Courses Taught by Elizabeth Levin-Sparenberg

EPID590: Epidemiological Methods

• Graduate level
• Online MPH only
• This is a first year course for Online students
• Spring-Summer term(s) for online MPH students;
• 3 credit hour(s) for online MPH students;
• Instructor(s): Sara Adar (Online MPH);
• Prerequisites: BIOSTAT 501, PUBHLTH 512
• Description: In this course, we will teach how epidemiologists study the frequency, patterns, and determinants of health in different populations. Students can expect to learn: The terminology, principles, and methods of population-based epidemiologic research; How to critically appraise epidemiological research. The course will be divided into the following three sections: Section 1 will serve as an introduction as to the way in which epidemiologists measure and describe trends in morbidity and mortality as well as the risk factors for these endpoints. In this section we ask: What are the trends? Do they differ by time or place? Where do we get the data to study these trends and how do we know if our information is any good? In Section 2, students will learn how epidemiologists conduct studies to try to understand causality. Here we address the following questions: What is causality? How do we design studies to determine if something increases or reduces the risk of morbidity or mortality? What are the measures that we use to characterize associations and how certain we are in those estimates? Section 3 teaches students to identify situations in which the data that we collect in epidemiological studies can mislead us and lead us to reach the wrong conclusions. Students will learn different types of problems that can bias our conclusions and will develop instincts as to the directionality and magnitude of these biases.
• Learning Objectives: Calculate and interpret measures of event frequency to describe population patterns of health-related risk factors and health-related outcomes in terms of person, place, and time. Identify an unusual occurrence of disease or illness (e.g., an outbreak or disease cluster); Recognize the characteristics that help to define causality; Describe the characteristics of different study designs; Choose an appropriate study design for a research question; Calculate and interpret measures of association between risk factors and outcomes; Compare the strengths and weaknesses of different study designs to assess causality; Identify sources of bias that can influence epidemiological findings; Predict directionality of known biases; Understand basic tools of causal inference in epidemiology; Critically appraise and analyze the weight of evidence for causal associations.

Concentration Competencies that EPID590 Allows Assessment On

Department	Program	Degree	Competency	Specific course(s) that allow assessment
Population and Health Sciences		MPH	Compare population health indicators across subpopulations, time, and data sources	PUBHLTH515, BIOSTAT592, EPID590, EPID592, EPID643, BIOSTAT595, BIOSTAT501

EPID602: Epidemiologic Data Analysis

• Graduate level
• Online MPH only
• This is a second year course for Online students
• term(s) for online MPH students;
• 0 credit hour(s) for online MPH students;
• Instructor(s):
• Offered Every Year
• Prerequisites: Epid 600, and EPID 639, or permission of the instructor.
• Description: A practicum in epidemiologic data analysis designed to integrate and apply concepts learned in previous biostatistics and epidemiologic methods courses. Students learn practical skills to analyze and interpret epidemiologic data with continuous and dichotomous outcome variables through lectures and hands-on exercises.
• Syllabus for EPID602

Concentration Competencies that EPID602 Allows Assessment On

Department	Program	Degree	Competency	Specific course(s) that allow assessment
EPID	General Epidemiology	MPH	Describe population patterns of health-related risk factors and health-related outcomes in terms of person, place, and time	EPID600, EPID602
EPID	General Epidemiology	MPH	Compare the relative strengths and weaknesses of common epidemiologic study designs (e.g., cross-sectional, cohort, case-control, randomized experiments)	EPID600, EPID602
EPID	General Epidemiology	MPH	Interpret the impact of bias, confounding, and effect modification on causal inference in epidemiologic research	EPID600, EPID602

EPID619: Computational Epidemiology: Analyzing Real-world Data

• Graduate level
• Residential
• Fall term(s) for residential students;
• 4 credit hour(s) for residential students;
• Instructor(s): Elizabeth Levin-Sparenberg (Residential);
• Prerequisites: None
• Description: Students will learn practical skills to analyze and interpret epidemiologic data with the use of the statistical software, R. This course will introduce statistical techniques for the analysis of continuous and dichotomous outcome variables through lectures and hands-on exercises.
• Learning Objectives: To apply epidemiologic theory and methods to data analysis 2. To select appropriate biostatistical tools for epidemiologic data analysis 3. To use Rprogramming for epidemiologic data analysis 4. To be able to critically interpret results from epidemiologic studies.

PUBHLTH512: Principles of Epidemiology for Public Health

• Graduate level
• Both Residential and Online MPH
• This is a first year course for Online students
• Fall, Winter term(s) for residential students; Fall term(s) for online MPH students;
• 3 credit hour(s) for residential students; 3 credit hour(s) for online MPH students;
• Instructor(s): Alison Mondul, Elizabeth Levin-Sparenberg, (Residential); Carrie Karvonen-Gutierrez, C. Leigh Pearce, (Online MPH);
• Prerequisites: SPH MPH and SPH MHSA Residential Students Only or By Instructor Permission
• Advisory Prerequisites: BIOSTAT 501 or equivalent course
• Description: This course provides a foundation to the principles of epidemiology for applications to public health. This introductory epidemiology course is for students who are NOT pursuing an Epidemiology MPH. The course will overview the fundamental concepts of epidemiology including measures of frequency and association, study design, data collection and interpretation. This course will have a hybrid style (online & in-class) of instruction.
• This course is required for the school-wide core curriculum
• Syllabus for PUBHLTH512

Concentration Competencies that PUBHLTH512 Allows Assessment On

Department	Program	Degree	Competency	Specific course(s) that allow assessment
EHS	Industrial Hygiene	MS	Analyze, interpret, and apply statistical and epidemiological data	PUBHLTH512, EPID601, Thesis

PUBHLTH680: Applied Practice and Integrative Experience I

• Graduate level
• Online MPH only
• This is a second year course for Online students
• Fall term(s) for online MPH students;
• 2 credit hour(s) for online MPH students;
• Instructor(s): Elizabeth Levin-Sparenberg, Alexa Eisenberg, (Online MPH);
• Prerequisites: PubHlth 512, Biostats 501
• Description: Students will launch their integrated learning experience, which involves addressing an applied health problem and presenting their work in a professional communication format, synthesizing competencies they achieved throughout the program. Students will partner with community organizations in the Real-World Writing Project to develop two products, fulfilling the program’s APEx requirements.
• Learning Objectives: At the end of this fall-semester course, students should: - have started their integrated learning experience and capstone product, the culmination of their experiences and learning in the MPH program. - have written something for the real world of public health that achieves a specific purpose and that is appropriate for a specific audience, and is written in a particular style. - have further developed their composing process through reflection, discussion and trying new approaches. - have gained experience collaborating with their peers and have connected these collaborative activities to public health practices. - be able to identify and/or create effective written and oral arguments within each of the communication formats we cover in the course. - explain the critical importance of evidence in advancing public health knowledge.
• Syllabus for PUBHLTH680

PUBHLTH681: Applied Practice and Integrative Experience II

• Graduate level
• Online MPH only
• This is a second year course for Online students
• Winter term(s) for online MPH students;
• 2 credit hour(s) for online MPH students;
• Instructor(s): Elizabeth Levin-Sparenberg, Alexa Eisenberg, (Online MPH);
• Prerequisites: PubHlth 512, Biostats 501
• Description: Students will continue with research, analysis, evaluation and writing to complete their capstone project. They will also explore different professional writing format.
• Learning Objectives: Objectives: - Complete integrated learning experience project, through research, analysis and evaluation - Produce a written capstone in a professional format - Understand how to tailor written product (aka your capstone) to a specific audience (intended readers of student's work) - Be able to develop effective written and oral communications - Get practice using conventions specific to practice-based and/or academic writing - Further develop writing process through reflection and trying new approaches - Revise own writing based on feedback from advisor - Explain the critical importance of evidence in advancing public health knowledge