Advanced Epidemiology

Course outline

CAUSATION, SYSTEMATIC ERRORS, QUANTITATIVE BIAS ANALYSIS

 Day 1 

• Causal Concepts in Epidemiology
• Potential Outcomes Approach (POA) to Causation
• Directed Acyclic Graphs (DAGs)
• Workshop – Class exercise around constructing a DAG for death by shark attack
• Quantitative Bias Analysis (QBA)
• Understanding Selection Bias – an application of DAGs
• Selection Bias and QBA

Day 2

• Understanding Confounding Bias
• Some Alternative Approaches to Control Confounding
• Confounding Bias QBA
• Information Bias
• Information Bias QBA

Day 3

• Probabilistic Bias Analysis
• Multiple Bias Analysis
• Optional Sessions (depends on time and participant interests which ones we cover)

EPIDEMIOLOGICAL MODELLING FOR INTERVENTIONS AND POLICY

 Day 4 

• Day 4 will provide insights into how we can use advanced epidemiological and econometric methods to better inform interventions and policy.
  Morning Sessions: Using G methods to simulate interventions and understand mechanisms in child well-being research
  Afternoon Session: Epidemiological and cost effectiveness modelling to inform policy.
  Final Quiz, Feedback and Wrap-up

Course leaders

Professor Tony Blakely

Tony Blakely’s research has included pioneering the development of methods to link census and health data (New Zealand Census-Mortality Study; Cancer Trends). He directs two HRC-funded research programmes: the Health Inequalities Research Programme (HIRP); the Burden of Disease Epidemiology, Equity and Cost-Effectiveness Programme (BODE³). Tony currently has appointments at both the University of Melbourne and the University of Otago. He has authored about 300 peer-reviewed publications, including many that include critique, development or application of epidemiological methods. Tony is well known for his enthusiastic and engaging style of presentation and teaching.

Professor John Lynch 

John Lynch is the Professor of Epidemiology and Public Health in the School of Public Health, at the University of Adelaide. He is also a Visiting Professor of Epidemiology in the School of Social and Community Medicine at the University of Bristol (UK). He has held academic positions at the University of Michigan (USA) and McGill University in Canada. John is an internationally recognised scholar in epidemiology and public health. He was one of the editors of the International Journal of Epidemiology from 2000 to 2016. His recent research involves early life interventions and he leads the NHMRC CRE, EMPOWER: Health systems, disadvantage and child well-being.

WHAT DO PREVIOUS PARTICIPANTS SAY ABOUT THE COURSE?  

About 30 participants have completed the course each year since 2011, ranging from: recent students of a Diploma/Masters-level taught paper in epidemiology; to lecturers of the same; to senior epidemiologists. All participants would recommend the course to other colleagues, and at least three quarters rated the course 5 out of 5 on ‘content’ and ‘presentation’. Summary comments about the course included:

“This was by far the most useful short course I have ever done. It was an excellent summary of epidemiological advances. I would recommend it to anyone working in, or studying, epidemiology at a moderate to advanced level.” [Lecturer and convenor of Diploma/Masters-level epidemiology taught course.]

 “I found the course highly useful in that it grounded what I had learnt in [Diploma/Masters course] and extended on this. Bits of the [Diploma/Masters course] were still a bit foggy; this course has definitely provided clarity. I also feel much better equipped to consider systematic error and how to address it.” [Recent student of Diploma/Masters-level epidemiology taught course.]