PHTH 4202 — Principles of Epidemiology in Medicine and Public Health
4 semester hoursUndergraduateLectureNUpath NDusually offered: fall, springtypical days: TBostonOnlineOnlineTraditional
Introduces the principles of epidemiology necessary to critically evaluate the published research in medicine, public health, and related fields. Through careful reading of literature, class discussion, and lectures, familiarizes students with the study of design-related considerations that are an indispensable part of interpreting scientific literature. Offers students an opportunity to learn how to recognize critical elements of research design and execution (e.g., loss to follow-up in randomized clinical trials and other cohort designs, selection bias in case control studies, etc.); identify the strengths and limitations of different approaches to research questions; deepen their understanding of causal inference; and recognize the provisional nature of scientific knowledge. Covers issues of statistical methods and data analysis; however, there are no computational requirements.
Prerequisites
- one of:
Offering history
| Term | Sections | Enrolled | Capacity | Full | Open seats/section |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fall 2023 | 8 | 139 | 152 | 91% | 1.6 |
| Spring 2024 | 6 | 139 | 150 | 93% | 1.8 |
| Fall 2024 | 7 | 171 | 176 | 97% | 0.7 |
| Spring 2025 | 7 | 190 | 186 | 102% | 0.0 |
| Summer A 2025 | 2 | 52 | 51 | 102% | 0.0 |
| Fall 2025 | 7 | 151 | 175 | 86% | 3.4 |
| Spring 2026 | 7 | 164 | 160 | 102% | 0.0 |
Snapshots from scheduled scrapes — not live seat availability. "Full" can exceed 100% when sections over-enroll.
Meeting times
Share of recent sections by weekday: M 21% · T 56% · W 22% · Th 20% · F 40%
Common patterns: TF (30% of sections), T (26% of sections), MR (10% of sections), MWR (7% of sections), WF (6% of sections), async (5% of sections) — in patterns, R means Thursday
Professors
Fall
- Stephen Flaherty (25% of students) · reviews
- Patricia Case (18% of students) · reviews
- Farzad Noubary (12% of students) · reviews
- Amy Zheng (10% of students) · reviews
Spring
- Stephen Flaherty (26% of students) · reviews
- Patricia Case (15% of students) · reviews
- Brianne Mui (13% of students) · reviews
- Matthew Goodwin (10% of students) · reviews
Summer A
- Stephen Flaherty (100% of students) · reviews
Percentages are each professor's average share of the season's enrolled students in recent terms.
Unlocks
Courses that list PHTH 4202 in their prerequisites.
Links
Official catalog (PHTH course descriptions) · Student reviews on RateMyHusky · All PHTH courses · Plan it at numap.app