We spend large sums of money on health (epidemiologic) research. Results of that research reach the public primarily in the form of brief reports via television news, television commercials, newspapers, magazines, books and internet websites. These brief reports should not be read uncritically. This course will teach you how to critically evaluate health news (and the health research reports on which they are based) to make good, well-informed decisions about your health and well-being.
In addition, this course will teach you how to conduct your own personal (N-of-1) studies to find out what health strategies work for you (for example, what weight-loss tips work best for you personally).
All of this will be done in the context of recent news reports that are of interest to college students.
This is a self-contained class with no prerequisites. No previous background in math or statistics is needed.
This course is taught by scientists who are experts in the methods of epidemiology, who have published extensively in the scientific literature on the methods of epidemiology, and who have been teaching this topic for many years.
This course satisfies a core-course requirement for the Public Health minor.