About the Department
Facilities and Resources
The Department of Epidemiology is an academic and public resource for assessment and improvement of human health. It strives to improve public and personal health by preparing students for careers that require specialized knowledge of epidemiologic theories, methods, and analytic techniques; by conducting innovative research in the magnitude, determinants, and prevention of disease and its consequences and in health promotion and evaluation; and by providing education, consultation and collaboration with public health and other programs. The Department of Epidemiology has maintained diversity and a multi-emphasis graduate degree program with faculty who have expertise in a variety of areas, with emphasis on those with public health importance to rural America. Academic degrees are offered through the MPH program, the MS in Epidemiology program, the PhD in Epidemiology program and the MS in Clinical Investigation program.
Dr. James Torner is Professor and Head of the Department. The Department currently has 16 full-time faculty, 52 secondary and adjunct faculty, 7 emeritus faculty and four research scientists. The research activities support nearly 210 research staff and graduate research assistants. Space for the academic department is available in the General Hospital for faculty and administrative staff. Research programs are located in the Westlawn Building, Old Capitol Centre, and Oakdale Hall on campus as well as satellite clinics of the Preventive Intervention Center at the Towncrest Center in Iowa City and in Des Moines. Research administration is done through the College of Public Health by dedicated personnel in the Department and Centers: the Iowa Cancer Registry, the Iowa Registry for Congenital and Inherited Disorders, the Preventive Intervention Center, Health Effectiveness Research Center, the Nutrition Research and Resource Center and the Lipid Research Clinic, and the Center for Emerging Infectious Diseases. The Departmental faculty are also members of several University and College centers such as the Holden Comprehensive Cancer Center, the Center on Aging, the Injury Prevention Research Center, the Environmental Health Sciences Research Center, the Center on Health Effects from Environmental Contaminants and the Institute for Clinical and Translational Research. The Epidemiology Resource Core Protocol Development provides researchers and students with expertise in data management, statistical consulting, research budgeting, protocol and questionnaire repository, data archive and sample storage and cataloging.
Areas of research and academic emphasis include aging epidemiology, birth defects epidemiology, cancer epidemiology, cardiovascular disease epidemiology, infectious disease epidemiology, injury epidemiology, neuroepidemiology, pharmacoepidemiology, reproductive epidemiology, genetic epidemiology, nutritional epidemiology, and health services research and outcome epidemiology. Sources of funding for grants and contracts are from the NIH (NCI, Fogarty International Center, NIEHS, NHLBI, NIA, NIDR, NIDCD, NINDS, NIMH, NIAID, NIDDK), the NLM, CDC, NHSTA, NIOSH, HCFA, DoD-GEIS, CDRF and AHRQ; various foundations (Wellmark Foundation, Arthritis Foundation, Robert Wood Johnson, Cancer Research Foundation, Pew Charitable Trusts, Roy J. Carver Charitable Trust, W. K. Kellogg Foudation, Principal Financial Group Foundation, and National Pork Board); associations (American Heart Association, American Cancer Society, American Dietetic Association, American Emu Association); private industry (Merck, Bristol-Meyers Squibb, Merck/Schering-Plough, Pfizer, Hoffman LaRoche, GlaxosmithKline, USAA, Daiichi Sankyo, Sanofi-Aventis, Abbott Labs, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Quidel, MITRE); center grants, and institutional grants.
Major research studies include the Agricultural Health Study, the Women’s Health Initiative, the Iowa Cancer Registry, the Iowa Center for Birth Defects Research and Prevention, National Birth Defects Prevention Study, National Down Syndrome Project, Muscular Dystrophy Surveillance Tracking and Research Network, Iowa Stillbirth Surveillance Project, the Study of Fluoride and Other Factors in Childhood Bone Development, the International Study of Unruptured Intracranial Aneurysms, the University of Iowa Older Adults CERT, Lung Cancer Care Outcomes/Surveillance Consortium – Iowa (CanCORS), Adolescent Diet Hormones and Breast Cancer Susceptibility, Promoting Health and Reducing Obesity in Children: A Community-Based Pilot Project in Iowa, Nutrition Experiences in Cancer Prevention, Pharmaceutical Case Management and Living Well with a Disability, National Surveillance for Emerging Adenovirus Infections, Transcriptional and Genetic Profiles in HNSCCs, the Multicenter Knee Osteoarthritis Study , Domestic Abuse in Pregnancy and Adverse Birth Outcomes, and Maternal-Fetal HLA Sharing and Risk of Preeclampsia.