Certificate in Global Health
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Certificate in Global Health

Schools: School of Medicine and Public Health, School of Nursing, School of Pharmacy, School of Veterinary Medicine, Division of International Studies, Graduate School

Designation: Interdisciplinary Program

Majors and Degrees offered: none

Other: Graduate Certificate and Capstone Certificate

Faculty for core courses and electives:  Araceli Alonso, PhD; Linda Baumann, PhD, APRN, BC, FAAN; Daniel Bromley, PhD; Lori DiPrete Brown, MSPH; Bruce Christensen, PhD; James Conway, MD, FAAP; Maureen Durkin, PhD, DrPH; Corinne Engelman, MSPH, PhD; David Gaus, MD; Craig Gjerde, PhD; Tony Goldberg, MS, DVM, PhD; Cynthia Haq, MD; Frank Hutchins, PhD; Curt Johnson, PharmD, RPh; Marty Kanarek, PhD, MPH; Richard Keller, MA, PhD; Nancy Kendall, PhD; Laura Knoll, PhD; Neil Kodesh, PhD; Connie Kraus, PharmD, BCPS, RPh; Judy Ladinsky, PhD; Maria Lepowsky, PhD; Rick Lindroth, PhD; Julie Mares-Perlman, MSPH, PhD;  Ana Martinez-Donate, PhD; Gregg A. Mitman, MA, PhD;  Lisa Naughton, PhD; Gregory Nemet, PhD; F. Javier Nieto, MD, PhD; David O’Connor, PhD; Christopher Olsen, DVM, PhD; Jonathan Patz, MD, PhD, MPH; Keith Poulsen, DVM; Patrick Remington, MD, MPH; Kirsten Rindfleisch, MD;  Walton Schalick, MD, PhD; Jo Scheder, PhD; Ronald Schell, PhD; Janet Schrader, PhD; Ajay Sethi, PhD, MHS; Kenneth Shapiro, PhD; James Shropshire, MD; Halcyon Skinner, PhD, MPH; Kurt Sladky, DVM; Karen Solheim, PhD, RN; Julie Thurlow, DrPH, RD; Amy Trentham-Dietz, PhD; James Vergeront, MD; Eva Vivian, PharmD, BCPS, CDE; David Watkins, PhD; Susan Kidd Webster, MSSW; Claire Wendland, MD, PhD; Whitney Witt, PhD, MPH; Thomas Yuill, MS, PhD.

Certificate Description: The Certificate in Global Health is a collaborative offering from the schools of Medicine and Public Health, Nursing, Pharmacy, Veterinary Medicine, and the Division of International Studies.  The certificate curriculum focuses on global health topics and health issues that transcend national boundaries, emphasizing health and disease in developing countries.  

Through a nine-credit program of course work and a global health field experience, students will be prepared to address health disparities in a context of cultural diversity.  Certificate recipients may serve populations internationally or work among the increasingly diverse population of Wisconsin and the United States.  Through core courses and electives, students may focus their studies on health promotion, detection and treatment of disease, prevention and management of outbreaks, health policy, environmental health, or other interdisciplinary topics.

 The educational benchmarks for the Certificate program are as follows (see Attachment A for more detail):

• Expansion and discussion of knowledge of major themes and trends in global health;
• Enhancement of communication skills for trans-cultural, interdisciplinary health practice;
• Demonstration of effective collaboration with colleagues abroad;
• Analysis of health system infrastructures at local and national levels;
• Discussion of ethical standards for conduct of research in international settings;
• Integration of one’s discipline-specific role with other disciplines to promote effective interdisciplinary team practice;
• Use of evidence-based principles in practice settings.

Available as a Graduate Certificate to professional students in the health sciences, to graduate students in health-related fields, and as a Capstone Certificate to individuals with a minimum of a BA or BS in a health-related field, the Certificate in Global Health program is designed to assist traditional and non-traditional students with interests in global health.  The program is based in the Department of Population Sciences of the UW School of Medicine and Public Health and is administered by the Center for Global Health at UW-Madison.

 How to Apply
Applications for fall 2010 will be accepted from January 15^th through April 15^th. 

 Curriculum
A minimum of 9 credits are required for the certificate, including 6 core course credit requirements, one of which is a credit-based global health field experience, and 3 elective credits.  Below is a description of the core requirements and electives. 

Core Course Requirements (6 credits):

PHS718, section 1: Fundamentals of International Health Care Systems (2 credits)
This course addresses and analyzes differences in health status and methods of organizing and providing health services in countries with varying levels of development and types of socio-political systems. Students develop an understanding of the various avenues of international cooperation in health.  It is offered the first 7 weeks of the fall semester.

PHS904, section 4: Topics in Epidemiology: Global Health (2 credits)
The purposes of this course are to explore the relationship between globalization and health and provide students with an understanding of: a) major indicators and determinants of health and health disparities across populations, from less to more developed countries; b) the role of epidemiology in developing proven and potential interventions to improve global health and reduce health disparities; and c) methodological and ethical considerations in international health research. The course is also designed to expose students to health research and clinical work of faculty working in a range of disciplines relevant to global health, and to help students identify ways in which they might contribute in the future to improvements in global health.  It is offered the second 7 weeks of the fall semester.

PHS640:  Foundations for Global Health Practice (1 credit)
This 1-credit course helps students to prepare for a global health field experience.  Students study general precepts of global health, learn to use quantitative and qualitative data to gain an understanding of the health situation related to their selected country and health topic of focus, and plan a global health field experience including selecting a site, identifying a counterpart organization, developing a scope of work that is of mutual benefit to the student and the counterpart organization, and preparing to travel (health and safety).  The course is offered in seven evening meetings (every other week) over the course of the semester.  It is offered in both the fall and the spring semesters.  Note: If a student elects to participate in a faculty-led global health field course rather than an independent field experience, the field experience preparation requirement is met by substituting the related field course pre-requisites (PHS650 Health and Disease in Uganda, Health and Disease in Thailand, or Health and Disease in Ecuador).

 Global Health Field Experience (1-6 credits)
A global health field experience is a credit-based experience in a setting relevant to global health. Field experiences are generally carried out during winter, spring or summer breaks, and 1 week on site is equivalent to 1 credit.  Global health field experiences may also be carried out during the academic semester if they do not interfere with class attendance or completion of requirements for registered coursework.

Students may elect to do a faculty-led group field experience through the Center for Global Health, or they may choose to design an independent field experience at the site of their choice.  Field experiences usually take place in a country outside the US, but may also be carried out among a culturally diverse population in the United States.  Students may also work with international agencies, such as the United Nations, the World Health Organization, Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, or non-governmental organizations.

Requirements:
For faculty-led group experiences students are required to take pre-requisite campus-based courses and apply to participate in the field course through the UW Office of International Academic Programs (IAP).  Upon satisfactory completion of the field course, students will receive credit for PHS 645: Global Health Field Study. 

For independent field experiences students must prepare a proposal, to be reviewed and approved by his or her advisor, which describes project goals and objectives and lays out a tentative schedule of activities.  Students must register for independent study credit in an appropriate school or department (699 in medicine, veterinary medicine, pharmacy, nursing or other graduate department).  If the field experience has a substantial public health component they may also register for PHS 788, Public Health Field Experience. Upon completion of the field experience all students must submit a field experience journal (reflection), an evaluation by the field preceptor, a referenced field experience report, and a site evaluation. As is noted above, PHS 640, Foundations for Global Health Practice, is a pre-requisite for individual field experiences. 

Students must be in good academic standing to participate in the global health field experience.

In order to take full advantage of the field experience, prior completion of all course work is recommended whenever possible.

Course Schedule for Global Health Field Experiences

 Course Schedule for Global Health Core and Elective

Below is a list of core courses (in bold print) as well as approved electives.  Global health faculty review and update this list of electives annually.  While the UW-Madison timetable remains the principal resource for course information, this list can help students identify appropriate courses across a broad array of departments and schools.

Criteria for Global Health Electives:

• Course objectives are aligned with some or all core competencies of the Certificate in Global Health (see below, Attachment A).
• A substantial portion of the course content pertains to health in an international setting or deals with international populations in the US.
• The class is a graduate level course.  (Note:  Undergraduate courses which have content highly relevant to global health may be included as electives with the approval of the Global Health Education Task Force.)

Individual Requests to Count Non-approved Electives toward the Certificate in Global Health
In addition to the approved electives, students may petition to be granted an exception to include other electives toward their certificate.  These petitions should be made in writing and should include a brief explanation of why the course is relevant for the student’s particular global health goals and course of study.  It is the responsibility of the student to attach a copy of the syllabus of the course in question, as well as a summary of global health courses taken to date.  These requests will be reviewed by the Certificate Director and Faculty Advisor in light of the criteria below:

• The class is 300 level or higher.
• The course topic is relevant for global health as it pertains to the student’s particular career path.
• A significant proportion of the course content pertains to health in an international setting or deals with health-related issues in international populations in the US.
• In the case of area studies courses that do not emphasize health as a major theme, the student’s major paper should be written on a health topic.
• The course may not be part of the student’s required core curriculum for their degree program.
   

Planning the Course of Study
While it would be possible to complete the course of study in one year by taking 4 core credits (PHS 718 and PHS 904-Epi) in the fall semester, completing the 1 credit Foundations in Global Health course in the fall or spring, and taking 3 elective credits in either semester, Certificate students are encouraged to allow two years to complete the program.  This time-frame provides sufficient flexibility for students to access core courses and for graduate and professional students to work around curriculum requirements in their primary areas of study. Capstone candidates, who are also meeting the demands of full or part-time work while they are pursuing the certificate, would follow a similar course of study as the graduate students, with most taking 1-2 years of part-time study to complete the program.  It is expected that most students will complete the certificate in no more than 3 years.

Assistance with Course Registration
For all students:  A number of required and elective courses require permission of the instructor.  Please e-mail the instructor explaining that you are a Certificate in Global Health student.  The instructor will make arrangements for you to be able to register.  Please note that courses fill quickly, so please register early.

 For Capstone students:  Please contact Mary Quass (mquass@dcs.wisc.edu) for assistance regarding issues pertaining to your status as a special student.  Because you are a Certificate candidate you are eligible to register before other special students.

 Attachment A

      Certificate in Global Health Core Competencies

Candidates who successfully complete the Certificate in Global Health will have achieved the following educational benchmarks:

• Expansion and discussion of their knowledge of major themes and trends in global health;
• Enhancement of their communication skills for trans-cultural, interdisciplinary health practice;
• Demonstration of effective collaboration with colleagues abroad;
• Analysis of health system infrastructures at local and national levels;
• Discussion of ethical standards for conduct of research in international settings;
• Integration of one’s discipline-specific role with other disciplines to promote effective interdisciplinary team practice;
• Use of evidence-based principles in practice settings.

Candidates who successfully complete the Certificate in Global Health will have demonstrated the ability to perform the following:

• Profile the health status of a defined population, to include -

• Demographic and epidemiologic data gathered from at least 2 sources;
• Identification of major health problems and the burden of diseases;
• Description of the health system, available human resources for health, and roles of government and non-governmental organizations;
• Recommendations for improving the health of the population;
• Synthesis of information in written and oral reports.
• Write a letter of inquiry to seek funding for a global health project, to include -
        o   Identification of major organizations that fund global health (governmental and non- governmental);
        o   Preparation of  background statement, rationale and plans for the project.

• Plan, conduct and evaluate a global health field experience, to include -   
  • Identification of UW and field site advisors;
  • Establishment of goals and negotiation of student and advisor responsibilities;
  • Planning and completion of practical aspects of the field experience;
  • Demonstration of professionalism, cultural sensitivity, humility and adaptability;
  • Collection of information on the student’s performance from a field advisor;
  • Documentation of the student’s activities, observations, and reflections on interdisciplinary work in a field journal;
  • Preparation and submission of a final field report with references.

• Prepare a resume of global health activities in preparation for future work in your discipline, to include  -
        o  Student’s background, experience, abilities, and aspirations regarding global health.

In order to take full advantage of the field experience, prior completion of all course work is recommended whenever possible.