This Summer at Adelphi: Learn About Outbreaks, Epidemics and Pandemics

This summer, Adelphi’s Department of Biology in the College of Arts and Science will debut a timely course on the fundamental principles of infectious disease epidemiology. The course, Outbreaks, Epidemics, and Pandemics (BIO 585), beginning on May 26, will focus on novel, reemerging and established infectious diseases experienced globally, including COVID-19.

The new course was created by infectious disease epidemiologist David Parker, PhD, professor in the College of Nursing and Public Health, who has expertise in HIV, tuberculosis, viral hepatitis, influenza, sexually transmitted infections, and emerging infectious diseases including COVID-19, SARS and MERS. Dr. Parker created the course to help educate students, and society as a whole, on these important topics and, in that way, to cut down on the misinformation surrounding them.

“Bad information is everywhere now and, in the modern age, there has never been anything like it,” said Dr. Parker. “Whether it is pre-peer-reviewed release of studies, anecdotal evidence on the efficacy of medication or a disorganized governmental reaction to a pandemic—people need the fundamental tools to assess what is going on around them.”

The class is open to juniors, seniors and master’s-level students and will be offered in a blended online format, including a 90-minute weekly live section. The course will provide an introduction to disease transmission, control, measurement and response as well as the methods for disease surveillance, prevention and containment measures.

As an epidemiologist, Dr. Parker finds the topics of disease control, risk and transmission fascinating and particularly relevant now in the days of COVID-19. “When I see incorrect information on social media and in the news, I grow concerned about how that bad information translates to poor health outcomes.”

Due to COVID-19, Adelphi’s 2020 Summer Sessions are being offered at a reduced rate and entirely online for Session 1.

For more information or to register for the course, visit summer.adelphi.edu.