BA in Health Policy

This major has 13 required courses and one pre-requisite course. The health policy major leads to a bachelor of arts degree and satisfies the social sciences requirement of the Rochester Curriculum.

Key goals for this major:

  • Understand health policy as it relates to the organization, financing, and provision of health care in the US, including its history
  • Demonstrate how the principles of statistics, economics, and political science apply to health policy
  • Understand the current situation relating to population health (including environmental health), private insurance, Medicare, Medicaid, long-term care, and mental health at the federal, state, and local levels, both public and private
  • Understand how to apply the principles of health policy analysis to population health (including environmental health), private insurance, Medicare, Medicaid, long-term care, and mental health at the federal, state, and local levels, both public and private

Major Requirements

Some of these courses require prerequisites. These prerequisites are not counted toward the major. Prerequisites can be found in UR Student or in the CDCS. 

Pre-Requisite Courses (One Course)

ECON 108: Principles of Economics

Public Health General Core (Five Courses)

PHLT 101: Introduction to Public Health I
PHLT 102: Introduction to Public Health II
PHLT 103: Concepts of Epidemiology
STAT 212: Appl. Stat. I or STAT 211: Stat Lit/Applied Methodology (valid until spring 2020)
PHIL 228 (PHIL 228W): Public Health Ethics or PHIL 225: Ethical Decisions in Medicine

Specific Core Requirements (Four Courses)

ECON 207: Intermediate Microeconomics
HIST 373W (H): US Health Policy and Politics
PHLT 116: Introduction to the U.S. Health System
PHLT 230: Public Health Law & Policy

Electives (Four Courses, from at least three different themes, one of which must be from the Economics and Policy theme)

I. Economics and Policy

  • ECON 230: Economics Statistics
  • ECON 236: Health Economics
  • PSCI 105: Introduction to American Politics
  • PSCI 202W: Argument in Political Science
  • PSCI 205: Data Analysis II
  • PSCI 215: American Elections
  • PSCI 226: Act Locally? Local Governments in the U.S.
  • PSCI 227: Designing American Democracy
  • PSCI 228: Race, Ethnicity, and American Politics
  • PSCI 248: Discrimination
  • PSCI 235: The Policital Economy of U.S. Food Policy
  • RELC 183 /PSCI 224: Incarceration Nation
  • PM 421: Introduction to U.S. Health Care System
  • PM 445: Introduction to Health Services Research
  • PM 448 (H): Health Policy Analysis

II. Environment

  • PHIL 230(W): Environmental Justice*
  • PHLT 232: Environmental Health Policy
  • PHLT 238: Environmental Health and Justice in the Rochester Community
  • PSCI 243: Environmental Politics 
  • PSCI 246: Environmental Law and Policy 
  • PSCI 247: Green Markets: Environmental Opportunities and Pitfalls

III. Social Studies, Humanities, and Law

  • ANTH 216: Medical Anthropology
  • HIST 359W: Birth in the Nation: A History of Reproduction
  • HIST 383W: Disease and Society
  • PHIL 226: Philosophy of Law
  • PHIL 230 (W): Environmental Justice*
  • PHLT 236: Health Care and Law
  • PHLT 265W: Global Health

IV. Community engagement/internships

  • CASC 394C: European Health Science Internship (valid until fall 2019)
  • PHLT 394B: Mental Health, Teens, and Foster Care/Juvenile Justice Internship** (valid until spring 2020)
  • PHLT 394C: Washington Semester Internship**
  • PHLT 394D: Health Department Internship***
  • PHLT 397W: Community Engagement Internship****

*PHIL 230 may count for either theme 2 or theme 3 but may not count for both theme 2 and theme 3
**Permission of the health policy faculty advisor required
***Open to juniors, seniors, Take 5, and e5 public health majors; permission of the health policy faculty advisor required
****Open to juniors, seniors, Take 5, and e5 public health majors

Students may use up to to 2 PHLT internship courses towards their public health major.

Upper-Level Writing Requirement

Students are required to register for two upper-level writing courses.

Overlapping Major Courses

Due to the interdisciplinary nature of the public health-related programs, no more than two courses may overlap between a public health major and another major.

Pre-requisite courses and the introductory STAT course (either STAT 211 or STAT 212) are not included in the course overlap.

Transfer Credit

Students are permitted (with the approval of their public health faculty advisor) to use up to two transfer courses towards their public health program.

Note: Students may choose to major, or to minor, or to complete a cluster within the Public Health-Related program, but they cannot do more than one.