Student Research Day Tuesday March 20, 2012 |
Welcome to Epidemiology and Community Medicine
The mission of the Department of Epidemiology and Community Medicine, one of four basic science departments in the Faculty of Medicine, is to contribute to health promotion and disease prevention, by providing a scholarly environment for community health sciences that
- Stimulates and enhances learning
- Expands knowledge and understanding by conducting research
- Offers professional expertise and consultant advice to persons and agencies in other fields who need these forms of help.
Our department, which is an interdisciplinary department, comprises members with a wide variety of academic backgrounds and interests, and has also developed formal linkages with other groups, such as with clinical epidemiology research units at the local hospitals, the Public Health Department of the City of Ottawa, the Public Health Agency of Canada, Health Canada and the Local Health Integration Network. We are co-founders of the Institute of Population Health and have strong links in both the Institute's teaching (PhD in Population Health, Certificate in Population Health Risk Assessment, Diploma in Health Services Policy and Research) and in its research activities. We also house the Centre for International Health and Development ( CIHAD). The department has an active research program, involving extensive collaborations with other groups, which includes three broad areas:
- Etiological Epidemiology (genomic epidemiology, chronic disease etiology, investigation of prognostic markers, social and organizational factors as mediators of adverse health states,, impact of environmental factors such as air pollution);
- Social Epidemiology (women’s health, gender roles and risk of HIV infection, harm reduction strategies, health of older persons, impact of poverty, international/global health equity),
- Clinical Epidemiology & Health Services Research (public health genomics, evaluation of clinical and health service interventions to improve public health, analysis of treatment patterns, adverse drug reactions and other aspects of quality of care, evaluation of community health programs, applied health economics, systematic reviews, knowledge transfer, patient decision aids, diffusion of treatment innovations).
In addition, the Department is responsible for four main teaching programs: it runs the Society, the Individual and Medicine (SIM) components of the undergraduate medical curriculum in each of the first three years; a research-oriented Master's Program in Epidemiology; a research-oriented PhD in Epidemiology; and the Public Health and Preventive Medicine Postgraduate Medical Residency Program. The MSc program has been in place since 1988 and was appraised in 2006 as of good quality by the Ontario Council on Graduate Studies. The PhD program in Epidemiology is new this fall and the Department is planning to extend public health training. We are also major partners of the PhD Program in Population Health, an interdisciplinary degree offered through collaboration by the Faculties of Health Sciences, Medicine, Social Sciences, Management and Law; we contribute by teaching courses, supervising students and by membership on the various committees.
Since 2000, the department has tripled the number of faculty from 6 full-time members to 18; a number of Canada Research Chairs have been recruited, as well as new faculty and a new Chairman. Our support staff has also increased significantly and contributes to a highly active departmental environment. We look forward to the future challenges and expect that the department will continue to make valuable contributions to the life of the Faculty and the University.
Chairman
Julian Little
Canada Research Chair in Human Genome Epidemiology
E-mail: jlittle@uottawa.ca
Administrative Assistant: Valery L'Heureux (vlheureu@uottawa.ca)
Director of Graduate Studies
Doug Coyle
E-mail: dcoyle@uottawa.ca
Academic Administrative Officer: (grad.med@uottawa.ca )