EPID 4070 Fundamentals of Epidemiology Group Project Description To gain more in-depth knowledge of a public health problem and

to familiarize students with various sources of data, students will be working groups of five or six to study a specific health topic of their choosing. Using descriptive epidemiology, students will: gain experience in describing and analyzing the distribution of a health disorder in a population or the relation of a specific exposure to a health outcome become familiar with various sources of data for the epidemiologic description of a health disorder enhance their ability to make sound epidemiologic judgments related to public health problem Examples of health problems or disease that might be studied are found in Exhibit 5-4. Additionally, Exhibit 5-1 has resources and that may be helpful in finding information. Sources of data can include: morbidity and mortality reports (vital statistics): World health Organization and international reports; U.S. federal, state, and local annual and periodic reports current literature on the selected health problem reports of special surveys Report and Presentation Students will present their findings in a written report in addition to an oral presentation. The report will be 10-pages typed with 1-inch margins. All reports will be due Tuesday, April 28, 2009. A model for the organization of the paper can be found on page 202 of the textbook, but the report should include: a definition of the problem the agent/condition (if applicable) the description of the sources of data available on the topic summary of the data available on the topic (using graphs, tables, etc as needed) host characteristics environmental attributes temporality additional characteristics current hypotheses explaining the problem future research endeavors critical appraisal of the problem and data available (your thoughts on the topic as a whole) The presentations should be 10-15 minutes long and should address the points mentioned in the report. Presenters should be prepared to answer possible questions at the end of the presentation. All members of the groups must contribute to both the report and presentation. Since this undoubtedly the first of many professional presentations you will make, it is expected that you will present yourselves as professionals in both your conduct and appearance.