Course Sequence - MPH in Global Epidemiology
Fall 1
Includes 10 credit hours of required courses and variable credit hours of RSPH core courses or electives.
Required
This course is designed to teach students the fundamentals of applied statistical data analysis. Students successfully completing this course will be able to: choose appropriate statistical analyses for a variety of data types; perform exploratory data analyses; implement commonly used one and two-sample hypothesis testing and confidence interval methods for continuous variables; perform tests of association for categorical variables; conduct correlation and simple linear regression analyses; produce meaningful reports of statistical analyses and provide sound interpretations of analysis results. Students will be able to implement the statistical methods learned using SAS and JMP software on personal computers.
The lab portion of BIOS 500 is designed with two purposes in mind: 1) to illustrate concepts and methods presented in the lectures using hands-on demonstrations and 2) to introduce SAS, a widely used statistical software package, as a data analysis tool. By the end of the semester, you should be able to produce and interpret statistical output for methods learned in BIOS 500 lecture.
Prerequisite/concurrent: BIOS 500. Emphasizes the concepts and premises of the science of epidemiology. Methods of hypothesis formulation and evaluation are stressed. Techniques for quantifying the amount of disease (or other health indicator) in populations are introduced, followed by discussion of epidemiologic study designs useful for identifying etiologic factors and other relevant correlates of disease. Students gain facility with the calculation of basic epidemiologic measures of frequency, association, and impact. The concepts of random variability, bias, and effect modification are examined in detail. The use of stratified analysis, including Mantel-Haenszel techniques, is explored. Inferences from study results are discussed. Students are required to analyze and critique studies from the current medical and scientific literature.
Online Asynchronous. 1 hour online module addressing 4 of the 12 CEPH required Foundational Knowledge items. The module will begin with an introduction to a "Public Health Perspective followed by the 4 items of foundational knowledge.
Spring 1
Includes 12 credit hours of required courses and variable credit hours of RSPH core courses or electives.
Required
Prerequisites: BIOS 500 or permission of instructor. For EPI students Only taken in the spring semester of their first year. The course covers fundamental concepts in applied simple and multiple linear regression analyses, one- and two-way analysis of variance and binary logistic regression. Concepts in survival analysis will also be introduced. Students will learn when and how to apply these methods. The emphasis will be on practical data analysis skills rather than statistical theory; however, wherever possible and feasible, mathematical details of regression models will be presented. In-class data analysis examples will employ SAS and R software. Homework assignments, quizzes and exams will include data analyses using SAS and R, as well as other questions designed to reinforce concepts and assess foundational competencies. Teaching assistant office hours will consist of organized review/recitation sessions, and will also include opportunities for student questions.
Department of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics
The purpose of this course is to provide students with practical skills and knowledge for designing, starting and implementing epidemiologic studies in research and practice.
Department of Epidemiology
Prerequisites EPI 530, BIOS 500, EPI 534 and BIOS 591P or BIOS 501 concurrent. This course develops epidemiologic concepts introduced in EPI 530: Epidemiologic Methods I, providing a more advanced discussion of issues related to causality, bias, study design, interaction, effect modification and mediation. It will also provide opportunities for the application of these examples via analysis of epidemiologic data.
Prerequisites: GEH, GH, and GLEPI students only.
The goal of the course is to equip students with critical perspectives to address current and future global health challenges and opportunities as public health professionals and global citizens in this increasingly interdependent world. The course explores historical milestones, actors, assumptions, context and theories driving selected global health priorities in policy, programs and research. To do this, the course will enhance the skills of critical thinking, assessment of evidence from multiple perspectives and application of evidence in formulation of policies, programs and research priorities. A recurring theme throughout the course is that there are common global drivers influencing the health of populations and that cross-cutting issues of equity and systems transcend settings.
PUBH students will join students from health professional programs across the Woodruff Health Sciences Center to receive didactic training to perform effectively on interprofessional teams and to apply leadership and management principles to address a relevant public health issue. Interprofessional teams will compete in a health challenge competition designed to address public health and clinical issues of importance to the Atlanta community.
Fall 2
Includes 4 credit hours of required courses and at least 5 credit hours of RSPH core courses, global health methods courses, or electives.
Required
Prerequisites: EPI 530, 533/534, 539/540/545, BIOS 500, and 591P. Covers concepts, methods, and application of key mathematical modeling approaches used to evaluate multivariable data from epidemiologic studies: logistic regression, Cox regression, collinearity, modeling strategy for determining a best model, goodness of fit, and ROC curves. The course also teaches a broader philosophy and approach for constructing the appropriate models for answering the question under study.
Options
Provides the student with basic knowledge about the behavioral sciences as they are applied to public health. Content includes an overview of each discipline and current issues for students who are not enrolled in the BSHE MPH Program.
EH 500 is a survey course designed to introduce public health students to basic concepts of environmental sciences, to the methods used to study the interface of health and the environment, to the health impacts of various environmental processes and exposures, and to the public health approach to controlling or eliminating environmental health risks. To address these concepts, basic environmental health principles (exposure assessment, environmental toxicology, environmental epidemiology, risk assessment), as well as specific environmental health issues including water and air pollution, hazardous chemical/waste exposures, climate change, and environmental drivers of disease ecology, will be covered.
Required for all MPH students. Introduces students to the US health care system, both the public and private sector. Examines the structure of the health system, current topics in health care reform, the policy process, and advocacy for public health.
Prerequisites: None. GH511 is the first in the two-semester Program Cycle sequence and is typically taken in the student's second semester. This course will provide students with theoretical principles and practical skills for designing and managing global health programs and projects. Sessions will focus on core activities following the project life cycle, including community engagement, formative research, situational analysis, theory of change, project design, principles of project and financial management, and ethical considerations and challenges. This course uses a variety of approaches to foster the development of practical skills in program design and management including lectures, interactive group sessions, discussions with experts, and task-based assignments. This course is a prerequisite for GH512 Program Cycle 2: Monitoring and Evaluation of Global Health Programs. The course is taken for a letter grade.
This course will provide students with the principles and skills for conducting and evaluating qualitative research. Topics include: principles of qualitative research, study design, participant recruitment, ethical considerations, instrument design, data collection methods (interviewing, group discussions and observation), transcription and writing. Students will design and conduct a mini qualitative study to apply skills learned to real world situations. The course outlines challenges of using qualitative methods in international settings and provides guidance on fieldwork planning and implementation to prepare students for their Applied Practice Experience.
This course provides an introduction to the collection of quantitative, representative data. Taking an applied approach, we cover the entire process of designing a study, including instrument design, sampling methods, budgeting and training, fieldwork components, and coding and editing of data. The focus is on collecting data in less-developed countries. Students develop their own surveys and accompanying methods proposals, which they may use for their Applied Practice Experience or other projects.
Hubert Department of Global Health
Spring 2
Includes 4 credit hours of required courses and at least 5 credit hours of RSPH core courses, global health methods courses, or electives.
Students should take either EPI 598C or EPI 598R.
Required
This course provides an opportunity for students to apply the epidemiologic and biostatistical skills that they obtained during their coursework to real-world public health data. Students are presented a problem or research question from a public health organization along with available data that can be used to address the question(s) at hand. The class will be divided into groups of five, with each group working on a distinct, but related question that is relevant for the partnering organization. Students conduct background research to understand the scope and context of the question(s) and conduct relevant analyses. The research findings are presented in a variety of formats. Throughout this course, students continue to develop their professional skills through effective teamwork, giving and receiving feedback, and journal article discussions.
Department of Epidemiology
Enables students to apply the principles and methods learned in an academic setting through the preparation of a monograph that embodies original research.
Department of Epidemiology
Options
Provides the student with basic knowledge about the behavioral sciences as they are applied to public health. Content includes an overview of each discipline and current issues for students who are not enrolled in the BSHE MPH Program.
EH 500 is a survey course designed to introduce public health students to basic concepts of environmental sciences, to the methods used to study the interface of health and the environment, to the health impacts of various environmental processes and exposures, and to the public health approach to controlling or eliminating environmental health risks. To address these concepts, basic environmental health principles (exposure assessment, environmental toxicology, environmental epidemiology, risk assessment), as well as specific environmental health issues including water and air pollution, hazardous chemical/waste exposures, climate change, and environmental drivers of disease ecology, will be covered.
Required for all MPH students. Introduces students to the US health care system, both the public and private sector. Examines the structure of the health system, current topics in health care reform, the policy process, and advocacy for public health.
Provides students with the technical skills to conceptualize and design process and impact evaluations of international public health programs or projects. Helps students understand the role of monitoring and evaluation in policy analysis, planning, program design and management.
Hubert Department of Global Health
Prerequisites: GH 521 or instructor permission. This course provides students with the principles and skills for analyzing qualitative data. Students will learn how to assess data quality, prepare data for analysis, use different analytic techniques, and write and present data. Students will learn analytic techniques through guided classroom activities, lab sessions using MAXQDA software and structured assignments. No data are required, we provide class data sets, but students can use qualitative data collected during their summer applied practice experience if suitable. Each student will work with an individual data set in course assignments.
Prerequisites: EPI 530 and BIOS 500. EPI 540, BIOS 501, and GH 531 strongly recommended. This course provides a conceptual and experiential foundation to address research questions using quantitative data. The course emphasizes the technical skills required to transform a quantitative data set (exemplars: NHANES and Demographic and Health Surveys) into a reproducible analysis for global health applications. Students will receive guided, structured experience with quantitatively operationalizing research questions, data acquisition and management, data exploration, formal data description, conceptualization and construction of composite variables, analysis of statistical associations, and addressing common threats to valid inference. Exercises will be completed using SAS software with an emphasis on programming specific to complex survey designs. Students must register for both lecture and lab components.