Infectious Diseases Clinical Epidemiology Training Program
Background and History
The School of Medicine established the Center for Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics (CCEB) in 1993 as the primary home for epidemiology and biostatistics at Penn. Through its predecessor, the Clinical Epidemiology Unit (CEU), now subsumed within the CCEB, the CCEB has been involved in epidemiologic and biostatistical teaching and research since 1978. The CCEB is directed by Brian L. Strom, MD, MPH, the Director for the Infectious Diseases Clinical Epidemiology Training Program.
The CCEB aims to improve public health by linking epidemiology, biostatistics, clinical medicine, and the health sciences; bringing epidemiologic and biostatistical research methods to basic science and clinical research; and conveying an understanding of research methodology to the health sciences. The CCEB is inherently multidisciplinary. Its faculty have advanced degrees in various disciplines, including applied and pure mathematics, biostatistics and statistics, clinical pharmacy, decision science, economics, epidemiology, genetic counseling, genetics, health services and administration, health policy, history and sociology of science, information science, pharmacology and toxicology, public health, sociology, and social work.
The CCEB trained its first trainee in infectious diseases clinical epidemiology in 1996; this program has been funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases since 2003. Twenty-seven clinicians focusing on infectious diseases research have received fellowships since the inception of the training program, now conducted in collaboration with the Infectious Diseases Division within the Department of Medicine and the Division of Infectious Diseases within the Department of Pediatrics.
The fellowship training program is directed by Dr. Strom. Dr. Strom works closely with two Co-Directors in the management of this program: Harvey M. Friedman, MD, Chief of the Infectious Diseases Division within the Department of Medicine; and Ebbing Lautenbach, MD, MPH, MSCE, Associate Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology, Associate Hospital Epidemiologist and Co-Director of the Antimicrobial Stewardship Program, all at the University of Pennsylvania.
