EPIC Fund EPIC Fund in the Department of Epidemiology 1 Excerpts from Letters of Recent EPIC Fund Recipients 2 EPIC Fund Application 4
EPIC Fund in the Department of Epidemiology WHAT WHY The EPIC Fund was created to provide our graduate students with an opportunity to access resources to help advance their educational agenda, using the revenue generated by the Epidemiology and Population Health Summer Institute at Columbia University (EPIC). The EPIC fund is a funding source for Department trainees pursuing research and training opportunities beyond those covered by their standard tuition. Examples of potential uses for the EPIC fund include but are not limited to: travel for conferences; priority will be given to trainees who are presenting findings at professional meetings purchase of e books, datasets, or samples for a study tuition for specific training needs, such as short courses, workshops, and training in software packages or lab techniques research related items that will contribute to the trainees research (for example, data collection The EPIC fund will not fund trainee tuition for their ongoing degree programs or living expenses. The EPIC fund will not fund trainee application fees to other degree programs. WHO All master s, doctoral, or post doctoral trainees enrolled in a degree program in the Department of Epidemiology are eligible. All things being equal, priority for funds will be given to students who have demonstrated active engagement in the Department, particularly in attendance at Department Seminars and CUEGRs. HOW Students seeking funding will complete a brief one page application, providing the following information: Description, including, as applicable, date(s), location. Cost, including, as applicable, a detailed listing of each element. It is anticipated that applications will be for amounts less than $2,500 for any one project. Lump sum costs without explanation will not be considered. Projects for higher amounts may be considered in exceptional circumstances. Rationale, as in, why this conference/dataset/class is vital to the student s education and research goals Brief description of other funding avenues the student has pursued prior to, or concomitantly with, seeking EPIC Funds. A clear explanation of how all costs requested will be spent. All things being equal, priority for funding will be given to students who demonstrate that they have exhausted all other available avenues of funding. All applications should be submitted to Ms Liliane Zaretsky (lz3@columbia.edu). A committee made up of the Department Chair and other senior faculty will adjudicate applications. WHEN There are three EPIC funding cycles: applications will be accepted on January 30, May 30, and September 30 each year. Applicants will be notified of the committee s decision within a month of the request. Applicants who are funded will be reimbursed, an amount up to the award amount, upon conclusion of the event and after applicant has submitted (a) all receipts and (b) a brief summary of how the EPIC Fund award was used. OCTOBER 2017 1
Excerpts from letters of recent EPIC Fund recipients The 2017 ACIC conference was an interesting experience. The conference is focused on cutting edge methods and hot topics in causal inference across different disciplines such as epidemiology, statistics and economics. The various talks I attended illuminated how similar issues are tackled from different perspectives across these different disciplines. It was interesting to see where people agreed and where they disagreed on the use of a particular method and to begin to grasp why disagreement arose (often it was due to the perspective brought to the problem, but also terminology issues, different [often unstated] goals, etc.). It was helpful to see where the causal inference methods field could be heading (e.g., machine learning, big data) and to judge what techniques and concepts I do and don t agree with the use of. I attended the conference with one of my co-collaborators and I believe that was particularly beneficial as we were able to discuss the talk together and develop ideas for future projects/papers. Katrina Kezios, PhD candidate I used the EPIC FUND to attend the 2017 Annual Population Association of America (PAA) meeting in late April. The meeting was held in Chicago and lasted for three days. To my understanding, this was a high-quality research meeting with participants from different disciplines. On the first day of meeting, I presented our current research work on The Chinese famine of 1959-61 and Type 2 diabetes: Results from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS). I received many comments and suggestions from other researchers who are also interested in famine studies. For example, researchers from University of Michigan gave us some feedback on how to better construct model to evaluate the severity of famine in China. Chihua Li, DrPH candidate As a result of receiving EPIC funding, I was able to attend a 5-day Genomic Epidemiology training through McGill University in Montreal, Canada. The training provided a comprehensive introduction to a variety of topics, including: sequencing technologies, cleaning and assembly of genomic data, creation and interpretation of phylogenetic trees, and inference of transmission using epidemiologic and genomic data. The training had a specific focus on the use of genomic epidemiology for tuberculosis, which directly informs my research. I found the training to be extremely valuable. In addition to receiving intensive training in genomic epidemiology, I had the opportunity to meet other researchers from around the world who share similar interests. The training will directly benefit the research that I perform with Dr. Barun Mathema and will allow me to better assist him with genomic analyses going forward and enhanced my training as a doctoral student. I am very grateful for the receipt of EPIC funds which allowed me the opportunity to attend this training. Natalie Stennis, PhD candidate OCTOBER 2017 2
Attending the Society for Epidemiologic Research 50th meeting in Seattle, WA was a great opportunity for me to engage on academic discussion with doctoral students and faculty from other schools. Presenting my poster entitled Excess risk of crash involvement associated with alcohol use increases with crash severity on Wednesday June 21 allowed me received valuable feedback on how to improve the content of the publication that I am preparing to submit within the next days. Victor Puac Polanco, DrPH candidate In May 2016, I had the privilege to attend the MIT Hacking Medicine Grand Hack in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Having taught myself to program and code while completing my epidemiological coursework over the duration of the spring semester, I was eager to combine the quantitative background of Epi with the skills I had been working independently on. Caroline Baratz, MPH 2016 I really enjoyed my experience at the 2016 Epidemiology Congress of the Americas. I presented some research from my Global Health practicum in Brazil about child mental health in a lowincome community outside of São Paulo, Brazil. I had the opportunity to interact with Columbia colleagues, my former colleagues from Brazil, as well as many other researchers that I have been in contact via email but never met. I attended lectures surrounding health equity in Latin America, implementation science, substance abuse, violence, social epidemiology, and others. Melanie Askari, MPH 2016 The purpose of this letter is to document the completion of my trip to Rome, Italy for the annual conference of the International Society for Environmental Epidemiology (ISEE) where I presented a poster entitled Molecular effects of in utero cadmium exposure. This trip was funded by the Mailman School of Public Health Epidemiology Department s EPIC Fund. This conference was, for me, a first look at my path forward in academia and environmental epidemiology research. I am beginning a PhD program this term (fall 2016), after completing my MPH here at Mailman last spring (2016), and ISEE opened my eyes to the nuances of environmental epidemiology and the many directions I can take with this program. It reinforced the core concepts of epidemiology with lectures on methods each day ranging from fundamental concepts (e.g., confounders, colliders, etc.) to innovative new directions (e.g., Bayesian mixture methods) of analysis. Elizabeth Gibson, MPH 2016 OCTOBER 2017 3
EPIC Fund Application Instructions Applications deadlines: September 30, January 30, May 30 Submit completed application to Liliane Zaretsky, Director for Academic Programs (lz3@columbia.edu). Add extra lines as necessary. Make sure the total amount requested is in bold or otherwise highlighted. Applicants are encouraged to use additional pages as necessary to justify why this opportunity is congruent with their educational and/or research goals. Please ensure that you attach relevant documentation (for example, if you are presenting an abstract, attach the abstract as well as evidence that it has been accepted to the conference). You are welcome to attach other supplementary material that the Committee may find helpful in their deliberations. STUDENT NAME UNI PREFERRED EMAIL Funding is requested for the following: ITEM DESCRIPTION COST DATE/LOCATION TOTAL Please briefly describe your request. Please briefly describe the other funding avenues you have pursued prior to applying to the EPIC Fund. SIGNATURE OF STUDENT DATE (MONTH/DAY/YEAR) OCTOBER 2017 4