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Education and knowledge exchange
perspectives and challenges
Dr Punam Mangtani
MSc Epidemiology Co-Course Director
Faculty of Epidemiology and Population Health
London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
Improving health worldwide
www.lshtm.ac.uk
Importance
• “if epidemiology is conducted properly, it
becomes a valuable asset for the determining
the etiology of a disease and for evaluating
intervention. This field of study uniquely can
and has contributed significantly to our
understanding of the causation of human
health and disease” [Wynder EL AJE 1996]
Training: aims
• To provide sound training of investigators with
medical/biological backgrounds, aptitude or experience in
-quantitative research
-application of rigorous methods for public health
• Epidemiology is a necessary quantitative science along with
several other disciplines for public health (eg medical statistics,
demography, health economics)
Training: who 1
• Often taught at postgraduate level
• But increasingly being taught at undergraduate level
-eg BScs in Public Health, intercalated MSc during medical studies,
before applying to do Medicine
• Mostly via MSc/PhDs/DrPHs
-variations: joint MD PhDs , post docs in laboratory sciences who
then do MSc epidemiology,DrPHs
Training: who part 2
• Students from a variety of academic backgrounds to work as
epidemiologists in higher education, research institutions, the
pharmaceutical industry, central and regional government and
national health services.
• epidemiologists, clinical trialists, clinical or laboratory
researchers
Training: where
• Are a number institutions (Next talk by Ursula)
• The Mission of LSHTM is to improve health worldwide
-One way is via the pursuit of excellence in postgraduate teaching
and advanced training
-MSc core learning in term 1, advanced modules (15 credits
each)in terms 2 and 3 (in an institution with 100 modules on
offer), summer project/thesis
• LSHTM along with others uses e-learning
-Virtual campuses eg MSc Clinical Trials , mobile technologies,
podcasts
Training: when
• The changing nature of Higher Education is for flexible and
open learning
• The European Credit Framework System (The Bologna Process)
All main taught provision in Europe credit-rated. Awarded
through assessment and achievement of a minimum level
-allows building up of an award
-similar quality and outcomes
•
.
Distance based learning and virtual learning environments
Training: what
• Specific skills for professional development
-From short 5 day courses to short study periods with a mentor
-More formal: masters (eg epi) onwards, certificates (eg pharmacoepi),
short courses (eg missing data, vaccine evaluation)
• Advanced epidemiological knowledge requiring
-Analytical epidemiologists to learn novel techniques
-Classroom based skills learning
-Modern thematic (diseases etc) training
-Hands-on research work.
-Peer and group learning
-Flexibility and understanding. As part of a large student body and
international institutions, the student is one of many cultures
Challenges and developments 1
• Risk factors with small effects compared to large order
associations
-Application of the Bradford Hill Criteria is even more important.
-The need for large simple RCTs
-meta-epidemiology (sys reviews)
• Increasing sophistication/ specialisation
-Clinical Trials
-One Health (ecology, veterinary epidemiology, behavioural
determinants),
-Behavioural determinants-complex interventions
Challenges and developments 2
• Emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases
-Associated skills in transmission dynamic modeling from the
population biology world
-Collaboration with lab: immunology, pathogen genomics
• Newer statistical methods informing epidemiological
knowledge
-eg causal modeling, multilevel modeling, Bayesian statistics
Education and training responses
• Integration of epidemiological and statistical methods takes time and
training
-MSc project/thesis increasingly important
• A one year masters is just a start
-Streaming within MScs. eg advanced analytical stream, thematic stream
-PhDs/DrPHs
• Continuing professional development
-Wellcome Trust funding post MSc+18 months field work.
- Expectation that learning (eg field work, data collection, writing papers) also
should and would occur with mentoring at work and “occasional studies”
-Involve stakeholders in training (eg joint PhDs, short courses ECTE)
•
http://www.lshtm.ac.uk/study/cpd/