About

The Slone Epidemiology Center was founded in 1975 by Drs. Dennis Slone and Samuel Shapiro at the Boston University School of Medicine as the Drug Epidemiology Unit. Following Dr. Slone’s death in 1982, his colleagues honored his memory by renaming the group the Slone Epidemiology Unit. In 2001, the University’s Board of Trustees elevated the group to become the Slone Epidemiology Center at Boston University.

Over the years, Slone investigators have been supported by grants and contracts from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), other government agencies, the pharmaceutical industry, and private foundations. Slone works in partnership with hundreds of hospitals and thousands of health care providers, both nationally and internationally. Key current research programs include the following:

• The Black Women’s Health Study (BWHS), which began in 1995, is a prospective follow-up study of 59,000 Black women from across the U.S. Follow-up of the participants every two years has yielded a rich database for prospective analyses of risk factors for cancer, cardiovascular disease, and many other health conditions.

• The Infant Care Practice Studies, which began in 1992, have focused on understanding factors associated with adherence to safe sleep and other infant care practice recommendations. These studies have information on the infant care practices and factors associated with these practices from 39,000 mothers.

For more information on research conducted at the Slone Epidemiology Center, please visit our page for Research Studies.

DENNIS SLONE, M.D., was born in South Africa in 1930 and trained in pediatrics. He used his many skills to pioneer unique and rigorous epidemiologic efforts, including a groundbreaking analysis of antenatal drug exposures in relation to birth defects and the development, with his colleagues, of Case-Control Surveillance.