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Courses - Fall 2026
HNUH
University Honors
HNUH248M
Digital Silver Bullet or Digital Mirage: Can Technology Solve Global Health Inequities?
Credits: 3
Grad Meth: Reg
An immediate malaria diagnosis via smartphone in rural Kenya. A misdiagnosis of a US patient by an AI system due to race. Denial of care due to lack of insurance approval. Technology can encode values and biases. It can also be decoded across communities based on structures of culture and power. This course examines how technological innovations are critical to advancing global health but may at times potentiate inequities. We will examine when technology transforms medicine and public health and when it distracts from addressing the root causes of disease. We will consider the promise of digital health innovations, the voices that shape their design, who benefits from their implementation, and who gets left behind. Through debates, case studies, and hands-on technology immersion, we will evaluate if technology and health innovations are the key to solving the paramount global health challenges of our era.
HNUH248M pairs with HNUH248D to complete the Encoding & Decoding cluster. This pair of courses can be taken in any order. This track will be offered throught Spring 2028