Digital Health and the Public Interest

This course introduces students to the design, regulation, deployment, and use of innovative digital health technologies. Students will become familiar with the major stakeholders involved; the digital, social, and policy determinants at play; the crises of trust and expertise that threaten possible futures; and the various frameworks for reform and reimagining that, despite these threats, can make way for more just digital health futures.

Innovation in Society

This course explores fundamental questions about the study of innovation, focusing on the social, cultural, and political conditions that shape when and how innovation happens. It explores the key roles that a variety of stakeholders have historically played in these processes and the myths that shape our understanding of innovation in society. The course culminates with a class project in which students design their own innovative intervention to address pressing social issues like the global climate crisis, the development of renewable energies, threats to public education funding, and the development of medical innovations.

Healthscapes: Health and the Media

This course introduces students to the critical study of the health media landscape, or healthscape. Drawing on scholarly texts and popular media, the course asks students to consider familiar programs like Grey’s Anatomy and viral videos like late-night host Jimmy Kimmel’s discussions of health care reform within their historical, cultural, and policy contexts. Readings will explore pharmaceutical advertising, scripted and medical reality television shows, crowdfunding medical bill campaigns on GoFundMe, healthcare memes and more to examine the healthscape that pervades our everyday lives.