The photos of the department picnic can now be viewed on epi home page. Click on the link to Picnic pictures on lower right hand side of the home page. Thanks Mark for uploading the pictures.
First GEMS General Body Meeting of the Fall 2009 Semester
October 20, 2009 at 5:47 pm (Events, Fundraising, Main Blog, Meetings, Updates)
Tags: GEMS, epidemiology, msu, graduate students, michigan state, epi, Holiday party, department of epidemiology, meeting, education, Dues, Fundraising, Events
GEMS Monthly Meeting:
Hope to see you there!!!
Date: Thursday, Oct 29th
Time: 2pm-3:30pm
Location: Central Conference Room
6th Floor West Fee Hall
GEMS is back! We want to invite you all to our monthly GEMS meeting. Our first meeting of the semester is Thursday, October 29th at 2pm
The meeting is geared to all Certificate, Masters and PhD students alike. We also welcome our Post-doctoral fellows!
I hope that you will all be available at this time.
This meeting will be geared towards introducing all of the students to each other. Telling one another a little about our research, and talking about the programs in general. We will also give a summary overview of what we have planned for this semester and get feedback from you on what you would like to see us do to help you the students. We also need to discuss the very important issue pertaining to the future of GEMS.
The meeting is only an hour long. We hope to see you there.
Please also watch for some upcoming events this year:
International Lunch · Graduate Recruitment · GEMS Meetings
MSU Sports Games · Fund Raising · Community Service
Go MSU! Go EPI! Go GEMS!!!
MSU Dept. of Epidemiology Seminar – Dr. Sandra Melnick-Seitz, Thurs. 8/10/09, at 4:00 p.m.
September 10, 2009 at 7:32 am (Uncategorized)
MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY
DEPARTMENT OF EPIDEMIOLOGY
SPRING SEMINAR SERIES
PRESENTS
Sandra Melnick Seitz, Dr.P.H.
Thursday, September 10, 2009, 4:00 p.m.
E4 Fee Hall (Basement)
“Navigating NIH Peer Review”
The mission of the NIH is to fund science relevant to US public health needs in order to extend healthy life and reduce the burdens of illness and disability. Currently, 84 per cent of the total 2009 NIH budget of $30.6 billion is devoted to supporting over 325,000 extramural scientists and research personnel at more than 3,000 institutions. Funds are awarded based on a unique system of peer review that has its goal evaluating the scientific and technical merit of an application through a process that is fair, competent and thorough. The results of peer review (e.g., summary statements) are used by NIH Institutes and Centers (ICs) as part of their algorithms for determining which extramural research projects will be funded according to the IC mission and programmatic priorities. There have been many changes to the policies and practice of peer review at the NIH Center for Scientific Review (CSR), with more planned. Navigating review policies and procedures can be difficult despite the wealth of publicly available information on NIH and CSR websites. The goals of this seminar are to outline how peer review works at the NIH, where to find information you need and point out the rocks along the way.
2009 Epi Fall Picnic
September 10, 2009 at 7:26 am (Events, Fundraising, Main Blog)
Epi Picnic is this friday: Please mark your calendars
Epidemiology
Department Picnic
Friday, September 11, 2009
At Hartrick Park (Behind Okemos High School) 3685 Hullet Rd, Okemos from 4pm to Dusk
Everyone is encouraged to attend and to bring their families as well.
Fun games, along with tug of war to enjoy.
A POT LUCK sign-up sheet is at the front desk. Please sign up.
Look forward to seeing you all there!
Please feel free to bring and share your own outdoor games.
Prashanti, Angel and Yasaman
Finals!!!
May 5, 2009 at 11:36 am (Uncategorized)
So we’re down to tha last week of school and we are hoping that all our semesters hard work will pay off! Big Exams, Bigger Projects, Biggest Headache. On top of that, may of you that are also involved in research know that the end off semester doesn’t mean there is an end in work and deadlines. Sounds bad? Well it’s not so bad….
Think of the benefits that this brings you…
1:Makes you a stronger person when it comes to stress
2:You learn to juggle work and multitask
3:You are one semester closer to graduation.
4:You appreciate more the down time that you get if you get it.
Well that’s all that I could think of. If you have more ideas, email them to gems@epi.msu.edu and we will add them to the list.
Anyway be thankful for the end of the semester and 4.0s we will be getting…. I hope we all will get 4.0s.
Graduation!!!!!
May 5, 2009 at 11:15 am (Events, Main Blog)
Tags: department of epidemiology, education, epi, epidemiology, Events, GEMS, graduate students, michigan state, msu, Party
Some of us will soon become alumni. We would like to congratulate Prashanti, Christian, Julia, Nicole J., Crystal, and Hui on their successful completion of their degrees!
PLEASE JOIN US! EPIDEMIOLOGY GRADUATION RECEPTION All graduating students and their families, faculty, students, and staff are invited to the Graduation Reception. Refreshments will be available, and graduating students will have the opportunity to take pictures with friends, faculty and chair (please bring your cameras). Graduating students, please wear your caps and gowns! Friday, May 8, 2009 4:00 – 6:00 PM B656 West Fee Hall
Epidemiology
April 13, 2009 at 3:09 am (Main Blog, Uncategorized)
Tags: department of epidemiology, education, epi, epidemiology, GEMS, graduate students, michigan state, msu
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. Literally, Epidemiology translates to “the study of what is upon the people”. It is derived from the Greek terms epi = upon, among; demos = people, district; logos = study. Therefore as epidemiologists we study diseases and how they affect a population.
The history of epidemiology is said to have started with Hippocrates (grandfather of epidemiology), who was the first person known to have examined the relationships between the occurrence of disease and environmental influences.
Fast-forward to 1854, John Snow is famous for using epidemiologic methods to suppress an outbreak of cholera in London. Many see this as the founding event that established epidemiology as a science.
From the historical roots epidemiology has developed over time changing and broadening as the world advances. Today, epidemiology has greatly expanded to encompass not only infectious diseases. Epidemiology has become the bridge between a variety of sciences and disciplines and the public health and policy sectors.
Today, we live in a world of technological delight. There is nothing that escapes the grasp of technological improvement. As epidemiologists, we too have to bow to the reign of the techie empire. This blog is my personal attempt to do so. I believe we can use this as another tool to further ourselves in our research. We have already equipped ourselves with Longitudinal Study Engines, a variety of statistical software, and online short courses for Epidemiology. I think we can use this blog as a means to keep informed about Epidemiological news, discuss theories, and express personal ideas related to Epidemiology. I especially encourage Epi students to use this as a reference and guide on the road to higher learning. We can feel free to discuss confusion about biostatistical analyses, get input and feedback on study design ideas, and discuss fears and techniques to study for the comprehensive exam. I will blog about a variety of things that we have learned about or experienced in the Epidemiology Department at Michigan State University.
Michigan Epidemiology Conference 2009: PART I Posters
April 13, 2009 at 2:57 am (Conferences, Events, Main Blog, Uncategorized)
Some of us recently went to the Michigan Epidemiology Conference 2009 (MiEpi2009). Some of us may have attended the 2008 conference last year. All I can say is that overall; this year was not as good as last year. Actually, before I get to the comparison, let me give the summary of events.
Okay, so this year’s MiEpi conference was in Ann Arbor. The drive started for some of us at 6am. We had to get to Ann Arbor by 8am to register and put up posters. They also had breakfast ready for us. The irony was that at a Public Health conference, the breakfast was sugary donuts, bagels, juice and coffee. I think I’m only shocked about the donuts, but hey, we all need to indulge from time to time, and I had 3.
The poster!!!! What can we say about the posters? The poster stands were foam board hanging from the ceiling with wire hanger. That wasn’t really a problem, the problem came when people had to stand near their posters, they were so close together and crowded. When someone wanted to point to chart of the poster, the board would swing and hit someone on the other side in the face, back, whatever part of the body that was facing the board. It was pretty amusing to me, but not to some.
There were actually really good posters present. MSU had a good representation as well. Mary Jo Hidecker had 2 really interesting posters. One was on “Communication Function Classification System (CFCS) for Individuals with Cerebral Palsy”, and the other was on “Cerebral Palsy Surveillance of Communication and Eating”. The second poster was presented however by an undergraduate student at MSU, Carla Hanna, who collaborated with Hidecker on the project.
Other MSU students who presented posters were:
Brian Ahmedani (pre-doctoral fellow; Smoking Behaviors and Attitudes among Health/Help Professional Students),
Megan Muscia (undergraduate; Relationship of High Risk Behaviors and Disorder Eating in Adolescents)
David Barondess (post-doctoral fellow; Recent-onset tobacco smoking and ethnicity: NSDUH, 2004-06)
Manuel Catacora (Masters Student; Are there sex differences in the experience of tobacco dependence clinical features? Epidemiological evidence from the United States, 2007)
Marie Beasley (undergraduate; Obsessive/Compulsive symptom severity and its association with substance use behaviors in a general population sample of adolescents)
Karen Dobias (The relationship of antisocial behavior to co-variants of child abuse and neglect)
Emily Meyer (post-doctoral fellow; Recent-onset cocaine users: Persistence of 30-day use)
Give a round of applause for those that present posters at the conference!!!
Keep us UPDATED
April 13, 2009 at 12:07 am (Events, Updates)
Does anyone have pictures from disertation defenses, Birthday/PIE meetings, conferences, etc? If so, and you don’t mind sharing with the department, please email copies to GEMS. Our email is gems@epi.msu.edu.
Michigan Epidemiology Conference 2009: PART IV Pics and Review
April 12, 2009 at 11:37 pm (Conferences, Events, Main Blog)
Okay so we gave the summary of the two sessions… now to the good stuff. Here are the rants and raves and comparisons to last year’s session that was hosted at MSU.
As for food, many people commented on the lack of healthy options available. Also last year, there were box lunches available for all participants. This year was a little awkward because only student got food. MPHA members had a special seminar with food and U of M students and alumni were whisked away for a private catered lunch. I think this was a little “interesting” since last year at MSU; everyone sat together to network and show solidarity as Michigan epidemiologists. Also, this may have been a budgeting issue, but it was a bit funny that post docs, professors, and state workers were left to find the cafeteria (aka fending for their selves).
The food itself was better at the 2009 meeting than the 2008 meeting though.
A few students have come to a consensus that the presentations were better at the 2008 session than the 2009 session. I also heard from people that the Careers in Epidemiology session was not as good as in 2008. In 2008 there was a large conference room for everyone to sit at and ask questions and hear experiences from people who have a variety of jobs in public health and epidemiology. It was very beneficial to students. This year I heard complaints that there were multiple tables set up this year with a speaker at each small round table and people would rotate to each speaker. I heard that people didn’t get as much out of this.
Back to posters… I’m actually surprised thought that less people seemed to have posters this year as compared to last year. Actually, the whole session seemed smaller and duller compared to last year’s session. Go figure.
Lastly, MPHA had a lot of information that we will go over at out next meeting.
All in all, it was a great experience.
