Epidemiology

• SPH EP 816: A Guided Epidemiologic Study
  This seminar course that starts during the second half of the Fall Semester (EP816) and continues through the first half of the Spring Semester (PH880) guides students through the development of a hypothesis-based study using a dataset that is currently available to the instructors. Through a combination of didactic lectures, workshops, written assignments, and oral presentations, students develop hypotheses, conduct literature reviews, perform data analyses, and write each section of a scientific manuscript. The final project requires the student to integrate all sections into a complete paper for journal submission. This course prepares students to write thesis proposals and manuscripts.
• SPH EP 850: Applications of Intermediate Epidemiology
  This course is designed for students interested in applying their knowledge of intermediate epidemiologic methods to the analysis of observational data. Topics include conceptualizing data analysis by defining an addressable research question, utilizing directed acyclic graphs (DAGs) for confounder selection, choosing appropriate exposure and outcome measurements and interpreting the results with respect to strengths, limitations, and biases. This hands-on course will put the concepts of intermediate epidemiology into application as the students perform a data analysis project from start to finish. Data analysis will be performed using SAS. Statistical theory will not be a focus of this course.
• SPH EP 854: Advanced Epidemiology
  This course covers the theory and application of key principles and methods of epidemiologic research in depth. The topics include causal models, confounding, randomization, interaction, statistical analysis and inference, and causal inference. Special emphasis is given to the meaning and interpretation of p- values, confidence intervals, and likelihoods. Alternative approaches are identified for selecting and interpreting measures of disease frequency and measures of effect. Guidance is offered for determining objectives and strategies in study design and analysis, including for case-control research. Methods are presented for the assessment and control of confounding, misclassification bias, and selection bias. Strengths and weaknesses of standardization, pooling and modeling are reviewed.
• SPH EP 855: Advanced Epidemiology Seminar: Issues in Study Design
  This course is structured around reading and discussing both historical and current methodological papers. The first section of the course focuses on papers by early theoreticians and methodologists. The second section focuses on contemporary methodologic questions. Substantive areas may evolve and vary over time. Recent topics have included case-control studies, study efficiency, measures of effect, exposure misclassification, sensitivity analysis, casual diagrams, and direct and indirect effects.
• SPH EP 857: Design and Conduct of Cohort Studies
  This is a third-level epidemiologic methods course intended for advanced Masters and Doctoral students who desire to build depth and nuance in their understanding of cohort study design and conduct. The course will build on classic and state-of-the-art papers which focus in depth on various topics such as selection of appropriate measure of excess risk and intermediate endpoints (theory and practice). For each topic, methodologic readings will be linked back to concrete examples of cohort study design, with special emphasis on practical aspects of study conduct.
• SPH EP 858: Design and Conduct of Case-Control Studies
  This course will develop practical knowledge of the design and conduct of case-control studies within a theoretical framework. It will cover the relationship between cohort and case-control studies and study design issues, including identification of a study base, selection of cases and controls, collection of exposure information, sources of bias, and matching. Published papers will be used to illustrate design, bias, and analytic issues through reading and discussion. Each class includes a lecture and discussion of assigned articles.
• SPH EP 860: Novel Analytical Methods for Epidemiology
  This course is intended to introduce doctoral students to a number of advanced methods in data analysis, with the aim of providing students with the ability to recognize situations in which the use of such methods may be beneficial, knowledge of the basic methods needed to conduct analyses, and an understanding of the strengths and limitations of each method. The course covers approximately five to six analytic methods in a series of 2- or 3-session modules. Topics may vary slightly in different semesters; examples of the types of methods covered include propensity scores, marginal structural models, quantitative bias analysis, machine learning and Bayesian analysis. Hands-on sessions in the classroom, homework assignments, and a final data analysis project provide students with practice in the conduct of analyses using these methods.
• SPH EP 861: Quantitative Bias Analysis Methods for Epidemiologic Research
  This course covers a novel approach to dealing with systematic error in epidemiologic research called quantitative bias analysis, QBA. QBA allows users to make corrections to measures of association for sources of bias by making assumptions typically using validation data about the nature of the bias to create intervals that account for total study error. The course will cover three types of bias analysis: simple, multidimensional and probabilistic. Exercises in Excel and SAS will allow students to practice the methods, adapt them to problems they face and present the results clearly.
• SPH EP 862: Simulated Problems for Learning Epidemiology (SimPLE)
  This course will challenge students to think more deeply about the epidemiologic concepts they have learned in their methods courses and provide them with the skills to conduct simulation studies to be able to further their understanding of these concepts. Students will learn to simulate datasets from a directed acyclic graph (DAG) describing the problem or phenomenon of interest and learn how to vary the parameters of the simulation to gain a deeper insight into the problem. Students will also learn to derive the answers to questions about epidemiologic methods in cases where they do not know how to solve the problem analytically.
• SPH EP 871: Advanced Topics in Epidemiology
  This advanced course covers selected epidemiologic topics in greater depth than in intermediate epidemiology courses. For specific information, please refer to the SPH schedule packet on the SPH Registrar's Office web site.
• SPH EP 911: Directed Studies in Epidemiology
  Directed Studies provide the opportunity for students to explore a special topic of interest under the direction of a SPH faculty member. Students may register for a 1, 2, 3, or 4-credit directed study. Arrangements are made directly with a full time SPH faculty member. Studies to be completed with an adjunct faculty member must be approved by and assigned to the Department chairperson. Students must complete a paper registration form and have a directed study proposal form signed by the faculty member with whom they are working. Section numbers are assigned by the SPH Registrar's Office. Students are limited to eight (8) credits of directed study, directed research or practicum during their MPH education.
• SPH EP 912: Directed Research in Epidemiology
  Directed Research provide the opportunity for students to explore a special topic of interest under the direction of a full-time SPH faculty member. Students may register for 1, 2, 3, or 4 credits. To register, students must submit a paper registration form and signed directed research proposal form. Students are placed in a section by the Registrar's Office according to the faculty member with whom they are working. Students may take no more than eight credits of directed study, directed research, or practica courses during their MPH education.
• SPH EP 980: Continuing Study
  PhD, DSc, and MS in Epidemiology students who have completed all academic course requirements, must register for Continuing Study every Fall and Spring semester until they have successfully defended their theses/dissertations and have graduated from SPH. Students are charged the equivalent of two credits of tuition, student health insurance, and all relevant fees, and are certified as full time.

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