Teaching

This course explores critical topics in vaccination policy in the United States and internationally. It does so by examining the interconnected political, regulatory, social, cultural, ethical, economic, legal, and historical issues that contribute to ongoing debates about the design and implementation of vaccination programs and policies. Students acquire an understanding of the scope and design of contemporary vaccination programs and policies in the United States and worldwide; the policy and political landscapes in which vaccination programs are developed, funded, and implemented; the positions, evidence, and arguments of both proponents and critics of contemporary vaccine policy; and the application of principles and concepts from health policy and policy analysis to the study of vaccination policy.

Featured in a December 2022 article on the Yale School of Public Health website

HSHM 462/HIST 485J -- Pharmaceuticals in Medicine and Health Care, 1900-Present

Undergraduate seminar in Yale College -- Program in the History of Science, Medicine, and Public Health

The history of pharmaceuticals and their role in medicine and health care from 1900 to the present. This seminar examines how pharmaceuticals have shaped the practice of medicine and delivery of health care, approaches to prevention and treatment, medical knowledge and disease definitions, and related topics. It looks broadly at pharmaceuticals in the United States and globally as well as deeply at specific classes of products that have raised particular questions and considerations throughout their histories. Additional topics include pharmaceutical regulation and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, pricing and financial issues, marketing and direct-to-consumer advertising, research and development, and safety controversies.

HSHM 473/HIST 403J -- Vaccination in Historical Perspective

Undergraduate seminar in Yale College -- Program in the History of Science, Medicine, and Public Health

For over two centuries, vaccination has been a prominent, effective, and at times controversial component of public health activities in the United States and around the world. Despite the novelty of many aspects of contemporary vaccines and vaccination programs, they reflect a rich and often contested history that combines questions of science, medicine, public health, global health, economics, law, and ethics, among other topics.

This course examines the history of vaccines and vaccination programs, with a particular focus on the 20th and 21st centuries and on the historical roots of contemporary issues in U.S. and global vaccination policy. Students will gain a thorough, historically grounded understanding of the scope and design of vaccination efforts, past and present, and the interconnected social, cultural, and political issues that vaccination has raised throughout its history and continues to raise today.

EPH 510 -- Health Policy and Health Care Systems

This course--the core health policy course in the Yale MPH program--provides an introduction to the making, understanding, and consequences of health policy. The design and performance of the health care system are assessed, with particular attention paid to the complex and often contested manner in which health care is organized, financed, and delivered in the United States. The course also considers the fundamental concerns—such as cost, access, and quality—that shape the development of health policy and health systems in all countries, and it looks to the health systems of other countries in order to understand the advantages and disadvantages of alternative approaches. An overview of the important actors in the health care and political systems is provided, and students are introduced to methods for understanding the behavior of these policy-makers and stakeholders. Health issues are placed in the context of broader social goals and values.

Upon completion of this course, students will be able to:

1) Explain the major health policy issues facing national policymakers in the United States and in other countries,

2) Critically assess the range of policy strategies and programs that have been used to address these health policy challenges,

3) Evaluate the design and relative advantages and disadvantages of programs for organizing, financing, and delivering health care to various populations in the United States, including Medicare, Medicaid, the VA health care system, and various private insurance models,

4) Explain the effects of the Affordable Care Act on these programs and on U.S. health policy more generally,

5) Describe key features of other countries’ health care systems, noting their similarities or differences to each other and to the United States,

6) Explain the relationship between clinical medicine and public health in the evolution of health systems and the development of health policy, and

7) Systematically assess complex health policy issues and evaluate different reform strategies.