Biostatistics 666: Core Competencies

The Council for Education in Public Health recommends that every course document the Public Health competencies covered in its syllabus. This is the list of competencies covered by Biostatistics 666.

Core Biostatistics Competencies

• Describe the roles biostatistics serves in the discipline of public health.
• Describe basic concepts of probability, random variation and commonly used statistical probability distributions.
• Describe preferred methodological alternatives to commonly used statistical methods when assumptions are not met.
• Apply descriptive techniques commonly used to summarize public health data.
• Apply common statistical methods for inference.
• Apply descriptive and inferential methodologies according to the type of study design for answering a particular research question.
• Interpret results of statistical analyses found in public health studies.

Core Epidemiology Competencies

• Identify key sources of data for epidemiologic purposes.

Core Health Behavior and Health Education Competencies

• Identify the causes of social and behavioral factors that affect health of individuals and populations.

Cross Cutting Competencies

• Describe how the public health information infrastructure is used to collect, process, maintain, and disseminate data.
• Analyze determinants of health and disease using an ecological framework.
• Appreciate the importance of working collaboratively with diverse communities and constituencies (e.g. researchers, practitioners, agencies and organizations).

Overall Goals

Students completing Biostatistics 666 are expected to:

• Develop knowledge to communicate and collaborate effectively with scientists in health-related disciplines to which biostatistics are applied (with a focus on medicine and genetics).
• Become well-versed in the application of core statistical techniques in genetic studies.
• Understand the theoretical foundations of statistical methods used in genetic studies.
• Select appropriate techniques and apply them to the processing of data from genetic studies.
• Interpret the results of statistical analysis and convert them into a language understandable to the broad statistical community.
• Develop written, oral presentation skills and other scientific reporting skills.
• Think about how to integrate genetic analyses with other aspects of public health.