The topics presented in this course will represent a range of contemporary issues in health research. Topics will vary by instructor and term.
The topics presented in this course will represent a range of contemporary issues in health research. Topics will vary by instructor and term.
An examination of a current topic relevant to global health, especially diseases or conditions that predominately affect populations in low-income countries. The specific topics will vary from year to year, and may include: HIV/AIDS; insect-borne diseases; the biology of poverty and precarity. The course will provide students with relevant information about social context and health policy, but will focus on the processes of disease transmission and its biological impact on human health.
Dentistry is one of the oldest branches of medicine responsible for the treatment of diseases of oral cavity. This course will introduce students to the key concepts as well as the latest research in the dental sciences, including but not limited to craniofacial structures, bone physiology, odontogenesis, pathogenesis of oral diseases, and technology in dental sciences.
An examination of a current health topic relevant to sex, gender, and the life course. The specific topic will vary from year to year, and topics may include: reproductive health; the biology and health impacts of aging; infant feeding, weaning, and nutrition; sexual health among youth. The course will provide students with relevant information about social context and health policy, but will focus on biological processes at specific life stages.
The topics presented in this course will represent a range of contemporary issues in health research. Topics will vary by instructor and term.
The topics presented in this course will represent a range of contemporary issues in health research. Topics will vary by instructor and term.
This course will examine pandemics, epidemics, and outbreaks of contagious infectious diseases, specifically viruses (i.e. HIV, Ebola, SARS, hantavirus, smallpox, influenza) among Indigenous Peoples. Students will learn about the social, cultural, and historical impacts of the virus on Indigenous peoples and their communities with regards to transmission, treatment and prevention, public health measures and strategies, as well as ethical issues.
The didactic portion of this course will examine emerging environmental health issues using case studies. In the hands-on portion of the course, students will learn a range of research skills - how to use the Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines, evidence-based health and best practices, and the different elements of a successful grant proposal - while honing their researching, writing, and presenting skills.
This course will introduce students to key conceptual and methodological approaches to studying experiences of embodiment at different points in the life course. It draws on range of social and cultural perspectives on bodily activity, exercise, disability, and representations of the body to encourage students to critically examine relationships between sociocultural dynamics and health.
Food security is an important determinant of health and well being, and yet in many areas of the world there are profound challenges to achieving it. Food sovereignty – the right of peoples to self-determined food production – has an important and complex relationship with food security. This course will examine the implications of food security and food sovereignty for health equity in the context of sub Saharan Africa.
This course is designed to provide students with an in-depth knowledge of the role of technological and social innovations in global health. Through lectures, case studies, group projects and exciting guest lectures, students will gain an understanding of the process of developing and scaling technological and social innovations in low- and middle-income countries, taking into account the unique socio-cultural, financial and logistical constraints that are present in such settings.
An examination of a current topic in inequality, inequity, marginalization, social exclusion, and health outcomes. Topics may include: health and homelessness, poverty and sexual health, political conflict and refugee health. The course will provide students with relevant information about social context and health policy, but will focus on the physical and mental health impacts of various forms of inequity.
Drawing on insights from critical social theory and on the experience of community partners, this course critically explores the ethics, economics, and politics of care and mutual aid. The course begins with a focus on informal care in our everyday lives, including self-care. We then move on to interrogate theories of care and care work in a variety of settings including schools, community health centres, hospitals, and long-term care facilities. The course is interdisciplinary, drawing on insights from scholarship across the humanities, social sciences, medicine, and public health.
This course is designed to provide an in-depth understanding of the potential effects on human health of exposure to environmental contaminants, with special attention to population groups particularly vulnerable to toxic insults.
Violence is a significant public health, human rights, and human development problem that impacts millions of people worldwide. Relying on a critical public health perspective, critical social theories, and local and global case studies on anti-oppression, this course explores structural (causes of) violence, the impact violence has on (public) health and human development, and societal responses to treatment, prevention, and social transformation.
An examination of a current topic in health and wellness. Topics may include: disability, addiction, psychosocial wellbeing, social activism around health issues, Wellness Indices, Community Needs and Assets Appraisals. The course will focus on the contributing historical, social, and/or cultural factors, as well as relevant health policies.
An examination of a current topic in global health, especially a disease or condition that predominantly impacts populations in low-income countries. The specific topic will vary from year to year. Topics may include: HIV/AIDS; war and violence, insect-borne diseases; policies and politics of water and sanitation; reproductive health and population policies, etc. The course will focus on historical factors, socio-political contexts, and health policies.
This advanced seminar course explores contemporary topics in global health governance as they are being discussed and debated by world leaders at key international summits, such as the World Health Summit. After developing an understanding of the historical and political economy context of the main actors and instruments involved in global health governance, contemporary global health challenges are explored. Topics and cases change based on global priorities and student interests, but can include: the impact of international trade regimes on global health inequities; the role transnational corporations and non-governmental organizations play in shaping the global health agenda; the impact globalization has had on universal health care and health human resources in low-income countries; and health care during complex humanitarian crises.
This advanced seminar will provide intensive study of a selected topic in and/or theoretical questions about the health humanities. Topics will vary by instructor and term but may include narrative medicine, stories of illness and healing, representations of older age and aging in literature and film, AIDS and/or cancer writing, representations of death and dying in literature and film, and the role of creative arts in health.
In this advanced seminar students will examine older age using the methods and materials of the humanities, with particular focus on: 1) the representation of aging and older age in the arts; and 2) the role of arts-based therapies and research initiatives involving older people and/or the aging process.
An examination of a health topic in historical perspective. The specific topics will vary from year to year, and may include: histories of race, racialization, and health policy; history of a specific medical tradition; or histories of specific health conditions, their medical and popular representations, and their treatment (e.g. historical changes in the understanding and representation of leprosy or depression).
An examination of a current topic in Health Humanities. The specific topic will vary from year to year.
This seminar course explores stories of health, illness, and disability that are in some way tied to the City of Toronto. It asks how the Canadian healthcare setting impacts the creation of illness narratives. Topics will include major theorizations of illness storytelling (“restitution”, “chaos,” and “quest” narratives); narrative medicine; ethics and digital health storytelling.
Advanced students of Health Humanities already know that creative work about important contemporary issues in health can help doctors, patients, and the public understand and live through complex experiences. But now, as health humanities practitioners, do we go about making new creative works and putting them out into the world? This upper-level seminar explores Documentary and Memoir as a political practice and supports students already versed in the principles and methods of health humanities in developing their own original work. Through a workshop format, students encounter artistic and compositional practices of documentary and memoir writing, film, and theatre to draw conclusions about what makes a documentary voice compelling, and consider the impact of works as a modality for communicating human experiences of health, illness, and disability through these mediated expressions.
In this year-long directed research course, the student will work with a faculty supervisor to complete an original undergraduate research project. During fall term the student will prepare the research proposal and ethics protocol, and begin data collection. In the winter term the student will complete data collection, analysis, and write-up.
This course will investigate school- and community-based health education efforts that approach health as a complex social, biological, and cultural experience; critique and challenge prevailing understandings of health; and offer alternative theoretical, pedagogical, and curricular approaches to health and illness. Issues such as sexuality, gender, nation, race, social class, age, ability, and indigeneity will be central concerns in this study of health pedagogy, curriculum, and promotion.
The quality of our health care system is dependent on initial and ongoing education supporting our health professionals. In response to ongoing and new challenges in health care, governments and institutions respond with novel ideas of enacting health care in improved ways. Health care institutions, policy makers, and the public have expectations of highly skilled, knowledgeable, and prepared individuals. As our understanding of health and health systems change, these expectations also change. Keeping up is in part the work of health professions education. Preparing individuals for these dynamic, complex, in some cases unpredictable, and everchanging health care service demands is necessary and complex. In this course, we explore the role and governance, structure, and contemporary multidisciplinary scientific advances of initial and continuing health professions education as a means of supporting the practice and quality of health care. We also explore the future of health professions and how health professions education is working to keep up.
This course will delve into health promotion's inequities, notably those impacting Black communities. We examine how social determinants intersect with anti-Black racism, particularly during pandemics like HIV/AIDS and COVID-19. The Toronto Board of Health's 2020 declaration of anti-Black racism as a public health crisis underscores the urgency of addressing this issue, as Black Canadians continue to face disproportionate health disparities in areas such as life expectancy and chronic diseases.
This course is designed to permit critical analysis of current topics relevant to the broad topic of paramedicine. Students will work independently but under the supervision of an industry leader, practitioner and/or researcher involved in paramedicine, who will guide the in-depth study/research. Students report to the course instructor and paramedicine program supervisor to complete course information and their formal registration.
History, theory and practice of international development, and current approaches and debates in international development studies. The course explores the evolution of policy and practice in international development and the academic discourses that surround it. Lectures by various faculty and guests will explore the multi-disciplinary nature of international development studies. This course is a prerequisite for all IDS B-level courses.