News & Events
40 years Epidemiology at Erasmus MC - Watch the weblectures
On the occasion of the 40th anniversary of Epidemiology at Erasmus University Medical Center Rotterdam, lectures were given by internationally renowned professors in epidemiology. You can now watch these lectures online.
Epidemiology: What Wikipedia says...
Epidemiology: is the study of factors affecting the health and illness of populations, and serves as the foundation and logic of interventions made in the interest of public health and preventive medicine...
Etymology: Epidemiology, "the study of what is upon the people", is derived from the Greek terms epi = upon, among; demos = people, district; logos = study, word, discourse; suggesting that it applies only to human populations...
History: The Greek physician Hippocrates is sometimes said to be the father of epidemiology...
The profession: To date, few universities offer epidemiology as a course of study at the undergraduate level...
The practice: Epidemiologists employ a range of study designs from the observational to experimental and generally categorized as descriptive, analytic, and experimental...
Causal inference: Although epidemiology is sometimes viewed as a collection of statistical tools used to elucidate the associations of exposures to health outcomes, a deeper understanding of this science is that of discovering causal relationships...
Legal interpretation: Epidemiology is concerned with the incidence of disease in populations and does not address the question of the cause of an individual’s disease...
Advocacy: As a public health discipline, epidemiologic evidence is often used to advocate both personal measures like diet change and corporate measures like removal of junk food advertising...
Population-based health management: Epidemiological practice and the results of epidemiological analysis make a significant contribution to emerging population-based health management frameworks...
Types of studies: Case series, case control studies, cohort studies, outbreak investigation...
Etymology: Epidemiology, "the study of what is upon the people", is derived from the Greek terms epi = upon, among; demos = people, district; logos = study, word, discourse; suggesting that it applies only to human populations...
History: The Greek physician Hippocrates is sometimes said to be the father of epidemiology...
The profession: To date, few universities offer epidemiology as a course of study at the undergraduate level...
The practice: Epidemiologists employ a range of study designs from the observational to experimental and generally categorized as descriptive, analytic, and experimental...
Causal inference: Although epidemiology is sometimes viewed as a collection of statistical tools used to elucidate the associations of exposures to health outcomes, a deeper understanding of this science is that of discovering causal relationships...
Legal interpretation: Epidemiology is concerned with the incidence of disease in populations and does not address the question of the cause of an individual’s disease...
Advocacy: As a public health discipline, epidemiologic evidence is often used to advocate both personal measures like diet change and corporate measures like removal of junk food advertising...
Population-based health management: Epidemiological practice and the results of epidemiological analysis make a significant contribution to emerging population-based health management frameworks...
Types of studies: Case series, case control studies, cohort studies, outbreak investigation...
What NIHES alumni say...
Dr. Ningping Zhang, China
NIHES Master of Science in Clinical Epidemiology "It has been my dream to become a real doctor. It was decisive for my career. I look forward to pursuing my PhD programme and combining my clinical practice with high-level clinical research. I want to be a professor in the future and share my knowledge and experience with medical students."
Dr. Mónica Ortegon, Colombia
NIHES Doctor of Science in Clinical Epidemiology "I wanted to make a difference in the health area in my country - and definitely through research. My aim is to contribute to the policy-making process there and to contribute and motivate to the training in research of Colombian students."
Christoph M. Seiler, MD, MSc, Germany
NIHES Master of Science in Clinical Epidemiology "Evidence-based medicine was completely new for me as a surgeon. I had to go back to research and study design methods. I did a Master’s programme in clinical epidemiology part-time and continued my surgical career. In the next 15 years I want to do global pragmatic surgical trials."
Bony Wiem Lestari, Indonesia
NIHES Master of Science in Clinical Epidemiology "I always liked to help people, but as a community doctor I did not have enough knowledge to do good research. I wanted to be a qualified researcher, especially in epidemiology, to help my country to better plan and control the HIV epidemic."
Akhgar Ghassabian, Iran
NIHES Master of Science in Health Sciences, specialization in Epidemiology "My impression was always that research in public health is far more important than just treating individual patients. As a medical doctor, I am still not sure whether I should continue as a researcher or a clinician. I believe that my experience will help me to combine the best of both worlds."
Niels Schep, MD, PhD, MSc NIHES Master of Science in Health Sciences, specialization in Clinical Epidemiology "One of my ambitions is to treat patients with multiple injuries using the most novel techniques and conducting some randomized control trials. In ten years I hope to be a staff surgeon in trauma surgery, using the latest techniques and especially doing randomized control trials. We need more evidence-based medicine in trauma surgery."
Dr. Katarzyna Szamotulska, Poland
NIHES Master of Science in Epidemiology "After my graduation from econometrics in Poland, I decided to move to medicine. My study in epidemiology at NIHES is the most important event in my professional life. I wrote a book, together with one of my professors, which is still the only clinical epidemiology book in my country. Teaching epidemiology and biostatistics to medical doctors in Poland is very important, since these subjects are almost absent at medical faculties. I try to fulfill the gap."
NIHES Master of Science in Clinical Epidemiology "It has been my dream to become a real doctor. It was decisive for my career. I look forward to pursuing my PhD programme and combining my clinical practice with high-level clinical research. I want to be a professor in the future and share my knowledge and experience with medical students."
Dr. Mónica Ortegon, Colombia
NIHES Doctor of Science in Clinical Epidemiology "I wanted to make a difference in the health area in my country - and definitely through research. My aim is to contribute to the policy-making process there and to contribute and motivate to the training in research of Colombian students."
Christoph M. Seiler, MD, MSc, Germany
NIHES Master of Science in Clinical Epidemiology "Evidence-based medicine was completely new for me as a surgeon. I had to go back to research and study design methods. I did a Master’s programme in clinical epidemiology part-time and continued my surgical career. In the next 15 years I want to do global pragmatic surgical trials."
Bony Wiem Lestari, Indonesia
NIHES Master of Science in Clinical Epidemiology "I always liked to help people, but as a community doctor I did not have enough knowledge to do good research. I wanted to be a qualified researcher, especially in epidemiology, to help my country to better plan and control the HIV epidemic."
Akhgar Ghassabian, Iran
NIHES Master of Science in Health Sciences, specialization in Epidemiology "My impression was always that research in public health is far more important than just treating individual patients. As a medical doctor, I am still not sure whether I should continue as a researcher or a clinician. I believe that my experience will help me to combine the best of both worlds."
Niels Schep, MD, PhD, MSc NIHES Master of Science in Health Sciences, specialization in Clinical Epidemiology "One of my ambitions is to treat patients with multiple injuries using the most novel techniques and conducting some randomized control trials. In ten years I hope to be a staff surgeon in trauma surgery, using the latest techniques and especially doing randomized control trials. We need more evidence-based medicine in trauma surgery."
Dr. Katarzyna Szamotulska, Poland
NIHES Master of Science in Epidemiology "After my graduation from econometrics in Poland, I decided to move to medicine. My study in epidemiology at NIHES is the most important event in my professional life. I wrote a book, together with one of my professors, which is still the only clinical epidemiology book in my country. Teaching epidemiology and biostatistics to medical doctors in Poland is very important, since these subjects are almost absent at medical faculties. I try to fulfill the gap."