What You Will Learn

In this program, you'll learn to identify and address health equity challenges through a collaborative integration of disciplines and perspectives, with a view to balance:

• Individual and family health and social well-being in the context of social determinants, risks, and protective factors
• Influence and impact of ecological and socio-political factors, for example on laws or policies such as those related to schooling, neighbourhood, work, social, community, geographic, economic, and political environments; including the impact of colonialism
• Multi-level analyses that consider individuals, systems, regional, community, and global perspectives
• Systems level tensions and factors that shape health and wellbeing
• Ethical decision-making at the individual, process, and system levels
• Quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methodologies, including evaluation and implementation science
• Cross-cultural experiences and practices of health in understanding how health problems arise and impact individuals and communities

What Does My First Year Look Like?

The PBD in Health and Social Impact is a 2-year program with January and September intakes. Students take 36 required credits with an additional 12 credits selected from a wide range of course options.

During first year, students can expect to focus on topics like health psychology, health care and health policy, Indigenous health, health equity, health and family, and methodology/program evaluation courses. Several elective options enable students to more closely examine areas of personal interest such as healthy aging and gerontology, housing/and homelessness, urban health, or bioethics, among others. Eligible students may also elect to engage in active and experiential learning, in collaboration with our community partners.

The Living and The Dead

ANTH 3046

Explore anthropological perspectives on death and dying. Readings combine conceptual works with case studies drawn from a variety of ethnographic contexts, exploring topics such as: grief; death rites; burial and cremation; memorials; end of life care; the global organ trade; war, murder, and genocide; euthanasia and suicide; and death and mourning in the digital age.

Bio-Ethics

PHIL 2716

Examine bio-ethical issues emerging in therapy, research, public policy, and law. The course will include a brief discussion of perspectives in moral philosophy; however, the bulk of the course will deal with specific debates within bio-ethics. Topics to be discussed may include the role of well-being and care in moral argumentation; the moral significance of biological life; patient autonomy and questions of competence and consent; cultural diversity and medical ethics; end-of-life issues, such as euthanasia and the definition of death; abortion; genetic manipulation, screening, and eugenics; the ethics of medical experimentation and research; the question of a right to healthcare; and the application of principles of distributive justice to scarce medical resources.

Urban Health

GEOG 4237

Explore the influence of urban environments on human health and well-being. Topics will include urban-rural health differentials, urban health in the developed versus underdeveloped world, vulnerable populations, urban pollution, and the potential health impacts of urban design.