March Public Health Forum hosted by the Department of Epidemiology
Date: Wednesday, March 19th
Time: 12pm – 1pm
Room: L-112
Speaker: Miguel Hernán, Professor of Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health
Title: “Epidemiologic Methods Are Useless. They Can Only Give You Answers”
Much of epidemiologic research is focused on understanding the causes of disease. Despite complex statistical techniques, our ability to evaluate causal effects depends on the quality of the questions being asked in the first place. Dr. Hernán argues that epidemiologists and public health researchers need to refocus on asking sharp, directed and novel research questions, instead of relying on complex statistical approaches. The ability to ask good questions is crucial if we want to improve public health.
