Health Sciences

The course covers the fundamental principles of medical imaging, including the basics of the 4 major medical imaging methods: Ultrasound, X-Ray CT, PET, and MRI. The focus is on MRI and how it is used to capture the anatomy and function of the human brain. The course also provides hands-on experience with acquiring brain images using a 3T MRI scanner. Students learn how to process and characterize MRI images from healthy volunteers. Functional MRI (fMRI) data is used to learn the basics of statistical analysis used in neuroscience research. Students have the opportunity to interact with the MRI team and also with clinicians and neuroscientists who use the MRI for research.

This course introduces students, without a background in sport psychology, to the basic concepts needed to understand sport psychology and its application. Topics include Psychological Skills Training, Peak Performance, Performance Profiling, Goal Setting, Performance Review, Motivation, Psychophysiology, Relaxation, Activation, Imagery, Self‐Talk, Concentration, Team Building, and, Competition Routines. The course requires students to take prerequisites.

This course offers an overview of relevant public health approaches to promotion of optimal health and well-being at the population level, particularly for high-risk and vulnerable sub-groups. The course addresses appropriate frameworks for planning nutritional health promotion programs and provides an overview of different policies and programs in play for the development, implementation and evaluation of public health initiatives in the area of nutrition and diets. The complexity and needs to include environmental, sustainable, and behavioral factors in the planning and conduction of interventions in public health nutrition are addressed. The course uses a problem-based learning approach with engaging real-world examples on the approach in developing nutrient supplementation programs, nutrient profile and health claim regulations, school feeding interventions and meal-on-wheels-programs, development and implementation of meaningful healthy and sustainable dietary guidelines, and evaluation and integration of such programs at national and international level.

This course is focused on recent developments in Nutrition Behavior Research including the physiological and psychological determinants of food choice and eating behavior. The course includes lectures, group assignments, and a computer practical. Prerequisites course in Nutrition Behavior.

This course is a ASEAN fieldwork course jointly organized by ASEAN partner universities and Keio University. Students who participate in the fieldwork in Japan and aim to obtain an "EBA Perspectives" certificate will take this course in the semester following their participation in the fieldwork. SFC offers four fieldwork courses, two in ASEAN and two in Japan, so that up to four fieldwork courses in total can be included as credit-bearing courses.

Vietnam Fieldwork is a Field-based Project. The primary purpose of the project is to investigate how families live with their disabled children against the backdrop of poverty and limited medical infrastructure. Note that the fieldwork is conducted in Phu Cat District, Binh Dinh Province in central Vietnam, where the US heavily sprayed the toxic defoliant known as Agent Orange during the Vietnam War (1963-1971). That background explains the high number of disabled people in this District alone, 4298 (as of 2018), accounting for 2% of the District population (not including mild cases of disabilities). 

The issue that the fieldwork aims to address lies in a complex context of risk and risk management: Environmental risk, Public Health risk, and risks that these two have generated. An equally important concern of our examination includes the basic infrastructure and policies designed to cope with these risks. 

For that purpose, our examinations incorporate the Vietnam War, Vietnam’s recent Socioeconomic Development, and Vietnam’s welfare policies (public health policies and safety net, among others). 

Participants are asked to explore the following questions: 1) How do these families (primarily farmers) perceive the environmental problem (as signified by the disabled child), the source of the problem, and the risks? 2) How do they live with the problem in the absence/presence of external support, such as health clinics and other facilities? Moreover, 3) how their narratives reveal a larger picture of which their living is part. The students are asked to call attention to people’s narratives through intimate interaction while observing their facial expressions, bodily expressions, and languages. 

The fieldwork also takes us to the “weekend class” for the disabled children, their families, the volunteer teachers of the class, and the local residents. The classes are valuable sites for us to observe how the disabled children, their families, and the teachers interact with each other openly. Over the past 10 years, we have established four such classes, which they call “Dream Class.”

The course aims at introducing the culture system of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), including the basic theory (yin-yang and five elements, viscera and their manifestations), basic skills (tongue and face diagnose), basic practice (diet therapy, moxibustion, scraping, cupping, TCM aromatherapy) and qigong(Baduanjin ). This course will provide you with an in-depth exploration of traditional Chinese medicine culture and learn how to use TCM knowledge in your daily life. You will learn about the correspondence between food and internal organs and how to apply this knowledge to improve your diet. Furthermore, you will delve into the concepts of Chinese medicine meridians and acupuncture points, master the art of brewing traditional Chinese herb teas and creating scented bags, and experience the renowned Chinese medicine fitness practice of the Baduanjin .

This course examines human nutrition as it applies to sport and exercise. It introduces principles of physiology and biochemistry that underpin diets and nutritional practices for physical activity. It looks at the fundamentals of nutrition, macro- and micro-nutrients, fluids, dietary supplements, and drugs in sport. 

This course examines basic knowledge of human structure and function. Topics covered include physiology of the nervous system and special senses, muscle physiology, and movement and consciousness. It also covers human endocrine system, reproduction, blood, heart and circulation, fluid regulation and electrolyte balance, the skin, sensory perception, gastro-intestinal function and respiration.

The course introduces the broad field of Health Technology Assessment (HTA). HTA is a collection of methodologies used to make evidenced-based assessment of the value added by new technologies to inform policy and decision making. The course introduces the full life-cycle of a new medical technology from the perspective of a device inventor and a government regulator, including safety regulations. It covers methodologies including systematic reviewing, decision theory, evidence synthesis, health economics, and the overall methodology used for HTA in practice.