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Epidemiology is the study of the patterns and determinants of disease in populations. It constitutes a basic science for public health and biomedical sciences, and its influence can be felt daily through the presentation of data by government, academic, and industry sources. The goal of this course is to present an introduction to epidemiological methods and inferences to biotechnology professionals with little prior experience in public health. Issues in epidemiological inference and the assessment of causal relationships from epidemiological studies will be discussed, introducing the issues of bias and confounding. Throughout the course, emphasis will be placed on the practical use of epidemiology, and lectures will be complemented by case studies and published literature. Examples will be drawn from contemporaneous issues in chronic and infectious diseases. At the conclusion of the course, students should have a greater appreciation for the role of the epidemiologic method and be able to evaluate a basic epidemiologic study, including how the study goals and research questions relate to the design, measures, and inferences. Recommended prerequisites: undergraduate statistics course or 410.645 Biostatistics. SCI