One of the questions that has evolved from the growing undergraduate interest in health policy is whether the creation of a College-wide concentration is a possibility. Some undergraduates think it should be.
"Harvard should take the initiative to expose people to [health policy courses]," Nayeem says. "I definitely think that more people do go to medical school should takes these [types] of classes."
In order for a new concentration to be created, the entire Faculty must approve the decision. According to Dean of the Faculty Jeremy R. Knowles, a health policy concentration has not been discussed by the Faculty.
Beyond College
Yet despite the burgeoning interest in health policy among undergraduates, one graduate of University's Ph.D program in health policy says he is concerned that students are becoming too focused.
"I think as a pre-med it is somewhat narrow to be a health policy concentrator," says Audiey C. Kao, research director of the Institute of Ethics of the American Medical Association in Chicago.
Yet while Kao expresses reservations about the narrowness of a health policy concentration, he also says it has much educational value for future physicians.
"[It's] certainly something that should be included in the pre-med track," he says. "There's only a handful of physicians who have a health policy background."
Still, Joan P. Curhan is excited about the fact that four students are concentrating in health policy.
Curhan, the director of the Ph.D. program in health policy at the Kennedy School, knows first-hand that special concentrations can have a tremendous impact on a student's life. Her son, Jared Curhan '93, created a special concentration on negotiation and decision-making and went on to found the program for Young Negotiators, a 10-week curriculum that teaches high school teachers how to foster negotiation skills in the classroom.
"It changed his entire life and it's because of that I want to give back to the College," Joan Curhan says. "That's what a special concentration can do."
The Interfaculty Initiative in Health Policy, which Curhan heads, last year put together a booklet called "A Course Guide for Undergraduates Interested in Health Policy." Curhan says she was surprised by the number of courses available.
The booklet includes courses such as Social Analysis 28: "Culture, Illness, and Healing: A Cross-Cultural Comparison of Medicine in Society," Economics 1435: "Economics of Health Care" and History 1912: "Health, Disease, and Ecology in African History."
"Health policy problems, if they're solved, are solved from interdisciplinary approaches," Curhan says.
As hospitals are increasingly being forced to streamline their operations, she says, they need to hire people who are trained in health policy.
"The jobs are really plentiful," Curhan says. "I think out of all the Ph.D. programs, students [in health policy] potentially have the most job opportunities in academic and non-academic jobs."
And while some people worry that undergraduate will draw to health policy because of its potential to lead to lucrative careers, Ackerly says the field goes deeper than that.
"I think [health policy] is so important now and for the long-term, because we're all dealing with our health." he says.