Current Health Policy Courses
Harvard Kennedy School
DPI-527M
Reproductive Rights, Politics, and Policy
This course examines the historical and current state of sexual and reproductive health (SRH) policy and politics in the United States, with a particular focus on the post-Dobbs landscape. Through foundational caselaw, statutes, social science research, political commentary, and international case studies, students will gain an understanding of SRH law and politics and will use that to analyze and draft policy solutions to current SRH issues. We will discuss law as a social determinant of health, discussing how reproductive health outcomes are impacted by public policy and the role that race, gender, age, socioeconomic class, and other identities have on those outcomes. Course topics include: the creation of the Constitutional rights to privacy, contraception and abortion; historical pro-choice and pro-life social movements; abortion access for minors and marginalized populations; racism and ableism in SRH; reproductive justice; and emerging legal and political strategies.
SUP-110
Poverty and Public Policy
Safety net programs that care for the poor and insure risk comprise the largest share of government spending in the U.S. and other developed countries. Making these programs work well is a key policy priority. This course studies policy institutions and economic insights related to means-tested income support, health care, Social Security, disability, and housing support programs. The course is taught via a combination of lectures and in-class discussions and devotes special attention to current policy debates and reform ideas. The course is intended as a survey course for students seeking to broaden their understanding of how safety net programs work in developed countries and how they can be reformed to work better. It builds on topics covered in the core economics curriculum (MPP and MPA-ID), though it is open to all students with relevant economics background (see prerequisites).
SUP-951
Doctoral Seminar in Health Economics
Mark Shepard
Explores frontier work in the field of health economics. Focuses on learning advanced theories and economic models useful for policy analysis, and on helping students develop dissertation and/or research topics. Students enrolled for credit are expected to present original research at the end of the semester.
Permission of the instructor required for nondoctoral students. (Also offered at Boston University.) Meeting location moves to the HKS on March 31.
Harvard Business school
HBS 6345
Field Course: Business Plans for Innovating in Health Care
The course is designed to enable students to develop and grow the business plans they developed in “Innovating in Health Care” (Course 2815, Fall Q1), which is a prerequisite to this course.
Students can expect to:
- Review their existing business plan , its opportunities and challenges, and develop strategies for sustained success , including testing various go-to-market strategies and their customer acquisition costs through extensive field work. The teaching team will do their best to assure that the relevant doors are opened to you.
- Present your progress toward your goals to the class every two weeks, in a PowerPoint, and ask for the specific feedback you desire. The teaching team will review your work as mentors.
- Give feedback to your fellow highly motivated student teams and specify what you learned from giving feedback.
- Interact with expert lecturers on relevant topics such as IP strategies, VC funding, non-dilutive funding sources, obtaining a site etc.
- Receive advice from expert business mentors, who either advised you in the Fall Q1 course or are new connections to your team.
This course gives you an opportunity to work on something of great interest to you, like an Independent Project course, but preserves many of the benefits of a larger course, including opportunities for guest speakers, development of a network, feedback from your peers, and clearly delineated deliverables and milestones.
A substantial number of “Innovating in Health Care” businesses have been funded by mentors and investors they met through the course.
HBS 6215
U.S. Healthcare Strategy
This course examines the strategic challenges facing businesses in the U.S. healthcare industry. Using the lenses of business strategy, microeconomics, and health policy, students will identify and gain valuable insights into how healthcare businesses navigate complex market forces, regulatory pressures, and competitive dynamics. Cases will highlight how strategic principles can be leveraged to create opportunities in healthcare, and why some strategies are likely – or unlikely – to succeed. We will also examine the impact of government policies and regulations, both from a business standpoint and through the broader lens of societal implications.
Prominent government officials and business executives will contribute to select class sessions, complementing case discussions.
HBS 2185
Innovating in Health Care
The opportunity to innovate in the healthcare sector is enormous. Although it is the country’s largest sector and we have excellent resources and people, it remains too costly, too inaccessible, and too fragmented. Countless important technology innovations lie fallow. Substantial opportunities to do good and do well remain in the rest of the world as well.
Innovating in Health Care contains the analytic framework for students who want to innovate the sector. It is entirely taught through current field-based case studies of health care innovations. Innovating in Health Care (Q1) is the prerequisite for the next two field courses, Field Course: Business Plans for Innovating in Health Care, (Q2) and Field Course: Advanced Business Plans for Innovating in Health Care (Q3,Q4) that culminate in students’ either obtaining funding their business plan or customers.
In 2025, teams obtained $5 million in seed funding and won the HBS Shark Tank prize; Grand Prize of the Social Enterprise track at the New Ventures Competition; the iF Gold Design Award; and a Blavatnik Fellowship. Another team launched its AI innovation in thirty clinics.
The course begins with case studies of how to evaluate the viability of an innovation. Successive modules contain case studies, and related text, of how to start, scale, and exit an innovation. The CEOs of the firms depicted typically attend the class and often function as mentors/advisors in the subsequent two field courses. The case studies cover virtually all health care verticals. These sessions are complemented with optional panel sessions on developments in topics such as health care AI; reimbursement; and regulation.
A diverse teaching team brings their wide-ranging experience across a variety of health care verticals. Their frequent comments and interactions with you on your progress in developing a business plan for a healthcare innovation combines their substantial experience with a practical focus and the latest cutting-edge research.
Alumni from this course have become leaders or founders of major health care firms , health care strategics, and accomplished health care investors. These alumni and other experts often contribute their experience to the case discussions in the course and continue the interaction with those students who subsequently enroll in the related Field courses.
The students are drawn from HBS and other HU schools such as design/engineering, government, law, medicine, and public health. These students often form a synergistic lifelong professional network.