Foundations of Epidemiology

This unit introduces core epidemiologic concepts, historical case studies, and practical methods used to describe and investigate disease in populations. Students build foundational skills in descriptive measures, modes of transmission, outbreak investigation, prevention strategies, surveillance, study design basics, bias, and ethical considerations to prepare for more advanced epidemiology work in subsequent units.

Learning Objectives

• Analyze historical and contemporary epidemiologic case studies (e.g., Hippocrates, John Snow, James Lind) to identify study questions, modes of transmission, and ethical issues in public health investigation
• Apply descriptive epidemiology methods by calculating and interpreting measures of disease frequency (incidence, prevalence, attack rate) and characterizing person, place, and time factors in dataset and outbreak scenarios
• Demonstrate practical public health procedures by distinguishing surveillance, survey, and monitoring systems, outlining steps of an epidemic investigation, and using chain-of-infection and screening principles to propose interruption strategies
• Evaluate causal inference and prevention approaches by comparing epidemiologic study designs, identifying common sources of bias, and assessing primary prevention, immunity concepts, and implications of the epidemiologic transition for population health interventions