Epidemiology

• SPH EP 713: Introduction to Epidemiology
  EP713 is the sole introductory epidemiology course (replacing EP711 and EP712). Epidemiology is a discipline that identifies the determinants of defects, disease and injury in human populations and provides a means of assessing the magnitude of public health problems and the success of interventions designed to control them. The goals of EP713 are to introduce the basic principles and methods of epidemiology and demonstrate their applicability to public health and research and to provide fundamental skills needed to begin to interpret and critically evaluate literature relevant to public health professionals. Topics include measures of disease frequency and effect, epidemiologic study designs, bias, and screening for disease. Class lectures are interspersed with active learning exercises consisting of a mixture of in-class problems, exercises, and discussions, and online and independent learning modules further enable students to achieve the learning objectives.
• SPH EP 721: Survey Methods for Public Health
  This course stresses the theory and practice of conducting high quality survey research in health fields. Classes are a mixture of lectures, examples from real world studies, and skill exercises. Topics include research design, question construction, sampling, data collection methods, interviewing, coding, reliability,validity and preparing data for analysis. The course is appropriate for those who will do research as well as those who will be research consumers.
• SPH EP 730: Epidemiology of Vaccine Preventable Diseases
  This course will provide students with a thorough understanding of the epidemiology and control of vaccine-preventable diseases. This will be accomplished by focusing on a different vaccine-preventable disease each week, and using that disease to illustrate epidemiologic principles and methods related to measuring vaccine efficacy and safety, overall impact, herd effects, special populations, adverse reactions, and public acceptability. Emphasis will be placed on current developments, outbreaks, controversies, study designs, and sources of bias. This course combines short lectures with in-class discussions and will provide students with practice and feedback in the critical review and design of epidemiologic studies.
• SPH EP 740: Introduction to Epidemiology of Aging
  This 2-credit course introduces public health students to major research topics regarding age-related diseases, disorders, and disabilities, as well as the special considerations in the design and execution of epidemiologic studies in this field. The main objectives of each session are to 1) use web-based or public-use data on the incidence, prevalence, risk factors, and health consequences of the disease or condition to describe why it is important to study in elderly adults; 2) critically review 1-2 articles to understand the current state of knowledge on the topic; and 3) examine the special methodological issues that conducting studies of the topic in an elderly study population pose. These objectives will be met by brief student presentations each week of the epidemiology of the disease/condition, lectures by researchers who are performing studies on that condition, and journal club discussions of relevant articles that students will critique. Students will synthesize this information in a short (8-10 page) grant proposal for a study on the prevention or treatment of a disease/condition that affects elderly adults.
• SPH EP 745: Pharmacoepidemiology
  Pharmacoepidemiologic principles of study design and interpretation will be illustrated in a case-study format of real world examples. Topics include drug regulation, the study of intended and unintended effects, postmarketing surveillance, and monitoring for birth defects. The goal is for students to be able to evaluate the epidemiologic evidence related to drug safety using historical and recent examples like thalidomide, hormone replacement therapy, and Vioxx.
• SPH EP 751: Cardiovascular Epidemiology
  The goal of this course is to enable students to understand major aspects of cardiovascular epidemiology and current strategies for primary and secondary prevention of major cardiovascular diseases (i.e. stroke, heart attack, heart failure or hypertension). The course concentrates on physiologic mechanisms leading to atherosclerosis; traditional and novel CHD risk factors; prediction models for CVD; and the role of lifestyle, dietary, and genetic factors on the development of CVD. In addition, relevant historical breakthrough and current controversies in CVD are discussed using the latest publication from lay press and peer-reviewed journals. A fair amount of time is devoted to acquiring skills in scientific writing and data interpretation. These latter skills are used by the students to design and complete a CVD epidemiology project on a topic of their choosing. Each student (group of students) then presents his/her completed project in class during the last 2 sessions of the course. The course is taught by the course Director and other senior investigators who are experts in different areas of cardiovascular disease.
• SPH EP 752: Cancer Epidemiology
  This course provides an overview of the important concepts fundamental to the understanding, design, and conduct of cancer epidemiology studies. The course commences with the descriptive epidemiology of cancer, including time trends in incidence and mortality, and geographic and demographic variation in cancer rates. An overview of the biology of cancer, and a review of the major epidemiologic concepts critical to cancer epidemiology is covered. The descriptive and analytic epidemiology of major cancer sites, including breast, lung, colon, prostate, cervix and melanoma, is discussed, as well as major risk factors for cancer, including tobacco, nutrition, infections, and environmental exposures. The course format consists of a series of lectures by faculty and guests, discussion sessions, and directed readings from the current literature. Students are required to pursue a cancer-related topic of their choosing in depth, developing a proposal for an epidemiologic study that will further current knowledge based on their literature review of the topic.
• SPH EP 753: Cancer Prevention as a Public Health Problem
  By means of lectures, seminars, and student presentations, this course reviews multidisciplinary approaches to the application of cancer prevention knowledge to individuals and communities. Students analyze and present case examples of approaches to the control of a given cancer or a given carcinogen.
• SPH EP 755: Infectious Disease Epidemiology
  This course introduces students to the biology, epidemiologic methods, and mathematical models needed to study infectious diseases in populations. In addition to lecture presentations on biologic and clinical aspects of infectious diseases, their distribution within populations, and their control, the course also covers study design issues specific to infectious diseases and simple infectious disease modeling. The course includes analysis of actual infectious disease outbreaks and studies through workshops and article reviews.
• SPH EP 758: Nutritional Epidemiology
  The purpose of this course is to introduce students to the discipline of nutritional epidemiology. In the class, we will focus on methodological issues relating to design, dietary assessment, and data analysis of studies on diet and disease. We will also review some of the literature relating nutrition to certain disease states, including coronary heart disease and cancer, in which we highlight methodological issues and interpretation of findings in nutritional epidemiologic research. Students completing this course will understand the basic principles of nutritional epidemiology and will be able to apply them in reading the literature and participating in nutrition research projects. This is a small, intermediate-level epidemiology class, which combines lectures with in-class discussion of classic and cutting-edge research articles. In addition, one-on-one meetings are set up with students throughout the semester to provide focused attention and facilitate mastery of the material.
• SPH EP 759: Reproductive Epidemiology
  This course surveys current knowledge concerning the epidemiology of reproductive heath across the lifespan. Topics vary from year to year but may include infertility, miscarriage, birth defects, menopause, uterine fibroids, gynecologic cancers, and male reproductive health. The course emphasizes epidemiologic methods and gives the student experience in the critical review and design of epidemiologic studies in this area.
• SPH EP 762: Clinical Epidemiology
  This course introduces students to topics and methods in clinical epidemiology. Covered topics include those traditionally regarded within the purview of clinical epidemiology such as the evaluation of diagnostic tests (sensitivity, specificity, predictive value, and ROC curves), decision analysis, cost effectiveness analysis, outcomes assessment, and meta-analysis. At the conclusion of the course students will understand concepts of clinical epidemiology, know the indications for using each clinical epidemiology method, and be prepared to critically evaluate studies that employ these methods. Since this course uses numerous clinical examples, it is not recommended for those with no clinical experience.
• SPH EP 763: Genetic Epidemiology
  This course familiarizes students with general methods and principles of genetic epidemiology. Topics include basic human genetics, population genetics, pedigree analysis, linkage analysis in humans, twin studies, effects of inbreeding, genetics of common diseases, genetic association studies, and forensic genetics. The course emphasizes practical applications of existing methods to designing and executing genetic studies and to genetic counseling. This involves some critical evaluation of the scientific literature.
• SPH EP 764: The Epidemiology of HIV/AIDS in the Developed and Developing World
  This course is designed to introduce students to an important and growing field - the epidemiology of AIDS. It is designed for those students who have a keen interest in HIV/AIDS in both the developed and developing world. This course will survey state-of-the art knowledge of the epidemiology of HIV and will emphasize epidemiologic principles and methods including: estimation of the incidence of HIV infection and AIDS, study design, and sources of bias. It will also give the student experience in the critical review of epidemiologic studies in this area.
• SPH EP 775: Social Epidemiology
  The purpose of this course is to introduce students to the major social variables that affect population health, including socio-economic status, race/ethnicity, gender, neighborhood environment, corporate practices, and the criminal justice system. This course will cover the theoretical underpinnings of each construct, and will provide students with an in-depth discussion of the empirical research linking each to population health. Methods are introduced to operationalize each construct for the purpose of empirical application in epidemiology research.
• SPH EP 780: Epidemiology of Diabetes and Its Complications
  This course provides an overview of the epidemiology of diabetes and its complications. The first part of the course will be dedicated to the descriptive epidemiology, environmental and genetic risk factors, and prevention of type 1 and type 2 diabetes. The second part of the course will similarly explore complications of diabetes including cardiovascular disease, eye complications, and kidney disease. Class will incorporate lecture and the discussion of classic and current research in the field.
• SPH EP 784: The Epidemiology of Tuberculosis in the Developed and Developing World
  This course is designed for those students who have an interest in both tuberculosis and epidemiologic methods. This course will survey both the history of this storied disease as well as state of the art knowledge of the epidemiology of tuberculosis (including molecular techniques) and will emphasize epidemiologic principles and methods including: estimation of the incidence of primary tuberculosis, estimation of the incidence of reactivation tuberculosis, study design, and sources of bias. The course will also give the student practice and feedback in the critical review of epidemiologic studies in this area.
• SPH EP 795: Obesity Epidemiology:Public Health Perspectives on Cause, Consequence, and Prevention
  Globally, more than 1 billion adults and 42 million children are overweight or obese. As a complex health problem afflicting people in both the developed and developing world, understanding the disease from a multidisciplinary perspective is critical for public health professionals. Class sessions will focus on in-class learning activities ranging from article discussions to student presentations to debates designed to promote and develop critical thinking and analysis of the causes, consequences, and prevention of obesity. Students will also develop an understanding of the key methodological concepts in the design, analysis, and interpretation of obesity studies through critically reading and discussing literature in obesity epidemiology. Topics in obesity epidemiology will also be highlighted through cutting-edge research presentations.
• SPH EP 800: Microbes and Methods: Selected Topics in Outbreak Investigation
  This course provides an overview of the important concepts fundamental to the understanding, design, and conduct of infectious disease outbreak investigations. Each course meeting will cover three aspects of outbreaks: 1. The epidemiology and pathophysiology of selected infectious diseases. 2. Methodological issues related to investigating such an outbreak. 3. Practical aspects of outbreak investigations (including legal aspects, environmental analyses, and communicating risk to the public). The course will address common causes of outbreaks in this country (such as foodborne, respiratory, and vaccine‐preventable diseases, as well as outbreaks in hospitals). Issues pertinent to outbreak investigations in the developing world are also discussed. The course format consists of a series of lectures by faculty and guests, discussion sessions, hands‐on experience with outbreak investigation data, and directed readings from the current literature.
• SPH EP 813: Intermediate Epidemiology
  The purpose of this course is to further develop the methodologic concepts underlying the science of epidemiology. The material covered is intended to broaden and extend the student's understanding of the elements of study design, data analysis, and inference in epidemiologic research, including issues related to causation, bias, and confounding. The primary aims of the course are to provide working knowledge of the fundamentals of epidemiology as well as to serve as a foundation for more advanced study of epidemiologic methods. The course consists of lectures and workshop sessions. The workshop sessions are designed to reinforce the concepts/topics covered in the lectures.

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