Introduction to Epidemiology

How can you design a study to evaluate the risk factors associated with the recent reversal in life expectancy in the United States? How do you assess the benefits and risks related to the recent cancer screening guidelines? This course introduces the basic principles and methods of epidemiology and demonstrates the applicability to public health and medicine. The goal of this course is to provide fundamental skills needed to begin to interpret and critically evaluate literature relevant to public health. Topics include measures of disease frequency and association, epidemiologic study designs, sources of bias and error, screening, and applications to public health.