Courses

Fellows may take these courses in their second and third year, depending on their research interests. The courses cover biostatistics, ethical issues in research, and methodology of clinical and basic research.

• Principles of Clinical Research (IMED 625)
  • The purpose of this 2-week intensive course is to provide an overview of the objectives, research strategies and methods of patient-oriented research. Sample topics include: introduction to clinical epidemiology; principles of observational studies; principles of clinical trials; principles of meta-analysis interpretation of diagnostic tests; prognostic studies; qualitative research; causal inference; decision analysis. Sessions will include lectures and discussion.

• Practical and Ethical Issues in Clinical Investigation (IMED 630)
  • This semester-long course addresses topics which are central to the conduct of clinical investigation, including ethics of clinical investigation, scientific fraud, technology transfer, and interfacing with the pharmaceutical industry. Practical sessions include: scientific presentations and teaching, medical writing, NIH peer review process, journal peer review process, and career development: models of academia. This course provides guidelines and a framework for the clinical investigator to write, obtain funding, and conduct and present a clinical study. Format consists of a lecture followed by discussion.

• Introduction to Evidence-Based Health Care & Medicine (CDE 650a)
  • Evidence-based medicine and health care use best current evidence in addressing clinical or public health questions. This course introduces principles of evidence-based practice in formulating clinical or public health questions, systematically searching for evidence, and applying it to the question. Types of questions include examining the comparative effectiveness of clinical and public health interventions, etiology, diagnostic testing, and prognosis. Particular consideration is given to the meta-analytic methodology of synthesizing evidence in a systematic review. Also addressed is the role of evidence in informing economic analysis of health care programs and clinical practice guidelines. Using a problem-based approach, students contribute actively to the classes and small-group sessions. Students complete a systematic review in their own field of interest using Cochrane Collaboration methodology.

• Introduction to Biostatistics (IMED 645)
  • This course provides an introduction to statistical concepts and techniques commonly encountered in medical research. Previous coursework in statistics or experience with statistical packages are not a requirement. Topics to be discussed include study design, probability, comparing sample means and proportions, survival analysis, and sample size/power calculations. The computer lab will incorporate lecture content into practical application by introducing the statistical software package SPSS to describe; analyze data.