MS Chronic Disease Epidemiology Information Session

Name: MS Chronic Disease Epidemiology Information Session
Uploaded: 2021-11-08T16:41:57.403Z
Duration: 29 min 32 s
Description: Dr. Christian Tschudi, Director of Graduate Studies Dr. Andrew DeWan, Associate Professor of Epidemiology (Chronic Diseases)

November 08, 2021

Dr. Christian Tschudi, Director of Graduate Studies
Dr. Andrew DeWan, Associate Professor of Epidemiology (Chronic Diseases)

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ID: 7135
To Cite: DCA Citation Guide

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00:01<v ->So I'm, I'm Andy Dewan,</v>
00:05I am an Associate Professor in Chronic Disease Epidemiology.
00:10I'm also a member
00:11of the Graduate Studies Executive Committee,
00:14which oversees both the PhD and MS program.
00:19With us tonight is Dr. Christian Tschudi.
00:23He's the Director of Graduate Studies
00:24and a Professor in Epidemiology and Microbial Diseases.
00:29And then we also have three alumni of our MS program,
00:33Talha Ali, Ujunwa Korie, and Ronald Chow.
00:39So, I'm gonna start by just giving a brief introduction
00:43to the Department of Chronic Disease Epidemiology,
00:47and then to the specifically about the MS program in CDE.
00:53Feel free to interrupt me in the middle of my presentation
00:57or at the end of the session when we really just open it up
01:02for more of a Q&A.
01:04And then after I give an introduction,
01:07we'll have our three alumni talk just briefly
01:11about their experiences.
01:12I'm sure you're gonna be much more interested
01:14to hear from them and their specific experiences.
01:21Okay, so, who are we?
01:24So, the Department of Chronic Disease Epi
01:27has 13 primary faculty members.
01:31As you're gonna see, we have very diverse research interests
01:35and interests in public health,
01:38but we also have a really large set
01:43of secondary and affiliated faculty.
01:45We have more than, I think we have more than 25 secondary
01:50and affiliated faculty, both in other departments
01:55throughout the School of Medicine
01:57and other departments at the university,
02:00as well as other universities in the United States.
02:05So, I'm sure you've seen on our website,
02:10we have nine major areas of interest among our faculty.
02:16So, there are a lot of us that have an interest in cancer.
02:20We're gonna see, I think I counted last year,
02:24I think half of us are members of the Yale Cancer Center
02:28within the department.
02:30We also have a strong interest in heart disease and stroke.
02:34My specific background is in genetic epidemiology
02:39and there are a couple of other faculty in the department
02:42that have an interest in genetics, genomics,
02:44or molecular epidemiology.
02:46We have faculty interested in exercise,
02:49nutrition, and obesity.
02:51We have a lot of faculty who are interested in global health
02:56and applying their specific area in epidemiology
03:03in a more global setting.
03:05There are several of us who have an interest
03:08in maternal and child health.
03:10I'll talk about the department,
03:12or the center that I direct in in just a minute.
03:18We have faculty that are interested in outcomes research,
03:21health disparities, women's health and aging.
03:25So, we're a really diverse set of faculty,
03:28but we are all sort of centered around this idea
03:34of applying methods in epi research.
03:39Both applying and developing methods in epi research.
03:44So, as I said, and as you can see,
03:48we're a very diverse and interdisciplinary group of faculty.
03:53These are just some of the centers that we're involved in.
03:58You can feel free to go to any of these center websites
04:02to get more information.
04:03You will see that these centers not only have faculty
04:07from CDE, but faculty from other departments
04:10at the School of Public Health,
04:12other departments at the Medical School in the university.
04:16So, there's the Outcomes Research Center,
04:19there's the center that I'm the director of,
04:21the Center for Perinatal, Pediatric
04:23and Environmental Epidemiology.
04:25We're actually a center that spans
04:27three different departments at YSPHA.
04:30We have the Samoan Obesity, Lifestyle
04:33and Genetic Adaptations Study Group.
04:37I mentioned the Cancer Center, but within the Cancer Center,
04:41we have the Yale COPPER Center,
04:43the Cancer Outcomes, Public Policy,
04:46and Effectiveness Research Center.
04:48And then also the Cancer Prevention Program
04:51within the Cancer Center as well.
04:55And I'm not gonna read through this whole list,
04:58but, and it just gives you a bit of a flavor
05:01for the types of research activities that we're doing.
05:06You'll also see that a lot of these centers
05:08have their own lecture series.
05:10You may want to visit some of these centers
05:13to gain access to research experiences.
05:17They're great ways for networking opportunities,
05:20as well as future job opportunities.
05:23So, I think just the number of centers that we have here
05:28are a real strength of our program.
05:32So, I wanted to talk just briefly
05:35about why an MS in CDE rather than an MPH,
05:40because I think this comes up all the time.
05:43And I wanna boil this down to just a couple of phrases.
05:49So, the MPH is a broader public health degree
05:54that, in addition to research,
05:55'cause there is a research component,
05:57it also emphasizes public health practice.
06:01Whereas our MS degree, and specifically the MS degree
06:05in chronic disease epi,
06:07emphasizes the mastery of epidemiologic research methods
06:12in order to conduct high-quality epidemiological research.
06:16So, there is a much narrower focus
06:19on epi research in the MS degree.
06:24And so, hopefully you've had a chance
06:26to look at our curriculum,
06:27but I just wanna go over it pretty quickly.
06:32This is a one-year program.
06:34This is a one-year MS program.
06:37It is 10 credits, so you are typically taking five credits
06:41each semester, so one course equals one credit.
06:45You're gonna have a set of four core courses,
06:49you have three required quantitative courses,
06:52which you'll be able to select from among a list of courses.
06:57You have two CDE courses that you can select from
07:01among a list of those CDE courses.
07:04And then you have one elective course.
07:07And so, let's just look quickly at the,
07:13oops, sorry,
07:16just select that,
07:19it's not letting me go back a slide.
07:21Sorry,
07:23yeah.
07:24Sorry, so let's just take a quick look
07:26at the required core courses.
07:27So, you have your Foundations of Epi for Public Health,
07:30this is what we call Epi I and then Epi II.
07:34And we have a course called Frontiers of Public Health,
07:38which you'll see, if you read the note at the bottom,
07:40if you have a previous MPH degree
07:43or a relevant graduate degree,
07:44you can be exempted from this course.
07:48And then you're gonna either take
07:50the Developing a Research Proposal,
07:53or you're going to do an Independent Study,
07:56which is really a one-on-one course
07:59that you work on with a faculty member in CDE
08:03where you devise an independent readings course,
08:07or this can be a research course,
08:10and then you have a deliverable at the end of that course.
08:13So, either the Developing a Research Proposal
08:15or the Independent Study acts as your capstone course,
08:19and this is done in the spring semester.
08:24You have three non-credit requirements.
08:27You have to take two semesters of the Seminar in CDE.
08:32These are noon seminars,
08:35they happen about five or six times throughout the semester.
08:40In pre-COVID times, we actually offered lunch,
08:44hopefully, we'll be able to offer lunch again soon
08:47for the seminars.
08:48And then you also need to take the Research Ethics
08:50and Responsibilities course.
08:54I mentioned you have to take three quantitative courses.
08:57These can be either upper-level Biostatistics courses,
09:01but there are also, there's one course listed here in CDE
09:05that would fulfill this requirement,
09:07as well as two courses in Statistics and Data Sciences.
09:12But as it's noted at the top, we do consider alternatives
09:17to the courses listed here,
09:18so if there's a new Biostatistics course
09:21that maybe hadn't been offered before,
09:23or a course in Statistics and Data Science
09:26that you really wanna take, you can talk to your advisor
09:30and your advisor or the chair of the department,
09:34the director, and director of graduate studies,
09:37can decide if that course is gonna count
09:40towards this requirement.
09:41So, we are fairly flexible with this requirement.
09:44And then as I mentioned, you need to take two CDE electives.
09:49We have a pretty wide variety of courses.
09:53The course that I teach is actually up here,
09:55Genetic Concepts in Public Health.
09:57But you can see the types of courses kind of mirror
10:02our research interests among the faculty in our department.
10:08So, who should apply?
10:09So, I like to think that applicants
10:12should have a basic understanding of quantitative science
10:14and statistics, but at a minimum,
10:17our applicants should have one year of coursework
10:19in statistics, biostatistics, mathematics
10:22or equivalent quantitative coursework or experience.
10:27And I think this is where we have some flexibility,
10:31but we wanna make sure that applicants to our program
10:35have strong quantitative skills.
10:38As you can see, we did not require the biostat one
10:44and biostat two courses,
10:45but we do require upper-level biostats courses,
10:48so we are assuming that you're coming into the program
10:52with enough statistical background
10:55in order to take these upper-level biostats courses.
11:01I also note here that applicants
11:02with previous medical degrees or those with graduate
11:05or undergraduate degrees from rigorous programs
11:07in biological, computational or social sciences
11:10will be given preference, but that is just a preference,
11:13you're not required to have a degree in any of those areas.
11:18Okay, so that ends what I wanted to say
11:23and I see there are a couple,
11:29yeah, so, why don't we, I'm gonna turn this over,
11:32I think, to our alumni.
11:33I'll read through the questions really quickly.
11:37So, are all of our alumni on?
11:40I can't tell. <v ->Yeah.</v>
11:43<v ->Talha, do you wanna start?</v> <v ->Yeah, they're all on, Andy.</v>
11:46<v ->Okay.</v>
11:55So, if you just wanna say a little bit
11:57about your experience in the program, what you're doing now.
12:02<v ->Sure, I'd be happy to.</v>
12:04Hello, everyone, my name is Talha Ali.
12:08I'm currently doing a postdoctoral fellowship
12:11as it happens at Yale at the School of Medicine
12:14in Geriatrics, but it's hard to believe,
12:18I did my MS about six years ago.
12:22And it was, I wanna say one of the best decisions
12:25that I made.
12:26I knew that I wanted to go into a PhD program
12:30and at the time that I applied,
12:33some PhD programs required that you come in
12:35with a master's programs and others did not.
12:39But I did this one-year program,
12:42it was definitely an intensive,
12:45it's an accelerated program, so it was intensive,
12:47but I think that it set me up really, really well
12:50for the PhD program.
12:51So, I had the taken courses on linear regression,
12:55logistic regression, survival analysis,
12:57I had taken sort of Principles of Epi one and two
13:01and all of those, I think, prepared me really well.
13:04I ended up doing my PhD from the University of Michigan
13:09in Epidemiology and while I was doing the MS,
13:14I had taken a course with Dr. Becca Levy
13:17on health and aging.
13:18So, after my master's, I sort of narrowed down my interests
13:22within chronic disease epi on aging.
13:26And I ended up going to the University of Michigan
13:28and my dissertation was on the social relationships
13:33and networks of older adults and how they influence
13:35their health, cognitive, and physical in late life.
13:40And after finishing my PhD in 2019,
13:44I applied for both doctoral programs
13:47and ended up back at Yale on a T32 training grant.
13:54I'm happy to answer more specific questions
13:56that you have about the program or my trajectory.
14:02Oh, and I noticed someone said,
14:04do you need a degree in public health?
14:07So, my background was in psychology,
14:08I had done a BS in Psychology
14:10and I think I did okay in the program.
14:16<v ->Great, thank you.</v>
14:21Ujunwa.
14:24<v Ujunwa>Hi, thank you for having me here.</v>
14:28Can everyone hear me well? <v ->Yep.</v>
14:31<v Ujunwa>Okay, I really enjoyed my time at Yale.</v>
14:35I really felt like the CDE faculty were very accessible
14:41and that they were invested in our success.
14:44So, I was able to easily get office hours
14:48and talk to all the professors.
14:51So, I left the program with an increased knowledge
14:54of research methodologies and rigor.
14:57A bit of background, I came into the program with an MD
15:01from Ukraine, so, I wanted a program that would help me
15:06to marry my technical skills
15:09and be able to conduct clinical research.
15:12So, I left the program in 2019 and I joined Mount Sinai,
15:17Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.
15:19So, I joined Judy Chow's lab where we do genetic research
15:25on inflammatory bowel disease.
15:27So, I didn't take your genetic class,
15:29but I ended up doing that,
15:33so, I kind of wished I took that class,
15:35but we're studying the genetics of (indistinct).
15:41And I've found that I've had to apply most
15:45of what I've learned at Yale,
15:47not just the statistics and epidemiological principles,
15:50but also regulatory affairs
15:52and clinical trials and all that.
15:54So, this was a wonderful program for me
15:57and I'm sure it will be for everyone else
16:00if they do apply and get in.
16:02So, I'm most happy to answer questions.
16:06<v ->Great, and I also note that Judy Chow</v>
16:09used to be here at Yale.
16:10<v Ujunwa>Yeah, yeah.</v>
16:11<v ->She left I think eight or nine years ago.</v>
16:13<v Ujunwa>Yes, yes.</v>
16:15She was at Yale, yes, that's right.
16:20<v ->Great, thank you.</v>
16:21Ronald, do you wanna say a couple of words?
16:24<v ->Yeah, it's great to see everyone tonight, or today.</v>
16:28I'm not sure what time zone you're in.
16:31So, I graduated from the MS program, most recently, I guess.
16:35I graduated in May.
16:40Mine was an interesting one, mine was during COVID times.
16:44So, I guess I may be one of the few cohorts
16:47that are 100% online from this program.
16:51But with that said, I have to say that the environment,
16:57the great atmosphere that the professors provide from CDE
17:05can really be transmitted through a computer screen,
17:07just the willingness and openness to teach students.
17:12It was for sure felt, although I wasn't in-person.
17:17I think as Talha and Ujunwa said before me,
17:23it is a great program, it is rigorous,
17:28it is, I think, a little faster than some other programs
17:31that you would, may be entertaining,
17:34but I have to say that it prepares you well.
17:36So, after graduating, I worked in New York
17:40in Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
17:43helping out with some research projects in cancer.
17:46And although I'm not a bio statistician,
17:48there were times where had to call on some courses
17:52that we learned, which was very helpful.
17:56And I think that it is good if you can enter the program
17:59with foundational biostats knowledge
18:01and it will set you up for better success.
18:05And yeah, I'm sure that I'll continue to use the skills
18:09that I learned from Yale moving forward.
18:12I'm currently in home in Canada at a local medical school
18:16and hope to someday marry
18:18that clinical and research knowledge.
18:20So, it's a good time to get that foundational knowledge
18:24for me and a very memorable experience.
18:36<v ->Great.</v>
18:37Thanks, Ronald.
18:38Chris, did you want to say a couple of words?
18:42I'm not sure if there was anything you wanted to add,
18:46specifically about the MS program.
18:50<v ->Maybe I could just,</v>
18:51I noticed a couple of questions in the chat
18:54about the timeline of admissions.
18:56<v ->Okay.</v> <v ->I could comment on that.</v>
18:58So, the deadline is December 15th.
19:04And since there were also questions
19:07about the GRE and the MCAT, in your application,
19:11you don't necessarily have to have a GRE score
19:14at that point.
19:16So, you can just say it will be taken at a later point.
19:21So, don't get worked up about that, okay?
19:25You can submit your application without a GRE score,
19:28and we require a GRE, but that's not something,
19:33we still will review your application.
19:36And this will happen January, February,
19:39then sort of towards end of February, we'll make decisions
19:43and communicate with the applicants
19:47who we want to matriculate.
19:51At that point, you have until April 15th
19:54to decide what you want to do.
19:58<v ->Great, thanks, Chris.</v>
20:03Caruthe. <v ->Hi.</v>
20:06<v ->Forgive me if...</v> <v ->Yeah.</v>
20:08<v ->Can you hear me?</v> <v ->Yep.</v>
20:10<v Caruthe>Yeah, so just a quick question.</v>
20:13I'm actually still a sophomore in college
20:15and I'm planning on applying my senior year of college,
20:19but is there anything that,
20:22should I take on any public health-related internships
20:26or do any research in order to apply for this program?
20:31Is it recommended or?
20:34<v ->So, I would strongly, I mean, you're gonna need,</v>
20:42as I said, the statistical background,
20:45so if you have the opportunity
20:47to take any courses in biostats or statistics,
20:51you should do that at this point.
20:54You don't need to take any other public health courses,
20:58but I think getting some research experience
21:03would definitely help your chances
21:06at getting admitted to the program.
21:08That's where I would focus my effort.
21:11<v Caruthe>Yeah, so, can this research be in anything</v>
21:14that we're personally interested in,
21:16in regards, in terms to public health?
21:19So, let's say I'm interested in neuroscience research,
21:23would that be applicable?
21:27<v ->Yeah, absolutely, absolutely.</v>
21:29And we've had students come through the program
21:31that had interest in that area.
21:34<v Caruthe>Okay, sure.</v>
21:35Thank you very much.
21:39<v ->There was a question</v>
21:41about appropriate quantitative background.
21:46Yeah, and so, the example was linear algebra,
21:49and I would consider linear algebra appropriate background
21:59for the program.
22:01And I think a biological science, statistics course,
22:06that would also be appropriate.
22:09A lot of epi courses do not go into enough of the statistics
22:15to really, I would say, to count towards that requirement.
22:20I would opt more for a biostatistics course
22:24to meet that requirement.
22:33So, there's a question as to whether or not students
22:36can do this part time.
22:38Chris, that is allowed, right?
22:41<v ->Yes, you have up to five years.</v>
22:43<v ->Okay.</v> <v ->Yep.</v>
22:45Because as you mentioned that we had a couple of MDs
22:48at the Yale Medical School that did the MS
22:51and time constraint makes it very easy
22:55then to do this part time.
22:58<v ->Great.</v>
23:08Abigail, you asked another question
23:10about taking another math course.
23:13What would this be in addition to?
23:16Is this in addition to linear algebra?
23:21Because I would recommend taking a full year
23:24of math or stats courses.
23:30Question about how recent the coursework.
23:35Yeah, I mean, it does not need to be recent,
23:40but note that your GRE needs to be, I think,
23:44within the last five years, is that right, Chris?
23:49We are gonna, when I'm reviewing applications,
23:52I am gonna look at that GRE score, as well,
23:55especially if your current courses
23:58have been pretty far in the past.
24:04<v ->Is it appropriate if I jump in to add a comment here?</v>
24:07<v ->Yeah.</v>
24:08<v ->I think, so there's admissions requirements,</v>
24:11which is one thing, but I think that if you wanna excel
24:15in those quantitative courses that were being mentioned,
24:18I think it's really important
24:19to have an interest in statistics background.
24:23I know that some of my colleagues came in, and myself too,
24:26having done some of these and the first course
24:29that we have to do, which is, I think it's 630,
24:32I don't remember the exact code,
24:35but everything that you learned in an entire semester
24:38of an undergrad intro to statistics course
24:41is dumped in the first two weeks.
24:43So, I think that it's strongly encouraged if you can to,
24:47I understand that admission requirements
24:49are admission requirements, but to set yourself
24:51for good success and not behind the eightball on day one,
24:55that would be a good idea if you have time right now.
24:58<v ->Yeah, and if I can say one other thing on that,</v>
25:00I mean, and because it's a one-year program
25:03and it's very compressed, you don't really have the,
25:05you don't have the opportunity
25:07to kind of take these intro biostat courses.
25:14Manhasa Vini.
25:20<v ->Sorry, so I had a quick question,</v>
25:23'cause I heard that you both were in MD programs right now.
25:27So, I've heard a lot about how an MS
25:29is more research-oriented
25:30while an MPH is generally more practice-oriented.
25:33As someone that hopes to pursue an MD,
25:36is there a lot of opportunity within this program
25:39to get hands-on experience, whether in a lab or community,
25:43with data collection
25:44or is it just a lot of raw data analysis?
25:52<v ->Do one of our alumni wanna comment on that question</v>
25:56and then I can jump in?
25:59<v ->I can take this at first shot.</v>
26:02So, I was in the MS program while applying
26:05for medical school.
26:07So, when I first arrived, I connected with a few folks
26:13at the School of Medicine and did some research there.
26:17And I think that's probably where most of my time
26:19was actually spent outside of coursework.
26:22In terms of what I was doing,
26:23I think that's really at the discretion
26:26of you and your supervisor.
26:27I know for me personally, I think I did quite a variety
26:32of tasks starting from project conception, to filing IRB,
26:40all the way until data collection
26:42and going into the medical charts.
26:45And then, as I eventually progressed through the one year
26:49and I told my supervisor saying,
26:52hey, I just learned this stats thing in the stats course,
26:56that I was also tasked with doing the data analysis.
26:59And then I guess now after graduating,
27:02it comes to the fun part of having to write it up
27:04and push it all out.
27:06So, yeah, I guess it's, I'm still in some way connected,
27:10but I think the short answer is yes,
27:13you can do whatever you want.
27:14And a lot of people are doing stuff
27:17in the School of Medicine.
27:19For me, I did everything from beginning to end.
27:23It just depends on who you find really.
27:28<v Ujunwa>Yeah, I want to second that.</v>
27:30I worked with the Alzheimer's Disease Research Center
27:36and you will get a lot of patient interaction in that place.
27:39I know of some of the students
27:40that I did some research with,
27:46I'm trying to remember her name,
27:47but she was saying, Nikki, Nikki Holley,
27:50they went to American Samoa.
27:52So, there are opportunities if you ask.
27:57So, it depends on what your interests are
27:59and if you indicate interest to the faculty,
28:01there are opportunities to do hands-on research.
28:05<v ->Awesome, thank you.</v>
28:16<v ->Any other questions?</v>
28:27Okay.
28:31Well, if there are no other questions,
28:33I have my email address up on the screen here.
28:36Feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions
28:39as you're applying for the program,
28:41or if you're still thinking about applying to the program.
28:45I'm sure Chris and Melanie
28:46are more than happy to answer questions, as well.
28:53Okay, and Ronald just put his email in the chat.
29:00Okay.
29:05Any last minute thoughts?
29:09Okay.
29:10Well, I wanna thank everyone
29:12for coming to this info session.
29:16It's really nice to be able to talk to students
29:20during the application process
29:22and get you guys information about the program.
29:25Hope you guys have a enjoyable evening or rest of your day,
29:29wherever you are.
29:31Thanks.