Core Courses

Dr. Brittany Charlton

2.5 credits – Fall 1, Fridays

This course will introduce students to gender as a theoretical concept and a category of analysis in public health—specifically, the ways in which gender contributes to differentially structuring women and men’s experiences of health. The course proposes to answer such questions as: How can understanding gender structures help us interpret public health research? How has gender influenced the construction of public health in diverse societies? How do our social frameworks and structures, such as gender, affect people’s experiences and expectations of health? How is the success of behavioral change interventions and the validity of basic behavioral and evaluation research affected by gender? This course emphasizes the epidemiological aspects of gender analysis and the interactions among gender, class, race/ethnicity, and sexuality. The course will cover a broad range of health issues for which gender has been of special importance. Topics covered include: biology, chronic disease, mortality and morbidity, contraceptives, infertility, endometriosis, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, body image, masculinity, weight and shape control behaviors, abortion, and global reproductive health. Additionally, sessions will include global, U.S. domestic, and historical perspectives, with attention primarily paid to the epidemiologic investigation as well as the social and behavioral sciences and health policy dimensions.

Dr. Elizabeth Janiak

2.5 credits – Fall 2, Thursdays

This interdisciplinary course will explore the politics of reproductive health and health care delivery, both in the US and globally, with a particular focus on how reproduction and related clinical care are shaped by and in turn shape social inequality along axes of race, gender, and social class. The course will intertwine three threads: 1) major conceptual and theoretical issues foundational to understanding the politics and epidemiology of reproduction; 2) contemporary and historical perspectives on specific reproductive phenomena and events (preventing pregnancy, terminating pregnancy, sustaining pregnancy, and giving birth); 3) social movements organized around reproductive health (e.g. anti-abortion, reproductive justice movements).

Dr. Sabra Katz-Wise

2.5 credits – Fall 2, Fridays

The goal of this course is to introduce students to transgender and gender diverse (TGD) public health, an emerging multidisciplinary field focused on the health and wellbeing of TGD people (also referred to as gender minorities). Students will acquire foundational knowledge to understand and address the health and wellbeing of TGD people including: terminology and the make-up of TGD communities; concepts, theories, and frameworks guiding TGD health; health inequities/disparities and determinants of TGD population health; best practices in research methodologies; issues in healthcare access and utilization; evidence-based prevention and intervention strategies; law, policy, and advocacy considerations; and current controversies and scientific debates. Readings and discussion will incorporate the multiple contexts that influence the lives and health and well-being of TGD populations (e.g., social, cultural, structural, political, and legal). The course takes an intersectional approach, emphasizes strengths and resiliencies, and brings in a human rights perspective.

Dr. Nancy Krieger

2.5 credits –  Winter Session This course will focus on the social and biological processes and relationships – from interpersonal to institutional – involved in embodying gender, as part of shaping and changing societal distributions of, including inequities in, health, disease, and well-being. It will consider how different frameworks of conceptualizing and addressing genders, sex-linked biology, and sexualities (that is, the lived experience of being dynamic sexual beings, in relation to self, other people, and institutions) shape questions people ask about – and explanations and interventions they offer – for a variety of health outcomes. Examples span the lifecourse and historical generations and include chronic non-communicable diseases, HIV/AIDS, COVID-19, occupational injuries, reproductive health, mental health, and mortality, each analyzed in relation to: societal and ecological context: global health policy and human rights; work; the behaviors of people and institutions; and other societal determinants of health, including social class, racism, and other forms of social injustice. The objective is to improve praxis for research, teaching, policy, and action, so as to advance knowledge and action needed for producing sound public health policy and health justice, including in relation to genders, sexualities, and gender transformative science and practices.

Dr. S. Bryn Austin

2.5 Credits – Spring 1, Thursdays

This course provides an introduction to the breadth of research and research methods in the study of sexuality and sexual health promotion in diverse contexts and populations. Students will develop skills needed to carry out epidemiologic research and community-based interventions related to sexual health promotion. Students will be introduced to ways to integrate conceptual models, methodologies, and perspectives from a variety of fields to inform a unique transdisciplinary, holistic approach to public health promotion of sexual health. Class session format includes lectures, discussions, case studies, individual and group presentations, and in-class writing assignments.

Check out Dr. Austin’s published article about this course!

Austin SB. Flipping the Classroom and the Pedagogy: Using Active Learning Principles to Bring Leadership Training in Affirmative Sexuality to Public Health Education. Public Health Rep. 2016 Jan-Feb;131(1):203-7. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26843689/

Dr. Kristin Javaras

2.5 credits – Spring 1

This course explores issues relevant to mental illness, mental health from a gender perspective. Course themes include illness constructs, life cycle and transitions, collective and individual trauma, role and relationship and embodiment. Topics include eating disorders, pain, hormonally mediated mood disorders, and PTSD. Examples highlight US and international experience. Readings are multidisciplinary, including public health and medicine, social sciences, history and literature.

Dr. Sabra Katz-Wise

1.25 credits – Spring 2, Wednesdays

This interdepartmental, interdisciplinary seminar will provide a forum to analyze how diverse gender-related constructs (including identity, expression, and behavior) influence public health research and practice. Invited speakers will give examples of cutting-edge issues in public health research and practice, focusing on how gender contributes to understanding and intervening on population distributions of health, disease, and well-being, with an eye towards intersectionality in relation to racism, classism, heterosexism, cissexism, and other forms of social inequity and context. The structure of the course combines lectures by guest speakers who are working in the field of women, gender, and health, as well as in-depth student-led discussions of assigned readings/media. Students will create brief teaching examples that use gender-based analysis while cultivating core skills in public health.

For published case examples that have been created in this course, click here.

Check out the paper published about this course!

Calzo JP, Katz-Wise SL, Charlton BM, Gordon AR, Krieger N. Addressing the dearth of critical gender analysis in public health and medical pedagogy: an interdisciplinary seminar to generate student-created teaching examples. Crit Public Health. 2019; 29(1):18-26. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30778277/

   View abstract

Students in WGH 207 have also been developing teaching examples and you can read more about these here.

Independent study with WGH Faculty

Time and credit to be arranged.

An opportunity for independent study is offered for interested and qualified students or small groups of students. Arrangements must be made with individual faculty members and are limited by the amount of faculty time available. These programs are open to all students who wish to go beyond the content of regular courses.

Course Note: May count up to 2.5 credits toward WGH core, and 2.5 credits toward the Women’s Health and/or Gender Analysis component. If WGH 300 is taken with a non-WGH faculty member, approval must be granted by the WGH student staff, in consultation with relevant WGH faculty members (as warranted), before the course is to begin. Kindly email WGH at wgh@hsph.harvard.edu indicating what non-WGH faculty member you wish to work with and what the subject of the proposed independent study is to seek approval.