CGH 315 - Applications of GIS in Public Health

This course is an introduction to the core methods and applications of geospatial epidemiology, with an emphasis on relevance to community and global health issues. The focus is on methods with direct application in the US due to the wide availability of spatial data. In this course, students will learn how GIS can be used to 1) map and analyze the geographic distribution of populations at risk of disease, health outcomes, and risk factors; 2) explore associations between risk factors and health outcomes (both hypothesis generation and testing); and 3) identify communities in greatest need of targeted public health interventions. This course provides an introduction to the fundamentals of automated mapping and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) software. Lab work will include fundamentals of ARCGIS, geocoding, census data, and SatScan (for cluster detection). Students will apply this knowledge to a current community/global health problem of their choice by writing a group research proposal.
Units: 4
Course Type: Seminar