What is field epidemiology?
Field epidemiology is the practice of epidemiology outside the confines of the office or laboratory. Sometimes called “shoe leather epidemiology,” it involves direct observation and investigation of interactions between a disease and the affected population. The course included traditional lectures, reading assignments and quizzes, but also focused heavily on field experiences designed to expose students to methods of collection and determination of the prevalence of a disease or trait. Participants also measured mortality rates, applied screening tests, tracked outcomes, performed randomized trials, used case-control studies and measured risk of exposure for different populations. “We did experiments to put theoretical concepts into a real world context,” Dr. Nickol said. “We were in the field daily. To learn about cohort studies we did one. To learn about statistical techniques, we would apply them to actual populations rather than just read about them.” Students then analyzed the fi
