Students are facing real-life public health problems at the Yale School of Public Health (YSPH) this fall thanks to a new course built around case studies of how organizations are tackling current challenges.
The Future of Health: Emerging Themes in Health Innovation is taught by Senior Fellow and Lecturer Kaakpema Yelpaala, MPH ‘06. The course is part of a broader effort to enhance experiential learning at YSPH to better prepare students to be innovators in public health, whether they go on to work in health departments, industry, nonprofit organizations, or as entrepreneurs.
“Using dilemma-based case studies is not common at schools of public health but is a way of bringing practical challenges health leaders face in the professional sphere into the classroom,” said Yelpaala. “Students are being asked to respond to real-world circumstances by thinking ‘What would I do?’ or ‘What would I recommend?’ in situations that have multiple options for decision-makers and lack clear answers.” Students then have a chance to engage with health leaders and policy makers to unpack how they approached the situation and what happened.
The case studies put a lens on technological advances, new funding models, and novel organizational strategies being used to reshape population-level health outcomes. Each case invites students to wrestle with complex questions of strategy, sustainability, emerging technologies, and impact across a diverse set of organizational models, including nonprofits, venture-backed companies, and public-private partnerships.
Antigone Antonakakis, the course’s teaching fellow and a second-year MPH student in health care management says she’s excited about the opportunity to engage with students on how new technology influences equity. “AI, genomics, and digital health are reshaping care even as inequities persist, which makes it essential for public health leaders to learn how to navigate innovation thoughtfully and strategically,” she said.