(annually)

EPID 5370
Summer I Term
0.5 CU
Core
Prerequisite
Permission of Instructor; EPID 5360

The objective of this two-course series is to enhance MSCE students' comfort and acumen in all aspects of clinical epidemiological data management and presentation, particularly graphical representation of results. The course progresses from best practices in data collection and database use to advanced data management, summarization of results, and data visualization, all of which are grounded in the prioritization of producing efficient and reproducible research processes. The course will cover and develop skills in: basic data collection, harmonization, and integration with Stata software; best practices for data variable derivation and creation; assessing and dealing with missing data; merging and appending datasets; management of dates and times; assessing free text data; dealing with specific data types such as ICD-9 and 10 codes, cost data, management of longitudinal and time-to-event data; production of descriptive and regression tables (for all regression types); descriptive and regression model visualization; and the use of Stata Markdown files such that research reports can be created directly from Stata. By the end of the two-course series, students will become fluent in the Stata statistical language and be uniquely positioned to advance their independent clinical epidemiological careers through best research and data presentation practices.

EPID 5360
Spring term (second half of term)
0.5 CU
Core
Prerequisite
Permission of Instructor; EPID 5100, EPID 5260, EPID 5270

The objective of this two-course series is to enhance MSCE students' comfort and acumen in all aspects of clinical epidemiological data management and presentation, particularly graphical representation of results. The course progresses from best practices in data collection and database use to advanced data management, summarization of results, and data visualization, all of which are grounded in the prioritization of producing efficient and reproducible research processes. The course will cover and develop skills in: basic data collection, harmonization, and integration with Stata software; best practices for data variable derivation and creation; assessing and dealing with missing data; merging and appending datasets; management of dates and times; assessing free text data; dealing with specific data types such as ICD-9 and 10 codes, cost data, management of longitudinal and time-to-event data; production of descriptive and regression tables (for all regression types); descriptive and regression model visualization; and the use of Stata Markdown files such that research reports can be created directly from Stata. By the end of the two-course series, students will become fluent in the Stata statistical language and be uniquely positioned to advance their independent clinical epidemiological careers through best research and data presentation practices.

EPID 7110
Spring term
1 CU
Elective
Prerequisite
Permission of Instructor

Environmental Epidemiology is an advanced epidemiology course that addresses epidemiological research methods used to study environmental exposures from air pollution to heavy metals, and from industrial pollutants to consumer product chemicals. The course will provide an overview of major study designs in environmental epidemiology, including cohort studies, panel studies, natural experiments, randomized controlled trials, time-series, and case-crossover studies. The course will discuss disease outcomes related to environmental exposures, including cancer and diseases of cardiovascular, respiratory, urinary, reproductive, and nervous systems. Case studies in environmental epidemiology will be discussed to provide details of research methods and findings.

EPID 5420
Fall term (first half of term)
0.5 CU
Core
Prerequisite
Permission of Instructor, EPID 5100

This course addresses the measurement of epidemiological variables, which broadly encompasses the tasks involved in obtaining data, without which analyses cannot proceed. Course topics to be discussed include: defining the concepts of exposure, disease, and health; approaches to measuring exposures, which may be personal (i.e., psychological, behavioral, biological, or genetic) or environmental (i.e., physical, chemical, social, or organizational); approaches to measuring disease and health status; assessing the validity and reliability of measurement instruments; problems of misclassification of exposure status and disease status; missing data; instrument (e.g., questionnaire) development; and qualitative methods. 

EPID 5840
Summer I Term
1 CU
Elective
Prerequisite
EPID 5100; EPID 5260

This course will provide an overview of research in health disparities. It will cover the historical aspects, concepts, policy, economic, genomic and social perspectives of health disparities. It will provide students with methodological tools for health disparities research and introduce students to ongoing health disparities research by current Penn and affiliated faculty members. The course is composed of a series of weekly small group lectures and discussion, including critical appraisal of published papers, guest faculty presentations, and student presentations. Students will be expected to attend weekly meetings and participate in class discussions, prepare and lead discussions of assigned papers, review assigned readings, and draft and present a scientific protocol of their choosing related to health disparities.

Course 2
Fall term (second half of term)

This course is designed for collaborative researchers and will provide an overview of the fundamental concepts of biostatistics. Topics covered include descriptive statistics, sampling distribution, confidence intervals, hypothesis testing, t-test, analysis of variance, linear model, logistic regression, and survival data analysis. The course includes a laboratory session demonstrating the use of STATA to carry out tests discussed in the lecture. Emphasis in this course is placed on understanding data properties, choosing appropriate analysis methods, performing analysis, and interpreting study results.

Course 4
Spring term (second half of term)

This course provides students with an introduction to the techniques of data collection and database management as they apply to clinical research. Students learn how to design and implement computerized databases and electronic surveys using the REDCap platform, perform basic data import and export operations, protect the security and confidentiality of study data, and perform quality assurance procedures. This course focuses on the practical issues of database management.

Course 3
Spring term (first half of term)

This course will cover methods in the design, conduct, and reporting of clinical trials. Topics to be covered include: study design and biostatistical considerations specific to drug development (with particular emphasis on cancer research); research ethics; regulatory and monitoring issues; data management; and methods for the incorporation of biological endpoints into clinical trial design/implementation. A primer on publishing results is also provided.

Course 1
Fall term (first half of term)

This course is a series of lectures introducing basic principles of epidemiologic research design. Lectures include the following topics: definitions of epidemiology; measures of disease frequency; measures of effect and association; epidemiologic study designs, both experimental and non-experimental; data collection methods; and an overview of analysis of epidemiologic studies.

EPID 5460
Fall term (second half of term)
0.5 CU
Core
Prerequisite
Permission of Instructor, EPID 5100

This course will discuss appropriate selection of healthcare databases for research questions of interest; assessment of drug exposures; validation of health outcomes of interest; and addressing biases, confounding, and missing data in databases. We will also review key aspects of research protocol development for database studies and discuss research grant applications related to these studies.

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