Requirements for the Certificate in Health Policy
The Certificate Program in Health Policy is available only to Harvard College students who matriculated prior to September 2007. Click here for the application to the Certificate Program. Students who are currently in the Certificate Program may choose to remain in the Certificate Program or switch to the Secondary Field. Note the major differences between the programs.
A. Coursework (5 half-courses)
1. One introductory half-course in health policy:
• Extra-Departmental Courses 186: Introduction to Health Care Policy (Frank; Chernew, in Fall 2008)(formerly General Education 186); to be replaced by United States in the World 11: American Health Care Policy (Frank)
Important Note:
Neither EDC 186 nor United States in the World 11 will be offered in 2009-2010. Students who need to meet the introductory course requirement in 2009-2010 may substitute Quantitative Reasoning 24 (listed below under Economics) or Societies of the World 24 (listed below under Miscellaneous).
2. One half-course in statistics/data analysis from among the following:
• Statistics 100: Introduction to Quantitative Methods for the Social Sciences and Humanities
• Statistics 101: Introduction to Quantitative Methods for Psychology and the Behavioral Sciences
• Statistics 102: Fundamentals of Biostatistics
• Statistics 104: Introduction to Quantitative Methods for Economics
• Statistics 110: Introduction to Probability
• Statistics 111: Introduction to Theoretical Statistics
• Statistics 160: Design and Analysis of Sample Surveys
• Economics 1123: Introduction to Econometrics
• Economics 1126: Quantitative Methods in Economics
• Government 1000: Quantitative Methods for Political Science I
• Psychology 1900: Introduction to Statistics for the Behavioral Sciences
• Sociology 156: Quantitative Methods in Sociology
3. Three additional half-courses that have health policy content, chosen from three of the following eight groups:
a. Anthropology:
• African and African-American Studies 199: Delimiting Health Disparities in the African Diaspora: A Laboratory for Social Engagement (Fullwiley)• Social Analysis 28: Culture, Illness, and Healing: An Introduction to Medical Anthropology (Kleinman)
• Societies of the World 25: Health, Culture, and Community: Case Studies in Global Health (Kleinman, Farmer) (formerly Anthropology 1825)
Note:
The following courses, which were offered in previous years, will also count as anthropology courses in health policy: Anthropology 1702: Gender, Medicine, and Care (Mulligan); Human Evolutionary Biology 1357: Evolution and Medicine (Ellison); and Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality 1460: Somatechnics: Bodies and Technology (Stryker).
b. Economics:
• Economics 1389: The Economics of Health and Development (Chandra)
• Economics 1460: Economics of Health Care Policy (Newhouse)
• Quantitative Reasoning 24: The Business and Politics of Health (Cutler)
Note:
The following courses, which were offered in previous years, will also count as economics courses in health policy: Economics 980h: The Industrial Organization of Health Care (Frank); and Economics 980o: Health, Education, and Development (Field).
c. Ethics:
• Government 1093/Life Sciences 60: Ethics, Biotechnology, and the Future of Human Nature (Sandel, Melton)
• History of Science 244: Research in the History of Medical Ethics (Brandt)
• ID250: Ethical Basis of the Practice of Public Health (Roberts, Wikler) (Fall 2, Spring 1, Public Health)
• ID292: Justice and Resource Allocation (Daniels) (Spring 2, Public Health)
• ID513: Ethics and Health Disparities (Daniels) (Spring 1, Public Health)
Notes:
1. The Harvard School of Public Health ID courses are half-semester (quarter) courses. Two of these courses must be taken to equal one half-course.
2. The following courses, which were offered in previous years, will also count as ethics courses in health policy: Currier 79: Medicine, Law, and Ethics: An Introduction (Koshbin); History of Science 143: Medicine, Ethics, and Culture (Sperling); and HLS 31451A: Ethics and Health Policy (Daniels).
d. Government:
• Government 1521: Bureaucratic Politics: Government, Economic, Social and Military Organizations (Carpenter)• Social Analysis 54: American Society and Public Policy (Skocpol, Waters)
• HCP-175: Political Analysis and Strategy for US Health Policy (Blendon) (Kennedy School)
• HCP-382: Health Policy Reform: Comparative Perspective (Ruggie) (Kennedy School)
Note:
The following course, which was offered in previous years, will also count as a government course in health policy: Social Analysis 80: World Poverty and Human Rights (Marks, Mahal).
e. History:
• Classics 165: Ancient Medicine (Schiefsky)
• Culture and Belief 11: Medicine and the Body in East Asia and in Europe (Kuriyama)
• Historical Study A-34: Medicine and Society in America (Greene)
• Historical Study A-87: Madness and Medicine: Themes in the History of Psychiatry (Harrington) (formerly History of Science 175)
• History 87a: Health, Disease, and Ecology in African History (Akyeampong) (formerly History 1912)
• History of Science 96: Academic Internship in History and Health Policy (Shapin et al)
• History of Science 112: Health, Medicine, and Healing in Medieval and Renaissance Europe (Park)
• History of Science 140: Disease and Society(Rosenberg)
• History of Science 145: Medicine and Deviance (Rosenberg)
• History of Science 148: History of Global Health (Greene)
• History of Science 177: Stories Under the Skin: The Mind-Body Connection in Modern Medicine (Harrington)
• History of Science 253: Bioethics, Law, and the Life Sciences (Jasonoff)
Note:
The following courses, which were offered in previous years, will also count as history courses in health policy: History of Science 246v: Cancer and Medicine in the 20th Century (Landecker); and Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality 1177: AIDS: Politics, Culture, and Science (Lekus).
f. Psychology:
• Neurobiology 130: Drugs and the Brain - From Neurobiology to Ethics (Hyman)• Psychology 1505: Social Cognition (Langer)
g. Sociology:
• Sociology 160: Medicine, Health Policy, and Bioethics in Comparative Perspective: Conference Course (Del Vecchio Good)• Sociology 162: Medical Sociology (Del Vecchio Good)
• Sociology 165: Inequalities in Health Care (Ruggie)
• Sociology 190: Life and Death in the US: Medicine and Disease in Social Context (Christakis)
• Sociology 260: The Sociology of Global Health (Del Vecchio Good)
• Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality 1125: Gender and Health (Ruggie)
h. Miscellaneous:
• African and African-American Studies 197: Poverty, Race, and Health (Williams)• Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology 230: Principles and Practice of Drug Development (Finkelstein, Rubin)
• ESPP 90f: Global Change and Human Health (McCarthy, Epstein)
• ESPP 90j: Environmental Crises and Population Flight (Leaning)
• Extra-Departmental Courses 187: The Quality of Health Care in America (Berwick, Blumenthal, Hiatt, Slack) (formerly General Education 187)
• Freshman Seminar 23l: Medicine, Law, and Ethics: An Introduction (Khoshbin)
• Freshman Seminar 23m: Nutrition and Public Health (Lo)
• Freshman Seminar 24n: Child Health in America (Palfrey)
• Freshman Seminar 25g: Impact of Infectious Diseases on History and Science (Goldmann)
• Freshman Seminar 25k: You Are What You Eat (Michels)
• Freshman Seminar 25t: AIDS in Africa (Essex, Lee)
• Freshman Seminar 25v: Avian Influenza: Emerging Infectious Disease (Lee, Essex)
• Molecular and Cellular Biology 192: Principles of Drug Discovery and Development (Sato, Fishman, Verdine)
• Quantitative Reasoning 50: Medical Detectives (Michels)
• Science B-23: The Human Organism (Brain, Shore, Verrier)
• Societies of the World 24: Global Health Challenges: Complexities of Evidence-based Policy (Goldie)
• GHP283: Pharmaceutical Policy and Global Health (Reich) (formerly PIH283) (Public Health)
Notes:
1. Two of the three electives may be taken in the miscellaneous category if one is a relevant freshman seminar, approved for this purpose by the program.
2. The following courses, which were offered in previous years, will also count as miscellaneous courses in health policy: Eliot 79: Nutrition and Public Health (Lo); Engineering Sciences 144: Introduction to Global Health Pharmaceutical Development (Edwards); Freshman Seminar 24x: Global Mental Health (Cohen); Freshman Seminar 41q: Medicine, Ethics, and Culture (Sperling); Freshman Seminar 47y: Food, Eating, and Diet (Shapin); Freshman Seminar 44w: Health and Inequality (Levy, Wikler); Freshman Seminar 48g: Madness and Society (Rosenberg); Freshman Seminar 48m: The Tobacco Pandemic: History, Culture, Science, and Policy (Brandt); Social Analysis 76: Global Health Challenges (Murray); Social Studies 98ho: Health Care in the US: Vulnerable Populations, Policy, and the Market (Stevenson).
With permission of the program, it may be possible to substitute other relevant courses. Please note that not all courses listed in the Blue Book may fulfill the Certificate in Health Policy Requirements, but many of them do. Refer to the Course Requirement Substitution Form to petition for a non-listed Health Policy course to be used to satisfy a certificate requirement.
Courses may be taken on a pass/fail basis for the certificate.
There are no limits on courses double counting for the certificate and concentration or Core.
B. Research Project
This requirement can be met either by (1) writing a senior thesis pertaining to health policy in one’s concentration, (2) adding a thesis chapter on the health policy implications of a science thesis, (3) taking Government 1597: Advanced Topics in Health Policy, or (4) taking a one-semester Supervised Reading and Research course in a relevant department (for credit). Details on these options are provided on the research requirement page.