This course is delivered through an intensive 3-week hybrid module combining classroom lectures, seminar discussions, and field learning experiences to facilitate an immersive introduction to public health and epidemiology. Students learn undergraduate principles of epidemiology through the lens of justice and reconciliation in the US urban context. This course allows students to learn the foundational concepts of social and behavioral health, environmental health, health systems and global health policy, and epidemiology and statistical reasoning.

This course combines coursework and field learning to explore, teach, and mentor undergraduate students in the foundations of leadership and vocation in the urban context. Students are mentored by professional leaders to learn, analyze, and apply leadership and professional practices towards internships and future employment. The course includes analysis of concepts of civic leadership, interdisciplinary vocation in a pluralistic society, and influences of systems on diverse urban communities. Field learning across an array of disciplines includes case studies from faith-based, public, private, state, federal, and international agencies. This course also includes personality and talent assessments, workshops, and professional development trainings.

Bioethics is the study of the ethical issues that arise in the study of human biology, ecology, nursing, medicine, public health, and other biological research fields. Drawing on a variety of ethical cases from recent biomedical literature, this course covers the conceptual foundations of moral theory, principles of justice, and the application of conceptual tools developed from those principles. This course includes two units: (1) Moral theories, distributive justice theories, and the ethical treatment of patients, the environment, and communities and (2) Consideration of alternative approaches to rationing health care.

The disproportionate burden of HIV/AIDS in global cities coupled with a decrease in HIV mortality and morbidity provide an opportunity to apply principles of community psychology to guide student understanding of the complex interplay of environmental and individual-level drivers that influence HIV prevention, treatment, and care. This course offers a unique perspective on how social structures, neighborhoods, and individuals shape HIV prevention and care delivery, particularly for communities living in urban poverty. Specific theories of participatory-action research, multi-level community interventions, structural dimensions of HIV stigma, and public health policy implications will be critically examined and discussed.

Epidemiology is the study of the distribution of diseases and determinants of health and illness in diverse human populations. This course provides the opportunity for students to learn the principles and methods of epidemiology, with an applied focus on global and urban case studies. All students participate in a synchronous online epidemiology laboratory (STATA) performing statistical analyses of measures of disease frequency, transmission, and graphical representations of associations between exposures, or risk factors, on health and disease outcomes. This course includes mentorship from epidemiologists and clinicians who integrate Christian faith into public health practice in domestic and international contexts.

This course covers general aspects of undergraduate microbiology with an emphasis on endemic microorganisms and human interaction. Topics include an introduction to microbiology, microbial taxonomy, methods of microbial identification, immunology and infection. This course includes microscopy, staining, and microbiology laboratory applications with over 40 laboratory hours at the Baltimore Underground Science Station.

This course challenges students to learn the foundational principles of human nutrition across the lifespan. Students learn the physiology and functional science of nutrition from all 24 chapters of Discovering Nutrition (Insel et al.). Additionally, the course includes 10 public health nutrition laboratory experiences. Nutrition laboratory includes an analysis of the factors, systems, and structures that impact dietary patterns, dietary behaviors, food assistance, and safety net programs in the US. Students explore the policies, history, and complexities of urban access to healthy food and gain an introduction to the physiological, psychological, and socio-cultural factors that affect eating behaviors.

This course provides academic scaffolding, guided reflection, seminar-based learning, and assessment for urban public health internships. There are two options for a 120-hour internship (3 credits) or a 160-hour internship (4 credits). Internships include mentorship from multicultural Christian clinicians and learning experiences in human protection, health improvement, and health services in urban clinics and public health agencies of Baltimore, MD, and Washington DC. Students will gain an introduction to the foundational principles of public health and engage in constructivist learning from three months of urban public health learning experiences supported by academic readings, seminary discussions, and reflective writing assignments.