Teaching

Courses

  • Each fall I teach Fundamentals of Epidemiology, the first course in the epidemiology methods courses required for epidemiology majors.

  • In alternate spring semesters (even numbered years) I teach Social Epidemiology: Concepts and Measures. The course addresses measures of socioeconomic position, income inequality, race, racism, power, the built environment, neighborhood characteristics, geographical location, and more. The course is a pre-requisite for Social Epidemiology: Analysis and Interpretation, taught by Dr. Jay Kaufman.

  • In alternate spring semesters (odd numbered years) I teach Foundations of Public Health Ethics, which is the core course of the Certificate in Public Health Ethics. Topics include distinctions between medical and public health ethics, steps in ethical decision-making, concepts of justice, historical events in public health ethics, public health law, global health ethics, biodefense, environmental health ethics, and professional ethics.

  • I developed an on-line series of lectures on Public Health Ethics. The lectures address: the distinction of public health ethics from medical ethics; the public health code of ethics; key threats to public health ethics; legal powers in public health; and ethical decision-making. The series is designed for incorporation into other courses and as a stand-alone tool for training public health professionals.

Textbook

Nearly all textbooks on epidemiologic methods focus on chronic diseases and neglect the implications of transmission. One of those implications is the non-independence of infectious disease outcomes, where independence of events is a foundational assumption of most epidemiologic studies.

In our textbook published in 2002 by Oxford University Press, David Weber and I present in a readily accessible manner the implications for epidemiologic research of pathogen characteristics and the infectious process. Prominent researchers on a variety of infectious diseases have contributed chapters. A full list of the chapters is available at the Oxford University Press web site. The book is in its second printing.


Selected publications related to epidemiologic methods for infectious diseases

Thomas JC, Isler MR, Carter C, Torrone E. An interagency network perspective on HIV prevention. STD 2007;34(2):71-5.

Dombrowski J, Thomas JC, Kaufman J. A study in contrasts: Measures of racial disparity in the occurrence of gonorrhea. STD 2004;31:149-53.

Thomas JC, Thach SB, Eng E, Thomas JC. Defining and assessing organizational competence in serving communities at risk for STDs. Journal of Health Promotion Practice 2002;3:217-32.

Howards PP, Thomas JC, Earp JA. How appropriate are clinic-based STD data for designing community-based interventions? Int J STD AIDS 2002;11:775-80.

Pierce RL, Thomas JC, Sparling PF, Fisher W, Davis RH, Alcorn T, Cohen M. An epidemiologic evaluation of the use of microbiologic tools for identifying gonorrhea infection networks. Int J STD AIDS 1999;10:316-323.

Thomas JC, Tucker M. The development and use of the concept of a sexually transmitted disease core. J Infect Dis 1995;174(Suppl 2):S134-43.

Thomas JC, Neumann CN. Choosing an appropriate measure of diarrhea occurrence, with examples from a community-based study in rural Kenya. Int J Epid 1992;21:589-93.

Frerichs RR, Neumann CN. The effect of misclassification of diarrhea on estimates of its occurrence, the identification of risk factors, and the assessment of prevention efforts. J Diar Dis Res 1990;7:63-9.


Publications related to teaching ethics

Thomas JC. An agenda for public health ethics. J Public Health Management and Practice 2008 (in press).

Thomas JC. Skills in the ethical practice of public health. J Public Health Management and Practice. 2005;11:260-1.

Thomas JC. Teaching ethics in schools of public health. Public Health Reports 2003;118:279-286.