Unmuted: Youth Engagement in Public Discourse and Storytelling

Overworked, Underpaid, and Burned Out: How Work Sustains Health Inequities

Reimagine the role of work in shaping health, equity, and justice—while exploring how we might build a better future.

Psychedelics & Mental Health

Examine the science, ethics, and applications of psychedelics in mental health—culminating in student-led, community-focused projects.

Environmental Exposure & Health: Analyzing Estimates through Artificial Intelligence

Use Salt Lake City as your lab to explore how AI and environmental data can uncover the hidden health effects of air quality and climate.

Infectious Disease on the Run

This Praxis Lab examined the history, science, and ethical implications of pandemics, from the Black Plague to COVID-19. Students analyzed how diseases spread, the social and political responses to outbreaks, and the ethical considerations of public health interventions.

How We Die

This Praxis Lab explored the evolving landscape of death and dying in the modern world, examining the shift from infectious disease mortality to prolonged battles with degenerative illnesses like cancer, heart failure, and dementia.

Education, Incarceration & Justice: Punishment and Opportunity in an Era of Mass Imprisonment

This Praxis Lab examined the deep connections between education, incarceration, and justice in the United States, a country with the highest incarceration rate in the world. Students explored the historical and systemic forces that have expanded the carceral state, disproportionately affecting low-income communities and communities of color.

When Machines Decide: The Promise and Peril of Big Data

In an era of information abundance, this Praxis Lab examined the profound ways in which data collection, machine learning, and automated decision-making shape modern society.

Local Food and Human Diets

This Praxis Lab examined the historical, environmental, and cultural dimensions of local food, questioning its feasibility in modern society. Students explored the evolution of human diets from foraging to domestication, analyzed the environmental impact of industrialized agriculture, and assessed the challenges of sourcing food locally in today’s urbanized world.

Alzheimers & Aging

This Praxis Lab linked scientific understanding of Alzheimer’s disease with the social and public policy challenges faced by patients, families, and society. The course focused on knowledge, communication, inclusion, and dignity, examining the intersections of science, philosophy, emotion, ethics, and public policy.

Uneasy Intersection of Law and Medicine

The Praxis Lab examined the complex relationship between law, medicine, and ethics, exploring the challenges that arise when these domains intersect. Students investigated cases where law dictates medical practices or where medical actions conflict with legal regulations.

American Indian Patient Experience

This interdisciplinary think tank explored the complexities of the American Indian medical patient experience through a community partnership paradigm.