Course Overview

Director: John Epling, MD, MSEd,
Director, Preventive Medicine Program
Associate Professor, Department of Medicine
Phone: 315 464-2642

Contact: Sally M. Sutphen, MSc, MPH
Coordinator, Preventive Medicine Program
Research Instructor, Department of Medicine
Phone: 315 464-2642

Credits: 1-4
Periods offered: All
Pre-requisites: None, open to all medical students
Readings: Readings are assigned
Evaluation: Students are evaluated throughout the elective by their mentors in addition to articles and papers written, presentations and research conducted.

Description and Purpose of Elective

The purpose of the Public Health Elective is to allow medical students to apply basic science principles with public health and epidemiologic practice. This elective offers students a unique opportunity to gain first-hand knowledge of population-based health issues and obtain an in-depth understanding of the complex issues in public health practices today. Students are asked to develop, or further develop, basic concepts in public health and epidemiology in the context of appraising the literature pertaining to causation, diagnosis, surveillance of disease, screening as an approach to disease control, management and economic evaluation of disease and programs in the community and at the health department. Students also attend regularly scheduled staff meetings, senior staff meetings, press conferences, educational conferences and relevant public health clinics as part of their study. At the end of the elective, students will be better able to understand the demand for an evidence-based approach to the delivery of public health services; the economic pressures of delivering services in the era of scarce resources; and the increasing need for a community-based approach as an essential and practical component of health in individuals.