Epidemiologists are not skin specialists
BMJ 2004; 329 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/sbmj.0411415 (Published 01 November 2004) Cite this as: BMJ 2004;329:0411415- Dharam J Kumbhani, research fellow1
- 1Harvard Medical School, USA
What does a formal training in epidemiology entail? I came to the Harvard School of Public Health to do my masters degree in clinical epidemiology right after medical school. Many people found this appalling, mainly because I was expected to follow the general trend of completing medical school and getting a good house job--like most medical students. A disbelieving aunt thought that it meant that I was going to become a skin specialist.
Epidemiology programmes, at least in the United States, are mainly offered by schools of public health. Most schools require students to have taken the graduate record examination and the test of English as a foreign language, if applicable. The courses are usually a blend of epidemiology and biostatistics (box 1). You gradually begin to understand how all the numbers and ubiquitous P values in the BMJ find their way there. As part of a clinical research team, you may never be called upon to do these analyses yourself. But it helps to have a working knowledge of things.
Box 1: Core courses
Epidemiology:Introduction and basics of epidemiology
Design and analysis of case-control and cohort studies
Basics and methods of clinical research
Biostatistics:Introduction and principles of biostatistics
Applying biostatistical principles to clinical research (eg, regression methods, survival analysis, meta-analysis)
Applications and use of biostatistical software packages (SAS, STATA, SPSS, EpiInfo)
Substantive courses (area of interest)
Cardiovascular epidemiology
Cancer epidemiology
Molecular or genetic epidemiology
Nutritional epidemiology
Infectious disease epidemiology
Environmental or occupational epidemiology
Pharmacoepidemiology
Reproductive epidemiology
Psychiatric epidemiology
Others (dental epidemiology, etc)
Other public health related courses (optional, if interested)
Health policy and management
Health finance and economics
International health
Environmental health
Health ethics and human rights
Maternal and child health …
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