From this semester, undergraduate students will health policy certificateexamines the medical, economic, social and governmental aspects of health policy.
A collaboration between the Margolis Center for Health Policy and the Sanford School of Public Policy, the undergraduate diploma is aimed at students interested in health policy, especially non-public policy majors who wish to delve deeper into the intersection of health and governance. I’m doing it.
Nathan Boucher hopes the program will give students the opportunity to “move forward in the field of health policy” by offering relevant coursework. experience.
Students are required to take an introductory course, a capstone course, and two electives from a list of approved classes. She must also complete her two health policy-related experiential learning activities, a 150-hour learning experience and her 300-hour learning experience. Activities can take the form of internships, service learning and research. The certificate also requires a public electronic portfolio showcasing each student’s health policy scholarship through the certificate experience.
The Health Policy Certificate was developed in its early stages by the Health Policy Student Community, an undergraduate organization seeking to expand opportunities for students in the health policy field.
In the summer of 2020, five members of SCOHP’s Education Subcommittee began putting together a certificate proposal.
“We are interested in some academic offerings for health policy, especially since many of our students are taking Program II or sticking to public policy and global health to gain experience. ” Board of Education.
SCOHP also conducted a survey of students on campus, revealing a strong interest among students in potential certificates.
SCOHP undertook work in the fall of 2020 to identify potential classes and design capstones. From there the proposal was sent to Margolis, who partnered with Sanford to realize the certificate.
Faculty members at Sanford and Margolis Colleges worked together to make improvements and submitted them to Duke University for consideration. The curriculum was iterated several times to ensure it was compatible with the academic niche of the Sanford and Margolis faculty involved.
“We had to make sure this was a 50-50 collaboration between the two organizations,” says Boucher.
Faculty are concerned about certificates when: Proposed to the Arts and Sciences Council in April Included in the skepticism was that the new certificate could not be sufficiently distinguished from pursuing a public policy major focused on health policy, or independently pursuing classes or opportunities related to health policy. Vote to approve certificate program at next meeting despite these concerns Passed by an overwhelming majority.
Boucher believes that participating students will be able to participate in a wide range of discussions around health policy, including related issues such as housing and nutrition.
“Having a health policy justification will allow us to be more fluid as team members working on these complex health issues, the most politicized issues in America today,” he said.
Desai believes that a certificate in health policy will benefit students by teaching them to view medical issues through an interdisciplinary lens.
“Health care is important in terms of teaching students to observe someone who may have a health condition or see a health problem happening somewhere and then use different perspectives to actually address it. I think policy certificates are very important,” he said. .
SCOHP remains committed to this certification, which will launch this fall. Two of his five original subcommittee members are on the program’s advisory board, continuing efforts to integrate health policy into the undergraduate curriculum. Now they are working to spread awareness of the certificate to student bodies.
Certificates are available for 2nd semester 1st, 2nd and 1st semester 3rd year students regardless of academic field.
Desai hopes the certificate will serve both current and future students for years to come.
“It’s almost bittersweet [seniors who worked on creating the certificate] I can’t take advantage of it, but personally, I’m really happy that the future Duke has the opportunity to do so.
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