Minor in Global Public Health

Minor

Global Public Health

On Campus

Public health issues pose some of the greatest challenges of our time — from combating the rising heroin epidemic and modernizing our mental health system to ensuring children are immunized.

A nursing student checks her notes on a clipboard at a clinic in Nicaragua

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Program Overview

The minor in global public health provides an interdisciplinary focus of study that enables you to understand and promote individual and population health throughout the world. This is accomplished via a range of courses that provide relevant and rigorous intellectual learning, community and international education and a capstone course in the senior year.

This minor is suitable for students with a wide range of interests in the humanities, business and the arts and the sciences, as each of these disciplines addresses the diversity and complexity of global public health issues. Students are encouraged to explore the variety of course offerings to enrich their academic experience. Each student is assigned a faculty adviser who provides guidance as they complete the required components.

Students are eligible to apply for the minor beginning in the fall semester of their sophomore year. Please email gphminor@qu.edu to request the application. Accepted students are notified in October and officially enroll in the minor the following spring. The minor requires a substantial level of commitment from students, so applicants should consider carefully whether they can meet the expectations of course study, community and international education, and a capstone experience.

Your Experience

The minor’s interdisciplinary approach allows you to explore a wide selection of subjects, such as anthropology, politics, biomedical science and psychology. The service requirement offers you the opportunity to assist underserved populations, both in the U.S. and overseas. To satisfy the 4-week international component of the service requirement, students have traveled to Barbados to work with the Heart and Stroke Foundation and the Diabetes Center; to Kenya to work with the Nanyuki District Hospital as well as the Mukogodo Girls Empowerment Program; to the Dominican Republic with a focus on community, child and maternal health with our partner, Good Samaritan Hospital; to Haiti to address physical and occupational therapy education and program development; and to Uganda, where our focus has been on maternal health and HIV outreach; and there are other destinations.

You’ll also complete a local community service program that will span at least two semesters at organizations such as the Ronald McDonald House, the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society or the Special Olympics.

For their community service, students can choose to work in more than 60 sites in the greater New Haven region. Some of the most frequently selected are Columbus House, serving the homeless in New Haven; Elim Park, a retirement community in Cheshire; Connecticut Food Bank, the state’s largest food provider for people in need; Yale New Haven Hospital; and New Haven’s Integrated Refugee and Immigrant Service in New Haven (IRIS), which welcomes and resettles immigrants coming to the southern Connecticut region.

Students must complete 18 total credits (usually six courses). GPH 201 and GPH 301 are required courses.

Community and International Education: There are two distinct requirements. Students must complete a Quinnipiac-approved four-week international academic experience, typically in a low-income country. With approval, students could complete this requirement by traveling to an under-served area of the United States. Financial support is given for the international experience. Students also are required to engage in community education with a community health organization for at least two semesters. With prior approval, one semester of this requirement can be integrated into a Quinnipiac service learning course.

Course List
Code	Title	Credits
Required Courses
GPH 201	Introduction to Global Public Health	3
GPH 301	Seminar in Global Public Health	3
Select four courses in consultation with your adviser.		12
Total Credits		18

Students are eligible to apply for the minor beginning in the fall semester of their sophomore year. To receive the application, please email gphminor@qu.edu.

In Their Words

Evan Gundling in a lab coat outside a medical facility

Evan Gundling ’22

Medical Microbiology & Immunology, Global Public Health, Pre-Medical Studies

“I've noticed social aspects of everyday life that influence people’s health, but through the global public health minor, I've learned how America’s social determinants differ so much from those of European countries, African countries, and Asian countries - it has been very eye-opening.”