Guest wassabi101 Posted March 27, 2003 Report Share Posted March 27, 2003 Hey there boys and girls! Any one interested in *Epidemiology*? By the way, I just wanted to clarify that Epidemiology is NOT the study of the epidermis :lol (I hear that all the time, most often, from my mother :lol ) Low and behold.....it is the study of the distribution and determinants of disease I had started a previous convo with Kirsteen re epidemiology and so instead of boring people over at the graduate topic, I thought I'd start a whole brand new one over here.... -wassabi101 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest wassabi101 Posted March 27, 2003 Report Share Posted March 27, 2003 Hey Kirsteen- To answer your questions, I was thinking of going to the CSEB in Halifax! A lot of professors will be attending and I believe it only runs every two years. I didn't submit an abstract but would have loved to. Problem is that I'm working in a very clinical setting with a really clinically-oriented cardiologist who probably has never heard of the CSEB When I attended the IEA (International Epidemiology Association Conference) last August, I got a funny look :rolleyes I did present at the CSEB student conference last August though! Were you there? Have you submitted an abstract for the CSEB this year? Your research sounds amazing- tell me, what was your undergrad in? your thesis topic sounds very intense- are you analyzing previously collected data? I might very well be conducting a meta-analysis on Aspirin and anti-lipids- the other meds; beta-blockers, ACE inhibitors, nitrates etc. there's not enough on (which is one of my main points ) My descriptive analyses are on examining the patterns of use (mere percentages) of medical therapy in patients who undergo CABG and among subgroups that have co-morbidities such as prior MI, CHF, hypertension....for example, all patients who have a CABG in our study were completely revascularized...hence, the need for anti-ischemic therapy such as beta-blockers should be zero unless they have hypertension, CHF or prior MI......whether this is the case is what I'm looking at.....for each medication.....for each condition.......kind of thing.... I won't release any results right now cause it's not yet finished but there are some interesting correlations and random effects going on that are driving me absolutely up the wall in terms of the second manuscript.... Needless to say, my predictor model has not been identified yet..I am using logistic regression and some random effects modelling but for my predictor model, not sure yet! An international health project in Africa! How interesting! WOW, did you get to go? I was just in Vietnam this summer working on a public health project there....what was your research about? Yes, it is absolutely wonderful to be chatting with a fellow epi fan! -wassabi101 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest tappety tap Posted March 27, 2003 Report Share Posted March 27, 2003 hey wassabi... i really just took a shot in the dark that i figured out your identity. I put the pieces together of mcgill epi, applying to ottawa med...i thought i'd ask just by chance and i'm glad I did! As you know, I applied to epi at mcgill and also at U of T and Ottawa (where I already got accepted!) When I read the description of your research, it makes me nervous because the terminology is really foreign to me. I hope you learn all this in the program! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Kirsteen Posted March 28, 2003 Report Share Posted March 28, 2003 Hi wassabi101, Great idea re: opening up a new thread! Yeh, I've gotten the, "So you study skinnnn?" thing a fair bit too. First, re: CSEB, do you think you'll attend even though you haven't submitted an abstract? A number of people in my department attended last year's conference in Montreal. Given that I'm only first year, I wasn't quite prepped to go at that point! Yep, I've submitted three abstracts for CSEB this year. Hopefully at least one will make it... :rolleyes My undergrad consisted of a specialist programme in Human Bio, in conjunction with a minor in Physiology. My MBA didn't cover too, too much related to AVMs! My data, yes, it has been collected over the past twenty years at Sunnybrook and the Toronto Western Hospital--just call me retrospective cohort! I think I'll probably either go your route, i.e., logistic regression, or head for the Kaplan-Meier hills. (I'm really quite enjoying survival analysis at the moment and my data and research question fit this type of analysis quite nicely, so we'll see.) Given what you're saying about your research, you'd absolutely love the course that I'm taking right now at UT: Advanced Topics in CV Sciences: Vascular. Every week we sit in front of a cardiologist, pathologist, cardiac or vascular surgeon, all of whom share more and more interesting wee tidbits about atherosclerosis and its nouveaux therapies. Very interesting stuff. (By the way, I had my cholesterol checked last week, partly due to all that atherosclerotic doom and gloom!) Do you think you'll be coming to TO to present your results at the Canadian Cardiovascular Congress later this year? There are an absolute wealth of conferences out there for us CV/epi folk, eh? I'm sure I'll eventually bump into you at one! On the Africa project front, I was planning to go to Addis Ababa last December, but exams got the better of me, so thought it better to stay at home. There is a chance that I'll be heading over this year though, to meet the surgeons with whom I work. As to our research here, there are a number of projects that we have on the go: 1) we have provided electronic access to the UT library holdings to surgeons within E. Africa and we are studying the impact and efficacy of this information on their teaching, research and clinical activities; 2) we just launched a study investigating the surgical milieu in E. Africa (it is currently largely unknown). Hey, thanks again for the McGill Epi tip, by the way. Have you heard much feedback from those who have taken the summer courses? Any idea as to how evaluations are tackled? Lastly, are you considering moving on up to PhD studies at all? If so, what fields are you perusing? Cheers again, Kirsteen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest medicator007 Posted March 28, 2003 Report Share Posted March 28, 2003 Wassabi, Good line about epidemiology..... I remember during undergrad having to explain to SEVERAL people that Herpetology was not the study of herpes, but rather of reptiles & amphibians. Cheers, Medicator Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest mandm Posted April 1, 2003 Report Share Posted April 1, 2003 Hi All: I (too) have a masters degree in Epi and I must say I really enjoyed my work. Does anyone know what the cutoff if like to accept PhD students into this program? I have heard varying reports-- from "it really doesn't matter what your marks are like, as long as you can get a prof to take you on " to " you should have above a 3.6. My marks aren't stellar (yes, even the grad school marks) but I have alot ALOT of research experience. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Kirsteen Posted April 3, 2003 Report Share Posted April 3, 2003 Hi there mandm, At UofT this year, quite a few applications were received for the Epi. PhD program. Given that the large scholarships require an A- graduate average, even though the official academic cut-off is a little lower for the PhD program, they set this year's cut-off to the A-. Using the academic cut-off as well consideration of the other band of factors (graduate productivity, etc.) they created a short-list of 10 candidates. I hope this helps! Cheers, Kirsteen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest tappety tap Posted April 3, 2003 Report Share Posted April 3, 2003 Hey guys! I was wondering if any of you are at U of T ? I was just admitted into their program (which I am so psyched about!!)but I have some Q's..... (besides Kirsteen -cuz I already know that you are!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest wassabi101 Posted April 4, 2003 Report Share Posted April 4, 2003 Hello everybody! Sorry it took me a bit of time to reply- I was in Chicago at the American College of Cardiology Conference until late last night. It was absolutely amazing! Besides the fact that I got to present my thesis material and get great feedback, hearing cardiologists speak about the hottest and newest research out there (drug-eluting stents, angiogenesis and stem cell research etc.) was definitely an added bonus It was very motivating to continue working on my thesis, that's for sure, especially since a few people asked me when my research findings would be available! :eek Congrats tappety tap on your epi acceptance to U of T! I hope you get into McGill too so that Kristin and I can work at selling our program to you Medicator, LOL! That definitely has to be worst! Mandm, for the PHD at McGill, they are a lot less stringent on grades than other schools seem to be, and having a supervisor in the department definitely helps, given the small size of the department and constant chatter between them, but I believe (am almost sure) that you need the same requirement as to get into the Master’s program- that is GRE scores of verbal: 550, quantitative: 600, analytical: 600 or more and a GPA of 3.3. Most PHD students in our department have taken a few years to work in between and as such, you would most likely need a few publications as well on your record. Kirsteen, yes I am thinking of attending the CSEB conference even though I didn’t submit an abstract- the one in Toronto I haven’t looked into yet…..definitely worth looking at though….would you have a quick link? That “advanced topics in CV research” sounds really amazing- we have NOTHING of the sort at McGill. That’s one of the big differences between U of T and McGill. I’ve heard at least that McGill is much more methods oriented and from your description of the course, U of T has amazing applied courses. The closest we get to applied courses are the practicum and the summer classes. I took a summer class last summer (public health courses on street youth)- the evaluation is pretty much standard for every course- assignments or presentation or one exam and maybe one assignment (depending on the length of the course and the amount of credits). Many are pass-fail. As for the PHD, I’ve applied to U of T Medical Sciences Program and McGill’s program for now. I’ll most likely apply to a few schools in the States if I don’t get into med school this September. Either way, I won’t be 100% satisfied unless I complete both the PHD and MD. As solely an Epidemiologist with no health sciences background (nursing, PT or MD etc.), I find it very unsatisfying to not have that direct patient contact and to not know if you’re asking the right questions and if your research is affecting your population of interest as it should (on the health policy level) (WHAT and WHY). On the other hand, with just an MD and no PHD in Epidemiologist, I wouldn’t feel confident enough in knowing how to answer my clinical questions methodologically (HOW). The only confidence I have now is in the WHERE! With a sociological background and having worked abroad and in culturally diverse settings for a while now, I am very interested in looking at how ethnicity affects quality and receipt of care, specifically in adolescent research (street youth, prostitutes, drug addicts etc.) I am very interested in deviance, public health, psychiatry and the like That's why I was really interested in hearing about your research in Africa. It seems really interesting! I'd love to hear more some time- hopefully over coffee one of these days when I'm there or you're here (I might be coming to TO for an interview for the PHD soon) -wassabi Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest tappety tap Posted April 8, 2003 Report Share Posted April 8, 2003 Just got into McGill Epi... Now the convincing starts... on the side of mcgill.......Wassabi on the side of TO......Kirsteen... let the debate begin!!!! hehe Seriously I have a few more weeks to decide bu I'm leaning towards UT because of its unique program in health and behavioural sciences. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest medicator007 Posted April 8, 2003 Report Share Posted April 8, 2003 Wassabi, Are you currently at McGill? Studying in?... i'm sure its been posted before, but if so, i just can't figure it out! And yeah, i still get friends and relatives calling me for my expertise on herpes.... which is disturbing, but at least now i know some stuff about it! Cheers, Medicator Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest wassabi101 Posted April 8, 2003 Report Share Posted April 8, 2003 Hey there medicator, Yes I am, completing my degree in Epidemiology and Biostatistics! Yikes! Let's just hope the press doesn't catch on Cheers, -wassabi Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest medicator007 Posted April 9, 2003 Report Share Posted April 9, 2003 Wassabi, By Chance have u ever had Dr. M. Baltzan?..... he's clinical staff over at Mount Sinai Hospital and i think he holds a posting to that department! Medicator Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest wassabi101 Posted April 13, 2003 Report Share Posted April 13, 2003 Hey Medicator- Although I've heard of Dr. Baltzan, I'm not too familiar with his research per say- the Epi department has a lot of professors affiliated as either associate, adjunct or assistant, many of which don't teach any courses. If I'm still around next hear starting a PHD at McGill (I hope not!), we'll probably get to meet as I'll be continuing to teach the small group sessions for the 2nd year med students. -wassabi Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest wassabi101 Posted April 13, 2003 Report Share Posted April 13, 2003 Hey tappety tap, Congrats on your acceptance to McGill Epi I think your deciding factor should be based on what you'd like to do with an Epidemiology degree. If you're interested in using it as a base for an applied field....nursing, psychology, medicine, then U of T does have a lot more applied type courses. On the other hand, if you're considering continuing onto a PHD, academia or more of a methods type field (working for Health Canada, the CDC), you'd want to "specialize" and build a strong foundation in epidemiological and statistical methods, for which I would choose McGill. For example, one of our professors, Dr. Samy Suissa, is a leading expert in a epidemiological method called survival analysis and his PHD course is one of the only offered of its kind (and depth) in Canada...Dr. Oli Miettenen is reknown for his books on the theory of epidemiology....Dr. Eduardo Franco for cancer research etc... -wassabi Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Kirsteen Posted April 13, 2003 Report Share Posted April 13, 2003 Hi there, Regarding Epi couse offerings at UofT, I'd argue that we have a great marriage of both, applied, and core epi courses. Our Epi program offers the standard core epi/biostats courses: on the biostatistics/analysis front, we have two courses in survival analysis, as well as two courses on demographics & vital statistics, analysis of qualitative data, longitudinal data analysis, Bayesian methods... as well as a host more; on the pure Epi front we offer epi methods I & II, our own survival analysis course, etc. We do, however, offer a number of applied courses, e.g., cancer epidemiology, international health issues (a couple of courses in that realm), public health sanitation, communicable & non-communicable disease, occupational epi, tobacco. It is this assembly of applied courses tends to differ between universities. In addition to all of this, if it's clinical applications that are of interest we UofT Epi. folks are permitted to take courses offered by the Clin. Epi. Dept., and those are all over the map with respect to direct application of Epi. concepts, e.g., designing/conducting randomized controlled trials, clinical decision-making analysis, measurement of patients' preferences, evidence based guidelines, etc. There are, however, a couple of neat areas that UofT does not cover at the moment--sigh: pharmacoepidemiology and genetic epidemiology (although there are at least a couple of folks undertaking this type of research within our program). Essentially, when taking a graduate Epi. path you need a few things: the basics (e.g., basic Epi methods, biostatistical analyses, etc.), some courses within your particular area of interest, and then some individuals who are working within the area within which you'd like to research. You can pick the basics up within any Epi. program, but it's the specialty courses and supervisors-to-be who should really influence your choice of programs. Cheers, Kirsteen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest mandm Posted April 14, 2003 Report Share Posted April 14, 2003 Kirsteen: What's pharmco-epi? I get the pharmacology + epi, part. However, I don't get the gist of potential study topics... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Kirsteen Posted April 14, 2003 Report Share Posted April 14, 2003 Hi there mandm, Pharmacoepi is the study of how pharmaceuticals influence the health of groups of individuals. This could extend to pharm. policy, the effect of new vaccines, the economics of the business, etc. As to your second question, I don't really understand what you're asking. Cheers, Kirsteen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest mandm Posted April 15, 2003 Report Share Posted April 15, 2003 I don't understand what I am trying to say there either...! Kidding. My spelling (actually my typing) is atrocious. You did answer my question; thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest wassabi101 Posted April 27, 2003 Report Share Posted April 27, 2003 Hey there Kirsteen I'm looking for a supervisor at U of T for my PHD and was wondering if you knew of any in the field of social epidemiology and behavioural sciences who have projects in adolescent health, community or international health. So far I've listed some professors....such as M. Beiser, M. Millson, C. Strike, J. Sadavoy as professors who have interesting research..... Have you decided to take any summer classes in Epi at McGill yet? Cheers, -wassabi Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest tappety tap Posted April 27, 2003 Report Share Posted April 27, 2003 for adolecent health...look up Harvery Skinner....he does teen health on the web Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Kirsteen Posted April 27, 2003 Report Share Posted April 27, 2003 Hey there wassabi101, Yep, tappety tap's right on--Harvey Skinner is a good start. Other than that, I'm not really up to speed on the Behaviourists in the Department. My suggestion would be to have a look at the Dept. of Public Health Sciences website under "Faculty" and peruse that a bit. Secondly, if you speak to Harvey, ask him for some other contacts in the field who may be willing to take on additional students. As to the McGill summer courses, I've sent my application in for two, and have yet to hear back. Fingers crossed, as it would be a great experience. Cheers, Kirsteen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest tappety tap Posted April 27, 2003 Report Share Posted April 27, 2003 wassabi.. So a PhD at U of T is the plan if Ottawa U med doesn't work out? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest medicator007 Posted April 29, 2003 Report Share Posted April 29, 2003 Wassabi, Well you hope you wont still be at McGill next year, and I wish you luck in that. But if your still around I would definately like to meet you near the small group rooms ;-) Medicator Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest wassabi101 Posted April 29, 2003 Report Share Posted April 29, 2003 Thanks tappety tap and kirsteen- Dr. Skinner's research looks very interesting but unfortunately he's not affiliated with IMS (institute of medical sciences). That's the PHD I applied for (gives me more flexibility to work in psychiatry and pediatrics). I'm not yet sure what I'll do next year if I don't get into med at Ottawa U. I'm still waiting to hear from 2 other med schools, and for PHD options, I have McGill Epi and U of T IMS. I've also been offered some full-time positions in epidemiological consulting and a few other places. The problem with a PHD in epidemiology is that it would be SO much better suited after an MD and I'm not sure if I'm ready to dedicate another 4 years minimum of my life towards a degree outside of the MD when I haven't yet chosen a MD specialty. Also it's very difficult to apply during a PHD to the MD programs- many universities won't let you until you finish your degree. I should probably write my MCAT too at this point if I don't get in this year and there's very little time to study during a PHD degree. So I might just work for a year. I'm really not sure though at this point---I"m just really hoping some angel will come down and make the pathway clear Medicator, if I'm around, I'll come by the forum looking for you and your real name.....after that, all I have to do is use the photo id we're given of the smallgroups Cheers, -wassabi Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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