The Association of Schools of Public Health (ASPH), with funding from Pfizer, awarded development of an introductory public health course titled, "Milestones in Public Health" to The George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services  (GW SPHHS).  The award was the result of a competitive bidding process among ASPH-member schools.  GW SPHHS developed the course in collaboration with the GW School of Medicine and Health Sciences, the GW Graduate School of Education and Human Development, and the GW Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning.  

The course is composed of 11 modules based on the 11 chapter topics in the book, Milestones in Public Health-[pdf], and serves as a user-friendly tool for teaching undergraduate (UG), graduate public health (PH), and medical and clinical education students about the major milestones in public health in the U.S. over the last century.  These milestones include, for example, immunizations, car safety, and environmental health.  Each module works together as part of an overall semester-long course and, in addition, is able to stand alone for inclusion in other courses and/or for use in both formal and/or informal teaching situations. Individuals may also use the course for self-guided learning about the public health milestones.

The online course is available in SCORM-compatible files that can be used with Blackboard/WebCT and open source content management systems such as Moodle. The complete course includes instructors’ guides, PowerPoint lectures, faculty-directed case studies, and student-directed problem-based learning cases.

ASPH and Pfizer have been working in partnership since 2004 to support a variety of programs focused on academic public health (see http://www.pfizerpublichealth.com/).  In addition to this initiative, Pfizer also funds ASPH's awards program, (consisting of two teaching awards, a practice award, a research award), and the ASPH/Pfizer Public Health Academy of Distinguished Teachers.

For more information about the "Milestones" course, please E-mail Liz Weist at eweist@asph.org or call (202) 296-1099 x. 129.

Updated July 24, 2012