When a group of students met to discuss a possible speaker series on urban health for this spring semester and expressed their concern about possible low attendance, James Goodyear suggested turning the series into a class.
Offered this semester, Urban Health and Advocacy is an innovative one-credit course which brings health care workers, government officials, community members and advocacy workers to Homewood in order to discuss issues relating to urban health.
Goodyear, associate director of the undergraduate public health studies program, along with Anne Beckemeyer, administrator for the undergraduate Public Health Studies program, both contributed to the creation of the course with the help of around a dozen Public Health majors.
Much of the planning was done by students, particularly - Adam Milam and Sonia Sarkar, who have been the keys to the success of the class. Making the series into a course opened the door for a more involved view of Urban Health in Baltimore.
"We thought it would be important to create a series that was not simply lecture style," junior Sonia Sarkar said.
The class consists of a tour of East Baltimore housing projects, panels featuring prominent city health professionals and opportunities for students to connect with the speakers' causes.
Before the addition of this course the topic of urban studies had not been breached here at Homewood.
"The School of Public Health offers classes that focus on issues of urban health, but nothing of the sort is offered at Homewood - so we thought it would be great to fill that void," Sarkar said.
Senior Adam Milam, another organizer of the course has a personal reason for wanting urban health issues to be more visible at the Homewood campus.
"Being from Baltimore, I think the course is important because it exposes students to the problems that Baltimoreans face as a result of living in an urban environment that has been plagued with major exodus into the suburbs and disinvestments," he said.
Urban Health and Advocacy represents a growing interest in public health on the Homewood campus. Goodyear says that the public health major here at Homewood has been extremely successful, with 97 students graduating this year. But Goodyear has been trying to get the topic of urban health addressed on campus at Homewood for a couple of years.
Citing that 65 percent of Americans live within a city, Goodyear expressed how urban health is an important element of the public health due to the number of poor people who reside in cities.
"Public health is about poverty in so many ways and Baltimore is a city - a needy city - JHU students live here and it is a great place to learn about public health and to get involved in the practice of public health," Goodyear said.
The initial response to the course has been extremely positive; two days after the course was posted on the registrar's Web site, it was 15 students over the enrollmet limit of 50.
"I don't think any of us expected for the class to become what it is currently ... We knew that there would be an interest in urban health issues, but I did not expect so many people to be passionate about the topic," Milam said. "I think the class does reflect a larger interest at Homewood. Many students have expressed interest in the course, but there are not many opportunities for the students to explore these interests."
Dania Joseph, a senior biology major, agreed. "I appreciate the course because it discusses the health disparities in Baltimore city and what we as Johns Hopkins students can do to help. Many people don't really know how many people are affected by health care problems; statistics are staggering. The class helps shed light on these issues," she said.
Since one of the purposes of the class is to expose students to the issue of urban health, students who are not registered for the course can still attend the speaker series. Rather than merely a lecture, each class involves speakers answering questions from students. Students can also approach the speakers after class to get more information.
"I think the nature of the course [seminar and discussion] allows the undergraduate public health students to integrate their knowledge from diverse coursework, and experiences from internships, research, and volunteer organizations," said Amisha Patel, a senior Public Health Studies major who is in the class.
Sarkar says she has seen positive reactions from other students as well.
"Students love the accessibility of the speakers: being able to approach them, get their contact information and even volunteer with them or conduct research with them," Sarkar said.
Students are expected to attend all but two of the classes over the entire semester as well as complete a response paper discussing speakers' views and creating a picture portfolio that represents urban health in Baltimore.
Speakers for this semester include Debbie Rock, president of LIGHT Health & Wellness Inc., Vincent DeMarco, executive director of the Maryland Citizens' Health Initiative, Dr. Joshua Sharfstein, Baltimore City health commissioner and Kathy Westcoat, president of Baltimore HealthCare Access.
If everything goes as planned, Urban Health and Advocacy course will also be available next spring.
