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Genetic Epidemiology (POPH90111)
Graduate courseworkPoints: 12.5Dual-Delivery (Parkville)
About this subject
Contact information
Semester 1
Associate Professor Aung Ko Win
Melbourne School of Population and Global Health
awin@unimelb.edu.au
OR
Currently enrolled students:
Future Students:
Overview
| Availability | Semester 1 - Dual-Delivery |
|---|---|
| Fees | Look up fees |
The majority of chronic diseases share a common risk factor: the family history for that disease. Epidemiologists can use families to assess the role of the interrelated genetic and environmental risk factors. This subject provides an introduction to epidemiological methods that are used to determine the role of inherited factors on disease risk. Concepts, methodologies, and interpretation of familial risk factors for chronic diseases are the major topics in this subject. Topics covered include: how disease runs in families, how to identify genetic risk factors and how they can be used to estimate risk of disease, design of family studies, how to identify people at genetic risk and how to use genetics to reduce the burden of disease.
Intended learning outcomes
At the completion of this subject, students should be able to:
- Understand that susceptibility to complex diseases is due to both genetic and environmental factors;
- Calculate and interpret the measures of familial aggregation;
- Calculate and interpret the heritability;
- Understand how to identify genetic factors associated with disease and how they can be used to estimate the risk of disease;
- Critically appraise the strengths and limitations of different study designs and analytic methods used in genetic epidemiology;
- Estimate penetrance for inherited genetic variants;
- Determine modifiers of penetrance for inherited genetic variants;
- Assess gene-environmental interactions in association with disease for people at genetic risk;
- How to use genetic factors to provide evidence of the causal association between a non-genetic risk factor and disease;
- How to screen people at genetic risk and how to screen people at risk of disease using genetics for precision prevention and early detection;
Generic skills
Genetic Epidemiology will allow students to develop skills in:
- Critical thinking and analysis
- Problem-solving
- Finding, evaluating and using relevant information
- Written communication
- Decision-making
- Persuasion and argumentation
- Using computers and statistical software
Last updated: 8 November 2024