This June, statistical epidemiologist from OVC’s Department of Population Medicine, Dr. Olaf Berke, and two co-instructors, will facilitate an intensive five-day course in Geographical Epidemiology at the University of Guelph.
An expert in his field, Dr. Berke brings a breadth of knowledge to this brief but thorough course.
“I have been working in the field of spatial statistics and geographic epidemiology/health geography for over 30 years,” explains Berke. “During this time, I developed and evaluated statistical methods and conducted various applied studies; for example, I developed a mapping method which has become one of the most referenced papers of the International Journal of Health Geographics.”
Berke’s co-instructors are Dr. Julie Horrocks, who is the department Chair of Mathematics and Statistics at the University of Guelph, and Dr. Lorna Deeth, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics. Dr. Deeth did her master’s degree, with Dr. Horrocks and Dr. Berke as co-advisors, when she took the first offering in 2005.
In addition to presenting a comprehensive overview of methods for geographical epidemiology, Berke and his co-instructors will teach participants how to use free software to analyze spatial data and make maps that will allow them to determine the location of disease clusters, and link disease occurrence to spatially varying risk factors.
Students will be introduced to various examples of zoonotic and emerging diseases in a spatial context (e.g., West Nile virus, Echinococcus multilocularis) as well as the well published Scottish lip cancer example.
Topics studied in the course are current and appeal to individuals working in the areas of public health, epidemiology, biostatistics and geography, in government and academia.
The five-day course runs from Monday, June 26 to Friday, June 30, 2017.
For more information and to register, visit the Geographical Epidemiology course page.