Selected topics in Epidemiology
[ CK060 ]

This course focusses on the application of the theoretical concepts, that students have thus far learned in the previous courses of the core curriculum, to health-related topics. After having learned the principles of research methods, study designs, and statistical analyses, it is equally important to learn how to effectively apply these concepts in "real-life" settings. To improve population health, theoretical background needs to be complemented with applied epidemiological competencies. In this course, we will retain the established and novel didactics of epidemiology with an overlay that prepares the students to work on specific health-related topics. The overall aim of this course is to teach students how the theoretical concepts appear in real-life settings (sometimes presented using different terminologies).

The course includes a wide range of domains:

• Infectious disease epidemiology (Prof.dr. S.J. de Vlas);

• Medical psychology (Prof.dr. J.J. van Busschbach);

• Health technology assessment (Dr. B.S. Ferket);

• Pharmaco-epidemiology (Prof.dr. B.H.C. Stricker);

• Psychiatric epidemiology (Dr. A.I. Luik);

• Lifestyle epidemiology (Dr. R.G. Voortman);

• Genomic and molecular epidemiology (Prof.dr. F. Rivadeneira);

• Big data (Prof.dr. D. Rizopoulos).

For students in our master programmes, the core concepts presented in this course will be assessed in the core competences exam that bundles the fall semester courses. This is in addition to the assessment during the course in the form of assignment(s). The core competences exam is only mandatory for students starting their programme in August 2021 or later, while the assignments during the course are mandatory for all participating students.

The specific objectives of this two-week course on Selected Topics in Epidemiology are:

• To allow students to further their understanding of theoretical concepts;

• To develop an understanding of these theoretical concepts in practical applications;

• To enable students to apply these theoretical concepts in their own research activities.

Assignment(s)