Online Course – Certified Professional Internship in Addressing Racial Health Inequity in Healthcare by Google, University of Michigan

Internship – 3-part course series

Recent events have once again highlighted the 400+ years of racism that are deeply embedded in our everyday structures, especially in the health care system. There is a significant need to provide in-depth tools for learners who have great potential to change the system toward equity. Reducing racial and ethnic health disparities is at the heart of the public health mission.

In this MOOC series, we will learn about the sociological contributions and historical background that contribute to health inequalities. We will also critically analyze the various drivers of racial inequalities in health. Finally, we will review approaches to achieving health equity.

Applied Learning Project

Each course has a peer-reviewed assignment in the third week, summarized below:

• Course 1: Learners will select a country, U.S. state, city, or town and draft a “health profile” to research the health-related literature and help develop the skills needed to identify racial disparities in the health system.
• Course 2: Learners will select a state or country in the U.S. and examine the structure of the healthcare system by creating a “Healthcare Structure Profile” to teach learners to gather facts about healthcare systems and develop the skills required to analyze the causes of racial/ethnic disparities in healthcare.
• Course 3: Learners will choose a state or country in the US and build an intervention to address a specific racial/ethnic gap in the healthcare system, which will allow them to think about the possible interventions and solutions to address a specific gap in the healthcare system.