USC Schedule of Classes

Overview and application of behavioral theories to the field of health education and promotion. Examines the determinants of health behavior and strategies for change at the individual, group and community level.

Overview of public health concepts and issues, including population health; ethics; health disparities, determinants, and systems of care; global health; policy; health promotion; environmental health.

Introduction to the application of strategies and tools for practice in public health, including policy advocacy, leadership and management, program planning and evaluation, health communication.

Examines quality assessment at different levels of the health care system including health plans, physicians, hospital and integrated system performance.

Historical development of the American health care system; determinants of health care utilization; role of health care providers; health policy; public health services; and health care finance.

Concepts of biostatistics; appropriate uses and common misuses of health statistics; practice in the application of statistical procedures; introduction to statistical software including EXCEL, SPSS, nQuery. Laboratory.

Major parametric and non-parametric statistical tools used in biomedical research, computer packages including SAS. Includes laboratory. Lecture, 2 hours; laboratory, 2 hours.

Statistical methods for analysis of categorical data including dichotomous, ordinal, multinomial and count data, using Stata package. Includes laboratory.

Methods and applications for modeling longitudinal, time-to-event and multi- level data. Includes laboratory using R package. Lecture 2 hrs; laboratory 2 hrs. Prerequisites: PM-511b.

Terminology/uses of epidemiology and demography; sources/uses of population data; types of epidemiologic studies; risk assessment; common sources of bias in population studies; principles of screening. Recommended preparation: algebra

Statistical methods for analysis of various experimental designs. Parametric analysis of variance (ANOVA), repeated measures methods, crossover designs, non-parametric ANOVA.

Advanced training in multivariate statistical techniques involving general linear modeling, mixed modeling and basic latent variables analysis in health behavior research

An overview of the tools used by statisticians for solving statistical problems. Graded CR/NC.

An overview of the tools used by statisticians for solving statistical problems. Graded CR/NC.

Overview of epidemiologic research in cancer. Selected cancer sites will be covered to highlight study design and conduct, exposure assessment, data analysis and interpretation.

Principles and methods used in epidemiology for comparing disease frequencies between groups. Restricted to the analysis of binary outcome variables. Prerequisite: PM 512.

Techniques for the solution of statistical problems throughout intensive computing; iterative techniques, randomization tests, the bootstrap, Monte Carlo methods. Lecture and required laboratory.

b: Theory of estimation and testing, inference, analysis of variance, theory of regression. Recommended preparation: college-level calculus and linear algebra.

Design, conduct, and interpretation of results of clinical trials; emphasis on principles affecting structure, size, duration of a trial, and the impact of ethical and practical considerations.

International variations in health status with a focus on the impact of socioeconomic status, politics, environment, education and gender in etiology of illness, access to health care, progression of disease, and recovery.

Application of communication theories and methods to community health problems. Includes background assessment, program design, evaluation, social marketing, media advocacy, review of major health campaigns. Recommended preparation: PM 500

Survey of natural history of infectious disease, methods of disease control and outbreak investigation, and an overview of the epidemiology of injury. Prerequisite: PM-512.

Core concepts, methods and values of public health program planning and evaluation, including community needs assessment, writing objectives, designing health promotion programs, process and outcome evaluation. Recommended preparation: PM 500

An overview of environmental health, identifying issues in assessing effects of exposure on health and potential interventions for reducing adverse health risks. Prerequisite: PM-512

Genetic principles; design and analysis of family studies; introduction to likelihood estimation; segregation and linkage analysis; biomarkers of exposure, susceptibility, and disease; laboratory methods; susceptibility genes; association and linkage disequilibrium.

Familial aggregation, segregation analysis, linkage analysis, association, regressive models, gene-environment interactions, genetic heterogeneity and linkage disequilibrium.

Overview of current topics, enabling technologies, research initiatives, and practical considerations in biomedical informatics.

Theory, methods and procedures of network analysis with emphasis on applications to public health programs.

Transfer function models; stationary, nonstationary processes; moving average, autoregressive models; spectral analysis; estimation of mean, autocorrelation, spectrum; seasonal time series. Includes laboratory. Prerequisite: MATH 225, 226 or 226H, and 208x or equivalent.

Examination of major policy issues in the US health care delivery system to understand policy options in reforming health care and reducing health care disparities.

Comprehensive course covering basic principles of human genetics, genetic disease, the Human Genome Project, and gene therapy.

Provides epidemiologists with an overview of current statistical problems and approaches in the design and analysis of genome-wide association studies. Prerequisites: PM 511a, PM 512. Co-requisite: PM-522a.

Approaches for modifying health behavior in varioius settings and within diverse populations. Emphasis on practical considerations necessary to design and implement interventions with demonstrated effectiveness.

Introduction to leadership and management concepts, tools, and practices in the context of domestic and global public health and healthcare delivery settings.

Current public health issues and research topics relating to 21st century challenges and threats. Lessons learned and best practices to strengthen public health systems and enhance public health readiness and preparedness.

Mammalian organ systems operation during health, and pathophysiologic analysis of related diseases with focus on neuroscience, immunology, metabolism, endocrine, reproduction, GI and liver. Faculty from basic and clinical sciences. Open to graduate students in biomedical science only.

Study designs, exposure-time response, longitudinal, spatial, ecologic correlation and mechanistic models, measurement error interactions, measurement error, public policy implications.

Introduction to the core concepts and methods of planning and implementing health-related programs and research in resource-constrained settings.

Highlights the complex interactions between global health, law and human rights, emphasizing the use of human rights in public health thinking and practice. Recommended preparation: MPH Core coursework. Duplicates credit in LAW-707.

Introduction to common uses of qualitative research methods in public health research and application. Methods include ethnography, participant observation, open-ended interviewing, and focus groups.

Research leading to the master's degree. Maximum units which may be applied to the degree to be determined by the department. Graded CR/NC.

Introduces Masters and Ph.D. students in the Health Sciences to Machine Learning methods and their Biomedical applications.

Credit on acceptance of thesis. Graded IP/CR/NC.

Credit on acceptance of thesis. Graded IP/CR/NC.

Credit on acceptance of thesis. Graded IP/CR/NC.

Part-time or full-time, practical work experience in the students field of study. The internship must be located at an off-campus facility. Students are individually supervised by faculty.

Applied practical experience through field placement in federal, state, and/or local public health agencies/organizations, including community-based organizations; research and school-based settings.

Provides the culminating, integrative learning experience for students enrolled in the Master of Public Health program.

Special topics relevant to the study of selected issues and areas of health behavior research or other aspects of preventive medicine.

Health research/evaluation philosophies, approaches and development of skills for development and critique of health behavior research projects/studies. Recommended preparation PM-511.

Theoretical basis and practical approaches for identifying, summarizing and interpreting current bodies of scholarly information addressing a defined research question.

Special topics of current interest to provide background for research in biostatistics and epidemiology. Based largely on student dissertation research. Graded CR/NC.

Analysis and interpretation of data to test clinical translational hypotheses.

Independent research at an advanced level on a problem in the field of Health Behavior. Recommended preparation PM 604. Graded CR/NC.

Independent research at an advanced level on a problem in the field of Health Behavior. Graded CR/NC.

Independent research at an advanced level on a problem in the field of Health Behavior. Graded CR/NC.

Independent research at an advanced level on a problem in the field of Health Behavior.

Independent research at an advanced level on a problem in the field of health behavior. Graded CR/NC.

Short seminar presentations and discussions on issues accompanying the development of the field of health behavior and implementation of research in this field. Graded CR/NC.

Research applicable to the doctorate. Maximum units which may be applied to the degree to be determined by the department. Graded CR/NC.

Credit on acceptance of dissertation. Graded IP/CR/NC.

Credit on acceptance of dissertation. Graded IP/CR/NC.

Credit on acceptance of dissertation. Graded IP/CR/NC.

Credit on acceptance of dissertation. Graded IP/CR/NC.

Credit on acceptance of dissertation. Graded IP/CR/NC.