Section outline

  • Full-Class Conversation with Tom Newman

    Recorded lecture from last year by Warren Browner: Review common study designs, discuss how to choose what's right for your research question; also describe studies of diagnostic tests.

    Full-class online conversation with Tom Newman:  Join an in-person discussion with Dr. Newman about the week's lecture material, his career in clinical research and advice for early career investigators, and Q&A with students about topics, concepts and specific projects, with facilitation by Dr. Pletcher.

    Faculty: Tom Newman, MD MPH

    Dr. Tom Newman is Professor of Epidemiology & Biostatistics and Pediatrics and Chief of the Division of Clinical Epidemiology at the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine.   He received his undergraduate degree from UC Santa Cruz, MD from UC San Diego, Residency Training in Pediatrics at UCSF and MPH in Epidemiology from UC Berkeley.  Tom attends in the newborn nursery at the UCSF Children's Medical Center and in the pediatric urgent care clinic at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital.  Most of his research has used existing data to answer clinically relevant research questions.  He has a major role in UCSF's Training in Clinical Research (TICR) Program, and is a coauthor of two of the textbooks used in that training program: Designing Clinical Research and Evidence-Based Diagnosis.  He is on the Steering Committee of the Greater SF Bay Area Chapter of Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR), chairs its Environmental Health Committee and recently completed 9 years on PSR's national Board of Directors.  He received the Academic Pediatric Association's Research Award in 2004, the American Academy of Pediatrics' Elizabeth Leistikow Award for Promotion of Evidence-based Pediatrics and the Stephen B. Hulley Award for Excellence in the Teaching of Clinical Research in 2010, the first UCSF Faculty Sustainability Award in 2011, and the Academic Pediatric Association's Miller-Sarkin mentoring award in 2017. 

    Location:  MB-Genentech Hall 106, Byers Auditorium


    • Session Slides:

    • Lecture 4 - Warren Browner - Observational Studies File

    • Session Audio/Video Recording (Access restricted to registered students):

    • Lecture 4 - Warren Browner - Recorded from 2016 (start at minute 4:00) URL
      Not available unless: You belong to Registered Students Only

    • Assignment 4:

      • Read Chapters 7, 8, and either 12, 13 or 18 DCR-4
      • Watch Tom Newman’s lecture on “How do we know what we know?”
      • Watch Warren Browner’s recorded lecture on “Observational Studies"
      • Write a short paragraph for Overview of Study Design (See Assignment Details)
      • Write a ½ - ¾-page Measurements Section (see Assignment Details)
      • Write a 1-page outline for a different study (see Assignment Details)
      • Bring paper copy of writing to Small Group on Tuesday, and turn in revised version by Wednesday at Midnight
      • Optional: Do DCR-4 Exercises 7.2 and 8.2
    • Assignment 4 Details File
    • Assignment 4 Example File

    • Materials:

    • Tom Newman: How do we know what we know? URL

    • Optional reading from Warren Browner:

    • Newman & Browner 1988 AJPH Epidemiology of Life and Death File

    • Optional reading on study design:

    • Page proofs, Evidence-Based Diagnosis (EBD) Chapter 10 File
      Not available unless: Your ID number contains 02
    • Example of a nested case-control study (Vit D and Colorectal cancer). Wu JNCI 2007;99:-1120-9 File

    • Optional reading on chart review methods (example of Measurements methods):

    • Gilbert 1996 AnnEmergMed Chart review methods File

    • Optional reading on case-control studies:

    • Vandenbroucke Int J Epidemiol 2012 File
    • Wacholder AJE 1992 File