Course Descriptions and Availability

Brief course descriptions of Epidemiology courses and selected other courses of special interest to Epidemiology students. For more detailed information about a specific course, contact the course instructor or the graduate program coordinator. [NOTE: This list does not include courses reserved for students in the M.S. in Clinical Investigation program that are generally unavailable to other students.]

Epidemiology Courses

173:099 Practicing Evidence-Based Public Health, 3 s.h.
How epidemiologic and other scientific studies underlie public health practice; relationship between evidence and action; controversies at interface of science and policy. Offered spring semesters of even years.

173:111 International Health, 3 s.h.
Urgent health problems in the developing world and among disadvantaged populations in developed countries; biological, social, cultural, political aspects of international health problems; applications of research methods from epidemiology, environmental health, social sciences. Same as 175:111 and 152:111. Offered fall semesters.

173:120 Principles of Public Health Informatics, 2 s.h.
Introduce systematic applications of information science, computer science and technology to public health practice, research, and learning. Review methods of disease surveillance, data collection, analysis, and reporting with the emerging science of health informatics. Offered fall semesters.

173:140 Epidemiology I: Principles, 3 s.h.
Epidemiologic concepts and methods; design of descriptive and analytic studies, such as aggregate, case series, cross-sectional, case-control, cohort studies, clinical trials; application of epidemiology to public health practice; communication and dissemination of epidemiologic findings. Offered fall and spring semesters, and summer sessions. The web-based version of the course cannot be used by Epidemiology students.

173:145 Public Health Data, 2 s.h.
Concepts and methods of obtaining and using public health data in community settings; how public health data are used for epidemiologic investigations and prevention programs. Pre- or co-requisites: 171:161 and 173:140. Offered spring semesters of odd years.

173:150 Introduction to Clinical Epidemiology, 2 s.h.
Epidemiologic applications and methods used in clinical settings to evaluate clinical medicine and other health profession disciplines, including health measurement, health outcome determination, diagnostic process, risk assessment and communication, prognosis, study design, patient surveys, clinical trials, decision analysis and meta-analysis health services research. Pre- or co-requisites: 171:161 and 173:140. Offered fall semesters.

173:153 Surveillance Internship: IRCID, 2 s.h.
Internship experience in the Iowa Registry for Congenital and Inherited Disorders. Overview and experience with activities involved in active, population-based surveillance for selected congenital and inherited disorders. Pre- or co-requisites: 173:140, 173:160, 173:240. Offered fall semesters.

173:154 Cancer Registration Internship, 2 s.h.
Provides an understanding of the sources of data necessary for the operation of a population-based cancer registry, potential uses of the data, and methods and personnel required to collect, edit, quality assure, and report data. Pre-requisites:173:140. Offered spring semesters.

173:155 Diagnostic Microbiology for Epidemiology, 3 s.h.
Introduction to microbiological culture, antigen detection, immunological and molecular amplification laboratory techniques for bacteria, viruses, parasites, and fungi. Prerequisite: 061:103 or 061:112 or 061:157 or 061:164, or consent of instructor. Offered spring semesters.

173:156 Introduction to Molecular Epidemiology, 3 s.h.
Introduction to basic techniques of molecular biology (DNA, RNA, protein techniques) and their use in epidemiological research, (e.g., diagnosis of disease, biomarker discovery and validation).. Pre- or co-requisite: 173:140. Offered fall semesters.

173:157 Zoonotic Diseases, 2 s.h.
Introduction to the epidemiology and control of zoonotic diseases, zoonoses endemic to the Midwestern United States.Prerequisite: 061:103 or 061:112 or 61:157 or 61:164 or 173:155 or 173:255. Offered summer sessions.

173:158 Public Health Laboratory Techniques, 1 s.h.
Performing common laboratory techniques used in emerging infectious respirtory disease research and epidemiological surveillance laboratories; emphasis on techniques for culturing, characterization, and serological surveillance of exposure to influenze viruses. Offered summer semesters.

173:159 Applied Infectious Disease Epidemiology, 2 s.h.
Introduction to infectious disease surveillance, diagnostic tools, outbreak investigations, vaccine trials, public health intervention, biodefense, emerging infectious diseases, and analytical approaches pertaining to infectious disease prevention and control. Offered summer semesters.

173:160 Introduction to Epidemiologic Data Analysis, 2 s.h.
Organization, collection, management and analysis of epidemiological data using computer programs. Pre- or co-requisites: 171:161 and 173:140. Offered fall semesters.

173:170 Injury Prevention and Control, 3 s.h.
Theory, research and practice of injury control; unintentional and intentional injuries; local, national, international injury issues. Same as 175:170. Offered fall semesters.

173:175 Research Methods in Disaster Studies, 3 s.h.
Epidemiologic study of disasters and their health consequences; research to identify and reduce health effects, research in context of response and preparedness. Same as 175:175 Offered spring semesters of odd years.

173:190 Problems/Special Topics in Epidemiology, arr.
Didactic material in epidemiology’; may include tutorial, seminar, faculty-directed work (e.g. literature search, project, short research project). May be a course on a special topic taught on a one-time or first-time basis.

173:195 Preceptorship in Epidemiology, 3 s.h.
A guided learning experience through a quantitative, research-oriented project. It must be performed with a specifically identified preceptor. Preceptorship topics and activities must be consonant with the domains of preventive medicine and epidemiology, and consonant with the general plans and goals of the student. Preceptorships are not limited to a particular geographic site; they may be on-campus or off-campus, and even in an international setting. All preceptorships must have a prospectus prepared by the student. A preceptorship should have a minimum of 30 hours of total activity for each semester-hour of credit sought. The student is required to present research results in a scientific poster.

173:200 Independent Study in Epidemiology, arr.
In-depth pursuit of an area of special interest in epidemiology requiring substantial creativity and independence. Repeatable.

173:205 Research in Epidemiology, arr.
Research that may lead to a dissertation. Repeatable.

173:208 Conducting Literature Syntheses, 1 s.h.
Development of skills in conducting literature searches and writing literature summaries or reviews for background section of grants or theses. Pre- or co-requisites: 171:161 and 173:140. Offered spring semesters.

173:209 Behavioral Epidemiology, 3 s.h.
Behavioral epidemiology including discussion of diet, exercise, smoking, and social support. Application of design and measurement concepts, along with problem solving skills to conduct research, including focus groups, cognitive interviewing, and pilot studies using qualitative methods to design quantitative questions for obtaining information regarding behavior. Pre- or co-requisites: 171:161 and 173:140. Offered spring semesters.

173:210 Writing a Research Protocol, 3 s.h.
Small group projects to develop research protocols using epidemiological study designs; presentation and defense of proposals before faculty site visitors. Prerequisites: 171:161, 173:140, and 173:240. Offered fall semesters.

173:215 Writing for Medical Journals, 1 s.h.
Skill development in writing medical journal articles for publication. Prerequisite: consent of instructor. Offered spring semesters.

173:225 Genetics and Epidemiology, 4 s.h.
Basic human genetic and population genetics principles; methods of integrating genetic principles into epidemiological studies; analytical methods for case control and family data. Prerequisites: 171:161 and 173:140, or consent of instructor. Offered spring semesters.

173:230 Principles of Dietary Assessment, 1 s.h.
Overview of current dietary assessment methods; evaluation of dietary records, dietary recall, food frequency questionnaires, brief dietary scanners, nutrient databases, and nutrient intakes standards. Prerequisite: 3 s.h. of college nutrition courses. Offered spring semesters.

173:233 Evidence-Based Nutrition Policy, 3 s.h.
Concepts and methods used in setting public health nutrition policy; evidence-based aspects of nutrition policy formation in public health settings; evaluation of nutritional public health policy implementation. Offered summer sessions.

173:235 Nutritional Epidemiology, 2 s.h.
Application of epidemiology study designs to nutrition variables and chronic disease; analysis of nutrition epidemiology studies and design of research protocols. Recommended: a basic nutrition course. Offered spring semesters.

173:236 Nutrition Intervention in Clinical Trials Research, 2 s.h.
Nutrition interventions in clinical trials; disease related to nutrition variables; research that links effects of diet on chronic diseases. Offered fall semesters.

173:237 Nutrition Intervention in Research Lab, 3 s.h.
Development, demonstration of group counseling skills in ongoing nutrition research projects at The University of Iowa. Pre- or co-requisite: 173:236 or consent of instructor. Offered fall semesters.

173:240 Epidemiology II: Advanced Methods, 4 s.h.
Epidemiologic study design and analysis; bias, confounding, effect modification; case-control studies; cohort studies; field methods; measurement principles; exposure and disease classification; acute and chronic disease examples. Prerequisites: 171:161, 173:140, and 173:160. Offered spring semesters.

173:245 Epidemiology of Physical Activity, 3 s.h.
Physical activity/disease relationships through application of epidemiologic methods; research design, interpretation of studies, selection of measures to fit research questions. Same as 028:249. Offered fall semesters

173:251 Injury Epidemiology, 3 s.h.
How epidemiology can be applied to injury prevention and control: epidemiology literature, specific methodological problems involved in the epidemiology of injuries, critical evaluation of research articles. Same as 175:251. Prerequisite: 173:140 or consent of instructor. Offered spring semesters of odd years.

173:253 Epidemiology of Occupational Injuries, 3 s.h.
Epidemiological literature on occupational injuries and their prevention; focus on research methods. Same as 175:253. Prerequisite: 173:140 or consent of instructor. Offered spring semesters of even years.

173:255 Epidemiology of Infectious Diseases, 3 s.h.
Underlying epidemiological concepts of infection and disease, including causation and surveillance; prevention and control; case studies. Same as 152:257. Prerequisite 173:140 or equivalent. Offered fall semesters.

173:256 Hospital Epidemiology, 2 s.h.
Health care-associated infections; surveillance, investigative methods, resistant organisms, molecular epidemiology; methods for preventing spread of pathogens, including isolation precautions; environmental issues, construction, sterilization; interactive exercises. Prerequisite: 173:140 or equivalent. Offered spring semesters of odd years.

173:257 Infectious Causes of Chronic Disease, 3 s.h.
Evidence linking various infectious agents with the development of different types of chronic disease. Pre- or Corequisite: 173:140. Offered spring semesters.

173:260 Epidemiology of Chronic Diseases, 3 s.h.
Chronic disease epidemiology; survey of leading chronic diseases, including measurement of disease, lifestyle, nutrition, occupation, family history. Prerequisite: 173:140 or consent of instructor. Offered spring semesters.

173:261 Epidemiology of Aging, 1 s.h.
Epidemiologic methods for studying health and social problems of older persons; applications including research and public health practice and policy. Same as 153:261. Prerequisite: 173:140. Offered spring semesters

173:262 Neuroepidemiology, 2 s.h.
Basic epidemiologic concepts to neurologic disease; concepts, methods, examples of Neuroepidemiology; various diseases, methods. Prerequisites: 173:140 and 173:160. Offered spring semesters.

173:263 Epidemiology of Reproductive Diseases, 2 s.h.
Evaluation of methodological issues and current findings for reproductive diseases and conditions; etiological mechanisms, including behavioral and genetic. Prerequisite: 173:140. Offered fall semesters.

173:264 Epidemiology of Maternal & Infant Health, 2 s.h.
A state-of-the-art overview of key topics in the field of maternal and infant health epidemiology. Methodologic issues, public health importance, review of the scientific literature, and current research directions will be emphasized. Prerequisites: 171:161 and 173:140. Offered spring semesters.

173:265 Cardiovascular Disease Epidemiology, 3 s.h.
Natural history of atherosclerotic disease in humans and risk factors affecting its development; atherosclerotic disease by age, sex, and in varied populations worldwide; recent guidelines and clinical trials to delay onset, reduce incidence, improve outcome of cardiovascular disease. Prerequisites 171:161 and 173:140. Offered fall semesters of odd years.

173:267 Psychiatric Epidemiology, 3 s.h.
Population-based studies of psychiatric disorders and associated etiologic tools; diagnostic criteria used in psychiatric research, common structured interviews and rating scales; recent research relevant to common psychiatric disorders; experience writing a research idea using NIH PHS grant form. Same as 073:255. Prerequisite: 173:140 or consent of instructor. Recommended: 173:240 or two years of resident training in psychiatry. Offered spring semesters of even years.

173:270 Cancer Epidemiology and Control, 3 s.h.
Incidence, mortality, survival; risk factors, cancer control options for major cancer sites; principles and methods of cancer registration; research examples by type of study design. Prerequisites: 171:161 and 173:140. Offered spring semesters of even years.

173:272 Cancer Molecular Epidemiology Seminar, 2 s.h.
Application of basic tumor biology and lab-based methods to develop translational approaches to prevention, early diagnosis, and treatment of human cancers. Same as 069:272. Offered spring semesters of odd years.

173:276 Health Care Utilization Outcomes, 3 s.h.
Research tools to assess changes in health care use and cost as outcomes of treatment; evidence-based medicine, meta-analysis, decision trees, cost-of-illness analysis, cost effectiveness models. Same as 174:268. Offered fall semesters.

173:280 Introduction to Health Care Organization and Policy, 3 s.h.
Organization of U.S. health care system, health policies that shape its development; historical, socioeconomic, political, environmental forces that influence the organization, financing, and delivery of personal and public health services; health services, policy concepts, and terminology, including health determinants, access to care, system integration, policy development, federalism.. Same as 174:200. Offered fall semesters.

173:290 Intervention and Clinical Trials, 3 s.h.
Methodologic introduction to rationale, design, conduct, analysis, and presentation of clinical trials; basics of clinical trial design; variety of designs, examples from clinical trials; biostatistical methods, including sample size determination. Prerequisites: 171:161 and 173:140, or equivalents. Offered fall semesters.

173:291 Pharmacoepidemiology, 3 s.h.
Drug approval process, methods for identification and attribution of adverse drug events, current understanding of the epidemiology of adverse drug events; study designs, data sources for pharmacoepidemiology, pharmaeconomics. Prerequisites: 173:140. Offered fall semesters of even years.

173:300 Thesis/Dissertation, arr.
Work on Epidemiology M.S. thesis or Ph.D. dissertation with the thesis/dissertation adviser. Repeatable.

173:320 Teaching in Epidemiology, 3 s.h.
Teaching methods in epidemiology; guided practicum experience in teaching epidemiology, in preparation for academic careers. Prerequisites: 173:140, 173:160, and173:240.

173:340 Epidemiology III: Theories, 3 s.h.
How epidemiology fits into the wider context of scientific inquiry. Prerequisites: 171:241, 173:140, and 173:240. Offered fall semesters of odd years.

Selected Other College of Public Health Courses

Biostatistics

171:161 Introduction to Biostatistics, 3 s.h.
Introduction to the application of statistical techniques to biological data. Topics include descriptive statistics, probability, binomial, Poisson, and normal distributions, sampling distributions; tests of significance, confidence intervals, analysis of frequency data, and simple linear regression. Prerequisite: college algebra. Offered fall and spring semesters and summer session.

171:162 Design and Analysis of Biomedical Studies, 3 s.h.
Simple and multiple linear regression and correlation; one- and two-way layout considerations in planning experiments; factorial experiments; multiple comparison techniques; orthogonal contrasts. Prerequisites: 171:161 or equivalent. Same as 22S:140. Offered spring semesters.

171:164 Research Data Management, 3 s.h.
Overview of problems encountered in gathering and processing data from biomedical investigations; introduction to various data management techniques useful in biomedical studies; introduction to Microsoft Access. Prerequisite: Fortran or C programming capability. Offered fall semesters of odd years.

171:173 Intermediate Design of Sample Surveys, 3 s.h.
Intermediate course dealing with challenges encountered in designing sample surveys, including construction and number strata, unbiased ratio estimators, multi-staged sampling, variance estimation in complex surveys, double sampling, sampling frame construction, panel studies, and problems due to non-response. Prerequisites: 171:202, 22S:154 or 22S:194 or equivalent. Offered fall semesters.

171:174 Introductory Longitudinal Data Analysis, 3 s.h.
Introduction to statistical models and estimation methods that can be used to analyze correlated data, such as when the same subject is measured repeatedly. Use of statistical software is emphasized. Prerequisite: 171:161 or equivalent, or consent of instructor. Pre- or co-requisite: 171:162 or 22S:152, or consent of instructor. Same as 22S:160. Offered fall even years.

171:241 Applied Categorical Data Analysis, 3 s.h.
Overview of the methods used to analyze categorical data from health science investigations, including estimation of rates and risks, measures of relative risk, stratified analysis, and logistic regression analysis. Prerequisites: 171:162, 173:140. Offered fall semesters.

171:242 Applied Survival and Cohort Data Analysis, 3 s.h.
Nonparametric and semiparametric methods for survival data; methods of comparing directly standardized rates and standardized mortality ratios; Poisson regression for cohort data. Prerequisites: 171:203 or 171:241. Offered spring semesters of odd years.

Community and Behavioral Health

172:150 Health Behavior and Health Education, 3 s.h.
Health behavior theory and its applications relevant to public health practice, designed to introduce students to concepts fundamental to the understanding of human health behavior in context of current theory. Offered spring semesters.

Occupational and Environmental Health

175:197 Environmental Health, 3 s.h.
Survey of the field; assessment of contemporary human health issues associated with biological, chemical, physical factors of environment; critical review of environmental factors that affect health; public policies governing recognition, intervention, control.. Offered fall and spring semesters.

175:220 Environmental and Occupational Epidemiology, 3 s.h.
Environmental and occupational epidemiologic study designs; basic and novel methods of exposure assessment; methodologies to improve study validity. Prerequisite: 173:140. Corequisites: 171:161 and 175:197.

175:260 Environmental Toxicology, 3 s.h.
Sources, routes of absorption, effects of environmental toxicants affecting man; pathophysiology of toxicant actions, including those of air and water pollutants, metals, pesticides, solvents, food toxicants, chemicals. Prerequisite: college organic and inorganic chemistry, or physiology, or biochemistry. Offered spring semesters.

Selected Other University of Iowa Courses

027:130 Human Physiology, 3 s.h.
Organ system approach to physiology, with focus on normal function of the human body; information on all levels of integration, from submolecular to whole organism, with emphasis on how the intact organism functions. Offered fall and spring semesters.

069:133 Introduction to Human Pathology, 4 s.h.
Human disease; basic disease processes, organ-related and multisystem diseases. Offered fall semesters.

069:270 Pathogenesis of Major Human Diseases, 3 s.h.
Designed for students pursuing careers in the biomedical sciences, this course focuses on critically analyzing models of pathogenesis in a series of major human diseases. Course format includes clinical presentation, analysis of cellular and molecular events leading to the disease, and small group discussion of key papers. Offered spring semesters.