Epidemiologic Methods and Control

This unit develops applied skills in epidemiologic study design, measurement, and surveillance to investigate and control disease in populations. Students practice calculating incidence/prevalence, identifying and reducing bias and confounding, conducting outbreak investigations, and selecting prevention and control strategies while attending to ethical and reporting requirements.

Learning Objectives

• Analyze common epidemiologic study designs (case-control, cohort, ecological) and compute key measures of disease frequency including incidence, prevalence, and age-standardized rates
• Evaluate sources of bias and confounding in public health research and apply design- and analysis-based strategies to minimize their effects
• Demonstrate surveillance and outbreak investigation procedures, including identification/reporting of notifiable diseases, use of surveillance data, evaluation of screening tests, and roles of infection control personnel
• Apply prevention and control approaches for vaccine-preventable, waterborne, and travel-related diseases and communicate ethical considerations (informed consent, data reporting) and recommended interventions to stakeholders