EPIDEMIOLOGY UNIT

The research activities and interests of the members of the Epidemiology Unit (formerly the Department of Social Medicine) include all levels of biological organization, from the social and cultural to the molecular. We have become increasingly involved in molecular and genetic epidemiology at the one end of the spectrum, while expanding our activities in patient-based clinical epidemiology, studies of quality of care, health services research, and in population-based studies of the social and cultural determinants of health and evaluation of public health interventions

The “multi-level” approach in departmental research has included studies of cardiovascular epidemiology in different ethnic and social groups; the epidemiology of different forms of malignancy; alcohol and drug abuse; and life course epidemiology which considers the effects of early life experiences on subsequent outcomes. The Jerusalem Perinatal Study and the Jerusalem Lipid Research Clinic (LRC) study are major foci of our life course research

An important area of activity is in relation to the quality of health care not only in hospital and community, but also locally and nationally

Trauma, a major public health and clinical issue in Israel, is the focus of research both in relation to home and leisure, transport-related injuries, violence and mass casualties among different age groups and populations

Community health has been a long-term central focus of departmental activity and research. The databases from sources such as the Community Health Studies performed in Kiryat Yovel continue to provide valuable research findings. The field of Health Promotion, an integral component of community health and its Healthy Cities context, is an important focus for continued development

The development and evaluation of programs related to the prevention of HIV/AIDS, including aspects of sexual and reproductive health, and the management of HIV positive persons represent an important sphere of activity

Much of our activity relies on advanced statistical methods. Research in this area includes the continued development of user-friendly programs for epidemiological analysis and the development of methods for the analysis of multi source data, handling of missing data and issues in sampling methodology

Much of the research is collaborative --in the framework of national and international studies