Writing a Journal Article… and Getting it Published
Lead: Professor MD Nicola Low
Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine, ISPM, University of Bern
This course is about the processes of writing and getting published. Students will bring an article that they are actually working on for a truly hands-on experience.
Exam: Biostatistics and Regression Modelling
Lead: Ben Spycher PD, PhD
Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine (ISPM), University of Bern
With this exam, participants demonstrate their understanding of basic statistical concepts and their ability to apply biostatistical methods widely used in health research including linear and logistic regression models.
Journal Club "Infectious Disease Dynamics"
Lead: Prof. Nicola Low
Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine (ISPM), University of Bern
Ongoing registration - participants can join this journal club at any time. This journal club introduces students to the epidemiology of infectious diseases by critically assessing published articles in the field. The goal is to promote interesting and informative discussions of recent papers covering the fields of modeling, epidemiology, biostatistics, or public health research, with a focus on infectious diseases.
Getting started with R
Lead: Carina Nigg, PhD
Judith Bouman, PhD
Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine, ISPM, University of Bern
In this course, you will learn to get your dataset up and ready for analysis with R in the R-studio environment.
Basic Biostatistics in R
Lead: PD Ben Spycher
Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine (ISPM), University of Bern
In this course, you will learn basic statistical methods that are widely used in biostatistical research.
Introduction to Public Health Sciences
Lead: Professor MD Matthias Egger, Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine (ISPM), University of Bern
and lecturers from ISPM and Institute of Philosophy, University of Bern:
PD Ben Spycher, Professor Georgia Salanti, Professor Annika Frahsa, Professor Sofia Zambrano, Professor Marcel Zwahlen, Professor Ana Maria Vicedo Cabrera, Professor David Schwappach, Professor MD Nicola Low and Caroline Brall, PhD.
Through this course (Module 1 for the PHS program), participants get an overview of the foundations of Public Health Sciences, its definitions, key concepts, and core disciplines.
Health Policy
Lead: PD Dr. Caroline Schlaufer, Center for Public Management (KPM), University of Bern
Dr. Susanne Hadorn, University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland (FHNW)
This course provides an introduction to public policy, introduces health policy instruments and implementation, and presents approaches to policy evaluation. Participants get to know the main Swiss health policies in the field of infectious and non-communicable diseases, as well as the major international health policy programs and initiatives.
Topics in Climate Epidemiology
Lead: Prof. Ana Maria Vicedo Cabrera
Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine (ISPM), University of Bern
The course aims to provide students an overview of research topics with examples of latest research in climate epidemiology. The course will cover topics such as planetary health, urban health, infectious disease modelling, among other hot topics in this area. Important focus will be placed on time-series analysis applied to health data, including estimation of present and future risks in terms of health impact projections under climate change scenarios, and attribution of health impacts to climate change.
Introduction to Epidemiology and Study Design
Lead: Ioannis Magouras, PhD, Veterinary Public Health Institute (VPHI), University of Bern
PD Ben Spycher, PhD, Judith Bouman, PhD, Veronika Whitesell, PhD
Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine (ISPM), University of Bern
Epidemiology - a core discipline of the public health sciences – provides a toolbox for studying the frequency and patterns of health/disease conditions and their determinants. In this course, we introduce concepts and measures used to quantify the frequency of health outcomes and their associations with exposures of interest in a given population. We discuss the main types of epidemiological study designs and their potential sources of bias. We also introduce fundamental concepts of causality and discuss whether causal effects can be assessed in a given epidemiological study.
Hot Topics in Health Care Research
Lead: Professor David Schwappach, Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine (ISPM), University of Bern
Safety: Professor David Schwappach
Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine (ISPM), University of Bern
Primary Care: Professor MD Sven Streit
Berner Institut für Hausarztmedizin (BIHAM), University of Bern
Nursing: Professor Sabine Hahn
Bern University of Applied Sciences (BFH)
Palliative Care: Professor Sofia Zambrano
Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine (ISPM), University of Bern
Have you ever wondered about the complexities of health care, either as patient, relative, or professional? In this Module 2 course you will dive into four specific, important areas of health care. You’ll discover how health policy, law and financing shape health care systems, their organization and outcomes. Applied to specific examples, you learn which specific methods are used to study health care.
Diagnostic Test Evaluation
Lead: Prof. Sonja Hartnack, Section of Veterinary Epidemiology, Vetsuisse Faculty, University of Zurich
In this course, you will learn the basic concepts of diagnostic test evaluation with examples from human and animal health. Furthermore, we will focus on the interpretation of diagnostic test results and the reporting of diagnostic test accuracy studies.
Writing a Journal Article… and Getting it Published
Lead: Professor MD Nicola Low
Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine, ISPM, University of Bern
This course is about the processes of writing and getting published. Students will bring an article that they are actually working on for a truly hands-on experience.
One Health
Lead: PD Salome Dürr, Ioannis Magouras, PhD,
Luís Pedro Carmo, PhD
Veterinary Public Health Institute, University of Bern
PD Anou Dreyfus, Veterinary Faculty, University of Zurich
One Health is an approach that aims to find integrated and sustainable solutions on complex problems affecting the health of people, animals and ecosystems, and generating an added value for each sector. In this course, the concepts of One Health will be learned, including theory and exercises applied to concrete examples (e.g. zoonoses, antimicrobial resistance, non-communicable diseases).
Book Club “Nutritional Epidemiology"
Lead: MD PhD Patricia Chocano-Bedoya
Institute of Primary Health Care (BIHAM), University of Bern
This course is aimed at PhD students interested in the complex relationship between diet and disease as well as other PhD students interested in other modifiable lifestyle exposures or other associations between exposure and disease that could be affected by diet.
Linear and Logistic Regression Modelling in R
Lead: PD Ben Spycher, Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine (ISPM), University of Bern
This course provides an introduction to regression modeling in public health sciences. Participants will learn the basic theoretical concepts and how to apply regression modelling in the context of their research. The course will focus on models for continuous (linear regression), binary (logistic regression), and categorical outcomes (multinomial and ordered logistic regression). Practical examples and exercises in R will accompany the course, enabling participants to apply the learned concepts effectively. Prior completion of the 'basic statistics and projects in R' and 'introduction to epidemiology and study design' courses (or similar courses) is recommended as they provide essential foundational knowledge for the course.
Participatory Research Approaches
Lead: Professor Annika Frahsa, MD Myrofora Goutaki, PhD
Institute of Social an Preventive Medicine (ISPM), University of Bern
This Module 2 course will introduce participants to basic principles of patient and public involvement in health research, discuss important aspects of participatory research and provide insights into selecting suitable approaches for different study designs and topics.
How to Organize and Finance Health Systems
Lead: Professor Marcel Zwahlen
Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine (ISPM), University of Bern
Professor Michael Gerfin
Department of Economics, University of Bern
Health systems are differently organized in the rich and the less rich countries. The health system organizes the “market” of health care providers and how the payment of health care is divided among the government, insurance companies, and private out-of-pocket payments. In this Module 2 course, you will encounter the variety of these organizational aspects and dive into the fine details of the Swiss system with a “managed competition” at the levels of health care providers and health insurance companies. Important contributors to variation in delivered and “financially covered” care will be discussed, as well as the foundations of decision making from the perspective of economic theory.
Introduction to Public Health Sciences
Lead: Professor MD Matthias Egger, Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine (ISPM), University of Bern and lecturers from ISPM and Institute of Philosophy, University of Bern:
PD Ben Spycher, Professor Georgia Salanti, Professor Annika Frahsa, Professor Sofia Zambrano, Professor Marcel Zwahlen, Professor Ana Maria Vicedo Cabrera, Professor David Schwappach, Professor MD Nicola Low and Caroline Brall, PhD.
Through this course - Module 1 for the PHS course program - participants get an overview of the foundations of Public Health Sciences, its definitions, key concepts, and core disciplines.
Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis: A Practical Approach
Lead: Professor MD Matthias Egger, Professor Georgia Salanti, Orestis Efthimiou, PhD
Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine (ISPM), University of Bern
As part of their PhD, many students will have to do one or several systematic reviews, and some students will also want to combine results from several studies in meta-analysis. This intensive 3-day course will cover the principles and practical steps of systematic reviews, including the design and conduct of comprehensive literature searches, data extraction and presentation, assessment of bias in the included studies, synthesis of data and examination of publication bias and other biases. The statistical methods for combining results in meta-analysis will also be covered and the course will include practical exercises in R.
Prognostic Research: Concepts and Models
Lead: Professor MD Matthias Egger, Professor Georgia Salanti, PhD Orestis Efthimiou
Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine (ISPM), University of Bern
Prognosis is the probability that a specific event will occur in the future. Prognostic Research is fundamental to clinical decision making, healthcare policy, and discovering new approaches to patient management. In this course we describe the basic concepts used to develop, validate, and implement a prognostic model in clinical practice and discuss how a web-based calculator might be constructed to give a useful decision-making tool. In addition, we consider the reporting and impact of prognostic models and how the quality of prognostic research might be improved in order that prognostic information may be translated into clinically useful decision tools.