HPS405

011308

This course is designed for non-biology students majoring in public health. It is a self-help experiential course with information public health professionals can use themselves and then pass on to their clients. The expression of genes you received from your parents are not `your destiny but, instead, are greatly influenced by your environment, epigenetics. The focus of the course will be centered on two major environmental factors over which you do have control; chronic stress and what you eat. Each session will begin with 5 minutes of guided meditation as an example of managing chronic stress. Students will then have the unique opportunity of listening to the story from a person with the health condition being discussed and ask questions to further clarify what it is like to have the condition: its effect on the individual, on the family dynamics, and on the community. Following the story, a health science faculty member will present the basic biological information of that condition. Students will then break into small groups to discuss the readings and class presentation during which time they will develop a public health policy that address the condition under discussion. During the semester, there will be an option for students to experience a 10-day period of a whole-food plant-based diet with lipid profile monitoring at baseline and on day 11. In place of a weekly quiz, students will write their personal reflection on the week's readings. A mid-term and final paper will replace the customary written tests.

GRD - Regular Grades A, B, C, D, E

Undergraduate

HPS505