Graduate Minors in Public Health
Minors are open to all Drexel graduate students in all schools and colleges.
The minors are designed to complement student's training by providing basic knowledge in topics outside their primary discipline. In addition this list, additional minors continue to be developed.
For information on our undergraduate minors see Undergraduate Public Health Minors.
Note that some graduate minors are offered fully online. If you are interested in enrolling in any of the minor courses, please contact dsphadvising@drexel.edu.
Table of Contents:
Arts in Public Health
Art reflects the complexity of being human. The graduate minor in Arts in Public Health focuses on the vitality and power of the arts to transform individuals, neighborhoods, communities and societies.
The minor builds on Philadelphia’s renowned commitments to community arts and the growing evidence-base linking creative arts and positive health. Learning how to design and evaluate community-based arts and health initiatives will provide public health students with a valuable toolkit for social change and improving health at every level.
Read a Q+A with current students about the value of the Arts in Public Health minor.
Core courses:
- Arts for Community Health and Wellbeing
Sample electives include:
- Community-Engaged Practice in Arts and Community Health
- Community Organizing and Community Assessment for Health and Wellness
- Interprofessional Collaboration for Urban Health
- Political Activism in the Arts
- Urbanism, Health & the Built Environment
More about the Graduate Minor in Arts in Public Health
Biostatistics
This Biostatistics minor provides a foundation in biostatistics. Students learn the basic tools of biostatistics, including the use of statistical software for both data management and analyses and approaches to verbal and written communication of statistical findings.
Core courses:
- Introduction to Statistical Computing
- Intermediate Biostatistics I
- Longitudinal Data Analysis or Survival Data Analysis
Sample electives include:
- Intermediate Biostatistics II
- Intermediate SAS
- Data Science Using R
- Design & Analysis of Clinical Trials
More about the Graduate Minor in Biostatistics
Environmental and Occupational Health
Students learn how to assess and prevent the adverse health effects of climate change, air and water pollution, and hazards in the built environment and workplace through the Environmental and Occupational Health minor.
Students gain an understanding of the major effects of biological, chemical, and physical agents on human health and safety, including how genetic and socioeconomic factors affect susceptibility to environmental hazards.
Core course: Principles and Practice of Environmental and Occupational Health
Sample electives include:
- Public Health Impacts of Global Climate Change
- Quantitative Risk Analysis for Environmental Health
- Evidence Evaluation for Identification of Environmental Hazards
- Public Health and Disaster Preparedness
More about the Graduate Minor in Environmental and Occupational Health
Environmental Epidemiology
Students gain practical experience including designing studies to answer questions about environmental and workplace exposure impacts on human heath, planning and conducting data analyses using statistical software applications, and reporting findings.
Core courses:
- Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology
- Managing and Analyzing Environmental Epidemiology Data
- Intermediate Epidemiology
Sample electives include:
- Intermediate Biostatistics I
- Evidence Evaluation for Identification of Environmental Hazards
- Environmental Exposure Science
- Seminar in Environmental Epidemiology
The Environmental Epidemiology minor is new for 2024-2025.
More about the Graduate Minor in Environmental Epidemiology
Global Health
Students in the Global Health minor learn about the determinants of global health, emerging health issues in developing countries, global health ethics, and approaches to health monitoring and evaluation in diverse settings.
Core course: Overview of Issues in Global Health
Sample electives include:
- Intersectional Perspectives
- Global Issues in Maternal and Child Health
- Public Health Impacts of Global Climate Change
- Migration and Health
More about the Graduate Minor in Global Health
Infectious Disease and Population Health
The Infectious Disease and Population Health minor consists of required coursework in microbiology (microbes and public health), and infection prevention and control in the healthcare environment.
The minor is intended to prepare students to work in a field with a growing need for infectious preventionists in public health, health care, and other nonprofit settings.
Please note that students must earn a B- in EOH 650 to continue in the minor.
Core courses:
- Microbes in Public Health Practice I: Overview of Bacterial Pathogens
- Microbes in Public Health Practice II: Overview of Viral and Other Pathogen
- Infection Prevention and Control in the Healthcare Environment
Sample electives include:
- Infectious Disease Epidemiology
- Public Health Surveillance
- Safety in Healthcare
- Pathophysiologic Basis of Epidemiologic Research
More about the Graduate Minor in Infectious Disease and Population Health
Latino/Immigrant Health
The Latino/Immigrant Health minor explores the unique public health needs of immigrant and migrant communities, with an emphasis on Latino immigrants to the United States.
Courses cover health disparities, the public health implications of international migration, theories of immigration and immigrant health, and approaches to improving the health of migrants.
Key methodological and ethical issues related to research and practice are also addressed. Students may intern with organizations that serve immigrants and refugees.
Core courses:
- Research with Rare, Stigmatized and Hidden Populations
- Intersectional Perspectives
- Migration and Health
Sample electives include:
- Public Health Practice in and with Latino Communities
- Methodology and Methods for Health Equity Research: The Health of Black Communities
- Health and Human Rights Research Methods
- Community Organizing and Community Assessment for Health and Wellness
More about the Graduate Minor in Latino/Immigrant Health
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Health
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) populations have unique health concerns often unrecognized in routine health care and public health practice. The LGBT Health minor focuses on these concerns and the current state of knowledge about LGBT health.
Students will explore research methods used to study sexual and gender minorities and the intersection between sexual orientation, sex, gender identity, race/ethnicity, age and other factors that influence health.
Core courses:
- Research with Rare, Stigmatized and Hidden Populations
- Sexual Orientations and Health
- Genders and Sexes and Health
Sample electives include:
- Historical and Contemporary Developments in Social Justice
- Interprofessional Collaboration for Urban Health
- Behavior and Social Change Theories
More about the Graduate Minor in Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Health
Maternal and Child Health
The Maternal and Child Health minor prepares students to improve the health of women, children, adolescents and families.
The program takes a life-course perspective and focuses on areas such as global health, perinatal epidemiology, children and youth with special health care needs, autism spectrum disorders, family-centered maternal and pediatric care, breast feeding, health communication, program evaluation, health disparities, the role of technology in health care, and maternal and child health policy.
Students who are minoring in Maternal and Child Health (MCH) become part of Drexel Dornsife's very active and dedicated Maternal and Child Health Program.
Core courses:
- Overview of Maternal and Child Health
- Global Issues in Maternal and Child Health or Maternal & Child Health Policy
Sample electives include:
- Perinatal Epidemiology
- Health Disparities: Systemic, Structural, Environmental & Economic
- Healthy Housing & Built Environment
- Community Organizing and Community Assessment for Health and Wellness
- Maternal Health: Problem Solving
More about the Graduate Minor in Maternal and Child Health
Program Monitoring and Evaluation
The minor in Health Program Monitoring and Evaluation prepares students to develop, improve, and critique public health programs using quantitative and qualitative evaluation methods that can be applied in governmental or non-governmental agencies.
In addition to required courses, students are encouraged to take additional advanced research methods courses and to build practical evaluation experience into their graduate studies by working with faculty on a community-based evaluation.
Core courses:
- Design and Grant Writing for Community Health Programs
- Outcomes and Impact Evaluation
- Process Monitoring and Outcomes Evaluation for Community Health Programs
- Measuring Health
More about the Graduate Minor in Program Monitoring and Evaluation
Public Health Emergency Preparedness
The Public Health Emergency Preparedness minor is designed for students interested in gaining knowledge and skills in the public health aspects of preparing for and responding to emergencies that impact the health of communities.
Core courses:
- Public Health and Disaster Preparedness
- Crisis and Risk Communication in Public Health
Sample electives include:
- Public Health Impacts of Global Climate Change
- Introduction to GIS for Public Health
- Epidemiology for Public Health Practice
More about the Graduate Minor in Public Health Emergency Preparedness
Substance Use and Misuse
The Substance Use and Misuse minor focuses on key issues relating to the history, epidemiology, and study of drug use. This includes the examination of drug policies, public health outcomes linked to the use/misuse of legal and illegal drugs and characteristics of marginalized individuals who use.
Students will gain understanding of the economic, cultural, and health-related contexts of drug use, including consideration of intersects between drug use and homelessness, incarceration, HIV/AIDS, viral hepatitis, mental health, violence, and health disparities.
Core courses:
- Drug Use and Public Health
- Research with Rare, Stigmatized and Hidden Populations
- Qualitative Research in Community Health
Sample electives include:
- Community Organizing and Community Assessment for Health and Wellness
- Pharmacoepidemiology
- Historical and Contemporary Developments in Social Justice
- Violence, Trauma and Adversity in Public Health
More about the Graduate Minor in Substance Use and Misuse
Urban Health
The Urban Health minor introduces students to public health challenges and opportunities in urban areas and draws from the expertise of Dornsife's Urban Health Collaborative.
Courses give students the basic knowledge and skills necessary to describe health in urban areas, understand and analyze the drivers of health, identify and evaluate effective strategies to improve urban health, work with interdisciplinary teams, and communicate about effective urban health determinants and policies with diverse stakeholders.
Core courses:
- Introduction to Urban Health
- Health Housing & Built Environment or Interprofessional Collaboration for Urban Health or Urban Inequality and Health: Theory, Evidence, and Action
Sample electives include:
- Process Monitoring and Outcomes Evaluation for Community Health Programs
- Public Health Impacts of Global Climate Change
- Public Health Surveillance
- Introduction to GIS for Public Health
- The World's Water
- Injury Prevention and Control
More about the Graduate Minor in Urban Health
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