Johns Hopkins Center for Health Equity recently launched the third in its series of massive open online courses (MOOCs) with the addition of Health Equity Research & Practice: Local & Global Lessons. Key topics include systemic drivers of health inequity and maternal and immigrant health, and health equity researchers can learn by studying local and global problems and solutions. This MOOC is now available for free on Coursera or for $49 to earn a certification.
Health Equity Research & Practice: Local & Global Lessons is designed to be a companion course for those who have completed Foundations of Health Equity Research and/or Application of Health Equity Research Methods for Practice and Policy, also produced by the Center for Health Equity. This new MOOC builds on the topics of the previous two and is a perfect fit for individuals with prior experience in health equity research, such as public health practitioners, clinicians, and health care, and community leaders, or those interested in transitioning to this field. The course focuses on the impact of structural drivers and power systems on health equity, maternal health disparities, health inequities in immigrant populations, and applications of bidirectional learning, whereby global research efforts can inform the development of community-engaged local interventions, and local interventions can inform global efforts to advance health equity.
Health Equity Research & Practice: Local & Global Lessons is led by Lisa A. Cooper, the director of the Center for Health Equity and the Urban Health Institute and Bloomberg Distinguished Professor, Equity in Health and Health Care, at Johns Hopkins' schools of Medicine and Nursing, and Bloomberg School of Public Health. Instructors featured include Tanjala Purnell, PhD, MPH; Yvonne Commodore-Mensah, PhD, MHS; and Kelly Bower, PhD from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and School of Nursing; David R. Williams, PhD from the Harvard T. C. Chan School of Public Health; Professor Sir Michael G. Marmot CH, MBBS, MPH, PhD from University College London; Manuel Franco, MD, PhD, of the University of Alcalá, Spain; and Carmen Alvarez, PhD, CRNP, of the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing.
Modules include several video-recorded interviews, panels, and podcasts, including a video of an event highlighting the urgency of addressing maternal health disparities, done to honor the life of Shalon MauRene Irving, PhD, MPH, MS, who was an epidemiologist with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and a lieutenant commander in the U.S. Public Health Service and who sadly died shortly after the birth of her daughter, underscoring the unfortunate reality that even a public health professional can be a victim of maternal health disparities. Lastly, the course discusses health equity intervention research in the U.S. and West Africa, among other timely topics. In discussing health equity interventions worldwide, the course intends for learners to take lessons from previous research and incorporate them into their local health disparities research and practice.
On Coursera, there are two ways to learn. If you pay to enroll, you can access all the videos, readings, quizzes, and programming assignments. Assignments are peer-graded. When you finish the course, you receive a certificate that you can put on your resume, CV, or LinkedIn profile. It will take about 15 hours to finish the course. If you choose not to pay to enroll, you will be able to access some of, but not all, the materials.
Visit the Johns Hopkins University Coursera site to learn more or to register for this exciting new MOOC.
