STS 260 - Health, Medicine, and Public Policy

Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)

(Same as SOCI 260) The Zika Virus, Flint Michigan’s lead crisis, the Heroin-Opioid epidemic, the “health care as a right” debate, the changing role of physicians, are all issues of contemporary concern in the fields of medicine and public health. In this course, we address the analytical context for these problems and debates. We begin by looking at a long-standing problem, the HIV/AIDS epidemic, nationally and globally, its fraught history, current status, social construction, and impact on the fields of medicine and public health. We consider too the history and current status of infectious diseases as a public health crisis. Finally, we look at public health and health care policy, their history, Obamacare, and what may come next. Marque Miringoff.

Two 75-minute periods.