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Jonathan Samet Reflects On Training In Epidemiology

[Ed. In response to the recent publication of the article “Charting a future for epidemiologic training” in the Annals of Epidemiology, we asked a few of the 15 co-authors of the article to answer questions about the topic of training. Published below are detailed comments and insights from Jonathan Samet, Professor of Epidemiology at the University of Southern California and a lead author who has been one of the most thoughtful and outspoken leaders in the field about training and how to bring about improvements.]

Samet Comments

I am just back from a two-day retreat with my department talking about the future—and how to prepare for it.

40 years have now passed since I started my training in epidemiology at the HSPH.  Of course, what we are doing now, could not have been anticipated then.  What will epidemiologists be doing 40 years from now?  Most critically, we need to prepare epidemiologists for a career that spans increasingly rapid change—particularly for those who are primarily in research.  In my opinion, a very strong grounding in quantitative methods will be critical.
 

One problem inherent to academia is the pace at which we refresh the composition of research groups and our research technology.  We are not nimble and are challenged to keep up with the emerging technologies and associated opportunities. 
 

Much of what we teach is about research approaches of the past and not the present and the future.  For example, will the concept underlying the new million-person “precision medicine” cohort replace models of the past, particularly the various fixed and proprietary cohorts?  
 
Our educational enterprise is staid and we are not keeping up—but other disciplines are with courses in “big data”, data exploration, and prediction, for example. 
 
We can also do a better job of incorporating new technologies into the classroom, in part to meet the expectations of today’s students and to give more hands-on experience.  
 
On the epi/policy front, I don’t see much advance from our field collectively—epidemiology remains highly relevant and the findings of epidemiological research are often under attack from the “doubt creators”—but this general area—epi/policy—is poorly addressed by the academic enterprise.
One other thought—the rise of clinical/translational research, driven in part by the Clinical Translational Science Awards.  A whole new training realm and community has evolved, largely separate from academic epidemiology.   
   

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