Global & Public Health Sciences

GPHS Major Requirements

Global and Public Health Sciences Major

The requirements listed below pertain to all students matriculating in August 2024 and January 2025.

In addition to college requirements , students in the GPHS Major must complete specific requirements listed here.

Global & Public Health Core Courses

Global & Public Health Core Courses (14 credits)

NS 1600 - Introduction to Public Health  (F, 3 cr)
NS 2060 - Preparation for Engaged Learning in Global and Public Health Sciences  (F, 2 cr)
NS 2600 - Introduction to Global Health  (S, 3 cr)
NS 3600 - Epidemiology  (F, 3 cr)
NS 4600 - Explorations in Global and Public Health  (F, 3 cr)

Supervised Experiential Learning in Global & Public Health

Supervised Experiential Learning in Global & Public Health (variable credit)

Approval required. May be completed anytime from spring semester sophomore year onward. Must be completed before the fall semester of senior year.

This experience may be obtained through one of several options, including (but not limited to):

• Cornell Cooperative Extension (Tompkins County and others) (
• Cornell in Washington (NS 4997 )
• Public Health Research and Internship (NS 4060 )
• Weill Cornell Clinical & Translational Science Center (NS 4060 )
• Study abroad programs with a public health focus/internship (NS 4060 )

Social & Behavioral Health Selective

Course should cover some aspect of public health (including nutrition) from a social and/or behavioral health perspective. More than half of the course content must be devoted to consideration of issues of public health from a social science perspective (e.g. sociology, anthropology, psychology, economics, communication, and other social science disciplines). See the Requirements for GPHS majors in CHE for regular updates to course options and information; new options are available to all class years.

Choose from the following options, must take a minimum of 3 credits:

Social & Behavioral Health Selective (3-4 credits)

Choose from the following options, must take a minimum of 3 credits. Courses used to fulfill this requirement must at the 2000-level or above.
NS 2450 - Social Science Perspectives on Food and Nutrition  (3 cr)
ANTHR 2468 - Medicine, Culture, and Society  (3 cr)

COMM 2850 - Communication, Environment, Science, and Health  (3 cr)
COMM 4760 - Population Health Communication  (3 cr)

HD 4600 Professional Development in Geriatric and Palliative Research   (1.5 cr) 

LSP 2200 - [Sociology of Health and Ethnic Minorities]  (3 cr)
GDEV 3020 - Political Ecologies of Health  (alt even 3 cr)
PUBPOL 3180 - Health Disparities  (3 cr)
PUBPOL 3280 /GDEV 3280 - Fundamentals of Population Health  (3 cr)
PUBPOL 4280 /ECON 3710 - [The Economics of Risky Health Behaviors]  (3 cr)
SOC 4120 - Health and Social Context  (4 cr)

Biological Aspects of Public Health Selective

Biological Aspects of Public Health Selective (3-4 credits)

Choose from the following options, must take a minimum of 3 credits. Courses used to fulfill this requirement must be at the 2000-level or above.
NS 3060 - Nutrition and Global Health  (3 cr)
NS 3150 - Obesity and the Regulation of Body Weight  (3 cr)
NS 4200 - Diet and the Microbiome  (3 cr)
NS 4300 - Proteins, Transcripts, and Metabolism: Big Data in Molecular Nutrition  (3 cr)
NS 4410 - Nutrition and Disease  (4 cr)
BIOMG 4390 - [Molecular Basis of Disease]  (3 cr)
BIOMG 4870 - Human Genomics  (3 cr)
BIOMI 2600 - Microbiology of Human Contagious Diseases  (3 cr)
BIOMI 2950 - Biology of Infectious Disease: From Molecules to Ecosystems  (3 cr)
BIOMI 3210 - The Gut Microbiome  (3 cr)

BIOMI 4040 Pathogenic Bacteriology   (2-3 cr) 

BIONB 3920 [Drugs and the Brain]  (3 cr) 

ENTOM 4000 [Ecology and Evolution of Infectious Diseases]  (4 cr) 

PLSCI 2100 - Medical Ethnobotany  (3 cr)

Environmental Health Selective

Environmental Health Selective (3-4 credits)

Choose from the following options, must take a minimum of 3 credits. Courses used to fulfill this requirement must be at the 2000-level or above.
DEA 2700 - Healthy Places: Design, Planning and Public Health  (3 cr)
GDEV 3020 - Political Ecologies of Health  (3 cr)
GDEV 3400 - [Agriculture, Food, Sustainability and Social Justice]  (3 cr)
BIOMI 2500 - Public Health Microbiology  (3 cr)
BIOMI 2950 - Biology of Infectious Disease: From Molecules to Ecosystems  (3 cr)
BIOMI 4310 /BIOMS 4310 - Medical Parasitology  (2 cr)
COMM 2850 /STS 2851 - Communication, Environment, Science, and Health  (3 cr)
ENTOM 2100 /BSOC 2101 - [Plagues and People]  (2-3 cr)
FDSC 3960 - Food Safety Assurance  (2 cr)
PLSCI 2100 - Medical Ethnobotany  (3 cr)

PLSCI 2400 - Green World, Blue Planet  

Health Policy and Practice Selective

Health Policy & Practice Selective (3-4 credits)

Choose from the following options, must take a minimum of 3 credits. Courses used to fulfill this requirement must at the 2000-level or above.
NS 4450 - Toward a Sustainable Global Food System: Food Policy for Developing Countries  
NS 4500 - Public Health Nutrition 
NS 4570 /ECON 3910 - Health, Poverty, and Inequality: A Global Perspective 
AMST 2225 /GOVT 2225 /GDEV 2220 /ILROB 2220 /PUBPOL 2220 /PHIL 1950 /SOC 2220 - Controversies About Inequality 
ANTHR 4458 /EDUC 4458 /FGSS 4458 - [Girls, Women, and Education in Global Perspective: Feminist Ethnography and Praxis] 
CRP 3430 - Affordable Housing Policy and Programs    
GDEV 2090 /PUBPOL 2208 /SOC 2208 - Social Inequality  
GDEV 3020 - Political Ecologies of Health  
GDEV 3700 /SOC 3710 - Comparative Social Inequalities  

GOVT 3032 - [Politics of Public Policy in the U.S.]  
HD 4600 Professional Development in Geriatric and Palliative Research  
PUBPOL 2030 - Population and Public Policy  
PUBPOL 2350 - [The U.S. Health Care System]  
PUBPOL 3110 - [Pharmaceutical Management and Policy] 
PUBPOL 3870 /PUBPOL 5870 - [Economic Evaluations in Health Care]  

Introductory Chemistry

Introductory Chemistry (4+ credits)

This fulfills the college distribution natural sciences requirement.

Choose one of the following:
(a) CHEM 2070 - General Chemistry I  (4 cr) AND CHEM 2080 - General Chemistry II  (4 cr) (two-course sequence required for pre-health)
(b) CHEM 2070 - General Chemistry I ^1,2 (4 cr) (single course not adequate for pre-health)
(c) CHEM 1560 - Introduction to General Chemistry ¹ (4 cr) (not for pre-health)
(d) CHEM 2150 - Honors General and Inorganic Chemistry ^2,3 (4 cr) (not for pre-health)

1 Students may use an AP Chemistry score of 5 to place out of CHEM 2070 . However, GPHS students must take at least one semester of chemistry at Cornell—i.e., students who use AP credit toward their chemistry requirement must take an additional chemistry course (i.e., CHEM 2080 , CHEM 2150 , or other, but not CHEM 1560 ). Students interested in the pre-health track should take two semesters of chemistry at Cornell.
2 Students who take CHEM 2070  forfeit AP credit. Students who take CHEM 2150  may keep AP credit.
3 Students should only select option (d) if they are very strong in chemistry and are not considering a pre-health (e.g. pre-med) track.

Introductory Biology

Introductory Biology (8 credits)

Choose one of the following labs:
(a)    BIOG 1500 - Investigative Biology Laboratory  (2 cr) OR
(b)    BIOSM 1500 - Investigative Marine Biology Laboratory  (3 cr)

AND choose two out of the three lecture options^1:
(a)    BIOMG 1350 - Introductory Biology: Cell and Developmental Biology  (3 cr)
(b)    BIOG 1440 - Introductory Biology: Comparative Physiology  (3 cr) OR²
BIOG 1445 - Introduction to Comparative Anatomy and Physiology, Individualized Instruction  (autotutorial) (4cr)
(c)    BIOEE 1610 - Introductory Biology: Ecology and the Environment  (3cr) OR²
BIOEE 1780 - An Introduction to Evolutionary Biology and Diversity  (3cr)

^{1 Students may use use AP Biology score of 5 or IB HL Biology score of 7 to place out of one introductory biology lecture. Pre-health (e.g. pre-med) students should not use AP scores to fulfill biology requirements.}

^{2 Cannot take both courses within one category to fulfill this requirement.}

GPHS Organic Chemistry

Organic Chemistry (3+ credits)

CHEM 3570 - Organic Chemistry for the Life Sciences  

Physiology

Physiology (3-4 credits)

Choose one of the following:
(a) NS 3410 - Human Anatomy and Physiology  (4 cr) OR*
(b) BIOG 1440 - Introductory Biology: Comparative Physiology  (3 cr) OR**

BIOG 1445 - Introduction to Comparative Anatomy and Physiology, Individualized Instruction  (4cr)] OR
(c) NS 1150 - Nutrition, Health, and Society  (3 cr) OR

(d) NS 1220 - Nutrition and the Life Cycle  (3 cr)

*   Pre-health students should also take NS 3420 - Human Anatomy and Physiology Laboratory  (2 cr).
** Cannot take both to fulfill this requirement. Can only be used to fulfill physiology requirement if not used to fulfill introductory biology requirement.

Biochemistry

Biochemistry (4-6 credits)

Choose one of the following*:
(a) NS 3200 - Introduction to Human Biochemistry  (F, 4 cr)
(b) BIOMG 3300 - Principles of Biochemistry, Individualized Instruction  (F/S, 4 cr)
(c) BIOMG 3310 - Principles of Biochemistry: Proteins and Metabolism  (F, 3 cr) AND BIOMG 3320 - Principles of Biochemistry: Molecular Biology  (S, 2 cr)
(d) BIOMG 3310 - Principles of Biochemistry: Proteins and Metabolism  (F, 3 cr) AND BIOMI 2900 - General Microbiology Lectures  (F/S, 3 cr)
(e) BIOMG 3330 - Principles of Biochemistry: Proteins, Metabolism, and Molecular Biology  (Summer, 4 cr)
(f) BIOMG 3350 - Principles of Biochemistry: Proteins, Metabolism, and Molecular Biology  (S, 4 cr)

* Students who take only one semester of introductory chemistry should talk with faculty advisors and biochemistry instructors as early as possible to determine which biochemistry course is best for them and how they may access resources for the best chance of success.

Social Sciences

Social Sciences (6 credits)

This fulfills the college distribution social sciences requirement.

Choose one course in any two of the following four areas:

Anthropology

ANTHR 1400 - Introduction to Sociocultural Anthropology  (3 cr)

Economics

ECON 1110 - Introductory Microeconomics  (3 cr)   
ECON 1120 - Introductory Macroeconomics  (3 cr)  

Psychology

HD 1130 - Introduction to Human Development  (3 cr)   
PSYCH 1101 - Introduction to Psychology  (3 cr)

Sociology

SOC 1101 - Introduction to Sociology  (3 cr)

Statistics

Statistics (4 credits)

This fulfills the college distribution quantitative and analytical courses requirement.

STSCI 2100 - Introductory Statistics and Data Science  (F/S, 4 cr)

BTRY 3010 - Statistics I  

* Must be taken at Cornell; AP Statistics is not accepted.

GPHS Additional Distribution Coursework

Additional Distribution Coursework (10-12 credits)

Any course with the Course Distribution ALC-AS, ETM-AS, HST-AS, SCD-AS, SSC-AS, SDS-AS, SMR-AS, PBS, SBA, KCM, MQR, LA, CA, or HA. Language courses may count here.

For example, students interested in pre-health tracks or graduate study in pre-physical therapy/exercise sciences could fulfill this requirement by taking:
CHEM 2080 - General Chemistry II 
CHEM 3570 - Organic Chemistry for the Life Sciences  AND CHEM 3580 - Organic Chemistry for the Life Sciences  (full year sequence)
CHEM 2510 - Introduction to Experimental Organic Chemistry 
PHYS 1101 - General Physics I  and PHYS 1102 - General Physics II  (auto-tutorial) OR    
PHYS 2207 - Fundamentals of Physics I  and PHYS 2208 - Fundamentals of Physics II