Health Sciences

This course brings together a range of academic disciplines and literature to give students a broad understanding of drug policy, both international and national. While drug use and policy may be discussed as part of other courses, this is the only course that focuses specifically on drug policy, and the impact it has on society today. Drug policy is becoming increasingly visible as an important component of both health and legal policy. Around the world there are shifts which see drug policy moving to a health matter, and the contradictions that can have in the development and delivery of criminal justice and public health frameworks. The course explores both criminal justice and public health approaches to drug policy, and introduces students to the broader concept of a "public good" approach.

This course introduces students to social theory in medical sociology. It does this by exploring sociological factors that impinge on health status, health chances and health care. It looks at concepts of health and illness, the social context of health and illness as well as changing patterns of health and illness, and the social organization of both formal and informal health care. This also includes a critical analysis of formal Western biomedical approaches to health and health care. A number of theoretical positions are considered ranging from Functionalist, Marxist and neo-Marxist perspectives through to Postmodern, Realist and Critical Realist perspectives and the relevance of these in medicine and health care. These are applied to key substantive areas covered in the course.

This course aims to provide students with a foundational understanding of common brain disorders-such as depression, brain tumors, and Alzheimer’s disease-covering their current status, epidemiology, and underlying pathogenesis. Students will also become familiar with mainstream diagnostic and treatment approaches, while enhancing their awareness of preventive strategies, thereby fostering a more resilient and proactive mindset in facing life.

This course examines the historical and contemporary social determinants of Indigenous wellbeing. Through an exploration of holistic Indigenous health and wellbeing frameworks, students identify a range of successful strategies that facilitate self-determination and transform Indigenous health and wellbeing outcomes. 

This course covers theories of infectious disease control policy and management of the processes of prevention, preparedness, response, and recovery for public health crises related to infectious diseases. 

Via examination of infectious disease control policies and biological knowledge, the course offers an interpretation of infectious diseases and public health crises through the lens of political economy.  

This course examines how the human body responds to extreme environmental stressors (i.e. high altitude, hyperbaria, extreme heat, extreme cold), and how these conditions alter the capacity of humans to perform physical and mental tasks. Special attention will also be given to the theoretical basis of how these stressors can lead to decrements to human health in the form of injury (e.g. frostibite, heat exhaustion) and illness (e.g. pulmonary/cerebral oedema, actue mountain sickness, 'the bends'). This course will also focus on how this information can be used to develop therapeutic, pharmacological, and/or technological interventions to improve human functioning in extreme environments and reduce the risk of illness and injury. 

This course examines a range of medical genetic disorders that illustrate principles of disease mechanisms, diagnosis and management. These will include: haemophilia, familial cancer, late-onset neurological disorders and mitochondrial disease.

The course explores theories of drug use and abuse, the neurobiological effects of drugs, and drug policy and law in New Zealand and the world. 

This course examines characteristics of health disorders that may lead to need for care and social support with special reference to disabilities. Topics include: consequences of illness; primary disabling diseases with early manifestation; primary cardiocirculatory and respiratory diseases associated with disability; primary metabolic diseases associated with disability; disability due to diseases of the musculoskeletal system; disability due to neurological disorders; disability due to psychiatric pathology.

In this course, students learn to apply the One Health approach to address public health issues with a focus on infectious diseases. Students examine how the concept of One Health recognizes that the health of people is intertwined with the health of animals and their shared environment. Understanding this concept allows the integration of information from these three health domains when creating programs, policies, and legislation to achieve better public health outcomes. Current major public health concerns will be analyzed, and One Health interventions contrasted to a traditional approach for students to better appreciate the differences.