Public Health of Disasters Both natural and man-made disasters, including the release of weapons of mass destruction, reveal a community’s preexisting vulnerabilities.  The emergency response, and the nature of the disaster itself, combine to affect the short- and long-term health of the disaster-struck community.  We will examine public health components of disasters, including emergency preparedness and response, relief efforts, health surveillance, and the ethical considerations of these activities.  With case studies and readings, we will employ a public health perspective to understand the community impact of natural and man-made disasters in both developed and developing countries.

Global Health This course provides an introductory survey of the basic issues and initiatives in contemporary global public health, demonstrating the inextricability of public health problems from the social, cultural, economic, political, and environmental issues that exist in an era of globalization.  Examining these connections will enable us to critically evaluate the goals and strategies of public health interventions, and discuss factors impacting their success or failure.  To do this, we must also examine the lens through which the West views public health problems as they relate to our cultural beliefs, biomedical views of health, sense of justice, and strategic interests.  (Not open to students who have taken INTD 0257 or SOAN 0267)

Health, Food, and Poverty: Critical Frameworks for Social Change Concerns around food, health, and poverty often intersect around the world, and pose shared challenges for countries in how to address them. What frameworks might maximize social impact in addressing such complicated global concerns?  In this capstone course for students interested in privilege and poverty, global health, and food studies, we will critically examine a variety of frameworks for social impact, including solidarity, responsibility, development, aid, and entrepreneurship. Our examination of these frameworks will necessarily involve critical comparisons among the countries in which they have been employed. We will identify goals, strategies, and assumptions within each framework, as well as our role in social transformation in conjunction with other actors. Students will engage in interdisciplinary theoretical analysis and employ one or more frameworks to develop a proposal for a project on social change.  (By approval only.) 3 hrs. Sem (Comparative Politics)/

Pam Berenbaum

Reviews and ratings for Pam Berenbaum at Middlebury College.Pam Berenbaum teaches Public Health of Disasters, Global Health, Critical Frames Social Changes and more.  Explore top rated instructors and find the best for you.Is Pam Berenbaum good ? Find out on MiddCourses.

This class was heavily focused on disaster prepared-ness and response. The final project was fun to work on because students got to choose their project topics as well as their group partners. The class improved my understanding of disaster response all over the world.

This course was mostly lecture based with reading homework, there was one larger assignment at the end which was the policy brief other than homework very manageable, mostly just reading. Pam was extremely understanding and nice and knowledgable about what she is teaching. 

I really liked this class because of how passionate Pam was in her teaching style. she made me really want to minor in global health after the class, and she introduced all of us to the Master's program offered at UVM.