Complex Systems, Disasters, and the Social Ecology of Health

Catalog description

Much of a population's health and well-being is dependent upon numerous complex systems, ranging from biological systems, through social and cultural systems, to public health and medical systems, to critical infrastructure and lifeline systems, to larger environmental and ecological systems. This course will explore the systems that contribute to a social ecology of health, considering the theoretical approaches for studying such systems, and examining methodological approaches for studying complex adaptive systems and their relationship to health. A major aspect of the course will be to employ disaster case studies as a means of understanding such complex systems. This course will be particularly valuable for students interested in systems thinking as it relates to public health research.