Sept 2013 the epidemiology monitor

Epidemiologists Surprised and Saddened At the Sudden Death of Pat Buffler, A Beloved Leader In The Field The sadness and shock at the loss of Pat Buffler, a widely-known and extremely well-liked senior epidemiologist, is being felt throughout the epidemiology community this month as the news of her death becomes more widespread.

According to an obituary from the University of California Berkeley where Buffler worked for many years as researcher and dean of the School, she died of a stroke in her office on Thursday evening September 26 at age

-3Epidemiologist Gift to Support Teaching -5Free Epidemiology Software -7Reprint – Pat Buffler Opening Address -9Open Letter to the NFL Commissioner

Patricia Buffler -Obit continued on pg 2

Epidemiologist/Football Fan Publishes Book On The Epidemiology of Concussions in the National Football League He is a self-proclaimed football fan of the New York Giants and claims he has always had an interest in the injuries that occur in football. He is also an epidemiologist who ran his own successful company doing clinical trials, outcomes research, and epidemiologic studies for pharmaceutical companies. Now in retirement in his early 60’s, Jeffrey Markowitz, Dr.P.H., decided to combine his interest in epidemiology, biostatistics, and his love of football

In This Issue:

to pull together and analyze three years of data on concussions in the National Football League (NFL) from 2010 to 2012.

Self-Published Book The result is a self-published book he has written in collaboration with his daughter Ariana Markowitz entitled “Pigskin Crossroads: The Epidemiology of -Football continues on page 4

-12Jobs

Check our online Job Bank for more offerings http://tinyurl.com/cy6k3fu

September 2013 Volume Thirty Four Number Nine

“Her warm personality and caring ways were much appreciated by her colleagues. ”

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-Obit continued from pg 1 75. Her dynamism belied her age for many who knew her.

Most Elected Epidemiologist Of all the epidemiologists at work today, Pat seemed to be engaged on more fronts than anyone and was quite possibly the most frequently elected epidemiologist the profession ever had. Incredible as it may seem, she was elected president of the Society for Epidemiologic Research, the American College of Epidemiology, the International Society for Environmental Epidemiology, and she was president-elect of the International Epidemiological Association when she died. Her warm personality and caring ways were much appreciated by her colleagues. She always seemed to have time for you whenever and wherever you encountered her.

would often tell it like it is, which we appreciated as reporters. Since she was so well connected, her candor about events behind the scenes was often very helpful to our understanding. She always made us feel trusted that what we were doing was good and worthwhile.

Obituaries Below are excerpts from the obituaries that have been published so far by the University and one from the International Epidemiological Association written by an epidemiology colleague Eduardo Franco. A memorial service is being planned by the School for November 10, 2013. As a tribute to her, we are reprinting the article which appeared in our newsletter following her remarks at the last North American Congress of Epidemiology in Montreal.

From Art Reingold

Strong Supporter We at The Epidemiology Monitor have always had a fond affection for Pat because she was an enthusiastic and supportive cheerleader as long ago as 1980 when newsletter made its first appearance and many doubted the wisdom of launching such a venture. She never wavered in thinking it was a good idea and deserving of support. She served on our first advisory board and kept in touch through the years at meetings and other events.

“No question she was one of the world’s leading researchers in childhood leukemia, but also in cancer epidemiology,” said Arthur Reingold, UC Berkeley professor and head of epidemiology. “It is standard now to look at the interaction of genetic determinants and environmental factors in disease, but Pat was one of the first people to apply it to leukemia. Because of her work, we now have a better understanding of a rare disease. Her loss is enormous.”

From Brenda Eskenazi

Candor She had a candid streak in her, which we found to be rare in persons of her stature and responsibility, and

“Pat has unified people nationally and internationally in the field of children’s health and exposure to -Obit continues on page 6

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Emory Epidemiologist Makes Gift To Support Excellence In Teaching Advanced Epidemiological Methods Academic researchers are usually in the position of seeking funds not giving them away. However, Emory University’s David Kleinbaum, professor of epidemiology, has felt passionately enough about the importance of teaching to make a 75,000 gift to the University to support excellence in teaching advanced epidemiological methods. In a past issue of the Emory school magazine, a list of every gift to the School was published and this encouraged Kleinbaum to make his donation, he told the Monitor.

magazine, “Even as a kid, I stepped into that role of explaining things to people.” He told the magazine he taught his friends and family card games and that his mother told him he had a knack for teaching. He was the first recipient of the Association of Schools of Public Health/Pfizer Award for teaching excellence in 2005 and has won comparable awards at Emory. Kleinbaum believes that the key to teaching is to speak as if you are explaining an idea directly to a single person.

“Even as a kid, I stepped into that role of explaining things to people.”

Proudest Achievement $10,000 Spin Off According to Kleinbaum, the teaching fund he has started is the first teaching endowment fund in public health and he hopes it can grow over the next 5 years to $250,000. At that level, Kleinbaum estimates the fund could produce $10,000 grants without reducing the value of the endowment itself. His hope is that the fund could be used to offset faculty salary for talented junior professors. The Kleinbaum fund has been set up specifically to support teaching about advanced mathematic models which have been the subjects taught by Kleinbaum himself over the last 20 years. At present, the endowment fund will be restricted to supporting Emory faculty in the Department of Epidemiology.

Knack for Teaching Kleinbaum told the Monitor that he has had a long standing interest in teaching. He is quoted in an upcoming article in the Emory public health

His talent has perhaps best been manifest in his production of Activ Epi, an interactive, introductory textbook in epidemiology created about a decade ago on CD-ROM technology. Kleinbaum calls this textbook his most unique (it contains narration, images, video, weblinks, animation, quizzes, and exercises) and the one he is proudest of. Because the technology is obsolete, he is seeking funds to adapt the contents for use on the web. One of his dreams is to offer the contents of Activ Epi as a free web-based course such as the ones being offered now on Coursera. ■

“Kleinbaum calls this textbook his most unique”

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3

“I spent thousands of hours doing this work ”

-Football continued from page 1 Concussions in the NFL 2010-2012.”

After the introduction, which Ariana with a degree in political science researched and wrote, the book chronicles the evolution of increasing awareness of the problem among the players, observers, and the NFL itself, and the second half of the book combines data from at least 6 separate sections of the NFL website to examine the risk factors for concussion among NFL players.

According to Markowitz, “concussions are a serious problem and the existing data are not very good. I wanted to try to fill the gap.”

He added that, “reliable data on concussions were not easy to come by. There are no downloadable databases with this information. I spent thousands of hours doing this work.”

Independence

“concussions in the NFL do not occur randomly ”

Markowitz told the Monitor he used his own funds to pay for the research and publish his results and says he is independent of the NFL. This is apparently a critical point in the history of this problem because previous researchers were affiliated with the NFL and came under fire for this very reason. Their work was discredited even though a dozen or so papers were published in top notch journals, according to Markowitz. Because the validity of the earlier work has been questioned, “it’s impossible to know the truth” says Markowitz. He himself initially suspected that the NFL-affiliated reported rates of concussions were rather low.

Data Validity

4

Since he used NFL data for his

analyses, Markowitz devotes a section of his book to defending the validity of the NFL Injury Reports on which he based his analyses. He says he found the validity to be “very good” but, because of data issues, examined only the first concussion that a player may have had during each of the respective three years of interest.

Randomness According to Markowitz, “a lot of people believe that concussions are random events, and this is really untrue.” In his book he adds, “Perhaps the single most important thing that these results mean to me is that concussions in the NFL do not occur randomly.” Asked which findings best establish this truth, Markowitz told the Monitor that players in “speed” positions have higher concussion incidence rates than players in “non-speed” positions such as offensive and defensive linemen. He said that other studies of mortality have shown the same result with deaths due to neurodegenerative disease being higher in players at speed positions.

Other Findings Other findings in the book are that concussion rates vary by team, week of the football season, winning and losing games, and by intra- or interdivisional play. Other variables that people have suspected might be important, such as day of the week the game is played or whether the the game is played on grass or artificial turf did not turn out significant in these descriptive analyses.

-Football continues on page 8

Free Epidemiologic Software Article by Kevin Sullivan in collaboration with Andy Dean on OpenEpi and Joe Abramson on WinPepi With improvements in commercial software, such as SAS, SPSS, Stata, and others, is there still a need for free epidemiologic software? Commercial software can be expensive, may have a steep learning curve, and may not provide certain types of desired analyses. In this article information on three free epidemiologic/statistical programs is provided: Epi Info, OpenEpi, and WinPepi.

Epi Info 7.1.2 Epi Info is a free program available from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA (www.cdc.gov/epiinfo). The program allows the creation of data entry systems and the analysis of data.

Version 7 of Epi Info can be copied onto a Windows-based computer without the need to run an install and can be run from a thumb drive.

Version 7 is a complete rewrite of the previous Version 3 of the program with a number of improvements. This is a version of Epi Info that appears to be bringing back epidemiologists to using Epi Info.

OpenEpi 3.01 OpenEpi (www.OpenEpi) is a free, web-based, open source, operating system-independent series of programs for use in epidemiology, biostatistics, public health, and medicine, providing a number of epidemiologic and statistical tools for summary data.

OpenEpi was developed in JavaScript and hypertext markup language (HTML) and can be run in browsers supporting these languages, such as

Microsoft Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Safari, Chrome, and Opera, and on a number of operating systems, such as Microsoft Windows, Macintosh, Linux, and Android tables and smartphones.

The program can be run from the OpenEpi website or downloaded and run without a web connection.

The source code and documentation is downloadable and freely available. OpenEpi has had almost 10 million hits since its inception in 2003, with over 2 million hits in 2012 alone from 188 countries.

“This is a version of Epi Info that appears to be bringing back epidemiologists to using Epi Info. ”

Updates in Version 3.01 include •

•

• •

In addition to English, French, Italian, and Spanish, OpenEpi can now be run in Portuguese The program has been modified so it can be used with greater ease on smartphones and tablets Added epidemiologic and statistical tests The output from a module is all stored in one HTML file during calculations. For example, if several sample size calculations are performed for various scenarios, all of the output is placed in one output HTML file.

“a free 'Swiss army knife'”

WinPepi 11.32 WinPepi (www.brixtonhealth.com) is a free 'Swiss army knife' set of seven Windows-based programs (comprising 124 modules) that provide most of the statistical procedures commonly used in the -Software continued on page 10

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-Obit continued from page 2

“I was in awe watching her. ”

toxins,” said Brenda Eskenazi, UC Berkeley professor of epidemiology and another leading expert on the environmental influences on children’s health. “She was such a leader in her field, and such an example of grace and intelligence, especially for the women in our department.”

From S Katharine Hammond

epidemiology.

“I have never seen anyone so skillfully negotiate such incredibly tricky situations that helped get industry buy-in for what the researchers needed to do,” said panel member S. Katharine Hammond, UC Berkeley professor of environmental health sciences, who was a faculty member at the University of Massachusetts at the time. “I was in awe watching her.”

From Lisa Barcellos

“a champion of our profession and a giant of academic public health”

“When it came to helping her faculty colleagues, the school or the campus, she was never one to say no,” said Lisa Barcellos, UC Berkeley associate professor of epidemiology. “She rarely took a sabbatical. She was finally planning to take one next year, and I think it would’ve been her first in 10 years. She was one of a kind: a role model and friend, with a wonderful sense of humor. Her death is such a huge loss.”

From Richard Buffler

6

“While Pat’s accomplishments in the world of scientific research and academia were enormous, her greatest accomplishment – and what she cared about most in life – was her family,” said her husband of 51 years, Richard Buffler. “Nothing was more important to her…She was always

thinking ahead for their welfare…

That’s who Pat was. She never stopped helping, for them or for anyone.”

From Eduardo Franco …In an impressive career that spanned five decades, she left an indelible mark as scientist, academic leader, and steward of the epidemiology profession. The scientist in her was devoted to understanding the role of the occupational environment as a cause of cancer in adults and children. This dominant career theme brought her substantial national and international recognition because of her discoveries that led to policy interventions to limit carcinogenic exposures in the workplace. …Pat was tireless in contributing her expertise and strong advocacy for cancer control to public health agencies at any level, irrespective of whether the concerns were local, regional, national, or on a global scale. She did so with great mastery of the issues, both methodological and substantive. She was an advocate with a strong sense of pragmatism, putting science first in the agenda, without getting sidetracked by the emotional tones of a debate. …At the IEA we mourn the death of one of our most distinguished members; a champion of our profession and a giant of academic public health.

-Obit continues on page 8

In Memoriam - Reprinted from The Epidemiology Monitor July/August 2011

Patricia Buffler Gives Opening Address At North American Congress of Epidemiology “There can be quantum leaps in the wrong direction,” warned The University of California Berkeley’s Patricia Buffler in giving her opening address at the recent 3rdNorth American Congress of Epidemiology in Montreal. Highlighting the importance of skepticism about scientific claims, she entitled her talk “Science, Skepticism, and Society: The Role of Epidemiology”.

The overall theme of Buffler’s address was on the important role which epidemiologists should play in helping the public to understand the science behind personal and community health decision-making. In her view, we live in an era when science and technology are a large part of the fabric of modern society. In such a world, there is a need, according to Buffler, for the general public to have a basic understanding of science and statistics because there can be serious public health consequences for failure to inform AND engage the public. She asserted it is the role of epidemiologists to fill gaps in public understanding.

Main Concern But Buffler’s main concern appeared to be not so much about increasing public understanding of valid public health findings, as important as these may be, but about clearing up public misunderstandings about reported, but questionable associations.

She stated that while there have been major changes in epidemiology over

the past 15 years with new models having been developed, proper reporting and interpretation of data have not changed. Reiterating that there can be quantum leaps in the wrong direction, she called epidemiology the “science of causation” and quoted Popper to remind listeners that theory which is not refutable is not science. She urged epidemiologists to adopt a “questioning attitude” in regard to many claims that are taken for granted.

More Evidence Buttressing her case, Buffler cited John Ioannidis’s 2005 paper “Why most Published Research Findings are False,” to remind the audience that most findings will be refuted. She urged epidemiologists to state their question clearly, be careful of their models and methods, and to state their assumptions.

“Focus on the question and not on the models,” she urged. The work of epidemiology is related to unanswered questions, but also to unquestioned answers!

“The work of epidemiology is related to unanswered questions, but also to unquestioned answers! ”

Autism and Vaccine Controversy Buffler used a considerable portion of her time to illustrate the importance of skepticism by recounting the negative health consequences that have attended the autism and vaccines controversy.

She described how the putative association between vaccine and -Pbuffler continues on page 8

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-PBuffler continued from page 7

“People never care how much you know---until they know how much you care.”

“Very little of the research is aimed at prevention.”

autism has now been shown by an investigative reporter in the UK to be bogus research, and said the public health impact has been enormous, citing deaths from measles in the UK and from pertussis in California.

Buffler minced no words in stating “it is the responsibility of epidemiologists when data need to be questioned.”

Quotes in Conclusion She approached the end of her talk by quoting Michael Gibbons in Nature in 1999. “…reliable knowledge can only become socially robust if society sees the process of knowledge production as transparent and participative…The old image of science working anonymously will no longer suffice…Rather a reciprocity is required in which not only does the public understand how science works, but , equally science understands how its publics work.”

And finally, she ended her presentation by quoting John Maxwell, an American author and speaker on leadership, “People never care how much you know---until they know how much you care.” ■

-Obit continued from page 6 Links to Obituaries http://tinyurl.com/ol3ca4e http://tinyurl.com/npznz85 http://tinyurl.com/pkne4oa http://tinyurl.com/oot45ek ■

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-Football continued from page 4 Seeking a Broader Audience Markowitz told the Monitor he wanted to publish a book rather than journal articles because he wanted to reach a broader audience than is often reached by journals. His approach may be paying off already as he says family and friends bring up the book to him and he has been invited to serve on a panel at Columbia University to discuss an upcoming Public Broadcasting System program on October 8 entitled “League of Denial—The NFL’s Concussion Crisis” which is based on a book of the same title.

Markowitz says he has had no contact with anybody from the NFL since he started working on the project four years ago. He sent a copy to the NFL Commissioner and to the Players Association but claims he has had no feedback. (See related story— An Open Letter to the Commissioner). He credits the NFL with funding research on concussions, including $60 million last year, but he says this research has been largely about identifying the problem and looking at treatment. Very little of the research is aimed at prevention.

Next Project Markowitz said he is already at work on his next book which will examine injuries in the NFL more broadly using outcomes such as missed games and the incidence of season ending or career ending injuries. He says it will be an examination of the epidemiology of the most serious injuries, not only concussions. ■

An Open Letter to the Commissioner of the NFL [This excerpt is from the concluding pages of Pigskin Crossroads: The Epidemiology of Concussions in the National Football League, 2010-2012 by Jeffrey and Ariana Markowitz]

Dear Commissioner Goodell: I hope that you have had an opportunity to read this book. If you or any members of your staff have any questions, comments, or suggestions please contact me at pigskin.crossroads@gmail.com. I would be happy to conduct any additional statistical analyses of my data that would interest you.

You have been called the “Concussion Commissioner” [314], and I can understand why. Congratulations for everything that you’ve done in this regard. At the same time, you may also realize by now that the fight against concussions requires extensive and ongoing efforts. It is impressive how the NFL is now taking a leadership role in the battle against concussions. I sincerely hope that the tens of millions of research dollars currently being spent by the League will help to improve the situation for NFL players as well as others at risk for concussions.

There are references sometimes made in the NFL related to “value,” like a “value pick” in the draft. The concept of value can also be applied to the type of research that’s supported by an organization like the NFL, and the value of epidemiological research will likely be amongst the most noteworthy in this regard. This has been the case historically for countless diseases and injuries. Dollar for dollar, epidemiology can provide the utmost value because prevention is almost always a primary focus. Some of the top concussion researchers in the world would agree that “very little of the money that has been going into concussion research has been going into concussion prevention” [315]. It is a cliché, but definitely worth saying, that “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” I urge the NFL to continue its leadership role on the concussion front and to consider investing more of its research dollars towards the goal of preventing concussions.

A 2010 New York Times article said that Drs. Batjer and Ellenbogen “concurred that data collected by the NFL’s former brain injury leadership was ‘infected’” [316]. I have cited the work of Drs. Pellman, Casson, and colleagues dozens of times in this book. As I am sure you know, these former leaders of the League’s Mild Traumatic Brain Injury Committee published many articles in scholarly biomedical journals that included 12 years of epidemiological studies of concussions in the NFL. Are any of the data contained in any of the published papers written by Pellman, Casson, and colleagues problematic? If so, please elaborate.

If the Pellman and Casson epidemiological data are okay, then there are many additional analyses that could be done. I’ve outlined some of the possibilities on this throughout the book. It’s common for epidemiological and other research data to be under-analyzed. I strongly believe that plenty more could be learned by conducting additional analyses on the existing data and the costs of such a project would be relatively inexpensive. You also would not have to wait years to collect and analyze the data.

If the Pellman and Casson epidemiological data are okay, then there are many additional analyses that could be done. I’ve outlined some of the possibilities on this throughout the book. It’s common for epidemiological and other research data to be under-analyzed. I strongly believe that plenty more could be learned by conducting additional analyses on the existing data and the costs of such a project would be relatively inexpensive. You also would not have to wait years to collect and analyze the data.

There were several notable players during the 2012 regular season who sustained concussions, appeared to follow the NFL protocol, sat out a few games, and subsequently lost their starting jobs. Obviously, it’s a good thing that these players are coming forward and out of the “concussion closet.” Unfortunately, losing one’s starting job cannot be a good incentive for other players to do the same. Can you think of any ways to protect the roles and playing time of players who follow the NFL protocol and report their concussions?

-Commissioner continues on page 10

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-Commissioner continued from page 9 As I have noted numerous times in this book, one of the limitations of using the NFL Injury Report to determine who has been concussed is that it is only published for teams which play the next week. Why not ask teams to complete the Reports on bye weeks and the final week of the regular season? This would make the Report more complete, and hence, improve its usefulness for research purposes. Another possibility is to create a “concussion registry” for NFL players. This would be an organized database of all players who have concussions, along with relevant contextual information, like player background information, position, team, type of play, type of contact, and so on. With the permission of the NFL, the data from this registry could be made available to researchers with specific ideas on how to analyze the data. In order to maintain some privacy for the players included in the concussion registry, identification numbers, rather than names, can be used in the database.

Disease registries have become common and very useful in the biomedical sciences and may even help to improve health outcomes at reduced costs [317].

The current policy in the NFL is to keep all concussed players out of the games when they sustain concussions.

Yet there have been reports of players continuing to play with at least suspected concussions [206]. What is the NFL doing to maximize compliance with its return to play policies? Are you now confident that the NFL’s policies and procedures related to concussion and return to play are optimal and minimize the potential for longer-term neurological risks to players?

Thanks very much and best of luck.

Sincerely, Jeffrey S. Markowitz, Dr.PH

-Software continued from page 5 planning and analysis of epidemiological studies (including meta-analyses), in teaching programs on statistics in epidemiology, and in clinical epidemiological practice. It also includes many procedures that are less commonly used or not very easily found, such as the capture-recapture method, appraisal of the effects of misclassification, multiple significance tests, and unmeasured confounders, the assessment of inter-rater and intra-rater reliability, the use of Bayes factors to appraise whether associations are worthy of note, and estimation of the probability that an effect will be replicated in other studies.

A 'portal' permits easy identification of, and access to, the required modules. WinPepi is user-friendly, provided that users focus on the specific modules and results that interest them, and disregard the many others. The programs are accompanied by extensive manuals that discuss the uses, limitations and applicability of the procedures, and furnish formulae and references. WinPepi does not provide data-management facilities; it usually requires previously-summarized data, entered at the keyboard or pasted from a text file or spreadsheet. The programs can be run from a portable device such as a USB flash drive. The latest version is 11.32.

Other Statistical Packages A fairly comprehensive listing of statistical packages can be found at: http://tinyurl.com/nw9ka2o with a comparison of software programs available here: http://tinyurl.com/bd9j44 ■

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Faculty Position in Cancer Chemoprevention Applications are invited for a full-time position at the associate or full professor level to direct a new effort in cancer chemoprevention at the Samuel Oschin Comprehensive Cancer Institute, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center (CSMC). The faculty leader will develop a collaborative team that incorporates new strategies for preventing or arresting the development of cancer, especially in high risk individuals; and for reducing morbidity and mortality associated with a cancer diagnosis and its treatment. In addition to vaccines and drug-based interventions, foods and biologically-active food components will be tested as chemopreventive agents both in humans and animal models. Robust programs in imaging, proteomics, inflammatory bowel diseases, diabetes, weight loss, transplantation, and cardiology are among the many areas that can be leveraged for translational research that transcends traditional chemoprevention study boundaries. For example, evidence is rapidly developing that foodrelated alterations in bacterial flora underlie disorders as diverse as heart disease, liver disease and cancer. Several CSMC studies are already underway to explore the relation of the gut microbiome with metabolic disorders that are associated with risk of malignancy. An emerging cardiooncology program provides unique opportunities to develop novel chemoprevention strategies for treatment-induced cardiac damage. Gene-based studies utilizing substantial biorepositories at CSMC have led to the identification of new molecular targets for precision medicine.

Applicants must have an MD, PhD, or equivalent degree in epidemiology or closely related field. The successful candidate will have relevant experience in cancer chemoprevention research, a track record of scientific leadership and collaboration, peerreviewed research and grant funding commensurate with rank, a strong publication history, excellent interpersonal skills, and the ability to thrive in a multi-disciplinary environment. CSMC offers attractive employment packages, including salary support, start-up funds and relocation expenses.

Interested candidates should send their curriculum vitae, names and contact information for five references, and a cover letter describing their career goals and research experience to: Dr. Marc Goodman, Director, Cancer Prevention and Control c/o: Academic.Recruiting@cshs.org

Cedars-Sinai Medical Center encourages and welcomes diversity in the workplace AA/EOE

University of Nevada, Reno

Assistant Professor The University of Nevada, Reno, School of Community Health Sciences is seeking candidates for a full-time faculty position in Epidemiology.

Research and teaching interests in Chronic Disease epidemiology are preferred but all candidates will be considered. Duties include: teaching graduate and undergraduate students, advising graduate, developing an independent program of scholarship, engaging in community and professional service appropriate for a university faculty member.

For a complete position description and requirements, please go to https://www.unrsearch.com/postings/13018.

Application reviews will begin November 12, 2013.

Faculty Position in Health Management and Informatics University of Missouri

The Department of Health Management and Informatics of the School of Medicine at the University of Missouri-Columbia seeks an Associate Research Professor (non-tenure track) for a senior-level research position to promote the research/scientific use of cancer incidence, mortality, hospitalization, and behavioral risk factor data.

For a complete job description please visit: http://hrs.missouri.edu/find-a-job/academic/.

The University of Missouri is an equal access, equal opportunity, affirmative action employer that is fully committed to achieving a diverse faculty and staff.

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Tenure-track Faculty Position Epidemiology Institut national de recherche scientifique (INRS) is a graduate and post-graduate research and training university located in the province of Québec, Canada. The INRS–Institut Armand-Frappier Research Centre (more details at www.iaf.inrs.ca) seeks to fill a position of Professor-Researcher in Epidemiology.

Applicants must possess a Ph.D. in epidemiology or equivalent, and relevant post-doctoral experience. The successful candidate will: i) demonstrate a research productivity indicating both autonomy and creativity; ii) have developed or be developing an independent research program supported by external funding; iii) participate in supervision activities at the graduate and postdoctoral levels, and in research personnel supervision. French is the working language; knowledge of English is an asset. The place of employment is INRS– Institut Armand-Frappier Research Centre, City of Laval (Québec), Canada.

Applications accepted until October 31, 2013.

For more information, please see Career Opportunity #DS 13-10: http://www.inrs.ca/english/career-opportunities

Inflexxion, Inc. is looking for an Epidemiologist Qualifications: MPH degree 3-5 years applied epidemiology/ public health experience or experience conducting public health research.

Ability to apply epidemiological principles and methods to the analysis of health surveillance data, as well as evaluate and interpret epidemiological and statistical data.

Experience working with large databases and surveillance data.Proficient with SAS and/or SPSS. Knowledge and experience with ArcGIS and/or SQL is a plus.

For more info: www.inflexxion.com

Postdoctoral Associate Position Substance Use & Abuse Research

Postdoctoral associate positionSubstance use and abuse research: epidemiology, clinical trials Requirements: A doctoral degree in psychology, epidemiology, demography, public health, social work, or a related discipline; an interest in substance use or abuse research (tobacco, alcohol, drugs; epidemiology, clinical trial); excellent writing skills. Data analysis skills are necessary for acceptance (SAS, SPSS, STATA, Mplus, or SUDAAN, etc). Position entails managing research projects; analyzing data files; conducting literature reviews; preparing reports; writing manuscripts.

Start Date: Flexible but available immediately.

Contact: Interested applicants should email a letter of interest, curriculum vitae, and the names of three references to: Li-Tzy Wu, ScD, Professor, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Duke University School of Medicine; litzy.wu@duke.edu

Clinician Educator in Epidemiology and Biostatistics The Division of Infectious Diseases in the Department of Medicine at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania seeks candidates for an Assistant Professor position in the non-tenure clinician-educator track.

Applicants must have an M.D or M.D./Ph.D. degree and have demonstra-ted excellent qualifications in education, research, and clinical care. Advanced training in epidemiologic research methods is also highly desirable.

Board Certified or Board Eligible is requirement for the position.

We expect the candidate to have skills in clinical epidemiology and biostatistics and to spend approximately 20% time providing patient care and teaching and 80% time performing patient-oriented research. We anticipate this individual will develop with independent funding, a cutting edge patient oriented research program focused on antimicrobial resistance and healthcare-acquired infections.

We seek candidates who embrace and reflect diversity in the broadest sense.

University of Pennsylvania is an equal opportunity,affirmative action employer. Apply for this position online at: http://tinyurl.com/p44ode4

Biostatistics Position Radiation Effects Research Foundation (RERF) Hiroshima, Japan

The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) seeks a scientist to fill a biostatistics position at the Radiation Effects Research Foundation (RERF) in Hiroshima, Japan. The primary responsibilities of this position are statistical consulting on the design of radiation research protocols and analysis of research data in consultation with RERF epidemiologists, clinical researchers, and laboratory scientists, with additional independent research on related statistical methodologies and applications. Candidates must be U.S. citizens; hold an earned Ph.D. degree (or equivalent degree/experience) in biostatistics, bioinformatics, or statistics; and have a demonstrated record of productivity in a relevant research field commensurate with the level of appointment. The appointment can be made at any career level (postdoc to senior scientist) for a minimum of one year but preferably for a two-year renewable appointment.

Please visit http://ch.tbe.taleo.net/CH04/ats/careers/requisition.jsp?org=NAS&cws=1&rid=7343 to apply for this position or contact Dr. Kevin Crowley at NAS ( kcrowley@nas.edu ) or Dr. Harry Cullings at RERF ( cullings@rerf.or.jp ) for additional information.

EOE, M/F/D/V

Tenure-Track Faculty Position in Mental Health New Haven, Connecticut Tenure-Track Faculty Position in Mental Health The Yale School of Public Health (YSPH) is seeking candidates for a tenure-track Assistant/Associate Professorship in the area of mental health. Applicants with a research interest in global mental health, mental health policy, mental health/psychiatric epidemiology, quality of mental healthcare, psychiatric and substance abuse disorders, the intersection of mental health and other health conditions (e.g., HIV, cancer, pregnancy, aging), mental health disparities, mental health genomics, or a related area are encouraged to apply.

Successful candidates can take advantage of a number of resources/opportunities which include a university-wide initiative in Global Health, long-standing research and Fogarty training programs, research centers in a variety of content areas (e.g., HIV/AIDS, cancer, aging, stress, perinatal epidemiology), the Yale Economic Growth Center, the Consultation Center, and the Medical Anthropology group. Additional opportunities for collaboration exist with the departments of Psychiatry, Internal Medicine, Sociology, and Psychology.

Applicants should have a doctoral degree by the start of appointment in epidemiology, health policy, biostatistics, psychology, economics, sociology or a related field.

Applicants should also have teaching experience and a record of research and scholarly accomplishments. The successful candidate will be expected to develop an externally funded research program and teach and advise MPH/PhD students.

Review of applications will begin September 15, 2013 and will continue until a successful candidate has been identified. Applicants should submit PDF files that contain a cover letter, curriculum vitae, statement of research and teaching interests, copies of up to five recent publications and contact information for three references.

Please apply online at: https://academicjobsonline.org/ajo/jobs/2714 For additional information on the Yale School of Public Health, please visit: www.yale.edu/ysph.

Yale University is an affirmative action/equal opportunity employer. Yale values diversity in its faculty, students, and staff and especially welcomes applications from women and underrepresented minorities.

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Clinical Research Postdoctoral Fellowship Interdisciplinary Research in Women’s Reproductive Health

The University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, TX is accepting applicatoins for a postdoctoral fellowship position in women’s health research. This 2-year NIH funded fellowsip provides formal and informal training in theory and methodes as well as practical experience in conducting interdisciplinary clinical research. Program faculty include national experts in statistics , epidemiology, and women’s health who can offer many opportunities to participate in research using primary and secondary data, manuscript prepartion, and grant writing in a collaborative environment.

Applicants must have completed a PhD or equivalent degree in a quantitative or theory-based qualitative research program, such as public health, statistics, medical sociology or epidemiology in the past two years. The candidate must be self-motivated, productive, and able to work in a collaborative multi=disciplinary team. Must be US citizen, non-citizen national or permanent resident and able to commit to full time effort to the program for 2 years.

To apply, send 1) a cover letter with a brief description of proposed research; 2) a current CV; and 3) contact information for three references to Abbey Berenson, MD, PhD at: abberens@utmb.edu For more information please visit http://www.utmb.edu/CIRWH/