Experiential Learning

In Brandeis's HSSP Major:

• Students get "hands on" experience in either an internship (in a health care delivery, public health, or advocacy organization), a laboratory (studying the biological basis of health, behavior, or disease), or a field-based research project (investigating aspects of health or illness in a social context)
  
  
• Students' academic coursework is integrated with supervised fieldwork, team-taught seminars, and laboratory experiences across a number of health-related disciplines.

Internship and Research Options

As part of the major, each student is required to complete one of the three following options.

• Option 1: HSSP 89a (Internship Seminar). This course combines a biweekly seminar and a supervised internship in a health care or policy organization. The internship placement with a health-related organization in the public interest must be arranged through the course instructor. This could include work in a department of public health, hospital or health care agency, health advocacy organization, or other appropriate government or private-sector organization. Students are required to submit a 20-25 page research paper relating to their internship.
  
  Students must be declared HSSP majors or minors in order to enroll in this class.
  
  Internship approval form available here.
  
  Lynn Gonsalves, the HSSP Internship Instructor, works with HSSP students to idenitify, develop, and approve internships. In addition, she teaches the bi-weekly internship seminar, HSSP 89a. She can be contacted at lynngon@brandeis.edu or 781-736-2852.
  
  
  Samples of recent internship sites include:
  
  • Alliance for Multicultural Integration (work with health care access project)
  • Boston Women's Health Book Collective (with authors of Our Bodies Oursevles)
  • Cambridge Rindge and Latin Health Center (teen health project)
  • Disability Law Foundation (Medicaid class action suit)
  • Fenway Health Clinic (HIV prevention project)
  • Health advocacy project in Dominican Republic (on village level)
  • Health Care for All (health care advocacy)
  • Jane Doe, Inc. (prevention of domestic violence)
  • Massachusetts Department of Public Health (various prevention programs)
  • Multi-hospital program to reduce the incidence of Rubella
  • People's Health Organization (in India, AIDs awareness)
  • Planned Parenthood (sex education and STD prevention)
    
    
• Option 2: HSSP 98a/b (Independent Research). Under the direction of a member of the HSSP faculty or faculty sponsor approved by HSSP’s Chair, students will conduct an intensive laboratory or field based project that culminates in a 20-25 page research paper relating the research to science, society, and policy.  This requires a one semester commitment.  The project requires collection of primary data or use of existing data set (with permission from advising professor) for analysis; not limited to library research or literature review.   Literature reviews and library-based projects are not appropriate for HSSP 98.  Field work performed during a semester abroad may be appropriate.  Students must have training in the research methods that will be utilized in the project prior to initiation of the project.  In addition, students are responsible for finding an appropriate faculty supervisor by the end of the semester preceding enrollment in HSSP 98.   If the faculty supervisor is not a member of the HSSP faculty, approval of the project by HSSP’s Chair is required before students can register for HSSP 98. .
  
  

• Option 3: HSSP 99d (Field-based Senior Research). Under the direction of a member of the HSSP faculty, each student will conduct an original health-related research project field based and write a thesis. Students who select this option will register for two semesters, one of which will count toward the major requirements. This option is typically used for students who wish to seek HSSP Honors (see Honors requirements)

Integrative Seminar on Health

This one-semester, team-taught, capstone course is designed to bring all HSSP seniors together to integrate their academic coursework and fieldwork/laboratory experiences across a range of health-related disciplines. Each year the Integrative Seminar on Health will focus on a single issue that lends itself to examination from a variety of perspectives. Topics will vary from year to year, at the discretion of the faculty who teach the course. Each will uniquely utilize and build on Brandeis' existing expertise in the selected domain of study. Examples of potential areas of focus include: (a) the health and development of young children; (b) the neurobiology and social consequences of addiction; (c) human genetics and behavior; (d) biotechnology and society; (e) the biological and social dimensions of aging; (f) concepts and management of mental health; (g) the prevention and treatment of infectious disease, including AIDS; (h) the promotion of environmental health; and (i) women’s health.