Courses of Study 2023-2024

May 31, 2024

Courses of Study 2023-2024

Global & Public Health Sciences

In the Division of Nutritional Sciences , College of Agriculture and Life Sciences .

In addition to the major requirements outlined below, all students must meet their college graduation requirements: Agriculture and Life Sciences Graduation Requirements

Public health is the prevention of illness and promotion of wellness in communities, both large and small. The Global & Public Health Sciences (GPHS) major teaches the tools of public health research and action. The major is intended for students who are motivated to identify health problems in communities and implement actions that will protect or improve the lives of large numbers of individuals, and is especially appropriate for students who wish to pursue advanced study that would lead to leadership positions in governmental or non-governmental organizations that deal directly with current and emerging health concerns in the U.S. or internationally. In addition to completing core courses in public health, global health and epidemiology, students take a minimum of one advanced course in each of the areas of Social & Behavioral Health, Biological Aspects of Public Health, Environmental Health, and Health Policy & Management. Additionally, majors are required to complete a minimum of three credit hours of supervised experiential learning in a laboratory or community setting. This major is offered by the Division of Nutritional Sciences . More information about this program can be found on the Division of Nutritional Sciences page, which includes descriptions of all of the majors that are offered.

Major Requirements

Major Learning Outcomes

Upon graduation with the GPHS major, students should be able to:

Integrate knowledge from the biological and social sciences and experiential learning to address public health problems facing populations.
Demonstrate an understanding of the complex and evolving nature of scientific knowledge in the promotion of health and the etiology and prevention of disease.
Demonstrate the ability to use epidemiological principles to evaluate critically scientific information from the primary research literature investigating influences on human health and disease.
Develop positions on public health issues. Communicate positions on public health issues to colleagues and lay/target audiences.
Demonstrate knowledge of ethical principles, considerations and dilemmas relevant to the research and practice of public health.

Additional information:

All coursework for this major is in person, in Ithaca, unless otherwise noted.
No prerequisite courses are necessary before declaring the Global and Public Health Sciences major.
All major requirements must be taken for a letter grade.
A passing grade must be earned to meet major requirements within a course.

The requirements listed below pertain to all students matriculating in August 2023 and January 2024.

All of the following sections (1-19) are required to be completed to graduate.

Overall Credits (REQUIRED):

Total: 120 credits
Agriculture and Life Sciences: 55 credits
9 credits from outside the major (anything but NS courses)

1. Global & Public Health Core Courses (14 credits)

NS 1600 - Introduction to Public Health (F, 3 cr)

NS 2060 - Preparation for Engaged Learning in Global and Public Health Sciences (F, 2 cr)

NS 2600 - Introduction to Global Health (S, 3 cr)

NS 3600 - Epidemiology (F, 3 cr)

NS 4600 - Explorations in Global and Public Health (F, 3 cr)

2. Supervised Experiential Learning in Global & Public Health (variable credit)

Approval required. May be completed anytime from spring semester sophomore year onward. Must be largely completed before the fall semester of senior year. This experience may be obtained through one of several options, including (but not limited to):

Global Health Summer Programs
Cornell in Washington (NS 4997 )
Public Health Research and Internship (NS 4060 )
Cornell Cooperative Extension (Tompkins County and others) (NS 4060 )
Weill Cornell Clinical & Translational Science Center (NS 4060 )
Study abroad programs with a public health focus/internship (NS 4060 )

3. Social & Behavioral Health Selective (3-4 credits)

Course should cover some aspect of public health (including nutrition) from a social and/or behavioral health perspective. More than half of the course content must be devoted to consideration of issues of public health from a social science perspective (e.g. sociology, anthropology, psychology, economics, communication, and other social science disciplines). Courses used to fulfill this requirement must be at the 2000-level or above.

Choose one course from the following options:

NS 2450 - Social Science Perspectives on Food and Nutrition (3 cr)

ANTHR 2468 - Medicine, Culture, and Society (3 cr)

COMM 2850 Communication, Environment, Science, and Health (3 cr)

COMM 4760 - Population Health Communication (3 cr)

GDEV 2200 / LSP 2200 - [Sociology of Health and Ethnic Minorities] (3 cr)

GDEV 3020 - [Political Ecologies of Health] (3 cr)

PAM/SOC 3180 Health Disparities Heath Disparities (3 cr)

PUBPOL 3280 / GDEV 3280 - Fundamentals of Population Health (3 cr)

PUBPOL 4280 / ECON 3710 - The Economics of Risky Health Behaviors (3 cr)

SOC 4120 - Health and Social Context (4 cr)

4. Biological Aspects of Public Health Selective (3-4 credits)

Courses should cover some aspect of public health (including nutrition) from a biological perspective. More than half of the course content must be devoted to consideration of issues of public health from a biological perspective (e.g. biochemistry, molecular biology, physiology, neuroscience, and other biological sciences disciplines). Courses used to fulfill this requirement must be at the 2000-level or above.

Choose one course from the following options:

NS 3060 - Nutrition and Global Health (3 cr)

NS 3150 - Obesity and the Regulation of Body Weight ( 3 cr)

NS 4200 - Diet and the Microbiome (3 cr)

NS 4300 - Proteins, Transcripts, and Metabolism: Big Data in Molecular Nutrition (3 cr)

NS 4410 - Nutrition and Disease (4 cr)

BIOMG 4390 - Molecular Basis of Disease (3 cr)

BIOMG 4870 - Human Genomics (3 cr)

BIOMI 2600 - Microbiology of Human Contagious Diseases (3 cr)

BIOMI 2950 - Biology of Infectious Disease: From Molecules to Ecosystems (3 cr)

BIOMI 3210 - The Gut Microbiome (3 cr)

PLBIO 2100 - Medical Ethnobotany (3 cr)

5. Environmental Health Selective (3-4 credits)

Courses should cover some aspect of public health (including nutrition) from an environmental perspective. More than half of the course content must be devoted to consideration of issues of public health from an environmental perspective (e.g. entomology, design and environmental analysis, microbiology, and other related disciplines). Courses used to fulfill this requirement must be at the 2000-level or above.

Choose one course from the following options:

DEA 2700 - Healthy Places: Design, Planning and Public Health (3 cr)

GDEV 3020 - [Political Ecologies of Health] (3 cr)

GDEV 3400 - [Agriculture, Food, Sustainability and Social Justice] (3 cr)

BIOMI 2500 - Public Health Microbiology (3 cr)

BIOMI 2950 - Biology of Infectious Disease: From Molecules to Ecosystems (3 cr)

BIOMI 4310 / BIOMS 4310 - Medical Parasitology (2 cr)

COMM 2850 / STS 2851 - Communication, Environment, Science, and Health (3 cr)

ENTOM 2100 / BSOC 2101 - Plagues and People (2-3 cr)

FDSC 3960 - Food Safety Assurance (2 cr)

PLBIO 2100 - Medical Ethnobotany (3 cr)

PLBIO 2400 Green World, Blue Planet (3 cr)

6. Health Policy & Practice Selective (3-4 credits)

Choose one course from the following options:

NS 4450 / AEM 4450 - Toward a Sustainable Global Food System: Food Policy for Developing Countries (3 cr)

NS 4500 - Public Health Nutrition (3 cr)

NS 4570 / ECON 3910 - Health, Poverty, and Inequality: A Global Perspective (3 cr)

AMST 2225 / GOVT 2225 / GDEV 2220 / ILROB 2220 / PUBPOL 2220 / SOC 2220 / PHIL 1950 - Controversies About Inequality (4 cr)

ANTHR 4458 / EDUC 4458 / FGSS 4458 - [Girls, Women, and Education in Global Perspective: Feminist Ethnography and Praxis] (4 cr) (3-4 cr)

GDEV 2090 / PUBPOL 2208 / SOC 2208 - Social Inequality (4 cr)

GDEV 3020 - [Political Ecologies of Health] (3 cr)

GDEV 3700 / SOC 3710 - Comparative Social Inequalities (3 cr)

GOVT 3032 - Politics of Public Policy in the U.S. (4 cr)

PUBPOL 2030 - Population and Public Policy (3-4 cr)

PUBPOL 2350 - The U.S. Health Care System (3 cr)

PUBPOL 3110 - Pharmaceutical Management and Policy (3 cr)

PUBPOL 3780 - [Sick Around the World? Comparing Health Care Systems Around the World] (3 cr)

PUBPOL 3870 / PUBPOL 5870 - Economic Evaluations in Health Care (3 cr)

7. Introductory Chemistry (4-8 credits)

Choose one of the following:

(a) CHEM 2070 - General Chemistry I ^{1, 2} (4 cr) AND CHEM 2080 - General Chemistry II (4 cr) (two-course sequence required for pre-health)

(b) CHEM 2070 - General Chemistry I ^{1, 2} (4 cr) (not for pre-health)

(d) CHEM 2150 - Honors General and Inorganic Chemistry ^{2, 3} (F/Su, 4 cr) (not for pre-health)

¹ Students may use an AP Chemistry score of 5 to place out of CHEM 2070 . However, GPHS students must take at least one semester of general chemistry at Cornell—i.e., students who use AP credit toward their general chemistry requirement must take an additional general chemistry course (i.e., CHEM 2080 , CHEM 2150 , or other, but not CHEM 1560 ). Students interested in the pre-health track should take two semesters of chemistry at Cornell.

² Students who take CHEM 2070 forfeit AP credit. Students who take CHEM 2150 may keep AP credit.

³ Students should only select option (d) if they are very strong in chemistry and are not considering a pre-health (e.g. pre-med) track.

8. Introductory Biology (8 credits)

Choose one of the following labs:

(a) BIOG 1500 - Investigative Biology Laboratory (2 cr) OR

(b) BIOSM 1500 - Investigative Marine Biology Laboratory (3 cr)

AND choose two out of the three lecture options¹:

(a) BIOMG 1350 - Introductory Biology: Cell and Developmental Biology (3 cr)

(b) BIOG 1440 - Introductory Biology: Comparative Physiology (3 cr) OR²

BIOG 1445 - Introduction to Comparative Anatomy and Physiology, Individualized Instruction (autotutorial) (4 cr)

BIOEE 1780 - An Introduction to Evolutionary Biology and Diversity (3 cr)

¹Students may use an AP Biology score of 5 to place out of one introductory biology lecture. Pre-health (e.g. pre-med) students should not use AP scores to fulfill biology requirements.

²Cannot take both courses within one category to fulfill this requirement.

9. Organic Chemistry Lecture (3-8 credits)¹

Choose one of the following:

(a) CHEM 1570 - Introduction to Organic and Biological Chemistry (3 cr, not for pre-health) OR

(b) CHEM 3530 - [Principles of Organic Chemistry] (4 cr, not for pre-health) OR

(c) CHEM 3570 Organic Chemistry for the Life Sciences I AND CHEM 3580 Organic Chemistry for the Life Sciences II (3 cr each) OR

(d)CHEM 3570 Organic Chemistry for the Life Sciences I

(e) CHEM 3590 Honors Organic Chemistry I (4cr) CHEM 3600 Honors Organic Chemistry II (4 cr) , must take both, CHEM 3590 alone will not fulfill the requirement)

¹Students interested in pre-health tracks should take a two-course sequence of organic chemistry lectures (option c or e above), in addition to an organic chemistry lab.

²Students who select option E must take both courses in sequence; one course alone will not fulfill the requirement.

10. Physiology (3-4 credits)

Choose one of the following:

(a) NS 3410 - Human Anatomy and Physiology (4 cr) OR¹

(b) [BIOG 1440 - Introductory Biology: Comparative Physiology (3 cr) OR²

BIOG 1445 - Introduction to Comparative Anatomy and Physiology, Individualized Instruction (autotutorial) (F/S, 4cr)] OR

¹Pre-health students might also consider taking NS 3420 - Human Anatomy and Physiology Laboratory (S, 2 cr).

²Cannot take both to fulfill this requirement. Can only be used to fulfill physiology requirement if not used to fulfill introductory biology requirement.

11. Biochemistry (4-6 credits)

Choose one of the following¹:

(a) NS 3200 - Introduction to Human Biochemistry (4 cr) OR

(b) BIOMG 3300 - Principles of Biochemistry, Individualized Instruction (4 cr) OR

(c) BIOMG 3310 - Principles of Biochemistry: Proteins and Metabolism (3 cr) AND BIOMG 3320 - Principles of Biochemistry: Molecular Biology (2 cr) OR

(d) BIOMG 3310 - Principles of Biochemistry: Proteins and Metabolism (3 cr) AND BIOMI 2900 - General Microbiology Lectures (3 cr) OR

(e) BIOMG 3350 - Principles of Biochemistry: Proteins, Metabolism, and Molecular Biology (4 cr)

¹Students who take only one semester of introductory chemistry should talk with faculty advisors and biochemistry instructors as early as possible to determine which biochemistry course is best for them and how they may access resources for the best chance of success.

12. First Year Writing Seminars (6 credits)

Note: The 2 required first year writing seminar courses must be completed during the first two semesters at Cornell.

13. Communications (9 credits)

Complete 9 credits of courses in written and oral expression, at least 6 of which must be written expression. Select courses from First-year Writing Seminars and COMM or ENGL classes as per CALS distribution requirements. Note: Potential courses to fulfill this and any CALS distribution requirement may be found in “DUST.”

14. Social Sciences and Humanities (12 credits)

Complete 12 credits, including four courses of at least 3 cr each:

The four chosen courses must include at least 3 different categories from the following list: Cultural Analysis (CA), Human Diversity (D), Foreign Language (FL), Historical Analysis (HA), Knowledge, Cognition, and Moral Reasoning (KCM), Literature and the Arts (LA), and Social and Behavioral Analysis (SBA).
At least one course must be in Human Diversity (D).

15. Statistics (3-4 credits)*

STSCI 2150 - Introductory Statistics for Biology (4 cr)

*Must be taken at Cornell; AP Statistics is not accepted.

16. Additional Requirements (10-12 credits)

Any course with the Course Distribution PBS, SBA, KCM, MQR, LA, CA, or HA. Language courses may count here.

For example, students interested in pre-health tracks (e.g. medicine or physical therapy) could fulfill this requirement by taking required pre-health courses such as CHEM 2080 - General Chemistry II , organic chemistry lab, and two-course sequences in organic chemistry and physics.

17. Electives (Variable)

Any courses that are not taken in Areas 1-16 above, count as Electives.

18. Physical Education Requirement (2 courses)

Physical Education must be completed in order to graduate. However, physical education does not count toward college and university minimum credit requirements for full-time status, nor does it count towards the 120 credits required for graduation.

19. Swim Test Requirement

A successful swim test must be completed in order to graduate.