Clark developing new health degree

Courtesy

Write a Comment

By Laura Finaldi

Staff at Clark University have proposed a new master’s degree in global and community health, as the school consolidates its public health offerings under a single umbrella.

The proposed degree -- Global and Community Health Masters in Health Sciences -- and a new certificate program launching this fall will give students an understanding of the political, economic and social root causes of local and global health issues, providing them with the analytical skills they need to determine and help solve systemic factors that influence public health, according to Marianne Sarkis, PhD, assistant professor of international development and social change. The degree is a way to scale up the public health research that Clark students have done for the city of Worcester for years, through the Academic Health Collaborative of Worcester.

The master’s degree still needs approval from the Graduate Board, the Planning and Budget Review Committee and from the board of trustees. The certificate program already has the go-ahead and will begin in September. If all goes to plan, the first cohort of graduate students could be on campus as early as fall 2017, according to Sarkis. Sarkis is also global and community health coordinator at Clark and coordinator for the Academic Health Collaborative.

Clark is also in the midst of a “health hub,” an initiative to strengthen the health focus by coordinating and supporting consolidation of all related health projects under one metaphorical roof.