The Sparkman Center for Global Health directs its teaching, mentoring, and research toward understanding the root causes of health disparities and creating sustainable quality of life improvements that reach across political, social and geographic boundaries.

An important part of the programs, and one that differentiates it from traditional public health, is the understanding that major health challenges stem from many factors well outside of biological disease- ecological, cultural, institutional, historical, evolutionary, social and technological. Any effective sustainable solutions to our most pressing global health challenges will need to take all of these factors into account, including the complex ways in which they relate to each other.

Explore more about academic offerings in global health below.

The Undergraduate Concentration in Global Health is an option for students pursuing their B.S. in Public Health. The concentration in global health is managed by the School of Public Health.

Read more on the SOPH website

The 15-hour graduate certificate program offers UAB graduate students (and selected undergraduate students) the opportunity to gain knowledge in the ways that global processes (like globalization, climate change, and global migration) converge on local communities to impact individual health and health care delivery. Effective August 1, 2023, the GHS Certificate has moved from the Sparkman Center and is now housed in the UAB School of Public Health's Department of Health Policy & Organization.

Read more on the SOPH website

The Southern Institute for Appropriate Technology (SIFAT) Field Course provides opportunities for undergraduate & graduate students to learn hands-on skills in the development and use of appropriate technologies around the world.

Read more about SIFAT

The Peace Corps Prep program is an undergraduate certificate focused on preparing you for international development fieldwork and potential Peace Corps service.

Read more about Peace Corps Prep