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 and assesses risk factors for cancers and other major illnesses in black women, in a prospective follow-up study of 59,000 African-American women from across the U.S.  Follow-up of the participants every two years has yielded a rich database for prospective analyses of the effects of a variety of factors.
  • The Infant Care Practice Studies, which began in 1992, have focused on understanding the factors associated with adherence to safe sleep and other infant care practice recommendations.  These studies have included the Collaborative Home Infant Monitoring Evaluation (CHIME), the Longitudinal Infant Care Practice Study, the National Infant Sleep Position (NISP) surveys, the Study of Attitudes and Factors Effecting Infant Care (SAFE), and the Social Media and Risk-reduction Training for Infant Care Practices (SMART) study.  These studies have information on the infant care practices and factors associated with these practices from 39,000 mothers.  Most recently, several studies have been funded in follow-up of these prior studies, including the Intermittent Hypoxia and Caffeine Study (ICAF), Social Confounders for Health Outcomes Linked to Education (SCHOOL), and the Study of Attitudes and Factors Effecting Preterm Infant Care Practices (SAFE PREP).

    To see a complete listing of studies conducted at the Slone Epidemiology Center, both active and complete, please visit our page for Research Studies.

    For information on our directors and staff, please follow the links below: