The application period is January 15 through April 30 for the following academic year.
In addition to the Certificate in Global Health application form, which will be available during the application period, program applicants are required to submit a current resume and original transcripts from all postsecondary schools attended. (Applicants who are currently enrolled in or have been accepted to a UW–Madison health sciences or graduate studies program may request to have copies of their transcripts sent from their program administrator to the SMPH Office of Global Health.)
Students who already hold an Undergraduate Certificate in Global Health from UW–Madison are encouraged to contact the SMPH Office of Global Health to discuss options for advanced study. Please do not apply for the graduate/professional certificate.
Completion of a minimum of nine credits is required for the certificate, including six core course credit requirements, one of which is a credit-based global health field experience, and three elective credits. A description of the core requirements and electives is provided below.
Core course requirements
|POP HLTH 718||Principles of Global Health Care Systems 1||2|
|POP HLTH 810||Global Health Epidemiology||2|
|Students choose one of the following sequences:|
|POP HLTH 640||Foundations in Global Health Practice 2||1|
|Independent Study 699 3||1|
|POP HLTH 644|
& POP HLTH 645
| Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Global Health and Disease|
and Global Health Field Course 4
|Students take electives to complete credit requirements. Consult with SMPH Office of Global Health program staff for updated list.||3|
POP HLTH 640 is for students planning to do an independent global health field experience. It includes selecting a site, identifying a counterpart organization, developing a scope of work that is of mutual benefit to the student and the counterpart organization, and preparation for travel (health and safety).
Fourth year PharmD students who intend to fulfill the field requirement with an Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experience (APPE) may use PHM PRAC 673 Seminars in Global Health Pharmacy as the pre-requisite course in place of POP HLTH 640.
Students should take Independent Study 699 in the department of advisor, with certificate director approval.
POP HLTH 644 is for students planning to participate in the Uganda, Thailand, or Ecuador faculty-led field coursers and includes site-specific course work. Eligibility for enrollment in POP HLTH 644 is contingent upon acceptance into one of the POP HLTH 645 field courses (see below).
Global Health Field Experience
(1-6 credits in total; 1 credit counts toward certificate requirements)
A global health field course/experience is an academic credit-based learning experience in a setting relevant to global health. Field courses/experiences are generally carried out during the summer (less commonly within the normal academic calendar if they do not interfere with class attendance or completion of requirements for registered coursework); 1 week of on-site learning is equivalent to 1 credit. (Please note that only one field experience credit counts toward certificate requirements; additional field course credits earned cannot be applied to the elective requirements.)
Students may elect to do: a faculty-led interdisciplinary group field course administered by the UW–Madison Office of International Academic Programs (IAP) or they may choose to design an independent field experience at the site of their choice, with approval of an academic advisor and the certificate program director. Field experiences usually take place in a country outside the United States, but may also be carried out in the U.S., working with international/underserved populations or addressing health issues that have global implications. Students may also work with international agencies, such as the United Nations, the World Health Organization, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or nongovernmental organizations.
Field experience requirements:
Students must be in good academic standing to participate in a global health field experience.
For POP HLTH 645 Global Health Field Course faculty-led group courses (Thailand, Uganda, Ecuador), students are required to take the related prerequisite campus-based course (POP HLTH 644 Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Global Health and Disease) and apply to participate in the field course through the campus-wide Office of International Academic Programs. Upon satisfactory completion of the field course, students will receive credit for POP HLTH 645 Global Health Field Course.
For independent field experiences, certificate students must prepare a proposal, to be reviewed and approved by his or her advisor and the Certificate Program Director, which describes project goals and objectives and outlines a tentative schedule of activities. Students must register for independent study credit in an appropriate school or department (a 699 course number in most health sciences and graduate departments). Master of Public Health (MPH) students who are also global health certificate students and doing an independent field experience should register for PUBLHLTH 788 Applied Practice Experience, in place of a 699. Please note that POP HLTH 640 Foundations in Global Health Practice, is a prerequisite for PUBLHLTH 788 Applied Practice Experience for these dual MPH/global health certificate students.
All students completing independent field experiences are required by the School of Medicine and Public Health (SMPH) to execute an affiliation agreement between the field site organization and the SMPH/University of Wisconsin–Madison.
Upon completion of the field experience, all students must submit to the Certificate program office:
- A summary of reflections on the field course/experience. (This may take the form of a journal kept throughout the field course/experience, or if a journal was not kept, a template will be provided.);
- An instructor evaluation of the student; and,
- A reference-cited, academic paper/project report.
Students completing an independent field experience will also need to submit a site evaluation.
- Exhibit the ability to describe and compare the health care systems in different areas of the world (such as: an understanding of pros and cons of systems, comparison to the US system, and trends in the evolution of health care systems over time).
- Demonstrate knowledge of the epidemiology of common global health concerns, both communicable and non-communicable (such as: differences between high/middle/low income countries and programs to mitigate the impacts of these health issues such as the millennium and sustainable development goals).
- Demonstrate the ability to integrate information from multiple perspectives into an assessment of a country/location's health status (such as: history, politics, culture, societal structure, economics, environmental sciences, health care system(s), health databases, disease epidemiology, human rights, human subjects protections).
- Model ethical behavior in global health engagement (such as: appreciation of the bidirectional nature of learning and mutual benefits between stakeholders and learners, cultural humility and flexibility, recognition of the importance of program sustainability over time, openness to new information/ideas).
- Demonstrate professionalism, effective communication, leadership, problem-solving, and collaboration across multiple health education disciplines and stakeholders in addressing a global health issue (including an understanding of One Health approaches).
- Exhibit the ability for growth in one's approach to global health work through self-assessment and structured reflection (such as: personal biases and perspectives, views on equity and disparities, personal limitations)