The University of Michigan School of Public Health is offering a one-week, one credit course from July 27-31 on   Evolutionary Epidemiology (EPID 788) taught by Betsy Foxman and Randolph Nesse.  For details and an application, click above. For the course description, click “continue reading.”

New applications of evolutionary theory to medicine are growing and helping to explain apparent paradoxes, such as rapidly increasing rates of breast cancer, increased asthma vulnerability in certain populations and the metabolic syndrome (For details see The Evolution Network at  http://evolutionandmedicine.org).   Epidemiologists have begun to apply these principles and ask new questions, such as do genes that vary by latitude explain hypertension, and how might public health interventions for infectious disease be ‘evolution-proofed’ (see discussion of the American College of Epidemiology 2008 meeting: Dawn of Evolutionary Epidemiology (http://acepidemiology.org/meetings/2008Tuscon/08AMSpeakerHandouts.asp).  This course will explore how epidemiologists and other public health workers can make use of these advances in their own work.  Applying evolutionary theory can sharpen research questions, raise new possible explanations for observed phenomena and identify new types of exposure and outcome measures.  Pre-requisite:  No prior training in evolutionary biology is assumed.