Global Health Technologies Minor
Non-Science Undergraduates
Undergraduates in this program will take a series of courses, leading to a capstone experience. Together with science and engineering students, they will take the freshman course, Introduction to Global Health Issues. Two subsequent courses, Fundamental Concepts in Biology and Bioengineering & World Health, will provide an overview of scientific, economic and policy issues associated with biotechnology and bioengineering advances to address global health needs.
Introduction to Global Health Issues (BIOE 260)
Introduces students from different disciplines to the health and economic challenges faced by developing countries, featuring case studies of the development and implementation of high-value innovative solutions to these challenges. This course includes guest speakers from all relevant departments at Rice and from our collaborating institutions. The course also features a team project in which interdisciplinary groups of students will identify a health challenge and carry out a design analysis to indicate all the social, economic, health and technical constraints that a solution must satisfy and will present their design projects. Throughout the course, we will highlight opportunities for students to become involved in research projects focused on international health. Students will be invited to apply for research stipends to develop a mentored research project and for travel stipends to travel to one of our international collaborating sites to do additional research to understand the needs and constraints associated with this design challenge in preparation for further work on this project in subsequent courses.
Course topics: epidemiology, pathophysiology, health systems and health economics, demography, medical ethics, humanitarian emergencies, role of media, justice, history of colonialism, scientific methods and engineering design, case studies of appropriate health technologies, and the role of the World Health Organization (WHO).
Fundamentals Concepts in Biology (BIOS 122)
Introduction to Biotechnology will provide detailed coverage of the basic principles that underlie frontiers of biological research, the methods and ramifications of scientific research, with particular application to solving health challenges in developing countries. Select biological topics relevant to human life will be taught in 3 parts: 1) basic principles and research methods 2) human health problems associated with that topic and 3) applications of these methods and status of current research in that field.
Course topics : detailed coverage of the basic principles that underlie the frontiers of biological research, as well as the methods and ramifications of scientific research, with particular application to solving health challenges in developing countries.
Bioengineering & World Health (BIOE 301)
This course provides an overview of contemporary technological advances to improve human health. We will consider four questions throughout the semester:
-
What are the problems in healthcare today?
-
Who pays to solve problems in healthcare?
-
How can we use science and technology to solve healthcare problems?
-
Once developed, how do new healthcare technologies move from the lab to the bedside?
We will compare and contrast answers to these questions throughout the developed and developing worlds. We will also consider legal and ethical issues associated with developing new medical technologies. During the semester, we will use case studies to examine a number of diseases and healthcare technologies. The course stresses active learning with many web-based and group activities. Students will choose a disease and a health technology they are interested in to examine in more detail.
Course topics: an overview of contemporary technological advances to improve human health. With an introduction to the epidemiology and physiology of the major global human health problems, the main focus of the course is to examine the engineering method as applied to medical technologies, with consideration of the legal and ethical issues associated with its development.
For more information, visit the BIOE 301 course website:
http://www.owlnet.rice.edu/~bioe301/kortum/class/index.html
To view the course syllabus:
http://www.owlnet.rice.edu/~bioe301/kortum/class/students/syllabus.html
Global Health Design Challenges (BIOE 461/462)
This course is a new capstone experience modeled on the year-long senior bioengineering design course, is where multidisciplinary teams of undergraduates work together to develop a solution to an international health challenge. Science, engineering, social science, humanities and public policy students in their senior year will participate together in this two semester course; for to be successful, new technologies must be developed with reference to both the societal and scientific issues associated with a global health challenge, such as design for universal use which is particularly important in developing country settings where the educational level and language spoken by users may vary widely. Mentored by interdisciplinary faculty teams, students will elect from a portfolio of challenges to either 1) design and implement a solution to a real-world international health challenge or 2) participate in a focused research project with direct applicability to world health issues.
Course topics: the fundamentals of the research and design process; developing a design from initial concept, to basic research, to prototype and to device evaluation; the design and regulation of medical devices and biotechnology innovations
Elective Courses
Two electives are required for completion of the curriculum. A current list of elective courses can be found on the global health technologies curriculum overview page.
| 
