I have been fortunate in my entire career to work with very competent professional associates who have stimulated my interests and abilities. My early associations with Drs. Meyer, Herms, Hammon, and Smith certainly were formative as to a philosophy of study and standards of teaching. This process continues today in my associations with Drs. Winkelstein, Syme, Hardy, and King; a multidisciplinary group, we complement and support each other in our teaching endeavors.

My goals or objectives in teaching epidemiology can be summarized as follows:

1.   To establish seven simple but basic principles of epidemiology in each student's mind:

a.   Disease distribution in a population is not a random event.

b.   Cases of a disease in a population will share a unity of characteristics, experiences, and pathological causation if they are indeed related.

c.   A careful description of the distribution of a disease in a population and analysis of related factors can explain the observed distributions.

d.   Explanatory hypotheses for the distribution of a disease can be tested by observations under controlled circumstances and by evaluation of the success or failure of control programs.

e.   Epidemiological studies are dependent on the availability and use of numerator (case) data and denominator (population at risk) data.

f.    Centralized reporting of a disease is essential for effective monitoring of its significance and for its investigation.

g.   The extent of knowledge of the epidemiology of a disease will not assure its control if the facts are not accepted by society or if the program is not supported by sufficient funding to assure its success.

2.   To stimulate students to independent thought and the need for a disciplined collection and evaluation of data if they are to have a successful career in research or teaching.

3.   To present epidemiology as a science that has a historical base of observations and reasoning that have partially explained the distribution of a variety of infectious and noninfectious diseases. At the same time, to stress that most diseases continue to occur and that there are unresolved questions that should stimulate further studies and improve the control programs.

4.   To present epidemiology as a science that must utilize knowledge and methodologies from a wide variety of biological, social, and physical sciences if we are to understand disease distributions in our populations.

5.   To recruit and be associated with faculty who represent a breadth of interests and competencies that will complement teaching efforts and present a well-rounded and stimulating curriculum to the students.

6.   To have close contact with a body of students who will broaden and provoke interests of the faculty through their questions and activities.

I do several things to help me evaluate my own teaching. Course evaluations by students are generally candid and constructive. If studied carefully, they provide insight into the success of teaching techniques and the adequacy of content. I follow closely the career of graduates from our several degree programs and believe the success of their careers reflects the success of the teaching program in instilling standards of performance, and methods of study. As I look back on the 362 students who have graduated from the curriculums in epidemiology since I joined the faculty, I would be less than candid if I did not say I feel pride in their accomplishments. Finally, although I feel satisfied when a lecture has gone well, at the same time I feel a continuing need to revise and update teaching material.

The day I do not feel stimulated and nervous before giving a lecture and do not look forward to questions from the class, I will need no other form of teaching evaluation—I will know it is time to quit.

Revised: 1993