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.
Description: This course will survey both classic and emerging literature describing the DOHaD paradigm from an epidemiological perspective. The course will have a structured discussion format.
Learning Objectives: Through analysis and discussion of research papers in the field, students will be able to: 1) Identify sources of bias in DOHaD research and anticipate their potential effects on estimates of association; 2) Weight evidence on DOHaD according to the relative methodological strength of epidemiological reports; 3) Distinguish strengths and limitations of family studies and randomized trials in DOHaD epidemiology; 4) Link indicators used in epidemiological studies with the underlying biological processes they intend to measure; 5) Integrate evidence from different sources into conceptual frames on DOHaD topics; 6) Understand different strategies for analysis of epidemiological data in DOHaD research.
In addition, this course will cover the following learning objective from the Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH):
LO3. Explain the role of quantitative and qualitative methods and sciences in describing and assessing a population's health.
Description: This course introduces students to modern causal inference concepts applied to epidemiology, primarily based on the potential outcomes paradigm
Learning Objectives: This course will help students:
1) Recognize the evolution of causal thinking in epidemiology.
2) Become familiar with concepts involving individual vs. average causal effects, counterfactuals, and causal contrasts.
3) Learn the assumptions required to identify causal effects.
4) Formulate causal questions using causal diagrams.
5) Understand sources and effects of bias including confounding, selection, misclassification within a potential outcomes frame.
6) Appreciate the principles underlying approaches to management of bias at the level of data analysis through G methods, including inverse probability weighting.
In addition, the course addresses a CEPH-required foundational learning objective:
• Explain the role of quantitative and qualitative methods and sciences in describing and assessing a population’s health.
Undergraduates are allowed to enroll in this course.
Description: This course provides an overview of pregnancy and perinatal outcomes from an epidemiological perspective, including their burden, risk factors and consequences, and methodological challenges for their study at the population level.
Learning Objectives: This course will help students:
1) Identify key physiological aspects of intrauterine development, birth, and the neonatal period.
2) Understand the role of common risk factors (e.g. parental age, socioeconomic status, smoking, obesity) for adverse pregnancy and perinatal outcomes.
3) Become familiar with the definition, burden, causes, and consequences of common adverse pregnancy and perinatal outcomes including diabetic and hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, miscarriage, fetal growth restriction, preterm birth, stillbirth and infant mortality, birth defects, and maternal mortality.
4) Recognize the methodological approaches and challenges specific to the study of pregnancy and perinatal outcomes at the population level.
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).
Prerequisites: EPID 701 or EPID 503 or EPID 600 or EPID 601 AND EPID 709 or BIOSTAT 501 or BIOSTAT 521
Description: This course focuses on the design, analysis, and interpretation of epidemiologic studies addressing diet and health. The course will provide quantitative practical skills to deal with methodological issues around dietary assessment methods, sources of variation in the diet, energy intake, measurement error, anthropometry and body composition, and biomarkers of intake.
