statistical topics discussed in the course.

Weekly hours: 3 Lecture hours and 3 Tutorial hours
Prerequisite(s): Permission of the Instructor.
Note: Students may receive credit for only one of NURS 818, CHEP 805, and PUBH 805.

Will introduce students to the biological and molecular basis of health so they are able to incorporate this knowledge into their practice of public health. The course is intended for those students in the Master of Public Health program who do not have training in one of the health sciences.

Weekly hours: 1.5 Lecture hours and 1.5 Seminar/Discussion hours

Covers basic concepts and principles of the cycle of health program planning, which includes needs assessment, program development and implementation, process, impact, and outcome evaluation. Both qualitative and quantitative data collection will be addressed. Guest speakers, case studies, and assignments will link conceptual material with concrete applications.

Weekly hours: 3 Seminar/Discussion hours
Note(s): Students with credit for CHEP 807 may not take this course for credit.

Meant to serve as an introduction to management for students in the School of Public Health with little or no management education or work experience. Students will learn management principles applied to health care systems; skills of critical reading; computational competence; and presentation and discussion skills at a graduate level. It will prepare them for more advanced classes in health management.

Weekly hours: 3 Lecture hours

Links the underlying theory to the practical application of epidemiological methods in the investigation and control of disease outbreaks. Case examples will be drawn from communicable and non-communicable diseases in both humans and animals.

Weekly hours: 1 Lecture hours and 1 Practicum/Lab hours and 1 Seminar/Discussion hours
Prerequisite(s): PUBH 800 or equivalent.
Note(s): Students with credit for CHEP 809 may not take this course for credit.

This course is an introduction to and an overview of the key areas of environmental public health practice. Using the perspectives of the population and community, the course will cover factors associated with the development of environmental health problems. Students will gain an understanding of the interaction of individuals and communities with the environment, the potential impact on health of environmental agents, and specific applications of concepts of environmental public health practice.

Weekly hours: 3 Lecture hours

This course is a continuation of PUBH 805.3 and includes several multivariate biostatistical methods and principles that are commonly used in public health research. The course topics include logistical regression, analysis of variance and covariance, experimental design and inference for Epidemiology, observational data analysis, categorical data analysis, person-time data analysis, and reliability. The course also introduces SAS programming as it applies to the course topics.

Weekly hours: 3 Lecture hours and 1.5 Tutorial hours
Prerequisite: PUBH 805.3, CHEP 805.3, or STAT 845.3, or another graduate course in statistics as approved by the instructor.

This course takes a One Health/All Hazards approach to health emergency management (encompassing risk analysis, preparedness, detection, response, and recovery). We will explore special considerations for disease outbreaks, natural disasters, and bioterrorism through scenario-based exercises. Students will have the opportunity to become certified in the Incident Command System (ICS 100).

Weekly hours: 3 Lecture hours

This course is designed to introduce graduate students with no background in economics to the concepts and applications of health economics. This courses adopts an applied approach to understanding health economics requiring each student to participate in a group project using real data to produce a health economics project paper at the end of the course. The course has an international focus and therefore the course will draw upon the health economics literature from both developing and developed countries.

Weekly hours: 3 Lecture hours and 1 Tutorial hours
Prerequisite(s): PUBH 805.
Note: Students with credit for JSGS 837 will not receive credit for this course.

Lectures and exercises will provide an introduction to epidemiology of infectious disease including issues in diagnosis and surveillance, disease ecology and transmission, options for control, discussion of diseases important to public health, emerging diseases, and reporting.

Weekly hours: 3 Lecture hours
Prerequisite(s): PUBH 800.3 or equivalent and an introductory course in microbiology or by permission of the instructor.
Note: Students with credit for VTMC 832 will not receive credit for PUBH 832.

Designed to be the culminating experience for the MPH program. As such, it integrates content and theory of public health practice as experienced by students through previous course work and practice. It recognizes the 7 core competency domains in public health as defined by the Public Health Agency of Canada and provides opportunities for students to acquire skills in all these domains. Students register in the capstone course after completion of their practicum (PUBH 992.6 or PUBH 993.9).

Weekly hours: 3 Seminar/Discussion hours
Prerequisite(s): PUBH 992 or PUBH 993.

Will introduce statistical methods commonly used by biostatisticians and their application in current research problems. The emphasis will be on the analysis of discrete outcomes and time-to-event data in observational and experimental designs. Class participants will develop skills in applying statistical models using existing software.

Prerequisite(s): PUBH 805 or equivalent.

An advanced course that examines the theory, methods and applications of epidemiology in chronic disease and health conditions. The course identifies conceptual approaches and methods in survey research, the use of administrative health data, biomarkers, and the control of bias. Students apply this foundational knowledge to the leading chronic health conditions through presentations and a critical review of research protocols.

Weekly hours: 1.5 Lecture hours and 1.5 Seminar/Discussion hours
Prerequisite(s): PUBH 800.3 or equivalent.

Clinical epidemiology is the science of applying the best available research evidence to clinical care. This is an advanced course which emphasizes the principles and methods used in clinical decision analysis, screening and diagnostic testing, intervention studies, and the preparation of systemic reviews and clinical practice guidelines.

Weekly hours: 1.5 Lecture hours and 1.5 Seminar/Discussion hours
Prerequisite(s): PUBH 800.3 or equivalent.

An introduction to the study of addictions, with a specific focus on problematic alcohol and illicit drug use. Introduces students to concepts and debates in the addictions field concerning causes, consequences and interventions from four standpoints: the user, society/culture, service providers, and decision/policy makers.

Weekly hours: 3 Lecture hours

Reviews the Canadian health system using a comparative approach with health systems in several other countries that have similar social economic characteristics and share similar values with Canada. Examines the organization, governance and financing; economics, public/private mix and system performance; health human resources and resource management; primary health care; pharmaceutical policy and public health strategies.

Weekly hours: 3 Lecture hours

Explores management issues unique to health care organizations. It includes an examination of the regulation of health care organizations. Also covered are such topics as cost benefit/cost-effectiveness/cost-efficiency analysis, managerial accounting as it relates to the health care environment, health care finance and the management of case mix systems.

This course is designed to provide students with theoretical information and practical skills necessary to carry out program planning using a health promotion lens regardless of the setting. This course will build on concepts learned in PUBH 803 (Health Promotion) and PUBH 807 (Health Program Planning and Evaluation).

Prerequisite(s): PUBH 803 and PUBH 807, or permission of the instructor

The course will establish the foundations for the current funding of health care, post-secondary education and Canadian social programs. The course will also consider the main elements of a budget. The major for the class will involve students working together to compile a provincial budget. Every province faces the same budgetary challenge: how to continue to fund the rapidly increasing costs of health care while at the same time maintaining the quality of other programs and services.

Weekly hours: 3 Lecture hours
Prerequisite(s): PUBH 867 or departmental permission
Note: Students with credit for JSGS 861 may not take this course for credit.

Deals with program and service planning for health care at the institutional, community, regional and provincial, national and international levels. The course takes a macro approach to broad health policy and planning goals and follows these policies through to the level of institutional implementation. Policy analysis is an important component and much class time is spent analyzing real life policy documents.

Weekly hours: 3 Lecture hours

This course introduces students to leadership in public health. According to the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) guidelines for Masters of Public Health (MPH) programs in Canada (PHAC, 2007), leadership is one of the seven (7) domains/categories of competencies in MPH programs. In fact, leadership competency statements appear in at least 5 of the 7 domains of MPH competencies (Community Health Nurses of Canada [CHNC], 2015). The course has three (3) modules: In module 1, students will be introduced to basic knowledge on leadership (definitions, theories, styles). Subsequently, unique aspects of leadership in public health that distinguishes it from generic/business leadership will be explored. In module 2, students will be introduced to LEADS (Lead self, Engage others, Achieve results, Develop coalitions, Systems transformation). It was recently established that most of the competencies in public health leadership mapped well with “LEADS in a caring environment” leadership framework (CHNC, 2015). LEADS is a well-established framework for leadership development in Canada, and “embodies key skills, behaviors, abilities and knowledge required to lead in all sectors of the economy and types of organizations” (LEADScanada.ca). Finally, in module 3, the leadership competencies specific for public health practice in Canada will be addressed. In addition, the selected leadership skills that are important in public health leadership will be explored in greater detail.

Permission of the department is required.

Students will demonstrate certificate learning outcomes by producing a substance use intervention project that is relevant to their workplace role (current or desired) and community of interest. The capstone outcome is an evidence-based intervention that reduces the likelihood of harmful substance use and supports connection with health service providers.

Weekly hours: 3 Seminar/Discussion hours
Permission Required. Students must be registered in the Certificate Program for Substance Use Health and Wellbeing.

Offered occasionally by visiting faculty and in other special situations. Students interested in these courses should contact the academic unit for more information.

Offered occasionally by visiting faculty and in other special situations. Students interested in these courses should contact the academic unit for more information.

This non-credit course will expose students to important and timely issues in public health and current methods used to examine research questions relevant to public health. The class will feature seminars in public health, epidemiology, vaccinology and immunotherapeutics, global health, and health services research.

Weekly hours: 1 Seminar/Discussion hours
Note: Epidemiology and MPH-T students must continuously register in both fall and winter. MPH-C students must register in fall or winter at least once per academic term until the 36 seminar requirement has been met.

Public health practice is a central feature of the MPH degree. The practicum provides the opportunity to integrate classroom learning with practice in a public health work environment. Working in a partner agency in the community, the student addresses a public health problem while developing personal confidence and skills as a public health professional.

Weekly hours: 35 Practicum/Lab hours
Prerequisite(s): GPS 960; GPS 961; CHEP 800 or PUBH 800; PUBH 803; CHEP 805 or PUBH 805; PUBH 807; AGMD 801 or PUBH 810; PUBH 867.

The field research experience provides an opportunity for students to integrate classroom learning with research conducted in public health. Through working with an organization engaged in public health research, a student will receive advanced research training in a public health area relevant to the student's core area of interest. Through the work completed, the student will advance the current state of knowledge associated with a public health topic.

Prerequisite(s): Students must be admitted into the MPH thesis program; have successfully defended a thesis proposal; have been accepted into the MPH thesis option; and have completed GSR 960, GSR 961, PUBH 800, PUBH 803, PUBH 804, PUBH 805, PUBH 807, PUBH 810, PUBH 867.

Students writing a Master's of Public Health thesis must register for this course.

Restriction(s): Students must be registered in the MPH thesis program in order to register in this course.

Students enrolled in the PhD Program in Epidemiology must register in this course.

Restriction(s): Must be enrolled in the PhD program in Epidemiology.