Course Description
Epidemiology is the study of the distribution and determinants of health and disease in a population and the application of this study to improve health outcomes. The course is an introduction to core concepts and methods in epidemiology as a foundation for further learning in the public health field. We discuss the core functions of epidemiology and methods for descriptive epidemiology, including identifying valid sources of public health data and communicating scientific data. Next, we discuss exposure measurement and characterization. Finally, we explore epidemiologic study designs, bias, confounding, assessing causation, outbreak investigations, and ethical issues in epidemiologic research. Learning is assessed through a variety of individual and group activities, with a focus on gaining experience with practical skills for the public health field. Students also learn about the variety of careers in public health through discussion with public health professionals.
Course Objectives
At the end of this course, students will be able to:
- Define epidemiology;
- Define and calculate measures of disease frequency and measures of association between risk factors and disease;
- Describe the major sources of bias (confounding, selection bias, and measurement error) within epidemiologic research;
- Evaluate effect modification;
- Apply criteria to support whether an association is causal;
- Describe the major epidemiologic research study designs and their advantages and limitations;
- Understand the basic terms and methods used in: (1) outbreak investigation and infectious disease epidemiology, (2) surveillance, and (3) evaluation of screening tests
- Describe how epidemiologic skills are applied in public health settings, and appreciate the diversity of careers in public health
- Critically review the scientific literature, synthesize findings across studies, and make appropriate public health recommendations based on current knowledge;
- Identify public and private data resources available for epidemiologic studies and evaluate the quality, integrity, and comparability of various data sources; and,
- Apply ethical principles and cultural sensitivity when accessing, collecting, analyzing, using, maintaining, and disseminating epidemiologic data and information
Student Feedback
- I loved this class! Thank you for all the ways you made it interactive and interesting.
- Really enjoyed the course contents and the class dynamics. It was very nice to have such an interactive and interesting in-person class after so long.
- Thank you for making things interesting and engaging each week! Loved the group work and activities.
- Definitely glad I took this course in person because it would’ve been way harder to master all the math and information that goes along with it if it was an online course without as specific instruction.
- Fantastic semester, I learned a lot. The guest speakers were so valuable. I’m really glad I got to take this class in-person with you! Thank you Dr. Hahn.
- I think pretty analytically/mathematically so the content was interesting/fun to learn for me. This was one of the only classes I didn’t dread going to, and Professor Hahn was very helpful and genuine in her teaching.
- One of the most engaging, knowledgeable and hands on professors I’ve had at UAA.
- Wonderful teacher who always wanted feedback about the topic. Wanted to know if we were struggling with the subject and she would give us a new example to try. Really had us apply the knowledge to real applications to better our understanding on how to use the topics explained in class.