Courses

students in class

GSB students have multiple course options to help them develop a deep understanding of the healthcare industry and prepare them for careers in the field. They are encouraged to participate in courses offered by other schools at the university, just as students from other departments may attend healthcare classes at the GSB.

The course list we've compiled attempts to be comprehensive and to provide a road map of all available options (classes do not require a medical background unless otherwise noted).

Please browse the categories below to see what's typically offered to students enrolled at Stanford during the academic year.

  • Introduction to Health Care
    Courses that provide an overview of the health care sector. They are essential for everyone seeking a fundamental understanding of the industry and its challenges.
  • Leadership in Health Care
    Courses that prepare students to become future leaders and familiarize them with the key issues being addressed by today's healthcare executives.
  • Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Health Care
    Project-based healthcare courses with a focus on developing new health-related products or services.
  • Technologies in Health Care
    Non-GSB courses that introduce the key technologies used in medical products within the biotechnology, chemistry, and healthcare IT sectors.
  • Health Policy and Global Health
    Courses that focus on public healthcare policy, as well as issues and events affecting global health.

In the Spotlight

New Offering: Measuring Global Health

Professors Eran Bendavid and Jeremy Goldhaber-Fiebert are offering a new course in spring 2012 entitled Measuring Global Health (HRP 241).

During the quarter, they will introduce relevant methods and findings grounded in biomedical science, epidemiology, demographics, and economics that deal with the measurement and distribution of human maladies and their causes around the world.

Their goal is to familiarize students with the underlying data and methods used to answer questions such as "how do we know who is sick and where they are throughout the world?" At the end of the quarter, students will be able to critically approach studies on disease burden and evaluate what we do and do not (yet) know about human disease and mortality.

What to Know:

  • This is a project-based course that will involve the analysis of primary data to arrive at estimates of disease (e.g., mortality associated with smoking in multiple countries).
  • Students will ideally have prior experience or coursework in statistics, biostatistics, quantitative epidemiology, or econometrics. Motivated students without this experience should contact the instructors.