Health & Society

More Than Meets the Eye:

• Can health care be equitable, ethical, and efficient?

• How do individuals affect global health?

• What is health? What does it mean to be healthy and who or what is involved in being healthy?

• How are physical, mental, spiritual health related to complete wellbeing?

• Who makes decisions about health and how are these decisions made?

• Who is responsible for health? Do individuals, communities, organizations, and governments have shared responsibility or are they different?

Health and Society Courses:

The Health and Society courses, taken throughout the Health and Society student’s academic career, expose the students to contemporary issues in health and disease. The courses are designed to, amongst other things, foster reflection on how we measure health, analyze why some people are healthier than others, and investigate what might be done to improve the health of individuals and populations. The courses may also examine why different diseases and health risks are unevenly distributed, both within and between human populations. Students will be introduced to contrasting approaches to understanding disease causation, population health and disease profiles, and intervention case studies. The courses also lead students to consider the needs, institutions and participants involved in health and how management strategies and organizational structures can be used to effectively fulfill the mandate of a health system.

A fundamental aim of this program is to introduce students to the excitement of scientific inquiry in an interdisciplinary setting early in their acdemic careers. Students receive substantial exposure to the research environment throughout the program with the opportunity for expanded research experience through a work placement component. This program is limited to a relatively small number of highly motivated students with strong academic records.

Projects that Health and Society students have worked on include:

• Evaluation of services and quality improvement research at the Alberta Children’s Hospital in Calgary.

• Research concerning causes and consequences infant and child malnutrition in the Dominican Republic.

• Assisting in the development and delivery of HIV/AIDS awareness programs throughout Southern Alberta.

• Investigating the therapeutic reform and other dynamics associated with the introduction of pharmaceuticals into a village setting in Northern Ghana.

• Participating in several projects associated with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder in Calgary.
  

Career Choices:

• Health Economist/Health Technology assessment for national organizations like the Canadian Coordinating Office for Health Technology Assessment.

• Senior researcher and officer for various not for profit and outreach organizations like Community Living BC.

• Systems consultant for implementing IT solutions for health care.

• Researcher for international Canadian consortia programs like Ecosystem Approaches to Human Health- IDRC(International Development Research Centre).

• Project coordinator for international health projects with Non Government Organizations like WHO (World Health Organization).

• Financial consultant for Biotechnology or Governmental Agencies.

• Medical officer of health within a health region.
  

CREATING THE FUTURE OF HEALTH |
An innovative medical school committed to excellence and leadership in education, research and service to society.