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Epidemiology Course Descriptions
EPIDEM 204 - Biostatistics I (4 units)
The chief aim of this course is to help students to develop an appreciation for the statistician’s view of the research process, emphasizing biomedical research. The course is designed to instill an understanding of how statistical models are used to yield insights about data that form evidence-based understanding of the world around us. Thus, the course is intended to produce educated consumers of Biostatistics, and a feeling, for researchers, about when consultation with a professional is wise. Specific learning objectives of the course include the following: 1) Characteristics of common experimental and study designs 2) Measures and meanings of probability 3) How to portray data and common pitfalls of graphical illustrations 4) Inference from samples to populations 5) Calculation of basic statistical measures from data 6) Interpretation of statistical results 7) Scientific evaluation of statistics in the medical literature
EPIDEM 275 - Intro to Medical Genetics (4 units)
Students will master current concepts regarding mitosis, meiosis, the cell cycle, and chromosome ultrastructure and function. Clinical disorders caused by chromosomal aneuploidy, duplication, and deletion, and principles of Mendelian, chromosomal, and multifactorial and nontraditional inheritance are presented and illustrated. By the end of the course, students will understand these concepts and be prepared to apply them in practical settings.
EPIDEM 201 - Cancer Epidemiology (4 units)
This course will present some basics in cancer epidemiology appropriate for graduate students, provide opportunities to interact with widely recognized experts in various aspects of cancer, and appreciate how particulars of cancer biology affect study designs and analyses. Concepts covered include: methodologic concepts, estimation of prevalence, incidence, and other summary measures related to cancers, cancer genetics and biology, common risk factors for cancers of several types, epidemiology of some specific cancers, and factors affecting cancer prevention, detection, treatment, and prognosis.
EPIDEM 275 - Biostatistics II (4 units)
This course is the second course in the Biostatistics sequence intended for graduate students in epidemiology, public health, and clinical research fields. It will concentrate on more advanced methods of statistical analysis and research design that are used in biological and medical applications of statistics, including linear, logistic, Poisson regression, and a brief introduction to regression models for correlated data. It is assumed that the student will be familiar with statistical techniques as presented in Biostatistics I.
EPIDEM 202 - Genetic Epidemiology (4 units)
This course will provide an introduction to principles of genetic epidemiology and will include demonstrations and applications of the use of specialized software used for these analyses. Topics will include study design for both family-based and unrelated subjects. This course will incorporate examples from the literature, in-class demonstrations as well as out of class exercises. Students will have the opportunity to perform analyses using data sets supplied by the instructor and will present their results in class. The final project will integrate topics from throughout the course.
EPIDEM 205 - Environmental Epidemiology (4 units)
This course concentrates on epidemiological approaches to the assessment of community environmental hazards; issues involved in environmental exposure estimation; interdisciplinary approaches to environmental epidemiology, including the use of biomarkers of exposures and susceptibility; and epidemiological studies within the context of risk assessment. Note: This course will concentrate on methodological issues rather than substantive issues. Substantive aspects of environmental epidemiology (e.g., the association of particular pollutants with certain illnesses) will be viewed in the context of examples of methods from the published studies discussed in class and from selected readings in the textbook.
EPIDEM 232 - Chronic Disease Epidemiology (4 units)
This is a survey of the epidemiologic and clinical preventive aspects of the more prevalent non communicable chronic diseases in humans. While common malignancies and cardiovascular conditions are major foci, modules on aging, allergic, metabolic, and non-malignant pulmonary disorders are included. The course is a mix of lecture and seminar discussions led by a variety of instructors, each expert in their field. Class content will cover disease distributions, known and hypothesized etiologies, means to identify susceptible groups, impact on the public health, and strategies for disease prevention and control.