AEA Contemporary Epidemiology Course
Details:
-
14&15 July
-
8am-5pm
-
Medical Precinct, UTAS
-
Catering Provided
Run by Professor Tony Blakely and Associate Professor Zoe Aitken.
Professor Tony Blakely is the Unit Head of the Population Interventions Unit and Scalable Health Intervention Evaluation program (SHINE), and Professorial Fellow in Epidemiology, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health. Associate Professor Zoe Aitken is a Principal Research Fellow in Social Epidemiology, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health.
Purpose of short course
This short course, being held at UTAS in the lead up to the AEA Conference, aims to introduce the concept of causation in public health research and describe methods for causal inference from observational data in epidemiology. Foundational to this course is the emphasis on conceptual understanding of the fundamental challenges of observational epidemiology and approaches that can be used to address these challenges using a potential outcomes perspective.
Learning objectives
By the end of the course, participants will:
-
Have a thorough understanding of the potential outcomes/counterfactual approach to defining causal effects
-
Be able to draw Directed Acyclic Graphs (DAGs) to inform analysis plans
-
Understand the key sources of systematic error (confounding, information bias, selection bias) in analyses of observational data, from a counterfactual and DAG perspective
-
Be familiar with a range of confounder adjustment methods which can be used to estimate causal effects and understand assumptions underlying them
-
Appreciate the uses and assumptions underlying methods to explore mechanisms in cause-effect relationships (interaction & effect modification, causal mediation analysis)
-
Understand the principles of target trial emulation and how to implement them in epidemiological research
-
Have the necessary conceptual foundations to further explore the causal inference literature and undertake critical appraisal
Early Bird Pricing Closes 2nd June 2025. For Student Pricing, please book here.