Overview
Health Sciences is a wide-ranging field which uses knowledge from many disciplines to understand and improve all aspects of human health. At Langara, Health Sciences focuses primarily on public health, a branch of medicine that explores the causes of variation in health within and between human populations, with the goal of developing and delivering effective interventions to reduce health inequity and inequality locally, nationally and internationally.
Our program is rooted in epidemiology, the core science of public health. Epidemiology provides a framework and tools to enable health professionals to describe population health, develop hypotheses to explain observed differences, test hypotheses, and ultimately develop, implement and evaluate interventions based on high quality evidence.
The complexity of understanding the contributors to both good and poor health, and furthermore enabling populations to improve their health, requires a multidisciplinary approach which draws on both arts and science. Health scientists furthermore need excellent communication skills to translate scientific research into accessible, empowering information for the public.
As well as epidemiological and public health principles, the study of health sciences encompasses traditional arts subjects such as anthropology, psychology, sociology, geography, history, philosophy and political science, and science subjects such as chemistry, biology, environmental sciences, and statistics. Topics which have only more recently been explicitly addressed, include addiction, ecohealth, gender, indigeneity, orientation, race and racism, sexuality, and social justice, and the impact they have on public and population health.
The Health Sciences programs provide an excellent two-year foundation for entry-level work in health agencies, or completion of a four year degree in health sciences and other health-related fields at destination institutions. Employment opportunities are diverse with jobs for every personality and interest. At present 13.6% of Canadians are employed in the healthcare sector, the fourth largest workforce by industry, and demand is only expected to rise.
Students may pursue programs in either an Arts or Science stream, and earn a Diploma or an Associate Degree. After completing an Associate degree program, students may continue their studies at Simon Fraser University’s Faculty of Health Sciences or the University of Victoria’s Health & Community Services program, transferring seamlessly into third year studies.
