Mark Vorreuter

Rebecca Seguin advises students completing group projects in the new GPHS major’s first course, “Introduction to Public Health.”

As an emergency medical services volunteer in his hometown near Albany, New York, Jared Alpern ’18 applied to Cornell intent on becoming a physician. But he later discovered the new global and public health sciences (GPHS) major in the College of Human Ecology, which began this fall to teach students about population health domestically and internationally.

“I knew immediately that I wanted to take advantage of this opportunity,” Alpern said. “I was originally set on pursuing a strictly clinical career path, but after working and seeing different aspects of the health care system, it became very apparent that clinical medicine can only do so much for the overall health of a community.”

Offered through Cornell’s Division of Nutritional Sciences, the GPHS major, currently enrolling 13 students, has a multidisciplinary focus, allowing students to investigate social, political, behavioral, biomedical and environmental factors that contribute to community well-being. It grew out of Cornell’s popular global health minor, launched in 2007, and has guided dozens of undergraduates to study-abroad programs supporting communities in resource-poor regions.

“This major is intended for students who are interested in understanding the current and future health challenges of populations and in designing strategies to alleviate or prevent those problems,” said Robert Parker, associate professor and director of undergraduate studies in nutritional sciences. “Our goal is to prepare students to be the next generation of leaders in public health, either domestically or internationally, by equipping them with the analytical and methodological skills to address the complex and important problems that afflict populations.”

The first GPHS course requirement, Introduction to Public Health, provides an overview of core disciplines of public health, including epidemiology and biostatistics, environmental health, health policy and management, and social and behavioral sciences, according to instructor Rebecca Seguin. Following this course, students must complete additional requirements in epidemiology and biostatistics as well as choose from a variety of electives.

“Students incorporate what they have learned by working in groups to complete structured activities aimed at integrating cross-cutting competencies,” said Seguin, assistant professor of nutritional sciences, of her course. “This flipped classroom model enhances learning and communication skills that will be essential to success throughout the program.”

Like Alpern, fellow freshman Alex Hernandez was attracted to the major by personal circumstances after he lived without health insurance for a time due to financial hardship.

“As a result, I strongly desired to study and examine the fields of health care and medicine, which had let me, a teenage boy, be denied treatment and medication when I needed it most,” said Hernandez, who plans to pursue an M.D./Ph.D. and a career with the U.S. State Department.

In its first year, the GPHS program has attracted students planning careers in medicine, public health education, research, international affairs, and public health policy and administration, according to Seguin. Her introductory course exposes students to these fields by involving professionals at the Tompkins County Health Department, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and elsewhere.

The program also includes a senior capstone course to “integrate the experiential learning component with the foundational classroom components,” said Parker. “I look forward to great things from our students as we all partner in developing and evolving this new opportunity for Cornell undergraduates.”

Sara Birmingham ’15 is a student communications assistant for the College of Human Ecology.