Thousands of new epidemiological studies are conducted every year and their results can have a profound impact on how we live our lives. Decisions regarding the food you eat, how much you exercise, where you live and what treatment you will follow if you get sick are made based on data from such studies. This specialization aims to equip you with the skills that will allow you to correctly interpret epidemiological research, consider its limitations, and design your own studies.
The first course of the specialisation, Measuring Disease in Epidemiology, looks into the main measures used in epidemiology and how these can inform decisions around public health policy, screening and prevention.
The second course, Study Designs in Epidemiology, provides an overview of the most common study designs, their strengths and limitations.
The third course, Validity and Bias in Epidemiology, builds on the fundamental concepts taught in the previous courses to discuss bias and confounding and how they might affect study results. It also provides the essential skills to prevent and control bias and confounding and critically think about causality.
At the end of this specialization you will have gained the essential skills to design and critique epidemiological research and you will be able to pursue more advanced courses in epidemiology. Although this specialization is part of the GMPH programme, it can be taken independently of the GMPH.
Applied Learning Project
Through the assignments of this specialisation you will use the skills you have learned to calculate appropriate measures of frequency and association in a variety of study types. You will also practise identifying bias and confounding in epidemiological research and taking the necessary steps to control for them. By doing that, you will be able to decide which study findings should be trusted and correctly interpret their real life applications.
