Phase 2 Proposal

Submitted by Bob Hiatt, John Witte, and Maria Glymour

Background

The Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics is virtually unique on campus in not being well defined as either a basic science or a clinical department, but rather in the center of campus academic research and teaching. In many ways are (and could be more) supportive of progress across all UCSF departments and centers. Being the EpiCenter is a way of expressing our mission in research and training that is at the center of biomedical research because the disciplines of epidemiology and biostatistics are key to understanding and solving challenges in health and disease at all levels of biologic organization from “cells to society”.

Proposal

This proposal (Big Idea) is to sponsor an annual named lecture (The EpiCenter Lectureship) on topics that illustrate how epidemiologic and biostatistical methods and perspectives are central in solving important problems (e.g., dementia and cognitive decline, the control of HIV/AIDs and emerging infections, health inequities, climate change and health). This would draw attention to the department in a really intellectually stimulated way. The proposal is ‘outward facing’ and intended to educate and inform a broad audience across UCSF and related stakeholders. Other noteworthy Big Ideas are ‘inward facing’ and designed to strengthen the work we do in the department. These approaches might be considered together as complementary in advancing the interests of the DEB.

The idea of establishing a formally named EpiCenter Lectureship within the DEB is that it would specifically call out the disciplines of epidemiology & biostatistics as the core to successfully addressing complex contemporary problems that would benefit patients and populations. It does not duplicate the annual Population Health Colloquium because it will be focused on epidemiologic methods and solutions.

Examples of high-profile outside speaker who would meet this challenge might be:

            Miguel Hernan – Causal Inference and Population Health Problem Solving

            Michael Marmot - Social Justice and the Determinants of Health

            Sherman James – John Henryism, stress and illness

            David Hunter – Genomics and the Future of Epidemiology

            Lisa Berkman or Ichiro Kawachi – Social support, social capital

            John Ioannidis – “Evidence”-based medicine and Epidemiology

            Valarie Beral – Largescale meta-analyses and women’s cancers.

            Muin Khoury – Precision population health and population genomics

Approach

A small committee would be formed to nominate and select speakers to invite based on the criteria that they represent forward thinking in the field and applications to the improvement of the health of populations and communities. We would also want them to be engaging speakers and to represent the gender and race/ethnic diversity of our discipline. The committee could distribute suggestions for nominees to the whole department to build broad support and involvement.

In coordinating with  speaker confirmation, full-scale planning for the event of the EpiCenter Lectureship would be operationalized. Anticipated attendance might be 150-250 people. It could be open to the broader academic community in the Bay Area and the public with proper planning.

The visit of the named Lecturer would be planned for at least two days and include smaller seminars open to all faculty and students as well as one-on-one meetings to pursue ideas and projects of joint interest.

We would heavily advertise the event through departmental means and School of Medicine and Campus public relation offices.

Financial Support

On an annual basis $20,000 would go towards the support of the annual lecture from and an outside institution and associated activities. This would cover airfare, hotel (2 nights), ground transportation,  and honorarium (~$1500-2000) and incidentals. Sustained support for such an undertaking could be a naming opportunity for a donor that could endow the EpiCenter Lectureship.

Evaluation

Success of the EpiCenter Lectureship would be based on attendance and feedback solicited at the time from attendees. Other means of evaluation could include social media recognition (e.g. Tweets) and recognition by campus leaders outside the DEB. The EpiCenter Lectureship should be considered a pilot to be assessed after one and two years to determine whether they should be continued.