Description: Application of epidemiological methods and concepts to analysis of data from epidemiological, clinical or laboratory studies. Introduction to independent research and scientific writing under faculty guidance.
Advisory Prerequisites: EPID 600 or EPID 639 or permission of instructor
Description: Students will learn to apply their epidemiological training in real-world public health settings. The
course will focus on teaching the most common communicable diseases and emerging issues likely to
be faced by epidemiologists in a governmental public health department through lectures, interactive
sessions, and applied projects.
Learning Objectives: Students should be able to:
- Understand role and functions of local, state, and federal public health organizations 1
- Summarize surveillance systems used by public health organizations
- Summarize reportable diseases in Michigan and nationally
- Understand how to navigate resources for reportable diseases and emerging threats
- Describe the epidemiology, clinical characteristics, disease prevention, and control measures
for the most common reportable diseases 2
- Understand how to collect data for communicable disease investigations, outbreak
investigations, and emerging public health issues 3
- Describe how to import, clean, transform and analyze data to support public health
investigations and surveillance
- Explain how to effectively communicate findings to an interdisciplinary team
- Describe how to translate a general public health question into a SMART applied analysis
- Understand how to manage an applied analysis project from concept through delivery
Prerequisites: Enrolled in Epidemiology MS programs
Description: This capstone research project course is designed for Epidemiology MS students (30-credit or 48-credit CESM programs). Working with their mentor, students are expected to develop an original research project to address public health problems using epidemiologic methods.
Students will have the opportunity to apply what they learned in their coursework to important public health questions. Students will work with a faculty mentor to conduct a literature review, develop a research project, develop and implement an analysis plan, write up the results and discuss the implications of the findings, and present their work in the annual Epidemiology Poster Day.
Students are expected to begin their capstone project in their first term and complete it in the second term of their final year (or only, for one-year programs) of training (three credits per term, for a total of six credits). The Epidemiology Master’s committee will help students find an appropriate mentor. Details regarding the structure of capstone writing products and evaluation guidelines will be provided in the MS Student Handbook.
Learning Objectives: The learning objectives of and skills employed in this course are determined by the specific research project. The list below (which is not exhaustive) provides examples of learning objectives for this course:
1. Assess knowledge gaps in the scientific literature;
2. Develop a scientific research question designed to address a gap in the scientific literature
3. Identify appropriate data sources to address a research question;
4. Better understand the role of data in understanding public health problems;
5. Create a data collection instrument and/or collect data;
6. Analyze data (quantitative or mixed data – including both quantitative and qualitative) to test research hypotheses relevant to public health in a manner that reflects principles of epidemiology (e.g., study design, measurement, confounding, etc);
7. Generate appropriate data visualizations and/or presentations;
8. Communicate the significance, approach, and implications of epidemiological research in a written format appropriate for the target audience;
9. Complete research ethics training through the Program for the Education and Evaluation of Responsible Research and Scholarship (PEERRS). Two modules are required: Human Subjects Research Protections and Responsible Conduct of Research and Scholarship (RCRS).
