Didactic Courses Available as Elective Courses

Introduction to Health Informatics

Instructor:

 Jonathan Einbinder, MPH, MD
Frequency: Meets for 1.25 hours twice per week for one semester; offered each Fall Semester
Content: Explores nature and functions of health informatics, the current state of the science, present and future applications, and major issues for research and development. Topics include information processing and management, decision support, computer-based patient records and information systems, standards and codes, databases, outcomes research, and the generation and management of knowledge.
Potential Benefit to Trainees: Discussion of state-of-the-art approaches to information processing and data reservoirs is of particular relevance to trainees and trainees who are embarking upon a CAM career in clinical investigation. In particular, introduction to methods whereby CAM investigators throughout the world can share relevant data obtained by their collaborators can be a benefit.

Health Care Policy & Management

Instructor:

 Carolyn L. Engelhard, MAPA
Frequency: Meets for 2.5 hours once per week for one semester; offered each Fall semester
Content: Focuses on the evolution of the American Health care system from a health policy and health values perspective, with an emphasis on the current health care system and the emerging role of integrative medicine which will include CAM modalities. Topics include a brief review of unsuccessful legislative attempts to implement a national health program and a discussion of the current issues surrounding the financing and delivery of health care under a managed care framework.
Potential Benefit to Trainees: Trainees gain a conceptual and practical overview of the current challenges facing providers, including CAM providers, in a price-driven health care system. Trainees examine the tensions among competing interests in the health care policy debate and formulate ethically acceptable strategies that balance the use of emerging technologies and CAM therapies with cost-effective medical care.

Survey Research Methods

Instructor:

 Thomas M. Guterbock, PhD
Frequency: Meets 1.25 hours twice per week for one semester; offering is irregular and based upon need
Content: Covers the theory and practice of survey research. Topics include surveys as a scientific method; applied sampling from survey populations; the construction, testing, and improvement of survey instruments; interviewer training; the organization of field work; coding and data quality control; data analysis; and the preparation of survey reports. National CAM-use surveys are reviewed as examples.
Potential Benefit to Trainees: Although not all investigators use survey technology as a part of their ongoing research studies, the ability to appreciate and critique population studies is an absolutely vital skill for the successful CAM investigator. This course not only introduces the trainee to survey techniques in common use, but elucidates the advantages and disadvantages of utilizing each technique, such that the investigator can consider published results from an informed perspective.

Research Ethics & Human Experimentation

Instructor:

 John Arras, PhD; Paul Lombardo, PhD
Frequency: Meets 2.5 hours per week for one semester; offered most Spring semesters
Content: This course begins with the birth of contemporary bioethics in famous research scandals and ends with some current problems on the cutting edge of scientific research ethics, including the norms governing research on animals. The course closely examines the regulatory structure designed to curb abuse of subjects, the moral complexities of the randomized clinical trial, impact of conflicts of interest on the design of clinical trials, and the recent shift from an ethic of "protectionism" to an ethic of patient advocacy and access to experimental drugs, supplements, and devices. The approach is both historical and regulatory and philosophical. Many of the great cases (such as the Nazi Doctors' Trial, the Tuskegee syphillis study, Willowbrook, Milgram's authority experiments, and the recently revealed U.S. government-sponsored radiation studies) will be examined with an eye both to historical detail and to ethical analysis. The course emphasizes controversies concerning the ethical design of research studies (e.g., randomization, placebos, informed consent, coercive inducements, gauging risk and benefit, etc.) as well as problems posed by specific "subject populations" such as children, women, third-world subjects, and vulnerable, cognitively impaired persons.
Potential Benefit to Trainees: Whereas other courses in ethics facilitate trainees gaining an appreciation of concerns related to biomedical research and how such concerns can and should be addressed prospectively (i.e., before beginning the project), this course places emphasis on exactly what may happen--and what has happened--when such principles are not strictly adhered to. The graphic descriptions of the consequences of research-gone-wrong leave an indelible impression on neophyte clinical investigators who will soon be confronting these issues as they design their research programs.

Introduction to Cellular & Molecular Research

Instructor:

 Margaret Shupnik, PhD, Suzanne Moenter, PhD, Laurel Rice, MD, Daniel J. Haisenleder, PhD, Alan Dalkin, MD, Richard N. Day, PhD, Corinne Silva, PhD, Bruce Gaylinn, PhD, Derek A. Schreihofer, PhD
Frequency: Course meets 1.5 hours per week for one semester; offered each Spring semester
Content: Strategies for examining scientific and clinical problems with basic and current molecular biology and cellular physiology techniques are addressed. Emphasis is placed on translational research, including how to define the scientific CAM question and how to choose the best techniques to address the problem. Trainees are encouraged to bring their CAM data and/or discuss specific projects with the faculty following the organized lectures and discussions. Specific techniques are evaluated and compared: RNA and DNA isolation and quatitation, cDNA and genomic libraries and cloning, transcriptional analysis, recombinant protein expression, nuclear and membrane receptors, intracellular signaling, cellular imaging techniques, and transgenic animals.
Potential Benefit to Trainees: Trainees receive an introduction to the most current and widely used basic techniques in the medical sciences. Following lectures, discussions and comprehensive literature reviews, trainees should be able to discuss the value and limits of each approach presented. Practical benefits include discussions on planning studies with appropriate controls, data evaluation, and guidelines for use of human surgical tissue and animal use. A benefit includes exposure to excellent role models who have successful translational research projects, and who have served as mentors for clinical fellows or young clinical investigators who have developed successful translational research careers.