Surveillance Methods for Applied Epidemiology

This course will further develop students’ skill set by applying methods directly to public health data, building off the epidemiological foundation established in PHP 2140. While focused on applied methods and surveillance practices, epidemiological principles will be emphasized such as assessing systematic and random error in sampling, study design, and data collection. Students will apply these core principles to critically evaluate and synthesize findings from epidemiological studies and begin producing and communicating their own research. Collaborative learning is a key component of the course design. Key course topics include the role of surveillance in public health; the development of case definitions and the collection of data; the assessment of common accuracy limitations in surveillance or secondary data; approaches for cleaning complex data; descriptive statistics generation; sampling and stratification methods; program and policy evaluation; and effective communication in public health practice.