What, you may be asking yourself, is epidemiology?
Epidemiology- the study of how disease is distributed in populations and the factors that influence or determine this distribution.
I love this word. Not only is it fun to say but most people have no idea what it means. Thus I look very intelligent when I explain it or when I casually say, "Oh, I need to go do my epidemiology." those not in the know think I am going to cure cancer or something.
This is a refreshing event for someone who is in two disciplines (social work and public health) often considered "soft sciences" or even "common sense". Epidemiology has changed that, at least in public health; most social workers don't know what it is either.
The downside to all of this is that my epidemiology class is not really that exciting. You would think the sheer vital nature of the information would be exciting enough, alas it is not. This is the teacher's first time teaching the class, and while the content is critical it is conveyed in such a way that spoils what could be a burning passion not only in myself but several other aspiring public health professionals if it was just presented better.
My solution, the professor should be forced to take a class in the drama department and watch The Painter Veil.
2 comments:
We've had our own little epedimiological (did I just make that up) experiment at work. One of my co-workers is 1 of 15 in the country right now with a certain bacterial infection they think she got from a restaurant. It makes us think twice before going out to eat.
Have your professor read Freakanomics. That could possible liven up the discussion. He/She should also determine how long it would take for a certain strand of bacteria to infect every Americans if it was released into the air and the person doing the releasing was standing in the least populated center of the least populated county in the country. I hope this entry is innocuous enough. Don't want the men in dark suits (and I don't mean the missionaries) coming to your door or mine if the government is monitoring your blog Jessica.
Post a Comment