Coursework
Scientific Basis and Analytic Methods
This selection of courses provide me with the scientific background that would enable me to understand the biology and chemistry of diseases. These courses cultivate my scientific way of thinking and challenge me to present my findings in a clear and focused manner.
CHEM 247 & 248: Organic Chemistry I & II + Lab
In this course, I learned about the structures, synthesis, and mechanisms of reactions of chemicals and biomolecules. This helped me understand how organic and inorganic substances operate in the human body. The 3 hour per week lab component also provided me with lab experience such as practicing with chromatography, spectroscopy, purifying methods, and introduced me to green chemistry.
STAT 212: Statistics for Science
This course introduced me to exploratory and inferential techniques for analyzing and modeling scientific data. Specifically, we learned about the theories, conditions and interpretations of statistical designs, hypothesis testing, confidence intervals, and simple/multiple regressions models that would allow us to present statistically significant data. For my final project, I conducted a statistical analysis of the association between the public’s trust in government and their compliance to quarantine guidelines using a raw dataset from Italy.
DIS Copenhagen: Immunology
This course taught me the biological mechanism of diseases and viruses. It explore the molecular and cellular basis of the immune response in the human body. Understanding these concepts was beneficial to researching and organizing social responses to diseases.
Public Health Foundations
These courses provide me with insights to contemporary population health challenges, approaches and solutions. They also inspire me to think deeply about the socio-economic determinants of health and the preventative care that addresses these health issues.
ID 270: Introduction to Public Health
This course introduced me to the field of public health which initiated this CIS major. This introductory course explores public health from multiple perspectives: analytical methods from epidemiology and biostatistics, biomedical methods such as the control of infectious and chronic diseases, socio-economic determinants of health, and environmental issues. For my final project, I wrote a research grant proposal to investigate the association between menstrual hygiene practices and the prevalence of reproductive tract infections in the population of homeless women in the Twin Cities.
SOAN 247: Disaster
This course examines disasters worldwide and the approach to studying them. I am interested in studying the institutional and humanitarian attempts to manage and control disasters.
Global/Local Systems and Policy
From these courses I have acquired knowledge of systems and policies in place on both the state level and international level, as well as the cooperation that happens between these levels and the more localized community level.
DIS Copenhagen:
Healthcare Systems: A Comparative Approach
Through this course, I gained insight into how healthcare is organized and financed in Denmark and Northern Europe, and investigated the impact of social, economic, and political history on the present systems. For the final project, my team produced a research paper on immigrant health in Denmark and presented our findings in a poster session.
SWRK 258: Social Policy
Through this course I gained insights on the formation of social welfare policies, including health policies, and learned to analyze and evaluate its impact on people, particularly vulnerable populations.
Research and Related Skills
These courses enable me to obtain and practice research, advocacy and related knowledge and skills in order for me to further contribute to the public health field.
SWRK 396: Research: NGO in time of Pandemic
This course provided me with a comprehensive directed research opportunity. Our team of 6 students decided to explore the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on the services and practices of NGOs addressing food insecurity. The methodology of our study included conducting literature review, designing questionnaire and interview questions, collecting data and disseminate findings.
PHIL 250: Biomedical Ethics
This course explores the moral problems that arise in the practice of medicine such as euthanasia, abortion, medical paternalism, and allocation of scarce medical resources.
IS 392: Senior Capstone Project
This course allows me to practice in-depth research for a topic of my interest and present my findings to an audience. More details of this course will be discussed in a later section of this proposal.
SOAN 373: Ethnographic Research Methods
This course introduced me to data collection methods through case studies and fieldwork assignments. It allowed me to research a topic of my choice and practice interpreting field notes, doing analysis, and writing an ethnographic interpretation of my research findings.
Related/ supporting courses
SOAN 267: Medical Anthropology
This course made me ponder on the very definition of health by studying traditional Ayurvedic medicine in India, concept of health in indigenous Cree communities in Canada, and the manifestation of trauma in US veterans. People from different cultures and demographics understand illness and healing differently and it is important to cater health delivery to meet those specific health needs.
MGMT 256: Entrepreneurship
This course equipped me with entrepreneurial knowledge and skills such as opportunity recognition, resource marshaling, and team building, driven by communication, creativity, and leadership. It also taught me to listen to the needs of the community and create solutions that are catered to the specific population, which is applicable in the health field.
PSYCH 239: Drugs, the Brain and Behavior
This course introduced me to psychopharmacology, with an emphasis on the basic neural mechanisms underlying the effects of drugs, including their portrayal in popular movies and music. This course also unraveled the effects drugs have on both the individuals and the society.
BMOLS 201: Exploratory Biomolecular Science
This course introduced me to various contemporary biomolecular innovations and discoveries such as CRISPR. It sparked my curiosity in the ways biomolecular science can be used to treat diseases.
BIO 227: Cell Biology + Lab
This course provided me with the basic knowledge of the living cell. I learned about methodologies, cell structure and cycle, and antibody recognition. The weekly 3-hour laboratory experiences provided opportunities for practice of technical lab skills and the record of experimental observations.
PSCI 121: International Relations
This course examined political power by emphasizing certain problem areas in the world and evaluating the principal theories for understanding international politics. Through this course I learnt about the international systems and regimes such as the global polio eradication regime.
SOAN 262: Global Interdependence
This course focused on the development of the world as an interdependent entity, the relationship between the "developed" and "developing" world, alternative explanations for planned social change, and new institutions for this international world. Global challenges such as the information revolution, population, the status of women, and migration were analyzed to illustrate this interdependence.