The intercalated BSc and MSc in global public health are underpinned by a commitment to principles of social justice and fairness. The degrees provide medical students with the opportunity to explore the most pressing global challenges from a critical public health perspective.
There have been remarkable improvements in medical science over the past century. Technological advancements such as post-genomic medicine to RNA vaccines hold a great deal of promise for the future. But the greatest threats to global public health - including growing inequality, climate change, obesity, emerging infectious diseases, vaccine hesitancy - remind us that the root causes of good health lie in political, social, legal, and economic systems.
Doctors working not just in public health but all specialties need to understand how to address these developments.
By taking a year away from your medical studies you will learn to appreciate the broader determinants of health and get a better sense of the contributions you can go on to make in medicine. You will equip yourself with the knowledge and skills to both analyse the political, economic and social causes of ill health and disease and to develop effective policy solutions.
The interdisciplinary programme is taught by academics who are leaders in their field – in public health, clinical medicine, anthropology, sociology, international relations and medical ethics - and influential in policy developments in the UK and globally.
Based in Whitechapel in the heart of London’s East End, the Global Public Health Unit, which is part of the Centre for Public Health and Policy at the Wolfson Institute for Population Health, is part of the QMUL's Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry- formerly Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry.
We welcome applications from medical students based at other universities in the UK and overseas.
Our intercalated students study alongside MSc students who come from across the world to study on the programme. Teaching is through a combination of asynchronous online material and synchronous on site small-group seminars. The programme encourages you to develop writing, debating and advocacy skills. There are many opportunities to share insights and experiences with students from around the world, including experienced doctors and medical professionals from low and middle income countries.
In the first semester, intercalating BSc and MSc students will focus on the key concepts and research methods. There are introductions to quantitative and qualitative research methods, social determinants of health, different health systems across the world, and epidemiology and statistics. In the second semester, intercalating BSc students will choose two elective modules that explore some issues more deeply, and will complete a dissertation to be submitted in early May. In the second semester, intercalating MSc students will take an advanced methods module and choose three elective modules. They then complete a dissertation in the third semester and submit in it early August.
Strong emphasis is placed on providing you with a sound conceptual understanding of the social, political and economic determinants of health, as well as on research methods and analytic techniques. Relevant research skills are integrated into the core modules so they are learnt alongside their practical application.
INTERCALATED BSC STRUCTURE
Core modules in semester 1
Core module in semester 2
Two of the following elective modules*- also in semester 2
INTERCALATED MSC STRUCTURE
Three of the following elective modules*- also in semester 2
Core module in semester 3
More information about all of these modules can be found here.
*Subject to availability
Informal approaches are welcome at any time, please contact:ibsc-enquiry-globalhealth@qmul.ac.uk or msc-enquiry-globalhealth@qmul.ac.uk