Bachelor of Arts in Health Sciences overview

Learn about and apply diverse research traditions to identify and explain the social, behavioural, and biological determinants of health, wellness, and disease in communities and populations.

BA program: what you’ll learn

• Multi-disciplinary approach to the social, behavioural and biological determinants of health and disease
• Understanding of contributing factors to health, ranging from cultural context to cellular processes
• Understanding of core principles of health promotion and disease prevention 
• Ability to apply knowledge to address specific health problems in the community
• Foundational understanding of health policy processes; understands major institutional players in health policy, both domestically and internationally
• Understanding of the cross-cultural impacts on actual and perceived health needs
• Understanding of the basic structure, organization and financing principles of contemporary health care systems 
• Statistical, imaging, and qualitative research skills

BA core course areas

• Social, environmental, behavioural, and biological determinants of health
• Measurement of health, illness, and disease
• Foundations of human biology
• Statistics and research methods (qualitative and quantitative)
• Health promotion and disease prevention
• Health policy and health care systems
• Evidence-based decision making
• Health technology
• Bioethics
  

BA teaching methods

Courses use interactive lectures featuring group discussion, problem based learning, and developing research proposals.

Some core courses are team-taught by faculty from a range of disciplines. Students meet in small tutorial groups, facilitating contact with faculty experts in the area.

The BA program also offers courses with experiential education, where students apply health communication and promotion theories in coordination with local communities.