Transcript and Presenter’s Notes

Title: Welcome to the Master Class Masters Thesis Proposal Course

1
Welcome to the Master Class(Masters Thesis
Proposal Course)

• P9419
• Judith S. Jacobson, DrPH, MBA
• Nicole Schupf, PhD, DrPH
• Randomly selected Mondays,
• 530-630 p.m.

2
Judith S. Jacobson, DrPH, MBA

• Jacobson JS, Mellins RB, Goldstein IF, Rundle AG,
  Williams CL, Canfield SM, Perzanowski M, Hazi Y,
  Milton DG, Northridge ME, Ashby-Thompson M.
  Factors associated with asthma in New York City
  Head Start programs. Am J Resp Crit Care Med
  2004 169 (suppl) A487.
• Grann VR, Jacobson JS, Hershman D, Li H, Troxel
  AB, Neugut AI. Breast biopsy and race/ethnicity
  among women without breast cancer. Submitted for
  publication.
• Mantel B, Meyers A, Tran Q, Rogers S, Jacobson
  JS. The use of nutritional supplements and
  complementary/ alternative medicine among
  individuals with Tourette syndrome. J Adolescent
  Child Psychopharmacol. In press.

3
Nicole Schupf, PhD, DrPH

• N. Schupf, B. Patel, W. Silverman, W. Zigman, N.
  Zhong, B. Tycko, P. Mehta, R. Mayeux. Elevated
  Plasma Amyloid ?-peptide 1-42 and onset of
  dementia in Down syndrome. Neuroscience Letters
  2001 301199-203.
• Schupf N, Pang D, Patel BN, Silverman W, Schubert
  R, Lai F, Kline JK, Stern Y, Ferin M, Tycko B,
  Mayeux R. Onset of dementia is associated with
  age at menopause in women with Down’s syndrome.
  Ann Neurol. 2003 Oct54(4)433-8.
• Patel BN, Pang D, Stern Y, Silverman W, Kline JK,
  Mayeux R, Schupf N. Obesity enhances verbal
  memory in postmenopausal women with Down
  syndrome. Neurobiol Aging. 2004 Feb25(2)159-66.

4
Why are we here?

• Because other courses dont fully prepare you to
  develop your masters thesis proposal or to
  complete the thesis
• Because being in a class together can help you
  help one another
• Because we want to get you out the door with a
  masters degree in epi
• Because the masters degree in epi should mean
  that the bearer has had the experience of
  analyzing epidemiologic data and writing it up in
  the form of a scientific paper

5
This course is for students who

• Intend to graduate in 2005
• Do not yet have an approved masters thesis
  proposal
• Have completed 50 of course requirements for
  MPH, MS, etc.

6
The syllabus is on CourseWorks

• 9/27 Abstract structure, especially
• Research question
• Hypotheses
• 10/1118 Background, lit review, EndNote
• 10/25 Epi methods and your dataset
• 11/18 Substantive area discussion groups
• 11/1522 Data management (with SAS)
• 12/6 Finalizing the abstract and moving on
• In HHSC media center, 2nd floor

7
31 students submitted surveys

• Practicum
• 10 have completed
• 2 have waived
• 17 have identified
• Have you submitted your practicum form?
• 12-1/2 have found a thesis dataset
• 5 have 2 readers
• 2 have 1 reader
• 1 who has no dataset has 1 reader
• Talk to us.

8
13/31 have used EndNote

• Eliminate one of two classes on EndNote?
• Eliminate the second session or
• Move up schedule, spend more class time on
  abstract

9
Human subjects/Patient protection

• 10 have GCP certification
• 12 have HIPAA certification

10
What does it take to do a masters thesis in epi?

• 1-3 hypotheses about exposure and health-related
  outcome, preferably in an area of interest to you
• Dataset in which you can test hypotheses
• 2 readers
• one to supervise your work
• the other to help supervise or just to read and
  comment on almost final drafts
• One must be epi faculty readers who are not epi
  faculty must submit their CV for approval

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What else does it take?

• Familiarity with the relevant literature
• Competence in data analysis
• Familiarity with the format of a scientific paper
• Creativity and good judgment in the
  interpretation of findings

12
Writing a masters thesis in epi is more than an
academic exercise.

• Studies are undertaken to address a public health
  problem.
• Data are collected from human subjects at great
  trouble and expense.
• We as epidemiologists have obligations
• to our funders, subjects, and community
• to analyze, interpret, and publish the results of
  our studies.

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Welcome to the epi research community!

• Benefits
• Credentials, career advancement
• Publications, 15 minutes of fame
• Responsibilities
• Ethical (i.e. careful) data management
• Honest reporting of results
• Protection of research subjects

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Guest lecturerJoyce Pressley, PhD

• Practicum coordinator
• Contact information
• Mailman 17-12, but please email or call for an
  appointment.
• 212-342-0421voice
• 212-342-0519 fax
• jp376_at_columbia.edu

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