Introduction to Public Health Sciences
Lead: Professor MD Matthias Egger, Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine (ISPM), University of Bern and lecturers from ISPM, BIHAM and Institute of Philosophy, University of Bern:
PD Ben Spycher, Professor Georgia Salanti, Professor Annika Frahsa, Professor Sofia Zambrano, Patricia Chocano- Bedoya Patricia, MD PhD, 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.
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.
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.
Basics of Ethics in Health Sciences Research
Lead: PhD Agomoni Ganguli Mitra, course coordinator
Senior Lecturer/Associate Professor, University of Edinburghl
Professor MD Verina Wild
Medical Ethics, Full Professor, University of Augsburg
Prof. Kris Dierickx
Full Professor, University of Leuven
Dr. habil. Olga Churakova, Dr. Christine Krebs,
Dr. Elio Pellin, Dr. Andrea Hacker
University Library of Bern
This module provides an introduction to ethics, scientific integrity and other areas of ethical importance in health sciences research.
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
Prof. Elena Gómez-Sanz
Institute of Veterinary Bacteriology, University of Bern
Prof. 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.
Qualitative Health Research – Living Lab I: Data Analysis
Lead: Professor Annika Frahsa, Professor Sofia Zambrano (shared coordination)
Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine (ISPM), University of Bern
This Module 2 course is directed towards everyone conducting qualitative health research. In this living lab, we will not talk about how to do QHR but rather we will do it and train ourselves in the practices of analysis, interpretation and reflexivity – skills essential for high quality research but too often neglected in project work, doctoral studies, or studies alongside daily tasks.
Introduction to Public Health Sciences
Lead: Professor MD Matthias Egger, Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine (ISPM), University of Bern and lecturers from ISPM, BIHAM and Institute of Philosophy, University of Bern:
PD Ben Spycher, Professor Georgia Salanti, Professor Annika Frahsa, Professor Sofia Zambrano, Patricia Chocano- Bedoya Patricia, MD PhD, 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.
Exam: Epidemiology, Study Designs, Outcome Measures, and Biases
Lead: Ben Spycher PD, PhD
Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine (ISPM), University of Bern
Epidemiology is a core discipline of the public health sciences that provides a toolbox for studying the frequency and patterns of health/disease conditions and their determinants. With this exam, participants demonstrate their ability to apply epidemiological concepts and measures used to quantify the frequency of health outcomes and their associations with exposures of interest in a given population, identify potential sources of bias and interpret diagnostic test results.
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.
Writing a Journal Article… and Getting it Published
Lead: Professor Matthias Egger
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.