Population Health Sciences Program Courses

BBS 708 – Biomedical Internship Placement is a doctoral-level, variable credit-bearing course that allows Biomedical PhD students at the Graduate School of Biomedical Science at UMass Chan Medical School to gain hands-on experience in diverse professional settings while maintaining active enrollment at the university. Designed as a companion to BBS 707: Professional Development for Internship, this course supports career exploration and skill development in an academic and non-academic, translational, or interdisciplinary environments such as biotech firms, pharmaceutical companies, clinical research organizations, government agencies, or scientific policy and communication roles.
Students remain formally registered at the University throughout the internship term, preserving access to University services, advising, and health benefits. The course ensures that doctoral training is integrated with experiential learning, providing a structured mechanism for applying research, analytical, and communication skills to real-world challenges.
Each internship is supported by a faculty mentor, the GSBS Office of Career  and Professional Development, and the host organization to ensure alignment with career goals and professional standards. Students will complete a set of required academic deliverables that facilitate reflection, integration of learning, and assessment of skill development.

Credits: 1-9

Fulfills an elective requirement: No

Course Director: Lisa Tison-Thomas

Semester Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer

Last Taught: Spring 2026

Research rotations are defined periods of research experience under the direction of a faculty member. They are intended to familiarize the student with concepts and techniques in several areas of research and to assist the student in evaluating research laboratories and projects that might be developed into a dissertation project. The student will participate in an on-going research project; gain familiarity with concepts underlying the research; acquire a working knowledge of techniques used in the research; and write a report and present an oral summary of the results of the research.

Credits: 2-4

Course Director: Faculty member in whose research group the student is working

Semester Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer

Last Taught: Taught every Fall, Spring, and Summer

Building on basic skills in epidemiology and scientific research methods, this course will cover research design, including hypothesis development, measurement, and analysis. Students will explore methodological strengths of various quantitative and qualitative techniques and designs. Students will have three examinations, weekly problem sets and assignments to develop original research approaches to specific scientific and clinical questions.

Credits: 3

Prerequisite(s): CTS605A or equivalent or permission from course coordinator 

Course Director: Kate Lapane

Semester Offered: Spring

Last Taught: Spring 2025

The purpose of this class is to learn advanced epidemiologic techniques, to learn how and when to apply them, and to learn to design rigorous epidemiologic studies.  Students will gain experience in reading the primary epidemiologic methods literature. Course objectives will be met through class lecture, class discussion, problem sets, exams, application of selected principles to one’s research and the development of a mini-lecture.

Credits: 3

Prerequisite(s): CTS602A, CTS603A, CTS603B (corequisite)

Course Director: Kate Lapane

Semester Offered: Spring

Last Taught: Has not been taught in past 2 years.

This course provides an overview of multivariable analysis and advanced analytical strategies for clinical and population health research. Emphasis is on developing an understanding of multivariable modeling in the context of linear, logistic and Poisson regression. Computational lab assignments and two exams will be completed.

Credits: 4

Prerequisite(s): CTS605A, Introduction to Statistics or permission from course coordinator 

Course Director: JungAe Lee

Semester Offered: Spring

Last Taught: Spring 2025

Course provides a foundation for statistical thinking in clinical and population health research involving time to event data and longitudinal data. Students will learn statistical models used for estimation and inference; understand advanced statistical techniques; and develop modeling strategies and analysis plans for specific research questions.

Credits: 4

Prerequisite(s): CTS603A

Course Director: Jonggyu Baek

Semester Offered: Fall

Last Taught: Fall 2025

This course will provide structure and support for students completing their first major evaluation milestone.  Students come to the first day of class with a research study question approved by their mentor and an existing dataset to use to evaluate the study question. Students will develop a manuscript and write it up according to the instructions for authors for the target journal. Students will conduct their own data analysis and will be evaluated on summative competencies expected to be achieved by the end of their first year of PHS core coursework and research experiences. Students present their work in an open forum in the form of a 10-15 minute presentation followed by questions and answers. The manuscripts are sent out for review by three faculty.  Students have two weeks to write a rebuttal and prepare a revised manuscript.

Credits: 4

Prerequisite(s): CTS605A, CTS602A, and CTS603A  

Course Director: Shao-Hsien Liu

Semester Offered: Summer

Last Taught: Summer 2025

This course reviews basic principles of epidemiology and biostatistics. The course reviews the application of various observational and experimental research designs and strategies to clinical, epidemiological, and translational research. Didactic instruction, readings, and problem sets (including lab-based analyses) are used to more fully understand epidemics and their causes, as well as various study designs, including cross-sectional studies, case-control studies, cohort designs, and randomized clinical trials. Students also will learn basic principles of biostatistics and will be introduced to STATA for statistical computing. Students are graded on exams, problem sets, and lab assignments.

Credits: 3

Prerequisite(s): None

Course Director: Maira Castaneda-Avila

Semester Offered: Fall

Last Taught: Fall 2024

The course considers the scientific and practical considerations in the design and conduct of observational studies and clinical trials. Topics to be covered include: study designs (cohort studies, case-control studies and clinical trials); confounding and bias; ethical considerations; patient recruitment and retention; interim analysis and safety monitoring; and analysis and reporting. Course objectives will be met through a combination of lecture, discussion and development of a proposal in the student’s area of interest.

Credits: 3

Prerequisite(s): CTS605A or permission from instructor 

Course Director: Bruce Barton

Semester Offered: Spring

Last Taught: Spring 2025

This course teaches students how to develop a peer reviewed scientific manuscript, through the review of elements of style, authorship and extent of information that needs to be incorporated into a scientific research paper. Students will learn how to develop the elements that go into a successful scientific manuscript, submit an article for peer review and respond to reviewers' concerns. During each session, students will critique the work of others enrolled in the course to obtain hands on experience in the write-up of the introduction, methods, results and discussion sections of a manuscript. This course will also teach students how to put together a successful oral, as well as poster, scientific presentation.

Credits: 1

Prerequisite(s): None

Course Director: Robert Goldberg

Semester Offered: Fall, Spring

Last Taught: Fall 2025

The purpose of this class is to teach students how to conduct a systematic review, including development of a question of appropriate scope and clinical relevance; development of abstraction tool; selection of articles; and drafting of all sections of the review, including tables and figures. The end product will be a journal style and length systematic review in the topic area of the student’s substantive interest area that is 75 percent ready for submission to a peer-reviewed journal. 

Credits: 2

Prerequisite(s): None

Course Director: Jeffrey Driban

Semester Offered: Fall

Last Taught: Fall 2025

Course will cover a focused set of issues in advanced epidemiology such as conducting community based, surveillance-based randomized controlled trial. Skills will be developed in the practical and scientific issues as well as analysis plans and presentation of results.

Credits: 3

Prerequisite(s): CTS602A, CTS602B, CTS603A, CTS603B, or permission from instructor

Course Director: Sarah Forrester

Semester Offered: Spring

Last Taught: Spring 2023

This course will cover an advanced topic of multi-level model in biostatistics (for example, generalized estimating equations and generalized linear mixed effects model for multi-level model, Bayesian inference for cluster effects, missing data and propensity score in multi-level models, graphical information systems and spatial statistics). The purpose of the course is to provide students with emersion in one particular area of biostatistics, providing the theoretical background necessary and the practical hands-on data-analyze experience.

Credits: 3

Prerequisite(s): CTS603A, CTS603B or permission from instructor 

Course Director: Jonggyu Baek

Semester Offered: Summer

Last Taught: Fall 2025

This advanced methods course is focused on learning methods for addressing confounding and bias. The goals for students taking this course are: to become comfortable recognizing and discussing bias and confounding; to gain experience in using a variety of techniques that help in identifying and minimizing bias and confounding; and to be able to assess the potential impact of residual bias and confounding on study results. This course is organized as topic lectures followed by applications of the topic. Students independently apply what is introduced in the lecture to their own data and share their learning with classmates. 

Credits: 3

Prerequisite(s):  CTS602A, CTS603A, CTS603B or permission of instructor  

Course Director: Kate Lapane

Semester Offered: Summer

Last Taught: Spring 2025

This course provides an in-depth look at the U.S. health care system. Students will apply constructs of structure, process, and outcomes of care to understanding and evaluating health care quality and cost, and learn how health care policies and payment practices impact the accessibility, effectiveness and cost of care. 

Credits: 2

Prerequisite(s): None, but an introductory-level  understanding of inferential statistics and research design is helpful.

Course Director: Alcusky, Matthew

Semester Offered: Fall, odd years

Last Taught: Fall 2023

The course will discuss fundamental concepts in chronic disease epidemiology; common research methods used in the design and conduct of studies of chronic disease epidemiology; and the application of these methods for the major chronic diseases affecting industrialized countries. Topics will include cardiovascular disease, cancer, cerebrovascular disease, diabetes and lifestyle practices to promote health.

Credits: 2

Prerequisite(s): CTS605A (corequisite) or permission from instructor 

Course Director: Mara Epstein

Semester Offered: Fall, odd years

Last Taught: Fall 2024

Students will become familiar with existing population-based public health, electronic medical record and claims data. Topics include advantages and disadvantages, complex sampling and weighting, and obtaining limited-access data. Using a population-based dataset, students will develop and implement an analytic plan to answer a research question of their choosing.

Credits: 2

Prerequisite(s): CTS 605A or permission of the course director

Course Director: Shao-Hsien Liu

Semester Offered: Spring, even years

Last Taught: Spring 2025

This course will provide students with fundamental knowledge of psychiatric epidemiology. We will cover epidemiological principles specific to psychiatric epidemiology such as assessment and diagnostic validity in the absence of a gold standard. Students will be given the opportunity to conduct original research and will gain knowledge of particular psychiatric illnesses through student preparation of course presentations.

Credits: 2

Prerequisite(s): CTS 605A or permission of the course director

Course Director: Mayra Tisminetzky

Semester Offered: Spring, odd years

Last Taught: Spring 2025

We will cover the main societal causes implicated in affecting the health of human populations, including class hierarchy, racism, gender hierarchy, heteronormativity and ableism. We will focus on methodological approaches to measuring and interpreting these forces and their effects, on both minority and dominant populations.

Credits: 2

Prerequisite(s): CTS 605A (corequisite) or permission of the instructor   

Course Director: William Jesdale

Semester Offered: Fall, even years

Last Taught: Fall 2024

The purpose of this class is to learn models of disease prevention; multilevel determinants of health behaviors; and major theories of health behavior change and their application to interventions to address major public health problems. 

Credits: 2

Prerequisite(s): None

Course Director: Melissa Goulding

Semester Offered: Fall, even years

Last Taught: Spring 2025

This course examines use of qualitative methods in qualitative studies or mixed-qualitative/quantitative studies. Essential qualitative research components are explored: theory, rigor, research questions, data collection methods, data collection using open-ended techniques, sampling, data coding and analysis (focusing on thematic analysis), publishing and writing proposals. Students apply concepts covered in class by developing an original qualitative study.

Credits: 2

Prerequisite(s): None

Course Director: Grace Ryan

Semeter Offered: Spring, odd years

Last Taught: Spring 2025

The purpose of this class is to learn pharmacoepidemiology, including: rigorous methodologic approaches to the measurement of medication exposure, adherence and adverse events; pharmacoepidemiologic study design; choices for pharmacoepidemiology data resources; and the role of quality of life measurements and pharmacoeconomics.

Credits: 2

Prerequisite(s): CTS 602A or equivalent

Course Directors: Kate Lapane

Semester Offered: Summer, even years

Last Taught: Summer 2024

In this class, we will explore the influence of place on population health, including physical environment (e.g., air, water, soil, food), built environment (e.g., neighborhood structure, traffic, green space), social environment (e.g., cohesion, safety, deprivation, segregation), and legal and civic structure (e.g., policy, law, representation). We will also learn to implement (and critique) methodologic approaches that are particularly adapted to understanding how individuals and places interact, specifically multilevel thinking and modeling, and spatial analytic methods. 

Credits: 2

Prerequisite(s): CTS 605A (corequisite) or permission of the course director

Course Director: William Jesdale

Semester Offered: Spring

Last Taught: Fall 2021

This class provides an introduction to what is often referred to as translational, dissemination or implementation research, as well as the broad field of implementation science. Students will learn about the significance and major initiatives associated with moving research into practice, and will be introduced to conceptual and analytic tools (e.g., theories, frameworks) to support work in this area.

Credits: 2

Prerequisite(s): None

Course Directors: Jamie Faro and Daniel Amante

Semester Offered: Summer

Last Taught: Summer 2024

The purpose of an independent study elective is to gain in depth knowledge of a specific topic by working closely with a faculty member with expertise in that area. Typically independent studies cover areas not addressed in the core curriculum and advanced topics or other electives. However, the level of effort and objectives for an independent study must be equivalent to that of a regular three-credit course. The student and sponsoring faculty member must propose a framework and outcome for the independent study, in the semester prior to the semester in which the student will be enrolled, to the program director for prior approval. 

Credits: 1-6

Prerequisite(s): Permission of Associate Dean for PHS and Course Director 

Course Director: Varies

Semester Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer

Last Taught: Spring 2026

After passing their Written and Oral Qualifying Exams, students are required to register for this course each Fall semester until their Dissertation Examination Committee is formed. TRACs may request additional meetings in Spring and Summer Semesters.

Credits: 1

Course Director: Kate Lapane

Semester Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer (as needed)

Last Taught: Course taught every year

This course is for students who have selected a program and thesis advisor but who have not yet passed their Qualifying Examination.

Credits: 3-9

Course Director: Student's thesis advisor

Semester Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer

Last Taught: Taught every semester

The purpose of this course is to allow PHS PhD students to gain experience writing grant proposals in a systematic fashion under faculty guidance. The course includes overviews of the grant process, participation in a mock proposal review session, and the completion of each of the written scientific components of proposals. 

Credits: 3

Prerequisite(s): CTS702, CTS602A, CTS 602B, CTS603A, CTS603B or permission of instructor

Course Director: Kate Lapane

Semester Offered: Spring

Last Taught: Spring 2026

Students register for Thesis Research after passing a Qualifying Examination. They will take Thesis Research each semester until they have accumulated 90 credits.

Credits: 7-12

Course Director: Student's thesis advisor

Semester Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer

Last Taught: Taught every semester

Students register for Graduate Research after completing the requisite number of credits to meet graduation requirements. They will take this course each semester until they complete all remaining requirements.

Credits: 0

Course Director: Student's thesis advisor

Semester Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer

Last Taught: Taught every semester