Global Health Studies Adjunct Major

Students must also complete the Undergraduate Registration Requirement and the degree requirements of their home school.

NOTE: This Catalog describes Weinberg College BA requirements that pertain to students who matriculated at Northwestern after spring quarter 2023. Refer to the Archives if you are following BA requirements described in the 2018-2019 through 2022-2023 editions.

Course Title
Adjunct Major Requirements (11 units)
4 core courses:
Introduction to Global Health 1
Global Bioethics
Biomedicine and World History 2
The Social Determinants of Health
History of Reproductive Health
choice of one methods core course (one of these two, or see footnote): 3
Qualitative Research Methods in Global Health
Community-based Participatory Research Course
3 additional GBL_HLTH courses 4
4 elective courses. Elective credits can be fulfilled by pre-approved health-related courses from various departments, as listed on the GHS major page and program website. Courses taken abroad can be counted as electives provided they are NU or NU-affiliated study abroad programs and the courses have been pre-approved for GHS elective credit. Study abroad courses taken that are not NU affiliated need prior approval from the DUS.
1

GBL_HLTH 301-0 (Introduction to International Public Health) from Spring 2022 or earlier may be applied in lieu of GBL_HLTH 201-0.

2

GBL_HLTH 322-0 (The Social Determinants of Health) from Spring 2022 or earlier may be applied in lieu of GBL_HLTH 222-0, GBL_HLTH 309-0, or GBL_HLTH 325-0.

3

The methods course requirement can be fulfilled by GBL_HLTH 390-0 when offered as one of the following topics: (Re)Mixing Qualitative Methods, or Quantiatitve Methods: Turning numbers into a Story. If Community Based Participatory Research was taken prior to Spring 2023 as a topic under GBL_HLTH 390-0 rather than GBL_HLTH 318-0, that may also be applied.

4

GBL_HLTH 399-0 Independent Study and courses taken abroad may not be counted toward this requirement.

Note:

  • Students may elect to study abroad as part of their Global Health Studies curriculum. 
  • All adjunct majors require completion of a stand-alone major as well.

Approved elective courses (students may take courses from more than one subject area)

Anthropology

Course Title
ANTHRO 306-0Evolution of Life Histories
ANTHRO 309-0Human Osteology
ANTHRO 312-0Human Population Biology
ANTHRO 314-0Human Growth & Development
ANTHRO 315-0Medical Anthropology
ANTHRO 332-0The Anthropology of Reproduction
ANTHRO 359-0The Human Microbiome and Health
ANTHRO 382-0Political Ecology
or ENVR_POL 384-0 Political Ecology
ANTHRO 386-0Methods in Human Biology Research

Biological Sciences

Course Title
BIOL_SCI 327-0Biology of Aging
BIOL_SCI 337-0Biostatistics
BIOL_SCI 341-0Population Genetics
BIOL_SCI 355-0Immunobiology
BIOL_SCI 380-0Biology of Cancer

Chemistry

Course Title
CHEM 316-0Medicinal Chemistry: the Organic Chemistry of Drug Design and Action

Communications

Course Title
COMM_ST 246-0Intro to Health Communication
COMM_ST 367-0Nonprofit Communication Management

Economics

Course Title
ECON 307-0Economics of Medical Care
ECON 359-0Economics of Nonprofit Organizations

Engineering

Course Title
BMD_ENG 325-0Introduction to Medical Imaging
BMD_ENG 343-0Biomaterials and Medical Devices
or MAT_SCI 370-0 Biomaterials
BMD_ENG 380-0Medical Devices, Disease & Global Health
BMD_ENG 390-1Biomedical Engineering Design
BMD_ENG 390-2Biomedical Engineering Design
BMD_ENG 390-3Biomedical Engineering Design
CHEM_ENG 373-0Biotechnology and Global Health
CIV_ENV 361-2Public & Environmental Health
ENTREP 340-0Innovate for Impact
IEMS 365-0Analytics for Social Good
IEMS 385-0Introduction to Health Systems Management

English

Course Title
ENGLISH 381-0Literature & Medicine

Field Studies

Course Title
CFS 391-0Field Studies in Social Justice
CFS 392-0Field Studies in Public Health
CFS 397-0Field Studies in Civic Engagement

Gender Studies

Course Title
GNDR_ST 332-0Gender, Sexuality, and Health
GNDR_ST 340-0Gender, Sexuality, and the Law
or LEGAL_ST 340-0 Gender, Sexuality, and the Law
GNDR_ST 341-0Transnational Perspectives on Gender and Sexuality
GNDR_ST 361-0Gender, Sexuality, and Literature

History

Course Title
HISTORY 275-1History of Early Modern Science and Medicine
HISTORY 275-2History of Modern Science and Medicine
HISTORY 352-0A Global History of Death and Dying

International Studies

Course Title
INTL_ST 393-0Development in the Global Context: Participation, Power, and Social Change

Philosophy

Course Title
PHIL 268-0Ethics and the Environment
PHIL 269-0Bioethics
PHIL 326-0Topics in Philosophy of Medicine

Political Science

Course Title
POLI_SCI 326-0Race and Public Policy
POLI_SCI 352-0Global Development
or SOCIOL 317-0 Global Development
POLI_SCI 377-0Drugs and Politics
POLI_SCI 384-0International Responses to Mass Atrocities

Psychology

Course Title
PSYCH 341-0Positive Psychology: The Science of Well-Being
PSYCH 383-0Psychology and Food

Public Health

Course Title
PUB_HLTH 302-0Introduction to Biostatistics
PUB_HLTH 304-0Introduction to Epidemiology
PUB_HLTH 391-0Global Health Care Service Delivery

SESP

Course Title
SOC_POL 333-0Economics of Health, Human Capital, and Happiness

Sociology

Course Title
SOCIOL 220-0Health, Biomedicine, Culture, and Society
or HUM 220-0 Health, Biomedicine, Culture, and Society
SOCIOL 317-0Global Development
or POLI_SCI 352-0 Global Development
SOCIOL 325-0Global & Local Inequalities
SOCIOL 336-0The Climate Crisis, Policies, and Society
or ENVR_POL 336-0 The Climate Crisis, Policies, and Society
SOCIOL 355-0Medical Sociology

Spanish

Course Title
SPANISH 205-0Spanish for Professions: Health Care

Statistics

Course Title
STAT 370-0Human Rights Statistics

Additional info

Depending on the topic, other occasional courses may also be used as electives including,  BLK_ST 380-0AMER_ST 310-0ANTHRO 390-0, ASIAN_AM 303-0ASIAN_AM 380-0BUS_INST 394-LKCOMM_ST 395-0ENVR_SCI 390-0, GNDR_ST 390-0HISTORY 300-0 HUM 370-5 INTL_ST 390-0, INTL_ST 395-0,  JWSH_ST 390-0LATINO 392-0NEUROSCI 390-0PHIL 361-0  and SOC_POL 351-0.   For more details and an up-to-date listing of courses, consult the Global Health Studies website or email the program.