Epidemiology

Research and training in the epidemiology innovation cluster is characterized by a broad view of innovation: a focus on growth and change. The cluster brings together a group of accomplished investigators with a wide range of interests.

Faculty areas of expertise include the epidemiology of aging, disability, injury, and violence; global health, maternal/child health; public health informatics; dental health; and systems research. With a multidisciplinary approach, faculty work together to look across systems and diseases from multiple perspectives.

The cluster serves as a seedbed for the germination of innovative ideas and directions and provides the administrative and intellectual infrastructure needed to support developing research programs. Many faculty in the innovation cluster work at the applied end of epidemiology and bring an understanding of epidemiologic practice on the ground in public health.

Selected Projects

ASENZE
With the long term goal of promoting better physical and psychosocial functioning of children in South Africa, the ASENZE study in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, aims to determine how the ability of children with neurodevelopmental disorders to function cognitively and socially is influenced by health related, contextual, and psychosocial factors, including caregiver mental health and substance abuse.

Senior Fitness
A trans-disciplinary team in the Departments of Epidemiology and Medicine is collaborating with Atria Senior Living Group, an assisted living provider, to promote best-practices in fall prevention in potentially frail older adults using a sustainable evidence-based program.

Injury Free Coalition for Kids
Injury Free comprises hospital-based, community oriented programs whose efforts are anchored in research, education, and advocacy. The coalition includes 42 sites in 40 cities nationwide. www.injuryfree.org

Columbia International eHealth Laboratory
A collaborative effort involving the Department of Epidemiology, the Department of Biomedical Informatics and the Earth Institute, Columbia International Ehealth Laboratory designs, develops and implements innovative information technology in resource-poor settings. It provides technical support for the Millennium Villages Project in ten countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, while building a multilingual, multinational patient-level data warehouse.

Anesthesiology – Epidemiology Collaborative Projects
Epidemiology faculty members jointly appointed in the Department of Anesthesiology are conducting a series of projects addressing prescription drug use, polydrug use, and medical marijuana use as risks for motor vehicle and other injury. Additional injury related projects include an evaluation of Safe Routes to School and the impact of anesthetic agents as potent neurotoxins to children’s brains.

Training Opportunities

There is a strong focus in the innovation cluster on sharing knowledge across disciplines, with lively discussion and debate about research methods and approaches. Members meet as a group at least once monthly. Faculty and students alike have unparalleled opportunities to gain new skills and perspectives and to brainstorm about novel scientific ideas with experienced and successful investigators. Students in the cluster present work in progress alongside faculty.

In addition, the cluster sponsors workshops and symposia on topics focused around injury, disability, and research approaches in developing countries. Faculty in the cluster are engaged in the development of a next-generation DrPH degree offering in the Department of Epidemiology. The cluster is also collaborating with the School of Dental Medicine in supporting a dental public health residency at Columbia.

Cluster Faculty

A list of faculty involved in the cluster.