School of Public Health

Dual Degrees in Public Health

Doctoral students in our program and in the School of Public Health can participate in a joint graduate-level program in the history of disease, public health, and global health. Our flexible approach meets the needs of students coming to these inherently interdisciplinary issues from history and who want to gain expertise in practical methods of public health; or those students from public and international health who desire the depth of contextual understanding that the graduate study of history can provide.

PhD in the History of Medicine with Master of Health Sciences in International Health

Students enrolled in the doctoral program in the History of Medicine have the opportunity to pursue this dual degree. Students enter the PhD program through the normal admissions process and register in the School of Medicine.

After matriculation into the doctoral program, students can apply to the MHS program in the Department of International Health in the Bloomberg School of Public Health and work with an advisor from that department. Students maintain their registration in the School of Medicine, while taking courses to fulfill the MHS requirements, with one exception: in order to generate an academic record and to obtain the MHS degree, students are required to register for two academic credits during a summer term in the School of Public Health.

PhD in International Health with a MA in the History of Public Health

This program is modeled on a current option in which doctoral students from other departments in the Bloomberg School of Public Health or other schools in the university may obtain an MHS in International Health if they fulfill the degree requirements of the Department of International Health. Students enter the PhD program through the normal admissions process and register in the Bloomberg School of Public Health.

After matriculation into the Bloomberg School of Public Health doctoral program, students apply to the MA program in the Department of the History of Medicine and they work with an advisor from that department. Students maintain their registration in the Bloomberg School of Public Health while taking courses to fulfill the MA requirements, with one exception: in order to generate an academic record and to obtain the MA degree, students need to register for two academic credits during a summer term in the School of Medicine. The timing of courses can be flexible, and are decided upon by the student and his/her advisor. A total of eighteen credit hours of formal coursework are required, plus a three-credit Master’s essay. This essay may develop into a paper for publication that can be incorporated into the doctoral thesis requirement for International Health.

Course Offerings

The Graduate Program in the History of Science, Medicine and Technology offers a wide range of courses in the history of global health and disease. These include:

  • Comparative History of Disease Control
  • Controlling Infectious Disease-1851 to the Present
  • Health, Risk and History
  • History of Colonial and Postcolonial Medicine, Science and Technology
  • History of Health and Development in Africa
  • History of International Health and Development
  • History of Modern Medicine
  • History of Modern Public Health (online course)
  • History of Public Health in China
  • Life and Death in Charm City: Histories of Public Health in Baltimore, 1750-present

We also collaborate with colleagues in the School of Public Health, the Departments of Anthropology and History, and the Center for Africana Studies to organize a seminar series in Critical Global Health. Speakers consist of scholars and public health practitioners from across the world and discussion often is based on pre-circulated papers.

Faculty

The research and teaching interests of four History of Medicine Department faculty members address a variety of issues in the history of global health and disease. You are warmly invited to contact any of them if you want to pursue our dual degree option:

  • Jeremy A. Greene: Twentieth-century clinical medicine; therapeutics; pharmaceuticals; global health; history of disease.
  • Marta E. Hanson: History of Chinese science and medicine; history of epidemics and disease in China.
  • Graham Mooney: History of public health in Britain and North America in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries; historical epidemiology, demography and geography; history of infectious diseases.
  • Randall Packard: Social history of disease and healing in Africa; history of public health; history of colonial and post-colonial medicine.
  • Alexandre White: Controlling Infectious Disease-1851 to the Present; History of International Health and Development

Affiliated Faculty

  • Sara Berry: Emeritus, Department of History, KSAS
  • Veena Das: Krieger-Eisenhower Professor, Department of Anthropology, KSAS
  • Clara Han: Department of Anthropology, KSAS
  • Joanne Katz: Department of International Health, SPH