History of Public Health Course

For the second year in a row, six Philadelphia universities have joined together with The College of Physicians of Philadelphia to offer a six-day masters-level seminar examining the health of human populations and the science of improving it in historical perspective. Special attention is given to the history of public health in Philadelphia. Topics include responses to epidemics, the Bacteriological Revolution, racial and economic disparities in health, the development of policy infrastructures, and global health.

Course Description: This masters-level seminar examines the health of human populations and the science of improving it in historical perspective. Special attention is given to the city of Philadelphia as a living laboratory of public health in the past and present. Lectures, readings, and discussions cover various societies’ attempts to respond to and prevent disease since antiquity. Case studies focus on the roots of contemporary public health knowledge and policy in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Topics include responses to epidemics, the Bacteriological Revolution, racial and economic disparities in health, the development of policy infrastructures, and global health. Periodic field trips will be arranged to public health-related historical sites in Philadelphia and vicinity.

Course Objectives: Students who complete the course will gain practical knowledge in several important areas of public health practice. The objectives of this course are:

• To introduce students to the methods, uses, and application of history to public health practice;


• To familiarize students with the key themes and debates in the history of public health, especially in the United States during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries;


• To foster a critical appreciation of the historical roots of contemporary issues in public health policy;


• To provide students with training in the use of primary sources and qualitative skills in using historical case studies to illuminate contemporary public health challenges.

2010 Course Dates:
Saturday, January 23rd
Friday, January 29th
Saturday, February 6th
Friday, February 12th
Saturday, February 20th
Friday, February 26th

Location:
The College of Physicians of Philadelphia
19 S. 22nd Street
Philadelphia, PA 19103
Directions & Parking

Core Faculty:
David Barnes, University of Pennsylvania
Jennifer Ibrahim, Temple University
Michael Yudell, Drexel University

Participating Institutions:
Arcadia University
Drexel University
Temple University
Thomas Jefferson University
University of Pennsylvania
University of the Sciences in Philadelphia