Investigating Outbreaks

ID 523 Subject & Catalog Number

Description

The investigation of disease outbreaks both predates and gave birth to the fields of epidemiology and public health. In the modern day, tried and true epidemiologic methods persist along with new, sophisticated methods of discovery. The topic of outbreaks is also the fodder of movies and television with fictional characters playing the glamorous role of “disease detectives” solving “ripped from the headlines” situations. This course is “grounded in the evidence-base” and draws from the literature and our own field-based experience.

This course combines the fundamental epidemiologic skills that you have gained throughout your program and applies them to the investigation of an outbreak. Mastery of the knowledge and skills in this area will foster the use of problem-solving frameworks and implementation strategies needed to address future outbreak situations that you may face in your career. The course will require you to follow along with an outbreak investigation case example, and the real-time experience of attempting to address these scenarios will illustrate the complexities and unexpected nature of outbreak investigations.