UConn's Global Health Graduate Certificate aims to improve human health worldwide by targeting mechanisms, interventions, and policies that reflect international, transnational, and intranational factors that impact health.
The new in-person 12-credit program offered by University of Connecticut’s Institute for Collaboration on Health, Intervention, and Policy (InCHIP) and the Office of Global Affairs intends to create informed citizens and a globally aware workforce that understands the global burden of disease, the social and environmental determinants of health, basic principles of health equity and health justice, and the ethics of working with diverse populations. This certificate program is only open to students currently enrolled in any UConn graduate program.
Program Overview
Global Health research is highly diverse and interdisciplinary. At its core, global health emphasizes integrating and synthesizing large and population-level preventative strategies with individual-level treatment and clinical practice.
Health domains central to global health include infant and child health, maternal health, sexuality and gender, food security, mental health, infectious diseases, non-communicable diseases, and international development. Global health applies multidisciplinary methodological approaches such as surveys, participatory research methods (practice-based and community-based research), statistical methods, mapping, and randomized control trials to understand global health issues originating from public health, social and behavioral medicine, and social sciences.
Upon completion of the program, students will:
- Describe the most important frameworks from the fields of public health, social medicine, and environmental, behavioral, and social sciences that are used to understand global health issues.
- Analyze the social, cultural, political, economic, and structural determinants of health, and their effects on access and utilization of quality health services.
- Gain familiarity with the complicated history of global health, and its antecedent field of international health.
- Gain insight into how power, politics, and structural inequities predispose certain populations to be healthier or sicker than others, and how certain populations benefit from advances in science and medicine while others do not.
- Apply evidence-based practices to investigate, understand, and interpret global health science.
- Gain familiarity with multidisciplinary methodological approaches such as surveys, participatory research methods (practice-based and community-based research), statistical methods, mapping, and randomized control trials to understand global health issues originating from public health, social and behavioral medicine, and social sciences.
- Recognize the critical role of interdisciplinary collaboration and capacity building in the development and implementation of interventions, programs, and policies that address global health issues.
Requirements and Courses
Students are required to take CHIP 5100: Interdisciplinary Global Health Seminar (3 credits), plus three additional elective courses (3 credits each) chosen from the courses listed below, as approved by the Global Health Graduate Certificate Committee. Students are allowed, but not required, to take one elective course in their home department and one course listed in the Foundational Courses category. The certificate requires completing all four courses while maintaining a GPA of 3.0 or higher in each required course. All classes will be administered in-person.
Qualifying Courses
Foundational Courses
- AH5501 - International Health
- ANTH 5377 - Global Health and Anthropology
- PUBH 5462 - International Health
Culture and Health
- HDFS 5020 - Culture, Health and Human Development
Infectious Diseases
- PSYC 5711 - Behavioral and Social Aspects of HIV/AIDS
Health as a Human Right
- PUBH 5201 - Essentials of Social Inequality and Health Disparities
- PUBH 5451 - Maternal and Child Health Policy and Programs
- PUBH 5460 - Health and Human Rights
Sustainability
- ARE 5305 - Sustainable Economic Development
- AH5505 - Principles of Sustainability
Healthcare and Systems
- PUBH 5463 - Comparative Health Systems
Methods and Data Analytics
- AH 6310 - Introduction to Systems Science and Complexity
- ARE 5311 - Applied Econometrics I
- ARE 5353 - Data Ethics and Equity in the Era of Misinformation
- ARE 5203 - Economics Methodology: Praxis and Practice
- GEOG 5500 - Fundamentals of Geographic Information Science
- GEOG 5530 - GIS for Health and Environment
- HDFS 5004 - Research Methods in Human Development and Family Sciences II
Note: Please also check the graduate catalog, department websites, and instructors for course availability. Not all courses are available in each academic year.
Faculty
The certificate program is administered by faculty in the Departments of Anthropology, Agricultural and Resource Economics, Allied Health Sciences, Human Development and Family Sciences, Geography, Psychological Sciences, Public Health Sciences, Human Rights Insitute, School of Social Work, UConn Health, and InCHIP.Affiliated Faculty
- Pablo Kokay Valente, Ph.D. (Program Director)
- Tricia Leahey, Ph.D. (InCHIP Director)
- César E. Abadía-Barrero, Ph.D.
- Lisa M. Butler, Ph.D.
- Shayna Cunningham, Ph.D.
- Kevin Deickaus, Ph.D.
- Debarchana (Debs) Ghosh, Ph.D.
- Amy Gorin, Ph.D.
- David Gregorio, Ph.D.
- Sara Harkness, Ph.D., M.P.H.
- Seth Kalichman, Ph.D.
- Kathy Libal, Ph.D.
- Roman Shrestha, Ph.D.
- Sandro Steinbach, Ph.D.
- Charles M. Super, Ph.D.
- Sarah Willen, Ph.D.
Admissions
Students must apply to the Global Health Graduate Certificate via The Graduate School’s online application system. The application process is managed by The Graduate School, not InCHIP, and is similar to the Master’s/Ph.D. program application process.
Application Requirements and Costs
Individuals who have earned a bachelor's degree are eligible to apply for the Global Health Graduate Certificate. The graduate certificate is open to students who are currently enrolled in a UConn graduate program.
Applicants enrolled in another UConn graduate program
Applicants must submit an online application via The Graduate School. The application fee is automatically waived for students currently enrolled in a UConn graduate program (certificate, master’s, or doctoral) when they apply to another graduate program.
In addition, applicants must upload the following documents to the online application system:
- Digital copy of unofficial transcripts
- Personal statement (1 page)
- Short letter signed by either a primary advisor, home department head or director of graduate program supporting the application
- A planned list of electives and timeline for certificate completion
Contact Us
For questions about the Global Health Graduate Certificate, please contact the program director:
Pablo Kokay Valente, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Allied Health Sciences
pablo.valente@uconn.edu
Students interested in the certificate should contact the InCHIP Graduate Program Coordinator, Greidy Miralles, at greidy.miralles@uconn.edu to coordinate the appropriate forms and records for admission.