Chris M. Daley, PhD

Much has been discussed in the public sphere about happiness and how an individual can achieve peak happiness. This course delves more holistically into health and wellness, moving beyond individual happiness and towards a multi-level understanding of how interactions with others and the environment impact the self. Using a multi-disciplinary approach, students will learn the seven dimensions of health and wellness, including physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, cultural, environmental, and community, and how they interact to create healthy people and communities.

This course provides students with a foundational knowledge of the biological mechanisms underlying health and disease. Students will learn about the evolutionary genetic basis of disease and the major disease transitions throughout history, all driven by interactions between the genetic composition of individuals and groups and their natural and built environment. Students will become familiar with the various infectious agents causing disease and the human immune response, as well as the biological determinants of chronic diseases. Not for biology majors.

Everything is a mystery until it is solved, including in medicine. This course begins with an exploration of historical medical mysteries and discussion of what happened after they were solved as a foundation for understanding the present. Students will then learn what differential diagnosis is and what happens when it leaves you with nothing. The course culminates in an examination of a series of current medical mystery case studies in the realms of physical, mental, and spiritual health. 

This course will introduce students to grant writing in community health, population health, and public health. Topics include, but are not limited to, researching appropriate funding agencies and funding mechanisms, developing specific aims, project narratives, and budgets, understanding reviewer summary statements, and drafting reports for funding agencies. Differences in funding from federal, state, and private agencies and organizations will also be discussed. Students will draft their own proposals with the intent of submission. This course is intended for doctoral students.

“Dr. Chris Daley’s insight on grant writing is unmatched.” – Graduate Student

This is a graduate-level course designed to teach the basics of rigorous qualitative methodology to researchers who hope to begin preparation and conduction of qualitative studies.  It is a practical course and is NOT about the theories or history behind methodological development.  In this course, you will gain valuable research experience in study design; data collection through participation and observation, interviews, and focus groups; data analysis; and presenting qualitative methods and data in grant and manuscript writing.  You will also be introduced to the tools available for aiding in cataloging and analyzing data, though there is not a strong focus on computer-based cataloging.

This course will introduce students to an understanding of human health and disease that includes both culture and biology. Western and non-Western cultures will be considered. This course will consider topics such as medical beliefs and curing practices, disease and nutrition, the connection between inequality and health disparities, and how to apply medical anthropological concepts to real-world problems.

This is a graduate-level course designed to teach students the basic methods of conducting and evaluating community-based participatory research (CBPR).  Students will be introduced to the six phases of CBPR, including partnership formation and maintenance, community assessment and diagnosis, defining the issue, implementation, documentation and evaluation of partnerships, and feedback, interpretation, and evaluation of results.  In addition, students will learn how to find funding mechanisms and journals that are appropriate for CBPR, as well as some of the key factors in writing about CBPR.  Students will be introduced to a variety of examples of well-done CBPR and will learn what makes it different from other types of research done in community settings.