Outbreak!
Taught by James S.
James S. is a biomedical researcher, statistical analyst, blogger, and occasional ass. James' academic work has focused on breast cancer, inflammatory bowel disease, and infectious disease surveillance. In private industry he has worked as a data analyst and private practice growth consultant. He's a dork that loves dirty jokes, public speaking, teaching science, and believes in nouns that start with capital letters. He can be found at his recently reborn blog, miedvied.com.
If you're anything like me (high five if you are), you probably the only kid in your gradeschool class to read "Virus Hunters," or to know what BSL stood for. You watch movies like Outbreak and Contagion with that horrified fascination, both because of the plausibility of that looming horror, and because there's something really sexy about badass scientists that whip out lab results like Schwarzenegger with a sawed-off. So how would you like to be an epidemiologist for a day?
In this class, we will be learning about the foundations of infectious disease epidemiology with a hands-on make-believe experience. Each of the participants will take on the role of an elite virus hunter, using real epidemiologic tools and basic biostatistics to track down an infectious disease outbreak and try to stem its flow before it claims any more lives. Register quickly, because class size will be restricted so as to facilitate teamwork and fun.
The class will be led by James Steinberg, a former cancer researcher, and current biostatistics graduate student at the Boston University School of Public Health.
