Developing an Interdisciplinary Graduate Curriculum in Global Health

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): In developing an Interdisciplinary Graduate Curriculum in Global Health at Duke University, the Duke Global Health Institute (DGHI) proposes the development of an interdisciplinary Master of Science in Global Health (MSc-GH) degree program that will target undergraduates, graduate and professional students from schools and departments across the University who wish to pursue a dual degree, and medical residents. This program, which will offer students a flexible curriculum and access to faculty from many disciplines, will produce well-rounded, informed and ethical leaders and inquirers poised to undertake cutting-edge research, effect policy change and improve the quality of health services in a variety of settings through a range of approaches. Drawing on Duke's rich tradition of interdisciplinary study, this innovative program will involve schools and departments from both the Medical and University sides of campus, including the School of Medicine, the Terry Sanford Institute of Public Policy, the Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences, the Pratt School of Engineering, the Law School, the Divinity School, the Nursing School, and the Fuqua School of Business. A multidisciplinary committee representing these schools will develop the curriculum and the program, which will likely include online or distance components. We anticipate that the essential components of the curriculum will include a set of core courses (global health challenges, global health policy, and research methods, including biostatistics and epidemiology), a field experience, electives or areas of concentration, and a thesis. The establishment of this MSc-GH also will foster collaboration between Duke and other universities in the creation and development of field sites and partnerships abroad that will allow students to work with community partners on well-designed, educational and mutually beneficial research opportunities. The project will thus promote inter-institutional sharing of field sites so that students from one institution can take advantage of another institution's partnerships and programs in the field. Through the design and creation of the MSc-GH, the newly established DGHI will continue its emergence as the coordinating body of Duke's Global Health initiatives in education, research and service, at the undergraduate, graduate, professional, postdoctoral and faculty levels. As such, DGHI will lead the university- wide effort to coordinate the recruitment and hiring of faculty from a range of disciplines with Global Health expertise. This project will contribute to public health in two important ways. First, through the development of a Master of Science degree program in Global Health, as opposed to Public Health, we hope to firmly establish Global Health as an academic discipline and to develop a deeply interdisciplinary curriculum with a strong field component that can be modeled by other academic institutions in the United States and abroad. Second, the program will produce well-rounded, informed and ethical leaders and inquirers poised to undertake cutting-edge research, effect policy change and improve the quality of health services in a variety of settings through a range of approaches.