The day-to-day collaboration between the researchers in Public Health and Biostatistics at the School reveals unified topics that cut across many applications. This series of presentations introduces the topics that show empirically to be most important in these collaborations; and emphasizes concepts over details, through recent applications in Public Health.

The course consists of lectures, readings, discussions, panels of guest speakers, group and individual projects. The purpose of the lectures, readings, discussion and panels of guest speakers is to explore a variety of aspects of adolescence and adolescent health. The group and individual projects are meant to help students develop skills to work in multi-disciplinary teams and analyze adolescent health concerns through conceptual frameworks and recommend effective solutions through interventions.

In this installment of the Bloomberg Leadership Series, Dr. Fineberg shares the personal experiences and professional insights that have informed his leadership style and his approach to formulating sound and persuasive policy recommendations.

Covers the basics of R software and the key capabilities of the Bioconductor project (a widely used open source and open development software project for the analysis and comprehension of data arising from high-throughput experimentation in genomics and molecular biology and rooted in the open source statistical computing environment R), including importation and preprocessing of high-throughput data from microarrays and other platforms. Also introduces statistical concepts and tools necessary to interpret and critically evaluate the bioinformatics and computational biology literature. Includes an overview of of preprocessing and normalization, statistical inference, multiple comparison corrections, Bayesian Inference in the context of multiple comparisons, clustering, and classification/machine learning.

This presentation examines the various biological agents that terrorists could use against food or water supplies.

The objective of this presentation is to use three illustrative case studies to reinforce basic concepts and principles of terrorism preparedness and response, as well as to identify some specific practical considerations. These case studies will illustrate: (1) Plausible scenarios, (2) Typical first response activities, (3) Critical issues on-the-fly, and (4) Considerations for planning.

Describes how economic theory is linked to economic evaluation techniques like cost-benefit and cost-effectiveness analysis and to introduce students to many concepts that are specific to economic evaluation. Introduces students to the many varieties of economic evaluation to establish a common terminology. Discusses cost-benefit with a demonstration of how this type of evaluation is most clearly linked to economic theory. Explores other theories and concepts, including cost measurement, benefit valuation, and incremental decision-making. Finally, explores recommendations on performing economic evaluations that are made in the United States with a focus on how these are related to underlying economic theory and other concepts.

Confronting the Burden of Injuries- A Global Perspective is a course offered by the Department of International Health and the Department of Health Policy and Management at the Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University. This course is intended to guide students interested in working on injury control in areas with little to no tradition in injury prevention from a public health perspective. Students will learn to define the injury problem and assess its magnitude; identify data sources and assess the quality of the data; identify which agencies or institutions should be involved in the solution of the problem; identify which interventions are in place and need to be implemented and evaluated; produce a strategic plan for the establishment and/or improvement of injury prevention programs in such areas; and present such a plan to authorities in a compelling manner.

There is much controversy and anecdotal information about popular diets and dietary supplements, but all too often little scientific or controlled clinical data. We examine the science behind normal mechanisms of weight control, and how weight loss diets are constructed and work. The aim of the course is to acquire the knowledge to critically appraise a weight control diet or dietary supplement and choose the best plan for success, both in the short-term and the long run. Students taking the actual class will, in addition to learning the lecture material presented here, complete in-class assignments where they choose a popular diet or supplement, research the scientific literature on this diet/supplement, and present a critical appraisal of its validity and efficacy.

The workshop is intended for Doctoral students in the health and social sciences who are at the stage of developing a research proposal. Participants will gain skills in the design of conceptually cogent and methodologically rigorous dissertation proposals. The Workshop has an emphasis on topics that relate to Africa, but can be applied to a broad range of research issues.

Examines health issues, scientific understanding of causes, and possible future approaches to control of the major environmental health problems in industrialized and developing countries. Topics include how the body reacts to environmental pollutants; physical, chemical, and biological agents of environmental contamination; vectors for dissemination (air, water, soil); solid and hazardous waste; susceptible populations; biomarkers and risk analysis; the scientific basis for policy decisions; and emerging global environmental health problems.

Introduces the basic methods for infectious disease epidemiology and case studies of important disease syndromes and entities. Methods include definitions and nomenclature, outbreak investigations, disease surveillance, case-control studies, cohort studies, laboratory diagnosis, molecular epidemiology, dynamics of transmission, and assessment of vaccine field effectiveness. Case-studies focus on acute respiratory infections, diarrheal diseases, hepatitis, HIV, tuberculosis, sexually transmitted diseases, malaria, and other vector-borne diseases.

Introduces the theory and application of modern, computationally-based methods for exploring and drawing inferences from data. Covers re-sampling methods, non-parametric regression, prediction, and dimension reduction and clustering. Specific topics include Monte Carlo simulation, bootstrap cross-validation, splines, local weighted regression, CART, random forests, neural networks, support vector machines, and hierarchical clustering. De-emphasizes proofs and replaces them with extended discussion of interpretation of results and simulation and data analysis for illustration.

Lectures and small group discussions focus on ethical theory and current ethical issues in public health and health policy, including resource allocation, the use of summary measures of health, the right to health care, and conflicts between autonomy and health promotion efforts. Student evaluation based on class participation, a group project, and a paper evaluating ethical issues in the student's area of public health specialization.

Ethics of Human Subject Research (2 credits) is offered by the Department of Health Policy and Management and the Distance Education Division, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and The Phoebe R. Berman Bioethics Institute, Johns Hopkins University. The course introduces students to the ethics of human subject research. Ethical theory and principles are introduced, followed by a brief history of research ethics. Topics covered in lectures and moderated discussions include informed consent for research participation, role and function of institutional review boards, just selection of research subjects, ethical aspects of study design, and privacy and confidentiality. Student evaluation will be based on participation in moderated discussions, an informed consent exercise and written case analysis.

Introduces issues and programmatic strategies related to the development, organization, and management of family planning programs, especially those in developing countries. Topics include social, economic, health, and human rights rationale for family planning; identifying and measuring populations in need of family planning services; social, cultural, political, and ethical barriers; contraceptive methods and their programmatic requirements; strategic alternatives, including integrated and vertical programs and public and private sector services; information, education, and communication strategies; management information systems; and the use of computer models for program design.

The purpose of this course is to familiarize and engage the student in the steps and dynamics of policy making processes that address nutrition problems and issues. An underlying tenant is that, where ever nutrition problems exist, policy and program options may be enacted to address the problem directly (e.g. food subsidies to the poor) and/or indirectly (e.g. income generation or job creation).

Lectures by current practitioners of cancer prevention control in clinical oncology cover the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention/screening measures used for cancers such as lung, breast, prostate, colon/rectal, etc.

Fundamentals of Program Evaluation familiarizes students in different types of program evaluation, including needs assessment, formative research, process evaluation, monitoring of outputs and outcomes, impact assessment, and cost analysis. Students gain practical experience through a series of exercises involving the design of a conceptual framework, development of indicators, analysis of computerized service statistics, and development of an evaluation plan to measure impact. This course covers experimental, quasi-experimental, and non-experimental study designs, including the strengths and limitations of each.