Who Is Responding
"The respondent pool is genuinely interdisciplinary. 26 students (28%) are PHS majors, but the other 72% come from across the university: 16 from Biology, 13 from Psychological & Brain Sciences, plus students from Engineering, Economics, Finance, Environmental Science, Political Science, Anthropology, Computer Science, Chemistry, and others."
"Graduation years skew toward 2028 (37 students) and 2029 (30 students), meaning the bulk of respondents are current sophomores and first-years."
"On pre-health status: 32 students are Pre-Med, 12 are on another pre-health track, 31 are not pre-health, and 8 are undecided. This roughly even split means PH&S appeals to both clinically-oriented students and those with no healthcare career ambitions"
-Andrea Gabriel
If you have taken a class in Public Health & Society, which has been your favorite and why?
Core Courses
PUBHLTHSOC 1000 - Foundations in Public Health
- “I liked hearing from all the guest speakers also since it gave meaningful insight into different topics and paths that I could potentially pursue.”
PUBHLTHSOC 2000 - Introduction to Global Health
- “wide scope, guest speakers”
PUBHLTHSOC 3000 - Public Health Theories, Models, and Frameworks
- “I really like how the professors incorporate group work/activities after the lectures. I also enjoy learning more about PH theories and how they are applied in real-life interventions in improving PH.”
PUBHLTHSOC 3100 - Research Methods in Understanding Health and Society
- “it taught me about a lot of different programs I can use to supplement my research.”
- “interesting, engaging, and applicable to our daily lives.”
Electives
“I took Human Growth and Development last semester with Dr. EA Quinn. I loved the passion she brought to the topic, but also the engagement with current issues in society that related back to the material taught in class. My favorite units were the ones on pregnancy and babies. These topics are one's that I hope to work closely on in my future career.”
“Biomedical Ethics, great introduction to health ethics and how to analyze health/healthcare”
“Environmental Justice as Public Health”
“I'm taking introduction to epidemiology and I love it so far. Its just nice that it's a small class and we learn based off of asking questions and working with real world examples.”
“food policy. [I] like learning about food because it is central to our every day lives.”
Which areas of public health interest you most?
Students selected all that applied from a list of sub-fields.
"The cluster of policy, community health, global health, and equity at the top reflects a socially-conscious student body that sees public health as a systems and justice issue, not just a biomedical one. Women's health ranking fifth - and being consistently mentioned in open-ended responses - stands out as an area of high student interest with no dedicated course currently meeting it."
-Andrea Gabriel
What courses would you like to see Public Health & Society offer?
“I would love to have a course specifically on the female body and developmental changes (menstruation, puberty, pregnancy, menopause, etc.)”
“I would like to see more Epidemiology courses or courses that combine public health and other areas of study such as math, business, etc.”
“Something focused on St. Louis health disparities”
“Business + Public Health; analyzing healthcare systems”
“I would like PH&S to offer more rural-health, environmental, and maternal or women's health classes.”
“Experimental learning courses with local public health organizations”
“Courses that focus more on underserved communities, Courses focusing on geriatrics”
“More environmental health courses”
Special thanks to Andrea Gabriel '29 for taking the lead on the survey.
Learn more about the Public Health & Society Student Ambassador program.
