Population Health Minor
Minor in Population Health
The Department of Sociology offers the Minor in Population Health starting in Fall 2023. The interdisciplinary Minor in Population Health provides students with a critical perspective needed to consider the full range of factors which impact the health and well-being of populations. This Minor is based on the premise that complex issues require an understanding of theories, concepts, and data from multiple disciplines to create, implement, evaluate, and sustain effective solutions.
Students pursuing the Minor in Population Health will:
- Learn how biological, social, behavioral, economic, and political factors interact to impact population health outcomes and disparities among subpopulations;
- Explore how health disparities have implications for overall population health, and well-being in order to consider interventions that can reduce disparities, achieve health equity, and improve the quality of life for all;
- Gain skills in systems-science; and
- Acquire the knowledge and tools needed to understand how institutional policies and practices independently and collaboratively impact on population health.
Overall, this Minor equips students across all academic disciplines with a research-based understanding of the field of Population Health and expands their knowledge of evidence-based strategies to advance the well-being for all population groups.
The Minor in Population Health prepares students for various career paths in multiple sectors, including health care, business, social services, research, public administration, education, housing, and transportation. Graduates with this minor will often seek further education or positions in health departments, government/regulatory agencies, hospitals, health maintenance organizations (HMOs), industry, foundations, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), non-profit organizations, research institutes, etc.
More detailed information on the UH Population Health Initiative is available here: What is Population Health? and Careers in Population Health.
Requirements for Population Health Minors:
- A minimum of 15 semester credit hours, consisting of 2 required courses (6 hours) and 3 electives (9 hours).
- 9 semester hours must be completed in residence, of which 6 must be at the advanced level (3000/4000).
- At minimum, a cumulative 2.0 GPA is required for all courses in this minor.
- In order to declare the Minor in Population Health students must contact Dr H.K. Quinn Valier, Director of Student Engagement, UH Population Health, email: hkvalier@uh.edu, phone: 713-743-9021.
To obtain the required form to declare your minor and obtain approval from your PH Academic Advisor, please see the General Petition.
Please check out our printable PH Minor Brochure and PH Minor Yard Sign for easy reference.
Required Courses (6 hours):
- POPH 2300 Introduction to Population Health
- Students must earn a minimum grade of C in POPH 2300 in order to advance in the Population Health Minor
- Students must earn a minimum grade of C in POPH 2300 in order to advance in the Population Health Minor
- And one of the following two courses:
SOC 3352 Social Demography
OR
SOC 3353 Health Disparities in Society
Elective Courses (9 hours)
Three elective courses must be chosen from the list of approved courses below. The courses on the list are divided into three Areas of Study: Population Health Science, Population Health Equity, or Population Health Informatics and Analytics.
- Students are not required to take electives only from one Area of Study. That is, electives may be fulfilled from any combination of courses from any of these Areas.
Areas of Study
Population Health Science:SOC 3357 Urban Sociology
SOC 3380 Introduction to Sociology of Health Care
COMM 3300 Health Communication
COMM 3301 Doctor-Patient Interaction
COMM 3303 Health Literacy
COMM 3340 Health Campaigns
ECON 3368 Economics of Health Care
ECON 4345 Social Economics
ECON 4374 Behavioral Economics
HIST 3303 Disease, Health, and Medicine in American History
HIST 3316 Race and Racism in American Science and Medicine
PHIL 3354 Medical Ethics
POLS 3319 Politics of Social Policy
POLS 3375 Health Policy and Politics
Population Health Equity:
SOC 3327 Race and Ethnic Relations
SOC 3328 Race and Ethnicity in World Perspective
SOC 3344 Sociology of Aging
SOC 3351 Social Class and Mobility in America
SOC 3390 Sociology of Gender
SOC 3392 Sociology of Latinos in Houston
COMM 3304 Multicultural Health Communication
HIST 3316 Race and Racism in American Science and Medicine
Population Health Analytics and Informatics:
POPH 3330 Introduction to Population Health Informatics
POPH 3331 Consumer Informatics and Data Health
COSC 2306 Data Programming
COSC 3337 Data Science I
COSC 4337 Data Science II
MATH 4322 Introduction to Data Science and Machine Learning
Contact Information
HK Quinn Valier, PhD, MSc, MA (Cantab)
Health 2, Rm 6016, Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd
Phone: 713-743-9021
Email: hkvalier@uh.edu