SERpresents brings together SER online events and resources to one place! Registration for webinars is free of charge to members and non-members. In most cases, webinars are recorded and available in the SERlibrary for SER Members.

Upcoming Events Stay Tuned for Upcoming Events!!

SERpresents

Our Future Health: A new, large prospective cohort study to supercharge etiological and translational research

Febuary 26, 2025
10:00AM – 11:00AM (MST)

Our Future Health is a new UK-wide prospective cohort study supported by the UK Government, industry and charity sectors with the aim of recruiting 5 million UK adult residents to facilitate aetiologic and translational research. Our aim is to help everyone live longer and healthier lives through the discovery and testing of more effective approaches to prevention, earlier detection and treatment of diseases.
The sample frame is the total UK adult population using open enrolment. Participants are being genotyped using a custom array with a genome-wide backbone and coverage of disease- and phenotype-associated variants. High priority data linkages include primary and secondary, and cancer and death registration in each of the four devolved nations of the UK.
To date, more than 2 million participants have consented to be part of Our Future Health of which 1.5 million have completed the broad baseline questionnaire, 1.3 million have been linked with electronic health records, and over 1.2 million have donated blood for genotyping and biobanking of plasma, buffy coat and DNA.
We aim to recruit a cohort that is reflective of the diversity of the UK population in terms of age, ethnicity, socioeconomic status and geography. Key translational research aspects of the study include the forthcoming ability for study proposals to include access to baseline blood samples, and for investigator-led ancillary studies to recruit selected participants based on demographics, phenotypes, genotypes or disease-risk for risk-stratified research studies. Our Future Health ( ourfuturehealth.org.uk ) is already open for data access study proposals.

Registration

Professor Michael Cook, Our Future Health

BIO
Professor Michael Cook is the Executive Director of Science at Our Future Health, a UK-based not-for-profit organisation that aims to recruit 5 million UK-resident adults into a prospective cohort study.
As part of an initial small team of 20 employees in 2021, Michael has designed and built Our Future Health as a unique resource which will catalyse aetiological and translational research for both common and rare diseases. By January 2025, 2.1 million participants had consented, 1.5 million had completed the baseline questionnaire, 1.3 million had been linked to electronic health records, and 1.2 million had completed an in-person appointment to donate health metrics and blood, making Our Future Health the largest prospective cohort study with biobanked blood samples in the world.

Michael provides senior and broad expertise in the molecular and epidemiological sciences, and was previously a tenured, Senior Investigator at the US National Cancer Institute, NIH. During his career, Michael has designed and conducted numerous studies to advance etiologic understanding, clinical management, and prevention of chronic disease.

Kate Evans, Our Future Health

BIO
Kate Evans is the Executive Director for Researcher Data and Product at Our Future Health, a UK-based not-for-profit organisation that aims to recruit 5 million UK-resident adults into a prospective cohort study.
Kate oversees the Research and Data programme at Our Future Health and works to ensure that the data collected from volunteer participants can enable ground-breaking research to enable to the prevention and early detection of disease. By January 2025, data for nearly 1.5m volunteer participants had been made available for research within a Trusted Research Environment. This Trusted Research Environment provides the tooling and the platform to enables researchers to conduct their research safely and securely. Researchers from across the Life Sciences sector from Academia, disease charities, and from the commercial life sciences sector ranging from small startups through to large scale pharmaceutical companies are now starting to use these data for research.
Kate spent nearly 20 years in UK government national security, most recently leading a 200 strong government department using data and technology to keep the country safe. Kate is also a trustee for the national charity Mental Health Matters and an adviser on the Mayor of London’s Data for London Board.

SPC EVENT

SPC Career Development: Navigating Your First Faculty Job

March 12, 2025
10:00AM – 11:00AM (MST)

Starting your first faculty position is an exciting milestone, but it can also feel overwhelming. From understanding departmental expectations to balancing teaching, research, and service, the transition comes with unique challenges and opportunities. Join us for this insightful webinar for thriving in securing your first faculty job. Gain practical tips on timeline for job search, building a strong professional network, negotiation strategies, and so on. This session will empower you to set yourself up for long-term success!

Registration

Courtney Lynch, Associate Professor & Vice Chair for Faculty Affairs, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, The Ohio State University College of Medicine

BIO
Dr. Courtney Lynch is a tenured Associate Professor and the Vice Chair for Faculty Affairs in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Ohio State University College of Medicine where she also teaches and advises students in the OSU College of Public Health. Dr. Lynch received her PhD from the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health and completed both pre and postdoctoral fellowships at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health (NIH). Dr. Lynch’s areas of expertise include the identification and amelioration of modifiable risk factors for fecundity impairment and the prevention of maternal and infant morbidity and mortality. She is NIH funded and has published more than 100 papers in peer reviewed journals. Dr. Lynch is a long-time member of SER, a Past President for the Society for Pediatric and Perinatal Epidemiologic Research (SPER), and is an Associate Editor for the journal Paediatric and Perinatal Epidemiology.

X: @Doc_Courtney

Delvon T. Mattingly, Research Assistant Professor, Center for Health, Engagement, and Transformation, Department of Behavioral Science, University of Kentucky College of Medicine

BIO
Delvon is a social epidemiologist with extensive expertise in tobacco and cannabis control, regulatory science, and health disparities research. His work examines the psychosocial, policy, and structural factors that shape substance use behaviors and contribute to health inequities, focusing on youth, adults, and historically marginalized populations in the United States. By aiming to inform evidence-based policies and interventions across multiple levels, his research strives to reduce disparities in substance use and addiction while promoting health equity in diverse communities.
X: @Delvonmattingly

Dana Goin, Assistant Professor, Epidemiology Department, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health

Past Events

SERjournal Club

Longitudinal Associations Between Optimism and Objective Measures of Physical Functioning in Women

January 8, 2025
10:00AM – 11:00AM (MST)

Join us for the January Journal Club of the Student and Postdoc Committee (SPC) in which we will discuss the article “Longitudinal Associations Between Optimism and Objective Measures of Physical Functioning in Women” with the lead author, Dr. Hayami Koga.

Recording

Hayami Koga
Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

Hayami Koga is a postdoctoral fellow at the Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies. Her research focuses on whether psychological well-being, at a population level, is an important asset that contributes to a longer and healthier functioning lifespan. She is also interested in workplace well-being and how that may be associated with health. She holds a PhD in Population Health Sciences from the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and an MD from the University of Occupational and Environmental Health in Japan.

SERjournal Club

Advancing weight inclusive epidemiology in research and practice

December 11, 2024
10:00AM – 11:30AM (MST)

Public health and epidemiology are products of the society in which we live, but they also help to shape societal norms, for better and for worse. It is our professional responsibility to recognize where our fields have failed and caused harm, and to pursue better methods to prevent such harms in the future. Anti-fat bias and weight stigma represent one area in which our fields can and should do better. This webinar will provide an epidemiology-focused overview of the harms caused by the weight stigma status quo in our field and highlight some key practical changes epidemiologists can adopt to move towards weight inclusivity in their research and their classrooms.

Recording

Maayan Simckes, PhD MPH (she/her), Washington State Department of Health

BIO

Dr. Maayan Simckes is a senior epidemiologist at the Washington State Department of Health and serves as the Population Survey Supervisor, overseeing three statewide population surveys that span the life course. Dr. Simckes also works on multiple projects related to advancing epidemiologic methods to better promote health equity and reduce the stigma and harm the field has historically perpetuated. Of particular relevance to this session is her founding and facilitation of a national workgroup of applied epidemiologists developing a best practice implementation guide for weight inclusive epidemiology. Dr. Simckes earned her MPH from Saint Louis College for Public Health and Social Justice and her PhD in epidemiology from University of Washington, where she continues to work regularly with students as affiliate faculty. Her dissertation examined the intersection of population health and militarized policing in the United States. Prior to her arrival in Washington, she completed an applied epidemiology fellowship with the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists in Portland, Oregon.

Ragen Chastain, MEd, BCPA (she/her), Speaker, Writer, Researcher

BIO

Ragen Chastain is a speaker, writer, researcher, Board Certified Patient Advocate, multi-certified health and fitness professional, and thought leader in weight science, weight stigma, health, and healthcare. Ragen has brought her signature mix of humor and hard facts to diverse audiences from Memorial Sloan Kettering and Nationwide Children’s Hospital, to Amazon and Google, to Dartmouth, Cal Tech and the Yale School of Medicine. Author of the Weight and Healthcare newsletter, the book Fat: The Owner’s Manual, co-author of the Health at Every Size Health Sheets, and editor of the anthology The Politics of Size, Ragen is frequently featured as an expert in print, radio, television, podcasts, and documentary film. In her free time, Ragen is a triathlete and marathoner who holds the Guinness World Record for Heaviest Woman to Complete a Marathon. Ragen lives in Oregon with her fiancée Julianne and a rotating cast of foster dogs.

Brynn Stopczynski, MPH (she/her)
Washington State Department of Health

BIO

Brynn Stopczynski is an epidemiologist at the Washington State Department of Health and works on the Maternal and Child Health Block Grant Needs Assessment. Brynn is passionate about LGBTQIA+ health, health equity, health literacy, and thoughtfully collecting data from Washingtonians through a harm-reduction lens. Brynn has supported the development of a best practice implementation guide for weight inclusive epidemiology with Dr. Maayan Simckes. Brynn earned her MPH from the University at Albany, School of Public Health and completed an applied epidemiology fellowship with the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists at the Washington State Department of Health.

Jessie Seiler, PhD MPH (she/her), Department of Epidemiology, University of Washington

BIO

Dr. Jessie Seiler grew up in Los Angeles and, after completing her BA in philosophy and the history of math and science at St. John’s College in Annapolis, MD, spent three and a half years with the Peace Corps and USAID in Senegal, working in health education and malaria prevention. She earned her MPH in behavioral science and health education from Emory’s Rollins School of Public Health while working at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. She completed her PhD in the Department of Epidemiology at UW’s School of Public Health in 2023. Jessie’s research interests include white supremacy culture and violence and bullying based on race, immigration status, and other social identities. As a teacher, she believes in decentralizing authority in the classroom and strives to use an anti-oppression framework in her curriculum. And as someone with a non-traditional path to and through academia, she is excited to connect with students at all stages, especially those who aren’t sure whether they want to pursue a PhD or where they fit in public health.

Jennifer Webster, MA, MPH, Epidemiologist for Community Partnerships, Lane County Public Health, Oregon

BIO

Jennifer Webster, (aka Jay Dub) has been doing public health work her entire career though she only started working for a health department in 2012. Her early career focused on economic justice issues at the national, international, and local level, primarily in the non-profit sector. She spent several years as a director of reproductive health organization working to ensure abortion access in the state of Oregon. In 2012 she joined Lane County Public Health to address health disparities facing low-income communities through a unique partnership between public health and Lane County’s Medicaid administrators. In 2022, she joined the Community Partnerships Program as an epidemiologist with a focus on community-driven data. She holds a Masters of Arts in Global Studies from the University of Oregon and a Master of Public Health from Oregon State University.

Lisa Erlanger, MD (she/her), Family Medicine University of Washington - School of Medicine

BIO

Dr. Lisa Erlanger is a board-certified family physician whose practice focuses on the primary care of larger-bodied individuals and medical care of eating disorders and mental health concerns. As a Clinical Professor of Family Medicine, she teaches courses including patient-centered care and communication and ecology of health and medicine. She speaks nationally about weight stigma, weight-inclusive primary care, and eating disorders. Dr. Erlanger is a Certified Body Trust (R) Provider through Be Nourished in Portland, OR. She believes all people deserve trauma-informed, gender-affirming, weight-inclusive health care.

Molly Rosenberg, PhD, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Indiana University School of Public Health-Bloomington

BIO

Molly Rosenberg is an associate professor and epidemiologist who studies how social, structural and economic factors influence sexual health outcomes. Her work has largely focused on adolescent sexual health in South Africa, where the burden of HIV continues to be felt most strongly. Rosenberg’s research is focused on identifying novel structural intervention targets to improve sexual health, with representative studies examining the relationship between alcohol outlets and herpes infections, the influence of school dropout on teen pregnancy, and the potential for anti-poverty programs like cash transfers and microfinance to influence HIV risk.

Yueh-Ying Han, PhD, Department of Pediatrics, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine

BIO

Yueh-Ying Han is a Research Associate Professor at the Division of Pulmonology Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine. She is funded by NIH studies and also collaborates with physician-scientists on the division’s research projects, She also serves as a member of Scholarly Oversight Committee at the Department of Pediatrics. Her major research interest is on the pathogenesis of asthma, with a particular focus on diet, environmental exposures, and psychosocial stressors. She is committed to reducing the burden of asthma and health disparities in respiratory health through her research work and collaborating with scientists in this field.

WEBINAR

Quasi-experimental approaches in Epidemiology

November 13, 2024
10:00AM – 11:00AM (MST)

Join us for an insightful webinar on discussing the quasi-experimental approaches in Epidemiology, where we delve into innovative research methods that evaluate the effects of health interventions and exposures when randomized controlled trials (RCTs) are not possible. These approaches are essential for drawing reliable conclusions in situations where ethical, practical, or logistical constraints prevent the use of traditional experimental designs.

Recording

Arijit Nandi
Associate Professor, Department of Equity, Ethics and Policy and the Department of Epidemiology, McGill University School of Population and Global Health

BIO
Dr. Nandi is an Associate Professor at McGill University jointly appointed to the Department of Equity, Ethics and Policy and the Department of Epidemiology. His program of research examines macro-level determinants of population health and health inequality, including the effects of social interventions, in a global context. His primary interests are in using experimental and quasi-experimental designs to evaluate the impact of policies and programs on population health. He is the principal investigator of the PROSPERED project, which evaluates the health impact of public policies using quasi-experimental methods, and a founding member of the McGill Public Policy & Population Health Observatory (3PO).

Rita Hamad
Associate Professor, Harvard School of Public Health; Director, Social Policies for Health Equity Research (SPHERE) Center

BIO
Dr. Rita Hamad is a social epidemiologist and family physician whose research focuses on the pathways linking social factors like poverty and education with racial and socioeconomic disparities in health across the life course. In particular, she studies the health effects of social and economic policies using interdisciplinary quasi-experimental methods to generate actionable evidence to inform policymaking. She is the co-Chair of the Communications Committee of the Interdisciplinary Association for Population Health Science and serves as an Associate Editor for the journals Social Science & Medicine and Health Affairs Scholar. In 2020-2022, she was the James C. Puffer American Board of Family Medicine / National Academy of Medicine Fellow. She provides consultation to state and federal legislators on the design of poverty alleviation and social safety net policies. X: @DrRitaHamad

SPC WEBINAR

Career Development Event: NIH/NIA Predoctoral (F) and Postdoctoral (K) Grant Application

October 9, 2024 10:00AM – 11:00AM (MST)

Join us for the October Career Development Event of the Student and Postdoc Committee (SPC) in which we will discuss NIH Predoctoral (F) and Postdoctoral (K) grant application with Drs. Maria Glymour, Katrina Kezios, and Sirena Gutierrez.

Recording

Presenter

Maria Glymour Department of Epidemiology, Boston University School of Public Health

BIO
Dr. Maria Glymour is Professor and Chair of the Department of Epidemiology at Boston University School of Public Health. Her research examines how social factors experienced across the lifecourse, from infancy to adulthood, influence cognitive function, dementia, stroke, and other health outcomes in aging. A separate theme of her research focuses on overcoming methodological problems encountered in analyses of the social determinants of health, Alzheimer’s disease, and dementia

Presenter

Katrina Kezios Department of Epidemiology, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health

BIO
Dr. Katrina Kezios is an epidemiologist and postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Epidemiology at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health. Her research focuses on life course drivers of health outcomes and disparities, with emphasis on examining how chronic exposure to social and financial stressors harms cognition and impacts dementia risk. In much of her work, she leverages causal inference frameworks and approaches to clarify and address methodological challenges in life course research.

Presenter

Sirena Gutierrez Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of California San Francisco

BIO

Dr. Sirena Gutierrez is a social epidemiologist and a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the University of California San Francisco. Her research broadly centers on the social determinants of health in older adults across diverse global populations. One aspect of her work involves investigating how school segregation and other features of the schooling environment contribute to racialized disparities in cognitive aging. She is also focused on understanding how intergenerational socioeconomic resources influence health outcomes in older adults. In her research, Dr. Gutierrez emphasizes the use of causal inference methods and econometric techniques to help triangulate evidence across different research disciplines.

SERjournal Club

State-Level Indicators of Childhood Educational Quality and Incident Dementia in Older Black and White Adults

September 11, 2024
10:00AM – 11:00AM (MST)

Join us for the September Journal Club of the Student and Postdoc Committee (SPC) in which we will discuss the article, “State-Level Indicators of Childhood Educational Quality and Incident Dementia in Older Black and White Adults” with the lead author, Dr. Yenee Soh.

Recording

Yenee Soh
Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

Yenee Soh, ScD, SM is a social epidemiologist and research associate in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Her research interests are focused on the social determinants of population health and health disparities across the life course. Specifically, her work has examined the role of social and psychosocial factors on cardiovascular morbidities, dementia and cognitive decline among middle-aged and older adults. She also has extensive experience working with prospective observational cohorts across multiple countries. At present, Dr. Soh’s research expands into understanding the intergenerational transmission of disease risk within families. X: @YeneeSoh

CAREER DEVELOPMENT

Skills for an Epidemiologist in different work settings

July 10, 2024
10:00AM – 11:00AM (MST)

Are you enchanted by the idea of unraveling health mysteries through research, or perhaps you’re drawn to the public health practice? Maybe the ivory towers of academia beckon, or the innovative landscape of industry calls your name. Whatever your aspiration, our expert panel stands ready to illuminate the path, offering invaluable insights into the key skills, tantalizing career prospects, and sage advice for aspiring epidemiologists. Join us on this odyssey of discovery and chart your course to a captivating career where every setting holds the promise of adventure and impact!

Recording

Bill Gruber <br/> Adjunct Professor Departments of Medicine and Pediatrics, University of Michigan Medical School

Bill Gruber
Adjunct Professor Departments of Medicine and Pediatrics, University of Michigan Medical School

BIO
Bill is currently the Principal of Gruber Vaccine R&D Consulting, LLC. He was previously the Senior Vice President of Pfizer Vaccine Clinical Research and Development (VCRD) and had led a group of over 200 physicians and clinical scientists and has nearly 40 years of experience in vaccine research and development. He was also an Associate Professor of Pediatrics at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. Bill received his bachelor’s degree in Mathematical Sciences from Rice University and his Doctor of Medicine from Baylor College of Medicine.

Ashley Redding <br/> Epidemiologist at Henry Ford Health; Part-Time Faculty at Wayne State University <br/>

Ashley Redding
Epidemiologist at Henry Ford Health; Part-Time Faculty at Wayne State University

BIO
Ashley is an Epidemiologist at Henry Ford Health in the Patient Engaged Research Center, where she uses quantitative and qualitative research methods to uplift the patient voice in research studies and health system initiatives. She is a public health advocate, and has proudly served her Chaldean community as a Faith Advisor for the 2020 election, was appointed by Governor Gretchen Whitmer to serve on the Michigan Public Health Advisory Council, and was recognized on Crain’s 40 Under 40 List for her role in ending Michigan’s “tampon tax.” She has been part-time faculty at Wayne State for the past two years, and enjoys being able to work with students on a day-to-day basis.

Stephanie Shiau <br/> Assistant Professor, Rutgers School of Public Health <br/> <br/>

Stephanie Shiau
Assistant Professor, Rutgers School of Public Health

BIO
Dr. Stephanie Shiau (she/her) is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology at the Rutgers School of Public Health. She received a PhD and an MPH in Epidemiology from Columbia University and a BA in Public Health Studies from The Johns Hopkins University. After graduate school, she completed a postdoctoral research fellowship at the Gertrude H. Sergievsky Center at Columbia University. Dr. Shiau’s interdisciplinary research program focuses on (1) comorbidities among people living with HIV across the lifespan (2) molecular biomarkers of HIV, antiretroviral therapy, and aging with HIV, and (3) inflammatory and epigenetic mechanisms in perinatal epidemiology. She enjoys teaching epidemiology methods and mentoring public health graduate students. X handle: @stephshiau

WEBINAR

Building and Maintaining Epidemiologist-Clinician Teams

May 29, 2024
10:00AM – 11:30AM (MST)

In this session, an epidemiologist (Dr. Sutcliffe) and clinician (Dr. Lowder) with an established research partnership will discuss how to identify good collaborators and will provide advice on best practices for working with an epidemiologist (or clinician).

Recording

Presenter

Siobhan Sutcliffe <br/> Washington University in St. Louis

Siobhan Sutcliffe
Washington University in St. Louis

BIO
Siobhan Sutcliffe, PhD, ScM, MHS is an Epidemiologist and Professor in the Division of Public Health Sciences, Department of Surgery at Washington University School of Medicine, with a joint appointment in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. Her research focuses on the etiology or epidemiology of urologic and gynecologic conditions, including prostate cancer, urologic chronic pelvic pain syndrome, and lower urinary tract symptoms. She regularly interacts with clinicians through collaborations in two national NIDDK-sponsored consortia, as well as through local collaborations at Washington University School of Medicine. She also co-leads an NIDDK-sponsored T32 program in women’s health with Dr. Jerry Lowder.

Presenter

Jerry Lowder <br/> Washington University in St. Louis

Jerry Lowder
Washington University in St. Louis

BIO
Siobhan Sutcliffe, PhD, ScM, MHS is an Epidemiologist and Professor in the Division of Public Health Sciences, Department of Surgery at Washington University School of Medicine, with a joint appointment in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. Her research focuses on the etiology or epidemiology of urologic and gynecologic conditions, including prostate cancer, urologic chronic pelvic pain syndrome, and lower urinary tract symptoms. She regularly interacts with clinicians through collaborations in two national NIDDK-sponsored consortia, as well as through local collaborations at Washington University School of Medicine. She also co-leads an NIDDK-sponsored T32 program in women’s health with Dr. Jerry Lowder.

Moderator

Stephanie Mayne <br/> Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia & University of Pennsylvania

Stephanie Mayne
Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia & University of Pennsylvania

BIO
Stephanie Mayne, PhD, MHS is an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and the University of Pennsylvania. She is the Associate Director of Clinical Epidemiology at Clinical Futures, a CHOP Research Center of Emphasis comprised of multidisciplinary teams of clinicians, researchers, biostatisticians, and public health experts dedicated to advancing the conduct and outcomes of clinical research for children.

Moderator

Marzieh Ghiasi <br/> Michigan State University <br/> <br/>

Marzieh Ghiasi
Michigan State University

BIO
Marzieh Ghiasi, PhD, MSc is in her final year of the MD/PhD program at Michigan State University, pursuing Internal Medicine for residency. Her doctoral research focused on phenotypic clustering and genetic epidemiology of endometriosis. Her prior graduate research work at McGill University, Montreal, Canada focused on airborne infectious disease transmission and environmental health. She is passionate about promoting stronger medical education, particularly focusing on epidemiological, biostatistics and clinical research skills. She is currently the Vice President for American Physician Scientists Association (APSA) and a long-term member of SER.

Facilitator

Elizabeth Yanik <br/> Washington University in St. Louis <br/> <br/>

Elizabeth Yanik
Washington University in St. Louis

BIO
Elizabeth Yanik, PhD, ScM is an epidemiologist and Assistant Professor in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at Washington University School of Medicine. Her research focuses on the epidemiology of musculoskeletal disease, including an emphasis on the influence of genetic and occupational factors. A key part of her role in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery is collaborating with surgeon-scientists to improve the study design, analysis, and interpretation of orthopaedic clinical research.

WEBINAR

Social determinants of health in the EHR: Are we there yet?

May 22, 2024
10:00AM – 11:30 AM (MST)

This webinar will provide an up-to-date description of the availability of social determinants of health (SDoH) data in electronic health records (EHRs) and the utility of these data for epidemiologic research. The webinar will describe structured and unstructured sources of SDoH data in EHR systems and the opportunities and challenges of using these data for research. The session will provide examples of EHR-based epidemiologic studies of SDoH and describe the future outlook for EHR-based SDoH data.

Recording

Annemarie Hirsch
Department of Population Health, Center for Community Environment and Health, Geisinger

Dr. Annemarie Hirsch is an Associate Professor in the Department of Population Health Sciences at Geisinger and Director of the Geisinger-Johns Hopkins University Center for Community Environment and Health (CCEH). Geisinger is a pioneer in EHR-based research and the CCEH is a leader in the integration of EHR and geospatial data. Dr. Hirsch has studied a range of health outcomes in relation to the social, built, and natural environment, including type 2 diabetes, hypertension, obesity, and Lyme disease. She has contributed to the growing literature on how to use EHR data in epidemiology research.Read more

WEBINAR

Short talks, long talks, job talks. Let’s talk about giving talks!

May 22, 2024
12:00PM – 1:30 PM (MST)

Do you have an oral presentation to give? A short one for a conference (SER!)? Or a long one for a research seminar? Or maybe you need to give a job talk. Giving a great talk is an important skill for any epidemiologist. In this webinar, we’ll review strategies to improve the quality and impact of your talks. We’ll describe some pro tips and pitfalls (generated by crowdsourcing from some SER members). And we’ll discuss how to manage public speaking when…well…you don’t love being in front of a lot of people.

Everyone with an interest in giving better presentations is welcome and encouraged to come. We especially encourage early career folks with an oral presentation at SER to come.

Recording

William C. Miller
Department of Epidemiology, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

William (Bill) Miller, MD, PhD, MPH is Professor, Department of Epidemiology, Gillings School of Global Public Health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Bill is the current president of the Society of Epidemiologic Research. He is an infectious diseases epidemiologist and was also trained as an infectious diseases physician. His own research focuses on HIV, sexually transmitted infections, and substance use. He is Editor-in-Chief for the journal, Sexually Transmitted Diseases, and was, until recently, an associate editor for Epidemiology. Bill has been helping people give talks, write papers, and write grants for over 30 years.

SERjournal Cub

“Testing lifecourse theories characterising associations between maternal depression and offspring depression in emerging adulthood: the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children”

May 15, 2024
10:00AM – 11:30AM (MST)

Join us for the May Journal Club of the Student and Postdoc Committee (SPC) in which we will discuss the article, “Testing lifecourse theories characterising associations between maternal depression and offspring depression in emerging adulthood: the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children” with the lead author, Dr. Dawid Gondek.

Recording

Dawid Gondek
Senior Researcher, FORS - Swiss Centre of Expertise in the Social Sciences

Dawid Gondek completed his PhD in quantitative social science at University College London in 2020. He also holds an MSc in Clinical Mental Health Sciences from UCL. Dawid Gondek’s interests are in population mental health and wellbeing from the life course perspective. His research focuses on better understanding generational and life course trends of mental health, their determinants and consequences. His main focus is on how early life exposures affect mental health later in the life course. Dawid’s expertise is in analysing large population-based longitudinal datasets, such as birth cohorts or household panels, using advanced statistical methods. Currently, Dawid works on the CovidGen project that examines the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on wellbeing of young people.

WEBINAR

Bridging data to decisions: The Who, What, When, and Why of Public Health Choices

May 8, 2024
10:00AM – 11:30AM (MST)

What does it mean to make evidence-based decisions? Precision medicine promises to solve decision-making algorithmically. Foundational work in causal inference has made headway towards fulfilling this promise. However, behind a sometimes opaque technical literature lies an underlying normative proposition about how humans should make decisions: each individual is a member of a group defined by discrete features, and they should choose the treatment with the best average outcome among their group. Read more

Recording

Aaron L. Sarvet <br/> Department of Mathematics, Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, Switzerland

Aaron L. Sarvet
Department of Mathematics, Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, Switzerland

BIO
Aaron Sarvet is currently a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Mathematics at EPFL, and will be an Assistant Professor of Biostatistics in the Department of Biostatistics & Epidemiology at the University of Massachusetts. His research focuses on the development of innovative methods for statistical causal inference in medicine and epidemiology, which can be applied to large-scale longitudinal data. His research also applies a critical lens to the dominant paradigms in statistics and causal inference that structure epidemiologic thought and practice. He holds a PhD in Population Health Sciences (Epidemiology) and an MS in Biostatistics from Harvard University.

Kerollos N. Wanis <br/> Department of Breast Surgical Oncology, MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas

Kerollos N. Wanis
Department of Breast Surgical Oncology, MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas

BIO
Kerollos N. Wanis, MD, PhD, is currently a clinical fellow in Breast Surgical Oncology at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas. In addition to his active surgical practice and interest in substantive research in breast oncology, his research focuses on the development and application of methods to estimate causal effects of clinical decision strategies and health policies. An important motivation for this work is the goal of harmonizing advancements in causal inference methodology with the interpretability necessary for clinical decision-making. To that end, he is interested in describing when, and under what assumptions, various estimands will be useful to decision makers. He completed a PhD in Population Health Sciences (Epidemiologic Methods) and a SM in Biostatistics at Harvard University.

Kara E. Rudolph <br/> Department of Epidemiology, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University

Kara E. Rudolph
Department of Epidemiology, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University

BIO
Kara Rudolph is an epidemiologist with research interests in developing and applying causal inference methods to understand social and contextual influences on mental health, substance use, and violence in disadvantaged, urban areas of the United States. Her current work focuses on developing methods for transportability and mediation, and subsequently applying those methods to understand how aspects of the school and peer environments mediate relationships between neighborhood factors and adolescent drug use across populations. More generally, her work on generalizing/ transporting findings from study samples to target populations and identifying subpopulations most likely to benefit from interventions contributes to efforts to optimally target available policy and program resources. She completed a PhD in Epidemiology and an MHS in Biostatistics from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and was a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health and Society Scholar.

Mats J. Stensrud <br/> Department of Mathematics, Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, Switzerland

Mats J. Stensrud
Department of Mathematics, Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, Switzerland

BIO
Mats J. Stensrud, MD, PhD, is a tenure-track assistant professor of statistics at EPFL. Stensrud holds degrees in mathematics, medicine and statistics. His research background spans from statistical methodology and causal theory to experimental neuroscience and clinical medicine. Before joining EPFL in 2020, Stensrud was a Fulbright scholar and Kolokotrones fellow at Harvard School of Public Health. He has also worked as a clinical medical doctor and postdoctoral researcher in Oslo. His current research is focused on developing new theory and methods for the interpretation, identification and estimation of causal parameters. A key aim is that these methods can be applied by imposing assumptions that are transparent and scientifically falsifiable.

WEBINAR

Omics Studies and Insights Into The Complexity Of Interactions Underpinning The Epidemiologic Triangle

May 1, 2024
10:00 AM – 11:00 AM (MST)

This SER webinar session will explore how Omics-based data can inform the complexities of the epidemiologic triangle. Highlighted insights will include information on diversity of populations, environments, and pathogens, as well as cutting edge insights to understand their interactions. Dr. Anne Justice, Associate Professor at Geisinger Health System, Danville PA, will provide an overarching description of Omics, as a hypothesis free approach to studying diversity within and between human populations, and hypothesis driven approaches such as by studying candidate gene studies. Dr. Dana Pasquale, Assistant Professor at Duke University, will give a talk on how omics-based methods can be applied to study agent (pathogenic) diversity and host-pathogen interactions. Finally, Dr. Davenport, Assistant Professor of biology at Pennsylvania State University, will explore the varied ways in which Omics methods can be used to investigate environmental diversity, as well as the vertices from host to the environment. In each of these parts we will ask speakers to highlight the limitations and strengths of Omics, as an agnostic approach to screen for associations between host-environment-agent interactions. Speaker talks will be followed by Q&A sessions.

Recording

Presenter

Anne E. Justice
Associate Professor, Department of Public Health Sciences, Geisinger Health System, Danville PA

Anne Justice is an Associate Professor at Geisinger in the Department of Population Health Sciences. She uses her skills in genetic epidemiology, anthropological genetics, and bioinformatics to bring together the bio-cultural, genetic, and public health perspectives to investigate the genomic underpinnings of complex disease risk across the lifecourse. Her team identifies and refines electronic health record (EHR)-derived complex disease traits for genomic discoveries with a focus on obesity and cardiometabolic diseases. Read more

Presenter

Emily R. Davenport
Assistant Professor, Department of Biology, Eberly College of Science, Joint appointment with Huck Life Sciences Institute, Penn State University, University Park PA

Emily R. Davenport is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biology at Penn State University who is interested in understanding the relationship between humans and our microbiomes. Having long been interested in microbes, Dr. Davenport earned a Bachelor of Science degree with comprehensive honors in Bacteriology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2007. She became familiar with genomic techniques while working at the microarray company Roche NimbleGen between 2007 and 2009. Read more

Presenter

Dana K. Pasquale
Assistant Professor in Population Health Sciences, Duke University, Durham, NC

Dr. Dana K Pasquale earned a PhD in infectious disease epidemiology from UNC-Chapel Hill, earned an MPH in health behavior from East Carolina University, and completed three years as a postdoc in the Duke University Department of Sociology. She combines social network and pathogen genetic data to study infectious disease transmission networks. The majority of Dana’s work is domestic, examining HIV and syphilis transmission in North Carolina. Read more

WEBINAR

Novel Approaches to Cancer Epidemiology: Molecular Epidemiology that Integrates Tumor Heterogeneity Strengthens Causal Inference

April 24, 2024
10:00 AM – 11:30 AM (MST)

Cancer is a heterogeneous complex health outcome that is driven by an individual’s germline genetics, ancestry, lifestyle, diet, somatic mutations, immunity, microbiota, environment, health care, and society. To address this complexity, molecular epidemiology, along with immunology and microbiology, has been integrated into cancer epidemiology. A key challenge is that analytical approaches in cancer research must keep up with this torrent of molecular data. Fortunately, novel approaches in molecular epidemiology allow for the inference of etiology, carcinogenesis, and prevention potentials by more profound integration of tumor characteristics into epidemiologic research. In parallel, advances in analytical frameworks, including inverse probability weighting for missing biomarker data, instrumental variable methods, and target trial emulations, help infer causality. Epidemiologists are also critical for interpreting molecular differences in tumor features related to race and ancestry. Integrative approaches promise to decipher and resolve some of the seemingly paradoxical findings debated in the literature.

The objective of this webinar is to present the latest approaches and real-world challenges in molecular epidemiological studies of cancer by early-career investigators representing diverse expertise. This webinar seeks to promote a better understanding of both biomarkers and analytical approaches and foster future collaborations.

Schedule
Read more

Recording

Presenter

Tomotaka Ugai,<br/> Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

Tomotaka Ugai,
Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

BIO
Dr. Ugai is a junior faculty member at Brigham and Women’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School and an MD/PhD physician epidemiologist with expertise in pathology, clinical oncology, cancer epidemiology, and molecular epidemiology. His current research focuses on early-onset cancers and tumor biomarkers, including immune and microbial characteristics of cancer. Dr. Ugai is a founder of the International Cancer Spectrum Consortium, which is an interdisciplinary working group with faculty, postdocs, and students from various institutions.

Presenter

Hwa-young Lee,<br/> The Catholic University of Korea <br/> <br/> <br/>

Hwa-young Lee,
The Catholic University of Korea

BIO
Dr. Lee is an Assistant Professor at The Catholic University of Korea. She holds a bachelor’s degree in veterinary medicine from Seoul National University in Korea. She completed her Ph.D. degree in Health Economics from the Graduate School of Public Health, Seoul National University. Her main research interest lies in health system quality, health expenditure, priority setting in health resources, inequality in health, and social capital in health.

Presenter

Cheng Peng, <br/> Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School <br/> <br/>

Cheng Peng,
Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School

Presenter

Minkyo Song,<br/> National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health

Minkyo Song,
National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health

BIO
Dr. Song is an NIH Distinguished Scholar at the National Institute on Aging. Dr. Song’s research focuses on how variation in immunity affects the aging progress and age-related outcomes in general and immune-altered populations. Her research program leverages the recent and rapidly evolving tools of immunology and related technologies, particularly high-throughput proteomics and bioinformatics tools, to investigate the interaction of autoimmunity/autoimmune diseases and aging/age-related diseases and identify robust autoimmune disease biomarkers, integrating these into epidemiologic studies.

Presenter

Konrad H. Stopsack, <br/> Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School

Konrad H. Stopsack,
Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School

BIO
Dr. Stopsack is an Investigator at Massachusetts General Hospital and an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Stopsack is a clinical and molecular epidemiologist with a focus on cancer epidemiology. His highly interdisciplinary research program assesses causes and outcomes of solid tumors. With a prior background as a board-certified internal medicine physician, he is passionate about combining well-defined observational studies and state-of-the-art genomics in order to guide cancer prevention and treatment.

Presenter

Naoko Sasamoto, <br/> Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School

Naoko Sasamoto,
Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School

SERjournal Cub

Nonparametric Causal Effects Based on Longitudinal Modified Treatment Policies

April 10, 2024
10:00 AM – 11:00 AM (MST)

Join us for the April Journal Club of the Student and Postdoc Committee in which we will discuss the article, “Nonparametric Causal Effects Based on Longitudinal Modified Treatment Policies” with the lead author, Dr. Iván Díaz.

Recording

Iván Díaz
Associate Professor, Division of Biostatistics Department of Population Health, NYU Grossman School of Medicine

Iván Díaz (he/him) is an Associate Professor of Biostatistics at NYU Grossman School of Medicine. Dr. Díaz’s research focuses on causal inference from observational and randomized studies, ranging from definitions and estimation of causal effects with complex data structures, to the study of optimal statistical methods. He works at the intersection of causal inference, machine learning, and mathematical statistics to develop methods that provide relevant answers to substantive questions using state-of-the-art data analysis techniques.

WEBINAR

Counting contacts? : The case for public health surveillance of social behaviors that transmit common infections

April 3, 2024
10:00 AM – 11:30 AM (MST)

Surveillance for health-related risk behaviors is commonplace for chronic diseases, but not for common infections like influenza, SARS-CoV-2, and norovirus which are transmitted from person-to-person. As the COVID-19 pandemic made clear, these behaviors can change dramatically in response to an individual’s perceived or actual risk of illness, as well as the availability of interventions like social distancing measures or vaccination. In the absence of a pandemic, routine annual events (i.e., holidays) as well as changing social and cultural mores (i.e., the rise of remote work and school) rearrange the number and type of routine, daily social interactions among members in a community. Surveillance focused on social contact can monitor behaviors that change infection risk through time, illuminating differences in disease burden by group and informing strategies to target and monitor the impact of interventions. However, methods to collect this data which minimize bias and ensure population representativeness remain elusive.

Recording

Presenter

Carol Liu,
Emory University

BIO
Carol Liu is a PhD student in epidemiology in the Department of Epidemiology at the Emory University Rollins School of Public Health. Her research work focuses on understanding social mixing and human mobility patterns in the context of infection transmission. She is interested in using mathematical models that incorporate an improved quantification of mixing and mobility to estimate the impact of interventions for infection control and prevention. Prior to Emory, Carol worked in field-based global health in Sub-Saharan Africa where she supported national infectious disease programs with epidemiological research and built evaluation platforms for aid programs in conflict zones.

Presenter

Mark Lurie,
Brown University

BIO
Mark Lurie is an infectious disease epidemiologist, is an Associate Professor of Epidemiology and Director of the International Health Institute at the Brown University School of Public Health. Dr. Lurie’s most recent project, Mobility Analysis for Pandemic Prevention Strategies (MAPPS), established a new center at Brown University to predict and prevent the next pandemic by better understanding all aspects of human migration and social interaction. MAPPS aims to catalog existing information about mobility and social interaction, generate new knowledge on how and where people move, developing and testing wearable or cell-phone based devices to measure social interaction and geographical footprints. The data generated by the project will lead to a better understanding of the dynamics of disease transmission to mitigate future pandemics by identifying behaviors that facilitate disease spread while also highlighting ways to minimize restrictions on human mobility.

Presenter

Ayesha Mahmud, <br/> University of California, Berkeley

Ayesha Mahmud,
University of California, Berkeley

BIO
Ayesha Mahmud is an Assistant Professor of Demography at the University of California, Berkeley. She is a demographer, who is broadly interested in the interplay between human population changes, environmental factors, and infectious disease dynamics. Her research draws on theory and methods from demography and disease ecology, to answer questions such as – why do outbreaks occur at certain times of the year? How and why does the mortality burden of infectious diseases vary over time? How do population travel patterns drive the spatial dynamics of outbreaks? How will global environmental and demographic changes alter the landscape of infectious disease burden in the future? She uses statistical methods and biologically mechanistic models to answer these questions in the context of multiple diseases in countries in Asia, Africa, and Central America, using data from disease surveillance systems, hospital databases, climate models, human mobility data, and population surveys and censuses.

Presenter

Kayoko Shioda,
Boston University

BIO
Kayoko Shioda is an Assistant Professor at the Boston University School of Public Health. She is an infectious disease epidemiologist and veterinarian working at the intersection of global health, One Health, vaccine epidemiology, and Bayesian statistics. Her research integrates veterinary medicine, epidemiological methods, mathematical modeling, and Bayesian statistics to tackle issues in infectious disease epidemiology, with two major foci: 1) One Health with climate change and 2) vaccine epidemiology. The overall objective that guides her One Health research is to propose climate-resilient measures to control zoonotic pathogens based on a better understanding of the transmission dynamics among/between humans, animals, the environment, and climate factors in resource-limited settings. For vaccine epidemiology, she aims to inform vaccine policy by developing novel analytic methods for intervention evaluation, especially in resource-limited settings where public health data often have various challenges that make it difficult to draw reliable conclusions.

Moderator

Kristin Nelson,
Emory University

BIO
Kristin Nelson is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Epidemiology at Emory University. Her overarching research interest is in the epidemiology and prevention of respiratory infections, primarily tuberculosis and more recently COVID-19. Dr. Nelson’s research program integrates dynamic modeling, causal inference methods, and pathogen genomics to characterize patterns of disease transmission and understand the impact of interventions, including new vaccines, on morbidity and mortality from infectious disease. She has led several studies focused on measuring social contact patterns in settings ranging from U.S. workplaces to households in low- and middle-income Asian and African countries. As a co-investigator on a CDC-funded initiative to improve mathematical modeling approaches at Emory (CIDMATH), she is leading a large-scale effort to collect behavioral data relevant for infectious disease spread in the U.S. state of Georgia.

WEBINAR

The application of novel epidemiological methods/concepts to study human health: using liver cancer as an example

Recording

March 6, 2024
10:00 AM – 11:00 AM (MST)

In this symposium, we will use liver cancer as an example to show how these novel methodology/concepts are utilized to inform disease etiology, risk stratification, and early detection. Liver cancer incidence is on the rise worldwide and has significant global health disparities with much higher incidence in low-to-middle income countries such as Africa. However, liver cancer incidence has also been tripled since the 1980s with unclear underlying causes in developed countries such as US. Additionally, liver cancer is often fatal due to a delay in cancer diagnosis and no effective early screening. This symposium will highlight how novel methodology/concepts can be used to improve knowledge on liver cancer etiology, in particular non-viral risk factors such as non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, and biomarkers of liver cancer progression and early detection. Symposium attendees will learn how to use innovative methods/concepts and further advance these concepts when applying them to their studies. Discussion with the speakers and attendees will center on opportunities for research, including methodological advances that can strengthen future studies to close gaps in disease etiology and early biomarkers.

View Full Overview Here!

Session Chair:

Xuehong Zhang, MBBS, ScD

Presenters:

Yikyung Park, ScD, Circadian rhythm disrupting lifestyle: Emerging risk factors for cancer

Yinan Zhang, PhD, Locus-specific repetitive element DNA methylation in viral-associated liver cancer

Towia Libermann, PhD, Applications of proteomics to epidemiological studies to inform disease etiology, biology, and early detection

SER Mid-Year Meeting

SPC Virtual Oral Abstract Presentations

March 6, 2024
12:00PM – 1:30PM (MST)

Recording

Ruth Geller <br/> Boston University School of Public Health

Ruth Geller
Boston University School of Public Health

BIO
Ruth Geller is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Epidemiology at Boston University School of Public Health. Ruth’s goal is to advance public health and health equity through reproductive epidemiology research. Ruth’s dissertation research focuses on environmental influences on abnormal uterine bleeding and uterine leiomyomata. Prior to joining BUSPH, Ruth conducted data management and statistical analyses for epidemiologic research at Massachusetts General Hospital and The George Washington University. Ruth received a BS in Biology from the University of Pittsburgh and an MHS in Epidemiology from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Nicholas Grubic <br/> University of Toronto, Dalla Lana School of Public Health

Nicholas Grubic
University of Toronto, Dalla Lana School of Public Health

BIO
Nicholas Grubic (he/him) is a doctoral student in Epidemiology at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health (University of Toronto). He received his Master of Science in Epidemiology, Bachelor of Science, and Certificate in Business from Queen’s University. His research interests encompass cardiovascular epidemiology, social determinants of health, child/adolescent health, and health administrative data. His research has culminated in a total of 35 peer-reviewed publications in high-impact journals, including the British Medical Journal, Canadian Journal of Cardiology, and British Journal of Sports Medicine. He has presented at numerous national and international meetings, including the Canadian Cardiovascular Congress, Society for Epidemiologic Research Meeting, and European Society of Cardiology Congress. Nicholas is an active trainee committee member of Canadian Cardiovascular Society and an editorial board member of both the Canadian Journal of Cardiology and Canadian Journal of Cardiology Open. He is also a member of the Heart and Stroke Young Leader’s Committee, which is a philanthropic group of young professionals that aim to improve heart health and awareness across Canada. Apart from his academic work, Nicholas enjoys cycling and running in his spare time, having been a prior varsity rowing/triathlon athlete and member of Team Ontario at the 2017 Canada Summer Games.

Peter Larson <br/> University of Michigan Institute for Social Research

Peter Larson
University of Michigan Institute for Social Research

BIO
Peter S. Larson is an epidemiologist and public health statistician who specializes in research projects of all kinds that answer questions about social and environmental determinants of health and health disparities through GIS, spatial and complex statistical analyses. Peter is particularly interested in how society, economics and place intersect to impact disease risk in people in poor and marginalized communities.

Sarah A. Phillips<br/> Eastern Virginia Medical School <br/> <br/>

Sarah A. Phillips
Eastern Virginia Medical School

BIO
Sarah A. Phillips, B.A., is a medical student at Eastern Virginia Medical School, Norfolk. Ms. Phillips earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in global public health with a minor in bioethics in 2020 from the University of Virginia, Charlottesville. Her previous research experience involves cancer prevention, patient-reported outcomes, and digital health monitoring. Ms. Phillips’ current research includes evaluating markers for cervical cancer in self-collected specimens as well as polygenic risk score development for ovarian cancer screening.

Jeffrey Alexander Chan <br/> Department of Social Medicine at Maastricht University in the Netherlands <br/> <br/>

Jeffrey Alexander Chan
Department of Social Medicine at Maastricht University in the Netherlands

Angela D’Adamo <br/> Department of Epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

Angela D’Adamo
Department of Epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

BIO
Angela D’Adamo is a 2nd year Master’s candidate in the Department of Epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She received her Bachelor of Science degree in Public Health from Rutgers University in 2022. Her research interests focus on how social and environmental factors (e.g., race and SES) influence health inequities, especially among urban populations and areas affected by residential segregation. Angela works as a Graduate Research Assistant at the JHU ECHO Data Analysis Center under Drs. Amii Kress and Emily Knapp and is conducting her master’s thesis on the impacts of residential mobility during pregnancy on adverse birth outcomes.

Mitra Mosslemi <br/> University of Pittsburg <br/> <br/> <br/> <br/> <br/>

Mitra Mosslemi
University of Pittsburg

Terry Zhou<br/> Emory University, Rollins School of Public Health </br/> <br/> <br/> <br/>

Terry Zhou
Emory University, Rollins School of Public Health

BIO
Terry Zhou (she/her) is a MPH Epidemiology student pursuing a certificate in Genetic and Molecular Epidemiology. She graduated from the University of Rochester in 2022 with a B.S. in Computational Biology and a B.A in Statistics with a minor in Health, Behavior, and Society. As an undergraduate, she conducted research at the University of Rochester Medical Center on the formation of defective viral genomes in the SARS-CoV-2 virus. She is interested in applying statistics and computational tools to genetic epidemiology. Currently, Terry is a REAL student working with Dr. Huels on a project exploring multi-omics data to study the effects of air pollution on neuropathology.

Lucila Vilela <br/> Brazil and an Epidemiology/Biostatistics MPH student at Cuny <br/> <br/> <br/>

Lucila Vilela
Brazil and an Epidemiology/Biostatistics MPH student at Cuny

SER Mid-Year Meeting

Addressing Antifatness in Epidemiologic Research

March 7, 2024
10:00 AM – 11:30 AM (MST)

In epidemiologic studies, body weight or obesity is often considered as a risk factor or health behavior for many diseases and health conditions. Public Health’s focus on “obesity epidemic” and “weight loss” has increased exponentially within the last few decades. However, the stigma and discrimination toward overweight or obese individuals that came with it were often overlooked and not accounted for in research. Weight stigma can lead to adverse outcomes on psychological and physical health, and decreased quality of health care and quality of life.
A common misassumption is that weight is a behavior that results from individual’s control and choices. It reinforces negative attitudes or stereotypes toward people live with overweight or obesity such as lack of self-discipline, weak-willed, or laziness. It was estimated that the prevalence of weight discrimination increased by 66% in early 2000 in the US. The continuation of weigh stigma (also known as “antifatness” or “fatphobia”) has damaging the societal values of equity, diversity, and inclusion. To reduce its impact, weight stigma must be recognized and addressed by the public health community. The goal of this symposium is to bring awareness and understanding to this issue, while giving ample time to generate discussion on the potential implications and identification of strategies or policies for remediation.

This session will provide an overview and introduction to the subject of weight-related bias and discrimination. It will emphasize the needs of a weight-inclusive approach and engage students, researchers, and policy makers in critical thought about how to best measure health without using weight or BMI as a marker, how to focus on behaviors that impact health (i.e. nutrition, physical activity, stress management, and smoking cessation), and how given access to stigma-free health care and opportunities.

Recording

Patricia Nece, <br/> Obesity Action Coalition <br/> <br/>

Patricia Nece,
Obesity Action Coalition

BIO
As a dedicated member of the Obesity Action Coalition and Immediate Past Chair of the OAC National Board of Directors, Nece is an avid advocate for sound obesity treatments and the eradication of weight-based bias. She encourages change by sharing her own experiences of living with obesity. Her advocacy work has included testifying before the U.S. Food & Drug Administration about the need for more evidence-based treatments, giving a patient’s perspective at various obesity solution roundtables, and telling her story to legislators, healthcare providers, food-industry representatives and more. Nece’s involvement with OAC, a nonprofit organization dedicated to giving a voice to individuals affected by obesity, has challenged weight bias, supported science-based obesity treatments and empowered others in their health journeys.
Ms. Nece was awarded the TOS Presidential Medal during the Presidential Plenary session at ObesityWeek® 2022, the leading international conference on obesity that brings together scientific, medical, policy and other professionals interested in obesity. TOS Presidential Medals are awarded each year by The Obesity Society to individuals who have made an impact on the care of persons with obesity.

Rebecca Pearl, PhD <br/> University of Florida <br/> "Introduction and overview of weight stigma" <br/>

Rebecca Pearl, PhD
University of Florida
"Introduction and overview of weight stigma"

BIO
Rebecca L. Pearl, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Clinical and Health Psychology and in Social and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Florida College of Public Health and Health Professions. Dr. Pearl directs the Body Image and Stigma Lab, which investigates appearance- and health-related stigma and associated health outcomes. Her research primarily focuses on weight stigma, with a particular interest in understanding and reducing internalized or self-directed stigma. Her work is supported by funding from the National Institutes of Health, including the NIH Director’s New Innovator Award. She completed her Ph.D. in clinical psychology at Yale University, her psychology internship at McLean Hospital/Harvard Medical School, and her postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania Center for Weight and Eating Disorders.

Katherine Flegal <br/> Stanford University <br/> "Biased and uncritical epidemiologic research may contributed to weight stigma."

Katherine Flegal
Stanford University
"Biased and uncritical epidemiologic research may contributed to weight stigma."

BIO
Dr. Katherine Flegal completed her PhD degree in Human Nutrition, with a minor in Statistics, at Cornell University. She is currently associated with the Prevention Research Center at Stanford University. Previously she was a senior scientist at the National Center for Health Statistics for 29 years. Flegal is well known for a series of influential articles on the changes in BMI levels in U.S. children and adults. She was also a major contributor to the development of the 2000 CDC growth charts.
In 2005 Flegal and co-authors published a study in JAMA which found that being overweight was associated with lower mortality than normal weight. The study received considerable opposition, in part because its conclusions differed from a previous paper published by senior CDC authors in 2004. After considerable discussion, the CDC accepted Flegal’s figures as correct. Flegal’s article received CDC’s highest science award, the Charles C. Shepard award, in 2006.
In 2013, Flegal was the lead author of a systematic review and meta-analysis published in JAMA regarding the association of overweight and obesity with mortality. In a large sample, drawn from other countries as well as the U.S., overweight people had lower mortality relative to people of normal weight

Erick Forno <br/> Indiana University <br/> "How do physicians communicate with parents with children that are overweight or obese"

Erick Forno
Indiana University
"How do physicians communicate with parents with children that are overweight or obese"

Ragen Chastain <br/> Board Certified Patient Advocate <br/> "Research for Every Body – Identifying and Eradicating Weight Stigma in Epidemiological Research"

Ragen Chastain
Board Certified Patient Advocate
"Research for Every Body – Identifying and Eradicating Weight Stigma in Epidemiological Research"

BIO
Ragen Chastain is a speaker, writer, researcher, Board Certified Patient Advocate, multi-certified health and fitness professional, and thought leader in weight science, weight stigma, and healthcare. She is the author of the Weight and Healthcare newsletter and the book Fat: The Owner’s Manual, editor of the Praeger Anthology “The Politics of Size,” and co-author of the Health at Every Size Health Sheets. Her current research includes: Weight Stigma and Iatrogenic Harm in the Highest-Weight Patients, Reducing Miscuffings in Routine Clinical Blood Pressure Readings in Higher-Weight Patients, and Healthcare Held Hostage: Reducing BMI-Based Denials of Care. In her free time, Ragen is a triathlete, and marathoner who holds the Guinness World Record for Heaviest Woman to Complete a Marathon. She lives in Oregon with her fiancée Julianne and their adorable foster dogs.

SERdigital

A Call for Descriptive Epidemiology

February 14, 2024
10:00AM (MST)

Despite the importance of focusing on person, place, and time in public health research, the field invests little time in training on descriptive epidemiology. This branch of epidemiology is often viewed as less “sexy”, harder to publish, and less likely to be funded, yet it is the cornerstone of much of what we do in epidemiology. Furthermore, and arguably more troubling, potentially because it is ubiquitous, we often do not reflect on biases present in descriptive epidemiology. The COVID-19 outbreak and subsequent coronavirus disease have highlighted the importance of descriptive epidemiology in responding to serious public health crises and have raised discussions about the potential impact of descriptive epidemiology. This session will provide an understanding of the concept of descriptive epidemiology and some key components of conducting valuable descriptive epidemiologic studies.

Recording

Dr. Matthew Fox (He/him) is a Professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Global Health at Boston University. [wpex] His research interests include treatment outcomes in HIV-treatment programs, infectious disease epidemiology (with specific interests in HIV and pneumonia), and epidemiologic methods. He works on ways to improve retention in HIV-care programs in South Africa from the time of testing HIV-positive through long-term treatment. As part of this work, he is involved in analyses to assess the impact of changes in South Africa’s National Treatment Guidelines for HIV. He also does research on quantitative bias analysis and co-authored a book on these methods, Applying Quantitative Bias Analysis to Epidemiologic Data (http://www.springer.com/public+health/book/978-0-387-87960-4). He is also the host of a public health journal club podcast called Free Associations designed to help people stay current in the public health literature and think critically about the quality of research studies (https://bit.ly/30fPApj) and a podcast on Epidemiologic Methods called SERious Epi (https://seriousepi.blubrry.net/). He currently teaches a third-level epidemiologic methods class, Advanced Epidemiology as well as two other doctoral-level epidemiologic methods courses. Twitter: @profmattfox [/wpex]

Matthew Fox, DSc, MPH
Professor of Epidemiology and of Global health, Boston University School of Public Health

Dr. Matthew Fox (He/him) is a Professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Global Health at Boston University. Read more

Catherine Lesko, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Department of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

Dr. Lesko (She/her) has expertise in the development and application of epidemiological methods for the analysis of imperfect and incomplete observational data. Read more

PANEL DISCUSSION

Mentoring Through Transitions: A Panel Discussion

January 24, 2024
10:00AM (MST)

Across career paths in epidemiology, we have to navigate transitions through different stages of our career. Please join the SER Mentoring Committee as we host a webinar featuring panelists who have experience both as mentees and mentors in navigating through career transitions. Our goal is to answer questions relating to mentoring across various careers stages and how to optimize the mentee-mentor relationship throughout each stage. Through registration for this event you will have the opportunity to submit anonymous questions for the panelists.

Recording

Moderator<br/> Sonia Grandi<br/>The Hospital for Sick Children and University of Toronto

Moderator
Sonia Grandi
The Hospital for Sick Children and University of Toronto

BIO
Dr. Sonia Grandi (she/her) is a Scientist and an Assistant Professor at the Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) Research Institute and an Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto in the Division of Epidemiology in the Dalla Lana School of Public Health. She completed her PhD in Epidemiology at McGill University and her postdoctoral fellowship in reproductive epidemiology at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institutes of Child Health and Human Development. Dr. Grandi’s research interests include understanding how pregnancy complications and interventions designed to reduce those complications, impact the health of mothers and infants, the safety and effectiveness of medications taken during pregnancy on the health of mothers and their children among women with chronic conditions, and understanding inequities in severe maternal morbidity and mortality and strategies to identify women at highest risk.

Moderator<br/>Stephanie Shiau<br/>Rutgers School of Public Health

Moderator
Stephanie Shiau
Rutgers School of Public Health

BIO
Dr. Stephanie Shiau (she/her) is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology at the Rutgers School of Public Health. She received a PhD and an MPH in Epidemiology from Columbia University and a BA in Public Health Studies from The Johns Hopkins University. After graduate school, she completed a postdoctoral research fellowship at the Gertrude H. Sergievsky Center at Columbia University. Dr. Shiau’s interdisciplinary research program focuses on (1) comorbidities among children, adolescents, and adults living with HIV and affected by HIV, (2) molecular biomarkers of HIV, antiretroviral therapy, and aging with HIV, and (3) epigenetic mechanisms in perinatal epidemiology. She enjoys teaching epidemiology methods and mentoring public health graduate students.

Panelist<br/> Leslie McClure<br/> Saint Louis University

Panelist
Leslie McClure
Saint Louis University

BIO
Leslie McClure is Dean of the College for Public Health and Social Justice at Saint Louis University. Prior to joining the SLU community, she was Professor & Chair of the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics and Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs at the Dornsife School of Public Health at Drexel University. She earned a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics from the University of Kansas; an MS in Preventive Medicine and Environmental Health from the University of Iowa, and her PhD in Biostatistics from the University of Michigan. Dr. McClure does work to try to understand health inequities, particularly racial and geographic, and the role that the environment plays in them. Her methodological expertise is in the design and analysis of multicenter trials, as well as issues of multiplicity in clinical trials. Dr. McClure is a Fellow of the American Statistical Association, the Society for Clinical Trials, and of the American Heart Association and completed the Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine (ELAM) Fellowship. In addition to her research, Dr. McClure is passionate about increasing diversity in the math sciences and devotes considerable time to mentoring younger scientists.

Panelist<br/>Theresa Chapple-McGruder<br/>Village of Oak Park

Panelist
Theresa Chapple-McGruder
Village of Oak Park

BIO
Dr. Chapple-McGruder assumed the role of Public Health Director at the Village of Oak Park on May 3, 2021. As director, Dr. Chapple-McGruder oversees one of only four municipal health departments in suburban Cook County certified by the state. A governmental and applied epidemiologist, Dr. Chapple-McGruder has spent the majority of her career at local, state, and federal health agencies, and with organizations that directly support governmental public health. During the COVID-19 crises she has helped school districts craft reopening plans and provided expert consultations to recreational sports teams, news media operations, and community-based organizations to help flatten the infection curve and promote vaccination. Prior to assuming her role, she led the Women’s Maternal Health Data and Evaluation team at the Health Resources & Services Administration in Rockville, Maryland where she used her expertise in perinatal health to help reduce maternal, infant, and fetal death nationwide. Dr. Chapple-McGruder obtained her doctoral degree in Maternal and Child Health Epidemiology from the University of Illinois-Chicago. Her education also includes a master’s degree in public health from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Clark Atlanta University in Atlanta.

Panelist<br/> Brian Whitcomb<br/>University of Mass, Amherst

Panelist
Brian Whitcomb
University of Mass, Amherst

BIO
Brian W. Whitcomb is Professor of Epidemiology and Associate Dean of Research in the School of Public Health and Health Sciences at UMass Amherst. His research is in the areas of reproductive health, adverse pregnancy outcomes, and related women’s health outcomes, with a focus on molecular determinants; and epidemiologic methods for biomarkers and laboratory data. He received his PhD in Epidemiology from the University of Maryland, Baltimore, and completed postdoctoral training in reproductive epidemiology and epidemiologic methods research in the Division of Intramural Population Health Research at NICHD.

Panelist<br/>Jaimie Gradus<br/> Boston University

Panelist
Jaimie Gradus
Boston University

BIO
Jaimie L. Gradus, DMSc, DSc, MPH is a Professor of Epidemiology and Psychiatry at Boston University School of Public Health and School of Medicine. Her research interests are in the epidemiology of trauma and trauma-related disorders, with a particular focus on suicide. Dr. Gradus has been the recipient of numerous grants from the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Department of Defense, and various foundations. She has published over 125 scientific articles within the field of psychiatric epidemiology. Dr. Gradus also has roles as a Board Member for the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies, a Scientific Advisor for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, and an Editor of the American Journal of Epidemiology and the Journal of Traumatic Stress. In 2023 she was named the Director of the Center for Trauma and Mental Health at Boston University School of Public Health.

SERjournal Club

Quantification of selection bias in studies of risk factors for birth defects among livebirths.

January 10, 2024
10:00AM (MST)

Dominique Heinke, ScD, Senior Research Scientist, University of Washington

Article: Quantification of selection bias in studies of risk factors for birth defects among livebirths.

Recording

Dominique Heinke is an epidemiologist with a passion for advancing research on groups often considered too small to study. Her work frequently utilizes descriptive epidemiology grounded in modern causal inference theory to conduct clinical and policy-relevant research on rare and neglected outcomes, like stillbirth. She is currently a Senior Research Scientist at the University of Washington where her work focuses on substance use and HIV with a special interest in gender minority populations.twitter: @epi_d_nique blusky: @epidnique.bsky.social

WEBINAR

SER in Austin: Ongoing Efforts in Reproductive Health; LGBTQ+ Health; and Latino, Black, and Immigrant health

November 15, 2023
12:00PM (EST)

Four presenters who are based in Texas will present their work related to reproductive health, LGBTQ+ health, and Latino/Black/immigrant health. They will also discuss the challenges they face and the environment for this work in Texas. After the presentations, the panel will answer questions from attendees.

Recording Coming Soon!

Dr. Lauren Thaxton is a board-certified OB-GYN and assistant professor in the Department of Women’s Health at Dell Medical School. [wpex] She came to Dell Med from the University of New Mexico, where she completed both her residency and her fellowship in complex family planning. She received her medical degree from Texas Tech University Health Science Center School of Medicine and holds a master’s degree in biomedical sciences with a focus on clinical research and a Master of Business Administration with a focus on health organization management. Thaxton’s research is focused on patient-centered care in contraception, abortion and outpatient anesthesia. Her publications have been published in leading journals such as Contraception, Obstetrics and Gynecology, the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, and the International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics. She has been invited to present posters and abstracts pertaining to her work at the national and international level.
Email: lauren.thaxton@austin.utexas.edu
[/wpex]

Dr. Lauren D. Thaxton
University of Texas at Austin Dell Medical School

Dr. Lauren Thaxton is a board-certified OB-GYN and assistant professor in the Department of Women’s Health at Dell Medical School. Read more

Dr. Anitra Beasley
Baylor College of Medicine

Dr. Anitra Beasley is an Associate Professor in the Baylor College of Medicine who specializes in general obstetrics and gynecology, family planning services, contraceptive counseling and complex contraceptive management for women with medical problems Read more

Dr. Stephen Russell
University of Texas

Stephen Russell (he/him) is Regents Professor in Child Development, and Amy Johnson McLaughlin Director of the School of Human Ecology at the University of Texas at Austin. Read more

Dr. Ethan Hunt
UT Health Houston School of Public Health

Dr. Ethan Hunt is an assistant professor in the Department of Health Promotion and Behavioral Sciences at the UT Health Houston School of Public Health. Read more

SERdigital

Unlocking Insights through Real-World Data in Epidemiologic Research

November 8, 2023
12:00PM – 1:00PM (EST)

According to the U.S., Food and Drug Administration, Real-world evidence refers to the is the clinical evidence about the usage and potential benefits or risks of a medical products derived from analysis of real-world data, while real world data is data relating to patient health status and/or the delivery of health care routinely collected from a variety of sources such as electronic health records, medical claims data and data from product or disease registries. The use of real-world data is a growing area in epidemiologic research, providing an unprecedented opportunity to analyze health outcomes, disease patterns, and interventions based on real-life experiences. This session will provide a comprehensive understanding of how real-world data is collected, analyzed, and leveraged to derive valuable insights for improving population health.

Recording

Dr. Gianfrancesco currently serves as Director, Epidemiologist Scientist at Pfizer, Inc. within the Global Medical Epidemiology group. [wpex] Her work focuses on inflammatory and immune-related diseases. She earned her PhD in Epidemiology from UC Berkeley, as well as an MPH in Chronic Disease Epidemiology from Yale University. Her interests lie at the intersection of epidemiology, machine learning, and causal inference research, specifically as these fields relate to data utilizing electronic health records and other large observational datasets. She also serves as Assistant Adjunct Professor in the Division of Rheumatology at the University of California, San Francisco.
Twitter: MilenaGianfran
Email: milenagianfrancesco@gmail.com
[/wpex]

Milena Gianfrancesco, PhD, MPH
Director, Global Medical Epidemiology, Pfizer, Inc. & Assistant Adjunct Professor, University of California, San Francisco

Dr. Gianfrancesco currently serves as Director, Epidemiologist Scientist at Pfizer, Inc. within the Global Medical Epidemiology group. Read more

Alexander Breskin, Associate Director of Pharmacoepidemiology, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals

Alex Breskin (he/him) is an epidemiologist and biostatistician at Regeneron Pharmaceuticals specializing in the design, implementation, and analysis of observational studies. Read more

Will that paper write itself? Nope, it won’t. Getting your writing done in a distracting world.

October 25th, 2023
12:00PM – 1:00PM (EST)

Have you ever struggled to get that paper written? Do you procrastinate when you’re supposed to be writing? If writing is (sometimes) difficult for you, please join the SER Mentoring Committee as we host a webinar by Bill Miller, President of SER, where he will provide tips and strategies about what you can do to improve your writing productivity. The event will include a presentation followed by a Q&A period.

Recording

William Miller, PHD, MPH
Professor, Department of Epidemiology, Gillings School of Global Public Health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

William (Bill) Miller, MD, PhD, MPH is Professor, Department of Epidemiology, Gillings School of Global Public Health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Read more

Britton Trabert, PHD, MS, MSPH
Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah

Britton Trabert (she/her), PhD, MS, MSPH is an Associate Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology with an adjunct appointment in Population Health Sciences at the University of Utah. Read more

CAREER DEVELOPMENT

Developing and Sustaining Your Research and Professional Agenda

October 11th
12:00PM – 1:00PM (EST)

Epidemiologists are well-trained in the knowledge and skills of the profession yet have few formal opportunities to learn the strategic planning and time management skills that will most influence their career advancement. Identifying professional goals at all stages of your career and developing concrete plans on how to achieve them can be daunting.Dr. Lauren McCullough will provide us with an abbreviated version of the session of the same name she and Dr. Holly Harris led at the 2023 SER Conference. Those who were fortunate enough to attend the conference session will surely benefit from a second listening. Dr. McCullough will provide tools to develop a personal strategy for successfully navigating scientific, professional, and personal goals.

Recording

Lauren E McCullough, PhD, MSPH (she/her)
Associate Professor Epidemiology, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University Visiting Scientific Director, Population Science, American Cancer Society

Dr. Lauren E. McCullough is an Associate Professor in the Department of Epidemiology at the Rollins School of Public Health and Visiting Scientific Director at the American Cancer Society. Her overarching research interests are in cancer epidemiology, specifically the role of social and structural determinates of health to the breast tumor microenvironment, as well as disparities in cancer outcomes. Read more

JOURNAL CLUB

“An integrative framework and recommendations for the study of DNA methylation in the context of race and ethnicity”

September 13th
12:00PM – 1:00PM (EST)

Join us in the Discussion of “An integrative framework and recommendations for the study of DNA methylation in the context of race and ethnicity” with Dr. Meingold Chan.

Recording

Meingold Chan, Dr. (she/her)
University of British Columbia & British Columbia Children's Hospital Research Institute (Kobor Lab)

Dr. Meingold Chan received her undergraduate degree in Social Sciences, majoring in Psychology and Counselling, from the University of Hong Kong. She completed her Master of Philosophy in Social and Developmental Psychology from the University of Cambridge, working with Prof. Claire Hughes. She graduated with PhD in Human Development and Family Science at The Ohio State University, working with Dr. Xin Feng. Her doctoral work focused on cultural differences in emotion socialization and preschoolers’ socioemotional development across China (Beijing and Hong Kong) and the United States. Read more

Why SERpresents?

In 2013, SER rolled out branding of several initiatives within SER in anticipation of their 50^th anniversary. SERcollaborations, SERdigital, SERexperts, SERplaylists, SERjournal Club, SERnews, and SERtalks were formed. These programs generated a wide variety of content and increased opportunities to be engaged in Society events throughout the year. In 2023, the program SERpresents was rolled out which brings together many of these programs. The same variety of content and opportunities are provided through SERpresents, but come together for a convenient display of all the content being offered at SER throughout the year. Recordings from all programming under the previous structure to the new SERpresents structure, will remain in the SERlibrary. To view archived pages of SERcollaborations, SERdigital, SERexperts, SERjournal Club, and SERtalks, click on their embedded link.

SERpresents brings together SER online events and resources to one place! Registration for webinars is free of charge to members and non-members. In most cases, webinars are recorded and available in the SERlibrary for SER Members.

Upcoming Events Stay Tuned for Upcoming Events!!

SERpresents

Our Future Health: A new, large prospective cohort study to supercharge etiological and translational research

Febuary 26, 202510:00AM – 11:00AM (MST)

Professor Michael Cook, Our Future Health

Kate Evans, Our Future Health

SPC EVENT

SPC Career Development: Navigating Your First Faculty Job

March 12, 202510:00AM – 11:00AM (MST)

Courtney Lynch, Associate Professor & Vice Chair for Faculty Affairs, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, The Ohio State University College of Medicine

Delvon T. Mattingly, Research Assistant Professor, Center for Health, Engagement, and Transformation, Department of Behavioral Science, University of Kentucky College of Medicine

Dana Goin, Assistant Professor, Epidemiology Department, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health

Past Events

SERjournal Club

Longitudinal Associations Between Optimism and Objective Measures of Physical Functioning in Women

January 8, 202510:00AM – 11:00AM (MST)

Hayami Koga Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

SERjournal Club

Advancing weight inclusive epidemiology in research and practice

December 11, 202410:00AM – 11:30AM (MST)

Maayan Simckes, PhD MPH (she/her), Washington State Department of Health

Ragen Chastain, MEd, BCPA (she/her), Speaker, Writer, Researcher

Brynn Stopczynski, MPH (she/her) Washington State Department of Health

Jessie Seiler, PhD MPH (she/her), Department of Epidemiology, University of Washington

Jennifer Webster, MA, MPH, Epidemiologist for Community Partnerships, Lane County Public Health, Oregon

Lisa Erlanger, MD (she/her), Family Medicine University of Washington - School of Medicine

Molly Rosenberg, PhD, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Indiana University School of Public Health-Bloomington

Yueh-Ying Han, PhD, Department of Pediatrics, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine

WEBINAR

Quasi-experimental approaches in Epidemiology

November 13, 202410:00AM – 11:00AM (MST)

Arijit Nandi Associate Professor, Department of Equity, Ethics and Policy and the Department of Epidemiology, McGill University School of Population and Global Health

Rita Hamad Associate Professor, Harvard School of Public Health; Director, Social Policies for Health Equity Research (SPHERE) Center

SPC WEBINAR

Career Development Event: NIH/NIA Predoctoral (F) and Postdoctoral (K) Grant Application

October 9, 2024 10:00AM – 11:00AM (MST)

Presenter

Maria Glymour Department of Epidemiology, Boston University School of Public Health

Presenter

Katrina Kezios Department of Epidemiology, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health

Presenter

Sirena Gutierrez Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of California San Francisco

SERjournal Club

State-Level Indicators of Childhood Educational Quality and Incident Dementia in Older Black and White Adults

September 11, 202410:00AM – 11:00AM (MST)

Yenee Soh Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

CAREER DEVELOPMENT

Skills for an Epidemiologist in different work settings

July 10, 202410:00AM – 11:00AM (MST)

Bill Gruber Adjunct Professor Departments of Medicine and Pediatrics, University of Michigan Medical School

Ashley Redding Epidemiologist at Henry Ford Health; Part-Time Faculty at Wayne State University

Stephanie Shiau Assistant Professor, Rutgers School of Public Health

WEBINAR

Building and Maintaining Epidemiologist-Clinician Teams

May 29, 202410:00AM – 11:30AM (MST)

Presenter

Siobhan Sutcliffe Washington University in St. Louis

Presenter

Jerry Lowder Washington University in St. Louis

Moderator

Stephanie Mayne Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia & University of Pennsylvania

Moderator

Marzieh Ghiasi Michigan State University

Facilitator

Elizabeth Yanik Washington University in St. Louis

WEBINAR

Social determinants of health in the EHR: Are we there yet?

May 22, 202410:00AM – 11:30 AM (MST)

Annemarie Hirsch Department of Population Health, Center for Community Environment and Health, Geisinger

WEBINAR

Short talks, long talks, job talks. Let’s talk about giving talks!

May 22, 202412:00PM – 1:30 PM (MST)

William C. Miller Department of Epidemiology, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

SERjournal Cub

“Testing lifecourse theories characterising associations between maternal depression and offspring depression in emerging adulthood: the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children”

May 15, 202410:00AM – 11:30AM (MST)

Dawid Gondek Senior Researcher, FORS - Swiss Centre of Expertise in the Social Sciences

WEBINAR

Bridging data to decisions: The Who, What, When, and Why of Public Health Choices

Febuary 26, 2025
10:00AM – 11:00AM (MST)

March 12, 2025
10:00AM – 11:00AM (MST)

January 8, 2025
10:00AM – 11:00AM (MST)

Hayami Koga
Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

December 11, 2024
10:00AM – 11:30AM (MST)

Brynn Stopczynski, MPH (she/her)
Washington State Department of Health

November 13, 2024
10:00AM – 11:00AM (MST)

Arijit Nandi
Associate Professor, Department of Equity, Ethics and Policy and the Department of Epidemiology, McGill University School of Population and Global Health

Rita Hamad
Associate Professor, Harvard School of Public Health; Director, Social Policies for Health Equity Research (SPHERE) Center

September 11, 2024
10:00AM – 11:00AM (MST)

Yenee Soh
Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

July 10, 2024
10:00AM – 11:00AM (MST)

Bill Gruber
Adjunct Professor Departments of Medicine and Pediatrics, University of Michigan Medical School

Ashley Redding
Epidemiologist at Henry Ford Health; Part-Time Faculty at Wayne State University

Stephanie Shiau
Assistant Professor, Rutgers School of Public Health

May 29, 2024
10:00AM – 11:30AM (MST)

Siobhan Sutcliffe
Washington University in St. Louis

Jerry Lowder
Washington University in St. Louis

Stephanie Mayne
Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia & University of Pennsylvania

Marzieh Ghiasi
Michigan State University

Elizabeth Yanik
Washington University in St. Louis

May 22, 2024
10:00AM – 11:30 AM (MST)

Annemarie Hirsch
Department of Population Health, Center for Community Environment and Health, Geisinger

May 22, 2024
12:00PM – 1:30 PM (MST)

William C. Miller
Department of Epidemiology, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

May 15, 2024
10:00AM – 11:30AM (MST)

Dawid Gondek
Senior Researcher, FORS - Swiss Centre of Expertise in the Social Sciences

May 8, 2024
10:00AM – 11:30AM (MST)

Aaron L. Sarvet
Department of Mathematics, Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, Switzerland

Kerollos N. Wanis
Department of Breast Surgical Oncology, MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas

Kara E. Rudolph
Department of Epidemiology, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University

Mats J. Stensrud
Department of Mathematics, Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, Switzerland

May 1, 2024
10:00 AM – 11:00 AM (MST)

Anne E. Justice
Associate Professor, Department of Public Health Sciences, Geisinger Health System, Danville PA

Emily R. Davenport
Assistant Professor, Department of Biology, Eberly College of Science, Joint appointment with Huck Life Sciences Institute, Penn State University, University Park PA

Dana K. Pasquale
Assistant Professor in Population Health Sciences, Duke University, Durham, NC

April 24, 2024
10:00 AM – 11:30 AM (MST)

Tomotaka Ugai,
Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

Hwa-young Lee,
The Catholic University of Korea

Cheng Peng,
Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School

Minkyo Song,
National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health

Konrad H. Stopsack,
Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School

Naoko Sasamoto,
Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School

April 10, 2024
10:00 AM – 11:00 AM (MST)

Iván Díaz
Associate Professor, Division of Biostatistics Department of Population Health, NYU Grossman School of Medicine

April 3, 2024
10:00 AM – 11:30 AM (MST)

Carol Liu,
Emory University

Mark Lurie,
Brown University

Ayesha Mahmud,
University of California, Berkeley

Kayoko Shioda,
Boston University

Kristin Nelson,
Emory University

March 6, 2024
10:00 AM – 11:00 AM (MST)

March 6, 2024
12:00PM – 1:30PM (MST)

Ruth Geller
Boston University School of Public Health

Nicholas Grubic
University of Toronto, Dalla Lana School of Public Health

Peter Larson
University of Michigan Institute for Social Research

Sarah A. Phillips
Eastern Virginia Medical School

Jeffrey Alexander Chan
Department of Social Medicine at Maastricht University in the Netherlands

Angela D’Adamo
Department of Epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

Mitra Mosslemi
University of Pittsburg

Terry Zhou
Emory University, Rollins School of Public Health

Lucila Vilela
Brazil and an Epidemiology/Biostatistics MPH student at Cuny

March 7, 2024
10:00 AM – 11:30 AM (MST)

Patricia Nece,
Obesity Action Coalition

Rebecca Pearl, PhD
University of Florida
"Introduction and overview of weight stigma"

Katherine Flegal
Stanford University
"Biased and uncritical epidemiologic research may contributed to weight stigma."

Erick Forno
Indiana University
"How do physicians communicate with parents with children that are overweight or obese"