Health Sciences

This course studies the sensory qualities and chemical principles (moisture, carbohydrate, protein, fat) of color, taste and flavor, textural properties, and toxic substances in foods. 

This course examines the concept of psychological health and diverse biopsychosocial factors that may be indicative of psychological distress. It looks at the integration of internal (e.g., personality) and interpersonal (e.g., conflict) factors that may contribute to our psychological and physical health. Topics include body and emotion, self-identity, family and interpersonal relationships, and academic and professional performance.

This course examines sports in Hong Kong from personal development to the impact on society. It will first introduce different areas of sports, including medicine, the technologies involved in increasing and maintaining performance, and an overview of sports in Hong Kong. Following this, local elite athletes will share their experience in professional training and international events so that students can better understand strategies about how to tackle difficulties to reach the top of a profession and apply these principles to their own experience. 

This course provides a basic introduction to human nutrition with emphasis on the underlying molecular mechanisms and aspects. Topics include: an introduction to the anatomy and physiology of the gastrointestinal system, including an introduction to the natural bacterial microbiota in the digestive system and its influence on human nutrition and health; the study types used in human nutrition studies; energy balance and macro nutrients in human nutrition; a detailed mapping of the structure and mechanisms of action of vitamins, and their influence on human health; an overview of minerals and trace elements in food and the importance on health conditions; "functional foods" and selected additives and their mechanism of action and impact on health; the relation between diet and the development of lifestyle diseases. The course involves laboratory exercises of glucose tolerance test after intake of different food components and DEXA body scanning.

The goal of this course is to popularize women's health and health care knowledge to non-medical students in school, so that students can master the basic knowledge of common obstetrics and gynecology diseases in women and how to prevent health care, and to strengthen the popularization of some common emergencies in obstetrics and gynecology among students. The understanding of abdominal diseases enables students to grasp the significance of timely medical treatment based on disease assessment. Lay a good foundation for further strengthening awareness of prevention and health care.

The teaching of this course should enable students to master the basic theories and basic knowledge of common diseases in obstetrics and gynecology, with special emphasis on cultivating students' ability to analyze and solve practical problems, so that students can grasp the significance of timely medical treatment based on disease assessment. Lay a good foundation for further strengthening awareness of prevention and health care. This course will also mobilize the enthusiasm of all types of students through various learning activities and evaluation methods, so that students can generate and maintain curiosity and critical thinking about scientific issues, and improve students' self-control ability, learning ability, expression ability, and critical thinking ability. , cooperation skills and other comprehensive training, so that they will be brave and able to contribute to the promotion of human health in the future.

This course examines global policies, politics, industry and institutions and their neo-colonial underpinnings, and their influence on current global health theory, research and practice, with a special focus on the health of Indigenous peoples in Canada and other racialized groups. It looks at the environmental and social determinants of health and health inequities, with attention to women and children’s health, communicable and non-communicable disease, and the complexities of disasters and humanitarian crises, as well as global health governance,systems, and innovations and social entrepreneurship in health.

This course provides theoretical foundations and empirical methods to evaluate healthcare interventions from an economics perspective (also known as economic evaluation in health and medicine). It covers the principles and methods of economic evaluation, including how to define and measure costs and effectiveness and how to design an economic evaluation study.

This course examines transmission, pathogenicity and the immune response to microbes. It explores the characteristics of viral, bacterial, fungal and protist pathogens and their virulence mechanisms for establishment and progression of disease; host immune response and characteristic pathological changes to tissues; mechanisms for colonization, invasion and damage to host tissue; the ways in which the immune system recognizes and destroys invading microbes; how the T cell response is activated and antibodies function; antibiotic resistance; and control and vaccination strategies. 

This course on global health examines the economic, geographic, social and demographic factors of the distribution of disease and mortality in the world. It looks at the main indicators for measuring health, including the relationship between health and poverty and between inequality and poverty. Other topics include: the origins, impact, efficiency and sustainability of primary world health systems; political economy of health systems; economic policies and their impact on global health; global health risks and prevention policies.

This course examines the experience of health and wellbeing over the lifespan. Developmental theory and perspectives on coping and resilience are used to illuminate individual and ecological factors that promote or inhibit the physical, psychological and social wellbeing of individuals over the lifecourse.