This class introduced me to many of the global issues that we face today impacting all spheres of life, from neoliberalism to environmental issue. I was introduced to a variety of perspectives on these issues and was able to discuss the merits as well as critique these points of view. This course expanded my perspective from that of an American looking outward to a more global worldview. These are valuable lessons to learn in pursuit of a career in global health as many interventions are shaped by all these global issues, from an environmental health perspective to examining the socioeconomic determinants of health. Understanding the source of these issues and how our society is structured, as taught in this class, is key to being able to understand, critique, and advocate for different health interventions.

In this class, I learned about the history and development of the fields of global and public health. For a future global health professional, it is extremely important to understand the reasoning and history behind important health interventions. Through this class I learned to understand the factors behind the success of certain public health campaigns, like the smallpox eradication campaign, and the failure of others, like the malaria eradication campaign. Like my other courses for the global health certificate, this class helped enhance my understanding of how political, socioeconomic, and cultural factors influenced the development of global health as well as their role in in exacerbating health disparities. Understanding the history of the field is key for me, as a global health professional, to understanding how interventions are developed and provides key lessons on global health practice in the future.

Through this course, I was able to apply many of the lessons I learned in my other global health classes in the context of Africa. Africa’s history with health and global health specifically is impacted greatly by its history with colonialism and by outside influence from other Western countries. Like many of my other classes in global health, this course emphasized definitions of health and disease that existed outside of the biomedical paradigm that is commonly taken as the default. Through the extensive reading and discussion, we did in the course, I was able to develop my ability to critically examine my own views as well discuss others’ views on topics. This class built on my understanding from other classes of the impact of different socioeconomic factors and how they have changed throughout history.

All bioengineering majors take this class in bioethics to provide a different perspective on the bioengineering technologies we have been studying and hope to develop one day. I was able to analyze bioengineering and potential advances from a global health perspective developed in my previous coursework. While we analyze how engineers should act in professional situations, we also often discussed the ethics of certain advancements in biotechnology, such as gene editing, and how medical products should be regulated for the safety of the public. I also learned how to analyze situations from various ethical frameworks, which will be helpful in analyzing global health quandaries and interventions in the future. This course merged the qualitative analysis skills I had learned through my global health course work with my bioengineering knowledge.

Health is considered an important part of a country’s development and this course focused on the different economic policies surrounding development. Through this course, I was able to directly understand the relation between different economic interventions and policies and health outcomes. I was also able to view health development from an economic perspective and better understand the ties between the two areas. As someone who is interested in studying the impact of different economic interventions on health as well as potentially working in development, this course was invaluable in helping merge my global health knowledge and my economic knowledge.