Math 125: Epidemiology

Class Schedule

   Tu Th     Tu Th     Tu Th     Tu Th     Tu Th
Sept 6 11 13 18 20 25 27
Oct 2 4 9 11 16 18 23 25 30
Nov 1 6 8 13 15 20 22 27 29
Dec 4 6 11 15

Feedback on Phase 1 of Island Descriptive Study — scroll down to find your group.

Upcoming Days

Three review sessions will be held in Olin-Rice 254 (Math Computer Science Reading Room) in preparation for the end of the semester.

Course evaluation form

A collection of review questions and a version with the multiple choice answers marked.

Tues 11 Dec

Topic: Reform, Improvement

Reading:

In-class:

On Your Own:


Sat 15 Dec

Final Exam: 1:30-3:30

Course Resources

Final Exam Time: Sat 15 Dec. 1:30-3:30 pm. Make your travel plans accordingly!

Outline and Main Readings:

Background and Goals

Measuring Health and Disease (4 sessions)

Outbreak & Spread of Disease (3 sessions)

Cause and Effect (4 sessions)

Risk (4 sessions)

Detection (4 Sessions)

Evaluating Trade-Offs (3 sessions)

Health-Care Reform (2 sessions)

Historical Background (interspersed throughout the course)

Day-by-Day Syllabus

Past Days

Thurs 6 Sept

Topic: Introduction to epidemiology and the course

Reading:

Assignment:

On Your Own:

In-class:

Notes:


Tues 11 Sept

Topic: Prevalence, Incidence, Mortality, Life Expectancy

Reading:

Assignment:

In Class:

Notes:

Thurs 13 Sept

Topic: Life expectancy, spreadsheet calculations

Reading:

Assignment:

In-Class:


Tues 18 Sept

Topic: Life expectancy (cont), sources of data, surveillance

Reading:

Assignment:

On Your Own:

In-class:


Thurs 20 Sept

Topic: Study Designs

Reading:

Assignment:

On Your Own:

In-class:


Tues 25 Sept

Topic: Exposure and disease. Relative risks.

Reading:

Assignment:

In Class:

On Your Own: News item: Life expectancy falls


Thurs 27 Sept

Topic: Measures of Association

Reading:

Assignment:

On Your Own:

In-class:


Tues 2 Oct

Topic: Outbreaks!

Reading:

Assignment:

On Your Own:

In-class:


Thurs 4 Oct

Topic: SIR Model of Epidemics, Eradication

Reading:

Assignment:

On Your Own:

Based on true events and bolstered by extensive research with medical experts, Plague City brings to television the stories of the actual heroes of the SARS crisis: the many health care workers who risked their lives on a daily basis caring for sick and dying patients. At the same time, the CTV movie underscores the struggle of Toronto's public health officials and politicians as they attempted to control the quickly spreading disease, suppress the rising public panic and mitigate the devastating economic repercussions.

In-class:


Tues 9 Oct

Topic: Wrapping up the spread of epidemics. The statistics of confidence intervals.

Reading:

Assignment:

I welcome proposals for skits to be made into short videos that would explain things in a fun and informative way to a general audience.

On Your Own:

In-class:


Thurs 11 Oct

Topic: Chance and Error

Reading:

Assignment:

On Your Own:

In-class:


Tues 16 Oct

Topic:

Reading:

Assignment:

On Your Own:

In-class:


Thurs 18 Oct

Topic: Confounding, Cause and Effect (II)

Reading:

Assignment:

After Class

On Your Own:

Tues 23 Oct

Topic: Catch up. MID-TERM EXAM (second 45 minutes of class)

Examples of Exam Questions These questions will give you a feel for the style of the questions likely to be asked on the exam. Answers are given here

Study Guide for Exam. In addition to the vocabulary and concepts, you'll be expected to be able to do certain calculations that we have done in class:

In reviewing these calculations, go through the following end-of-chapter problems from the Essential Epidemiology textbook:

A calculation problem on the test will be drawn from these very problems. You'll find answers to the problems in the back of the textbook. For life-expectancy calculations, review Appendix 5 from the book.

On Your Own:

In-class:


Thurs 25 Oct

Fall Break!

Some movies to get your Epi fix while on break:


Tues 30 Oct

Topic: Association and Causation

Reading:

Assignment:

On Your Own:

In-class:


Thurs 1 Nov

Topic: Survival Analysis

Reading:

Assignment:

On Your Own:

In-class:


Tues 6 Nov

Topic: Risk

Reading:

Assignment:

On Your Own:

In-class:

Thurs 8 Nov

Topic: Risk II

Reading:

Assignment:

On Your Own:

In-class:

Tues 13 Nov

Topic: Risk, stratification of risk, fright factors

Reading:

Assignment:

On Your Own:

In-class:

Thurs 15 Nov

Topic: Detection and Screening

Reading:

Assignment:

On Your Own:

In-class:

Tues 20 Nov

Topic: Screening generally. The controversy over mammography and PSA screening.

Reading:

Assignment:


Thurs 22 Nov

Thanksgiving Break!


Tues 27 Nov

Detection and Screening (continued)

Reading:

In Class:

On Your Own


Thurs 29 Nov

Topic: Trade-Offs

Reading:

Assignment:

In-class:

Tues 4 Dec

Topic: Trade-offs

Reading:

Assignment:

In-class:

On Your Own:

Thurs 6 Dec

Topic: Health Care Reform

Reading:

In-class: