Undergraduate Programs
The BA and the BSc in Health Sciences provide a solid foundation for individuals seeking to understand issues affecting health and illness or disease, environmental issues that affect community and global health, multi-level health policy making, and/or are interested in pursuing careers in the biological sciences, medicine, nursing, and public health. International exchange opportunities are available for the the BA and BSc programs as well as a partnership with Langara College to enable students to complete the first two years of their program before transferring to SFU. The faculty also offers options for an Honours Degree (BA and BSc), as well as for a Minor in Health Sciences for students accepted into a program.
Most students pursue a program that covers a wide range of health sciences topics. Some students decide to concentrate, in addition to their general courses, in one of the Faculty's areas of expertise, including:
- Infectious Disease
- Environmental Health and Toxicology
- Social Determinants of Health
- Mental Health and Addiction
- Global Health
Overview and Comparison of FHS Undergraduate programs
Program Focus
Bachelor of ARTS
- will be of interest to students wanting to learn about health and disease from multiple disciplines, and use diverse research traditions to identify and explain the social, behavioural, and biological determinants of health, wellness, and disease in human communities and populations
- will introduce students to an interdisciplinary approach to the social and biological factors that determine health and disease.Graduates will gain knowledge and skills in applying core principles of health promotion and disease prevention for a specific community,
- They will learn the basic elements of health policy processes and be able to identify and describe the major institutional players in health policy, both domestically and internationallyThey will understand the basic structure, organization, and financing principles of contemporary health care systems; and
- They will acquire the statistical, imaging, and qualitative research skills necessary for problem solving and critical thinking in the areas of epidemiology, health care, planning, and community-health needs assessments.
Bachelor of SCIENCE
- will be of interest to students wishing to gain skills and pursue careers that require detailed knowledge of the cellular, molecular and behavioural mechanisms that underlie health and disease, as well as to students who are considering post-graduate studies in applied health research and professional health programs.
- Will introduce students to an interdisciplinary approach to the biological and social determinants of health and disease, especially infectious and environmental diseases.
- Graduates will have laboratory skills comparable to those from basic biomedical science programs, and have strong interdisciplinary experience in social science. They will exhibit employable skills such as group problem solving, medical statistical and computational skills, communication and organizational skills, honed within the practical framework of knowledge and concepts in molecular biology, immunology, toxicology, epidemiology, and public and population health.
- Those desiring leadership roles or research positions in health will likely use the degree as a stepping-stone to further education. Goals might include research-based graduate programs at the Master's and Doctorate level in any area of the biomedical sciences, focused graduate programs, professional development programs for teaching or higher education, or entry into medical schools and other health professions.
Teaching Methods
- Courses are taught as interactive lectures, featuring group discussion, problem based learning, reflection, and originating research proposals.
- Some core courses are team-taught by faculty from a range of disciplines. Students meet in small tutorial groups, facilitating contact with faculty who are experts in the area and offering increased opportunity for class participation.
- The BA program offers courses with experiential education where students apply health communication and promotion theories in coordination with local communities.
- Courses offer opportunities for group work, case-based learning, developing research proposals, and quantitative reasoning.
- Coursework in the BSc program also features hands-on laboratory experience. Upper division laboratory courses in health sciences offer unique opportunities to perform experiments in toxicology, pharmacology, virology and immunology. Quantitative computer modeling laboratories, for example involving GIS, spatial statistics, and population databases are also available.
For detailed program description, including course requirements:
Have any questions about the Undergraduate Programs? Contact us:
Email: fhs_advising@sfu.ca
Phone: 778-782-9668
If you have recently been admitted to SFU and want to know what to do next
- Follow the steps outlined on the "Starting Your First Year at SFU" website
- Attend a “Blueprints Session” which will show you how to plan your schedule, enroll in classes through the go.sfu.ca system
- Provide information for those transitioning from high school to university