Students’ Comments on Undergraduate Program in Health Policy
In addition to the comments below on specific aspects of the Undergraduate Program in Health Policy, student speeches from the 2006 - 2009 Health Policy ceremonies for graduating seniors are also available. To download a list of alumni of the Health Policy Undergraduate Program, indicating their concentrations, research topics, advisors, and current pursuits, click here.
Interdisciplinary Aspects
• “Through the Health Policy Undergraduate Program, I gained a more complete sense of the health care system and took advantage of the unique opportunity to view one area through the lenses of many different academic disciplines. In addition, the professors struck me as extremely dynamic, engaging and open to innovative academic projects.”Enhancement of Concentrations
• Many students believe that the courses they take for the Health Policy Program enhance their understanding of the material they study within their concentrations. A Government concentrator from the class of 2002 remarked, “I liked the pragmatism that the study of health care added to my studies of political philosophy; it allowed me to integrate notions of justice with attempting to solve concrete problems in health care delivery.”• A History and Literature concentrator said that the health policy courses augmented not only her understanding of her concentration’s subject matter but also the methods she used in writing her thesis: “The interdisciplinary nature of the Health Policy Program enhanced my interpretations of history and literature, broadening an already broad liberal arts education. Partially as a result of the anthropological and sociological courses I otherwise would not have taken, I included interviews and oral histories as part of my thesis. These personal accounts greatly enriched the work, adding an element of personal interest and making the research and writing more engaging.”
Courses
• Professor Richard Frank’s “Introduction to Health Care Policy” was described by a recent certificate recipient as “truly a must for anyone interested in learning about the delivery of healthcare in America. I’m so glad it was a requirement.”• An elective within the program is Professor David Cutler’s “Health Economics.” Cutler is regarded as “a very enthusiastic lecturer who makes a huge effort to energize economics topics like insurance markets and risk premiums. His course, which also fulfills a Quantitative Reasoning requirement, adds an excellent set of tools to a health policy analyst’s toolkit…a great introduction to health economics.”
• Another is “The Quality of Health Care in America,” co-taught by Dr. Donald Berwick, Dr. David Blumenthal, Dr. Howard Hiatt, and Dr. Warner Slack, which many students have described as “the best course I took at Harvard.” One student notes that the course “provided exposure to many different aspects of health care from international health to management to errors in medicine. It introduced students to many amazing figures in the health care world, and the professors alone are enough to inspire a student to continue in the health care field beyond college.”
Program Dinners
• As one student described it, “as soon as you are enrolled, you are invited to special dinners with guest speakers that are planned throughout the year specifically for Health Policy students. Not only do you get to interact with fellow students with whom you share similar interests, but you get to meet and learn from inspiring individuals who are making a difference in the health policy arena.”• Another student remarked that the dinners “provided a valuable time for getting in touch with the professors and other students, as well as the opportunity to meet new people and share ideas. The program truly serves as a hub for meeting exciting new people and learning about upcoming research and job opportunities in the health care arena as well as providing guidance on thesis writing. The dinners bring together an amazing group of people, a rare occurrence given professors’ busy schedules.”
Cordeiro Research Grants
• One research grant recipient in the class of 2003 remarked that the grant money “made possible a trip to Cuba that was essential to my thesis research.”
• Another student was grateful that the grant gave her the opportunity to spend the entire summer doing research, allowing her to “make the thesis my full-time priority.”
•A third student commented, “Even though I worked ten weeks in the summer before senior year, I wanted to use a few weeks at the end of the summer to jump-start my thesis. The Cordeiro Fellowship made this possible by paying for quick, but essential trips to Washington, D.C.”
• A fourth recipient, whose grant allowed her to spend the summer of 2003 doing research in Ghana for her thesis on skin bleaching, later received a Fulbright to continue her research in Ghana. She remarked, “the money I received from the Health Policy Program partially funded my travel to Ghana. Conducting oral interviews and research in Ghana was a crucial part of my thesis on skin bleaching. The topic, little researched, required hands-on fieldwork. Without such research I could not have written my thesis. Moreover, the research abroad and the project were so engaging that I will be continuing next year.”
• Another recipient stated that, “the grant permitted me to do research for my senior thesis. Without the money, I could not have pursued the project during the summer before my senior year. My thesis was the single most educational aspect of my undergraduate career, and I am very indebted to the program for the financial help. I conducted a phone survey on why children fall off Medicaid even though they are still eligible. Subsequently, my research findings were cited in a publication by ‘Covering Kids and Families,’ a national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.”
Additional Benefits
• One Health Policy Certificate recipient pointed out that this recognition (the Certificate or Secondary Field in Health Policy) is useful not only academically, but in the working world as well: “When you apply for jobs, it shows that you’ve had a good background in the field. It’s more than just saying that you are interested or took some courses in the area, but that you are somewhat dedicated to it.”• The Health Policy Program provides a community for students. One student from the class of 2005 commented: “The people are the aspect of the program that has been the best – both the students and the professors and director – just because of the friendliness, sense of camaraderie, and the amazing opportunities and connections that can be made in a conversation with someone in the program.”