Epidemiologic Principles and Methods

Kenneth J. Rothman is a well-known epidemiologist who wrote several books, and I think one can call him a maître in Epidemiology. His book Epidemiology, An Introduction, first edition was the first epidemiology book I read. It was during my master education more than 5 years ago, but I still remember the content and that it was well written, structured, with a lot of examples.

Thus I had high expectations from the course, and it did not disappoint me. First of all it was very well organized. We got handouts and the course book (Epidemiology, An Introduction, 2nd edition, Kenneth J. Rothman) and uploaded software well in advance.

The course lasted for 4 days. The first day we started at 12 so that participants outside from Oslo could arrange all the travel and accommodation things beforehand, as well as find the place. All other days we had classes from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. There were two teachers: Kenneth J. Rothman himself and Elizabeth E. Hatch, professor from Boston University. During the day several hours of lectures were followed by small group discussions of several articles and a plenary discussion.

When the course started, I had a feeling that it is a kind of repetition and I know the material, but after several hours, it changed. Kenneth started from Causation in Epidemiology and Epidemiologic Measures of Occurrence and Effect, than there were several lectures on Study Designs. Although these are the basis of Epidemiology, they are quite difficult topics, and Rothman has a simple and very logical approach to these. He explains everything in a friendly manner, and provides a lot of examples from real life. Second part of the course was about Principles of Epidemiologic Data Analysis, Confounding and Interaction, and for me it was the most interesting part. Usually you look at the data analysis and making conclusions from a statistical point of view. Kenneth did it from a different – epidemiological prospective, and supported his view by scientific explanations and examples.

Both teachers were very well prepared and experienced, knew the material, and at the same time had a sense of humor and interacted with students a lot. I have a very positive impression from the course, and got a lot of information to apply in my research and teaching work.

I also got my copy of the book signed by Kenneth Rothman. Thanks a lot to teachers: Kenneth J. Rothman and Elizabeth E. Hatch, and to EPINOR school for announcement of the course and funding!

Best wishes,
Ekaterina Sharashova