Clinical Epidemiology

Description

Clinical epidemiology is the application of epidemiology principles and methods to the clinical setting. In short, clinical epidemiology is generally focused on applied decision-making, for the purpose of improving patient-level outcomes. Classical epidemiology is generally focused on the distribution and determinants of disease (population level), while clinical epidemiology is the application of the principles and methods of epidemiology to conduct, appraise, or apply clinical research for the purpose of improving prevention, diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment of diseases in patients.  The movement toward evidence-based medicine and evidence-informed decision-making in the clinical setting and in healthcare more generally is a direct derivative of the field of clinical epidemiology.

Vision

The members of the Clinical Epidemiology Cluster will support advances in evidence-based medicine, evidence-informed decision making, and applied clinical research for the purpose of improving patient outcomes in real world settings.

Goals

  • Building skills and capacity in defining clinical questions, identifying relevant evidence, critically appraising evidence, applying evidence to support improved clinical decision-making and patient outcomes.
  • Developing and exploring innovative methods to improve efficiency of identifying evidence, filtering evidence, assessing risk of bias, extracting information, and applying results in the clinical setting.
  • Developing and exploring innovative approaches to prioritizing clinical research questions and performing meaningful clinical trials.
  • Developing approaches to minimize wasteful clinical research.
  • Developing methods to improve the timely translation of clinical evidence into real-world impact.

 Researchers in the Clinical Epidemiology Cluster