Health Sciences

How does access to nature and to greenspaces impact on human health? This course will take a living labs approach to studying the ways in which gardens, parks, flora, fauna, and biodiversity more generally may impact on the health of humans and human communities. We will use a social justice lens in our study, examining how access and engagement with nature and the outdoors is unequally distributed within communities and how environmental injustice may contribute to the observed correlation between social inequality and health inequality.

This course is designed to analyze cancer from an evolutionary angle and to provide another way of thinking about cancer biology. The course covers the following topics:

• Basic genetics for studying cancer evolution
• Mutations
• Phylogenetic tree
• Why study evolution in cancers?
• Cancer evolution in colon, breast, lung, liver and other cancers
• Evolution in normal tissue 

Examining flows of diseases, people, goods, knowledge, and technology induced by processes of globalization can deepen our understanding of the complexity of health and disease. In this course, these flows are studied in depth, bringing insights into (epi) genetic disease distributions as well as the spread of information, technology, and migration, all in themselves affecting health and disease. The content of this course draws on several distinct academic disciplines of political economy, anthropology, biomedicine, (epi) genetics, and epidemiology. Prerequisites include Introduction to Biology and at least one of the following courses: Genetics and evolution, Infectious diseases and Global public Health, or Globalization and Inequality.

This course introduces and critically discusses an area of special interest to applied psychologists, namely, psychology as applied to health behavior. The course covers the central models and evidence bases concerning the relationship between psychological processes and health and illness. Topics include health promotion and public health; health behavior models; illness maintenance and treatment adherence; chronic illness; and health through the lifespan.

This course provides an interdisciplinary approach to ethical and legal issues stemming from recent advances in biomedical practices. Topics discussed include: fundamental principles of bioethics; the environment, animal welfare; birth, reproduction, and end of life; informed consent, organ transplants, and clinical trials; bioethics and gender, children, the elderly, and disability; genetic advancements and intervention.

In this course, students take a step back and explore what it means to perceive particular situations in terms of “crisis.” Students focus on emergency interventions and examine how sustainable these interventions are. The course investigates to what extent these interventions have changed the very meaning of “health.” A particular focus in our discussions is on the category of crisis itself. How is the category operating today in particular contexts? How is it mobilized and what are its effects? To what extent might the category of crisis enable or disable distinctive forms of intervention? What accounts for the productivity of crisis in contemporary debates about the health and well-being of populations, both in the global North and the global South? What are the analytical and political limits of “crisis” as a category of thought and action in contemporary global health and social medicine?  

Health economics encompasses both economic analyses of health and health care. This course provides knowledge of how economic theory and methodology can help us understand the underlying conditions and characteristics of health care. The different areas of health economics, such as the demand for health, health care, and health insurance, providers in health care, the physician-patient relationship, the organization and financing of health care, economic evaluation, and equity issues are discussed. Illustrations are frequently taken from the problems and reforms in Swedish health care. Gender-related aspects are taken into consideration. The course includes guest lectures by health economists working outside academia. Economic evaluation is a particular focus of the course.

In the past two decades, social media has drastically shaped our understanding and practice of health. This course provides an overview of theories and methods intersecting with social media and health. Following the historical development of social media, the course covers health citizen engagement (information behaviors), contents (user-generated messages), platform governance (digital surveillance and resistance), and other aspects of social media related to health and healthcare. The course materials draw on interdisciplinary perspectives from public health, communication studies, and science and technology studies. Students will learn how the use and design of social media might reinforce health inequality while critically evaluating different stakeholders’ standpoints. Students will also have a chance to analyze health campaigns and select communication strategies for different audiences and sectors. Overall, the course aims to provide students with theoretical lenses and practical tools to engage in meaningful health intervention. The course design also seeks to enhance students’ digital health literacy.   

This course provides an introduction into epidemiological and public health perspectives on mental health and wellbeing. The course focuses on theoretical and empirical accounts of how wellbeing and common mental health problems (including symptoms of anxiety and depression, weight/eating problems, conduct problems, alcohol and other drug use) are understood in an epidemiological and public health perspective. Cultural, individual differences, and lifespan approaches to mental health and wellbeing are an integrated part of the course.

This course introduces students to core knowledge about child health and development, provides descriptions of common health problems of childhood and adolescence, and evidence-based responses to them, helps students understand the health policy context, including how health care provision aims to meet the health needs of children and young people, helps students understand how our physical and social environment shapes child health, and allows students to apply their knowledge and understanding to a range of topics and contexts.