FIELD EPIDEMIOLOGY
FULFILLS:
BIOS 452/852, ACE 10; IMED 749
PREREQUISITES::
LIFE 121 and LIFE 121L plus 3 hours of BIOS
ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR:
Dr. Devin Nickol- Dr. Nickol received his M.D. from the University of Nebraska Medical Center in 1996. He is a practicing General Internist, a Professor of Medicine, and spent many years as a young boy at Cedar Point. In addition to patient care, he directs courses for medical students at UNMC and serves as Associate Dean for Interprofessional Education.
Dr. Nickol's Field Epidemiology Webpages
COURSE DESCRIPTION:
Field Epidemiology explores how epidemiological principles serve as the foundation and logic of interventions made in the interest of public health and preventive medicine. Each day's field exercise is designed to illustrate one or more fundamental concepts. Lecture time is minimal, and intended mainly to show the role of epidemiology in actual historical events. The course is essentially "Epidemiology 101", but has the unique feature of being taught primarily outside of the classroom. The topics covered are much more interesting to study in real-world populations, and the relationship between theory and practice becomes clearer when observing living organisms.
The course is designed to expose students to methods of data collection, determination of prevalence of a disease or trait, measuring mortality rates, application of screening tests, tracking outcomes, performing randomized trials, using case-control studies, and measuring risk of exposure for different populations. Students will make observations in the field, analyze their data, and present the results in both oral and written format.
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A student looks at their aerial net for specimens. Photo by A. Wiles -
A grasshopper specimen with a parasite! Photo by A. Wiles -
A student examines a grasshopper under a dissection microscope. Photo by A. Wiles -
A student collects midges for a class assignment. Photo by A. Wiles -
A student examines a dip net for specimen. Photo by A. Wiles -
Students going through samples in a pan out in field. Photo by A. Wiles -
Dr. Nikol going through samples in the field with a student. Photo by A. Wiles