Mission Statement: The Department of Global Health and Population seeks to improve global health through education, research, and service from a population-based perspective.
The twenty-first century has arrived with complex changes in demographic patterns,disease burdens, our environments and health policies. These changes are affecting all societies, rich and poor, developed and developing. The department brings together disciplinary expertise in many areas to leverage different perspectives and approaches to global health issues. Our aim is to achieve a deeper understanding of, and make significant contributions to, the “research-policy-implementation” cycle for the multi-faceted fields of global health and population.
The department's approach combines the analysis of population and health using quantitative and qualitative methods, the investigation of policies that affect general and reproductive health, and a concern with the politics, ecology and ethics of health and development. Our faculty members are engaged in cutting-edge research in such areas as health metrics, experimental economics/randomized trials, social and economic development, health policy, longitudinal aging studies, health systems, women and children’s health, infectious and chronic diseases, health equity, human rights and humanitarian relief – particularly in the context of developing countries.
Our students are also diverse in their backgrounds and life experiences. The department offers a rigorous doctoral program focusing in economics, population and reproductive health and health systems. We also offer a 2-year master of science program (SM2) in addition to the Master of Public Health program (MPH). All three degree programs are dedicated to preparing the next generation of leaders and academics in the fields of health and population policy to advance global health and reduce the burden of disease, especially in the world’s most vulnerable populations. Our alumni have taken positions of leadership in top universities (including Harvard, Johns Hopkins and Boston University) as well as in a broad range of public health institutions (including the World Bank, USAID, Gates Foundation, ministries of health and research institutes).
