Skip to main content
Portrait of Health & Society student, Gabriel Johnson '23

Health and Society
BA, BS

Lead the future of public health

The health and society degree prepares students to tackle today’s biggest health challenges.

This program investigates how social factors and systemic inequalities affect health outcomes. You will learn to creatively solve problems in public and global health while bringing together ideas from fields like economics, politics, and history.

Graduates are prepared for careers in public health, healthcare, advocacy, and administration.

Student success

Health & Society major Gabriel Johnson pictured in the amphitheater

Student spotlight

Gabriel Johnson '24: Making a difference

Health & society major finds passion working towards a future that benefits all.

Health and society curriculum encourages students to develop collaborative and creative problem-solving skills and contribute to the evidence-based analysis of disparities in patterns of illness, mortality, and quality of life. 

To satisfy the requirements for the BS in health and society, students must complete a total of 120 credit hours of instruction. Students will be required to take 46 credits in the major:

  • Intro to health and society, a foundational course
  • 6 social science and humanities elective courses
  • 3 science and lab elective courses

To satisfy the requirements for the BA in health and society, students must complete a total of 120 credit hours of instruction. Students will be required to take 36 credits in the major:

  • Intro to Health and Society, a foundational course
  • 6 elective courses
  • 2 general electives

Sample course offerings

  • Race, Gender, and Biomedicine
  • Gender Health Disparities
  • Food, Health, and Nutrition
  • Public Health and Tobacco Control
  • Healthy Cities
  • Having Babies Making Families
  • Women's Health and Environment
  • Toxic Bodies

 

Course descriptions, schedules and requirements

3+3 with UMass Law: a fast track to a law degree

Enrollment in the 3+3 joint degree program with UMass Law offers an accelerated pathway to an undergraduate and law degree, enabling qualifying students to substitute the first year of law school for the final year of their undergraduate program, thereby earning both a bachelor’s degree from UMass Dartmouth and a Juris Doctor from UMass Law in six rather than seven years.

Frequently asked questions

Have questions about the Health and Society BA, BS program? Below are answers to common questions about admissions, curriculum, career outcomes, and student experience.

BS in health and society will serve students interested in pursuing allied health fields and are concurrently completing demanding sets of prerequisites. This option facilitates the smooth incorporation of required science courses into pre-health students’ academic plans and encourages a timely graduation of health and society majors in pre-professional tracks.

A BA in health and society will prepare students for working in public health, epidemiology, health communication, and advocacy while creating a rigorous course study rooted in an interdisciplinary approach to health.  

Students will learn how to conduct research in multiple disciplines to find innovative solutions to health-related problems. You’ll understand how healthcare systems are organized and gain skills in communicating health-related issues to diverse audiences.