Announcing a Two-Day Course Sequence:


Introduction to Bayesian Disease Mapping (IBDM)
Advanced Bayesian Disease Mapping(ABDM)


April 16th - 17th and 19th - 20th 2012
University of Edinburgh, Scotland, UK

*Course content*

These courses are designed to provide a comprehensive introduction to
the area of Bayesian disease mapping in applications to Public Health
and Epidemiology: The IBDM course will run on April 16th – 17th and the 
ABDM course will run on April 19th – 20th 2012.

The IBDM two-day course consists of sessions dealing with:
· Basic concepts of Bayesian methods and disease mapping
· Bayesian computation and MCMC
· Basic R and WinBUGS use
· Demonstration of risk estimation and cluster detection using
WinBUGS
· Hands-on with simple WinBUGS models: Poisson-gamma;
convolution models for risk estimation
· Ecological analysis, cluster models and space-time analysis
· Basic Space-Time models: Bernardinelli, Knorr-Held, Waller; seasonal 
effects
· Space-Time Kalman-filtering
* Use of R2WinBUGS and BRugs and related software

This is designed for those who want to cover more advanced mapping
methods, and includes ecological analysis and the use of WinBUGS software.
The course will include theoretical input, but also practical elements
and participants will be involved hands-on in the use of R and WinBUGS
in disease mapping applications. Both human and veterinary examples will
be covered in the course as well as simple infectious disease space-time
modelling. Examples will range over congenital anomaly birth data, Ohio 
respiratory cancer and oral cancer in Georgia.

The ABDM course consists of:
· Spatial models and simple variants: convolution, proper CAR,
full MVN
· Special application: Case event modelling
Special applications: sparse count data: zip and factorial
regression
· Special applications: latent structure (L&C and mixtures)
· Spatial survival modelling
· Measurement error, SEMS and Joint modelling. CPO and pseudo
Bayes factor
· Multiple disease analysis

· Clustering in ST data; surveillance and Infectious disease models

This course is designed for those who want to cover advanced BDM 
methods, and includes advanced use of WinBUGS. The course will include 
theoretical
input, but also practical elements and participants will be involved
hands-on in the use of R and WinBUGS in disease mapping applications.
Both spatial and spatio-temporal analyses will be considered. Examples
will range over childhood asthma data from Georgia, influenza in South
Carolina, and foot-and-mouth disease in the UK.

In addition to the main course a special mid-week tutorial session will 
be held on Wednesday 18th April to allow additional support for novice 
WinBUGS users.

*The speaker*

Professor Andrew B. Lawson (Division of Biostatistics & Epidemiology,
College of Medicine, Medical University of South Carolina) is a World
Health Organization (WHO) advisor on Disease Mapping and organized with 
the WHO an International workshop on this topic which has led to an
edited volume “Disease Mapping and Risk Assessment for Public Health”.
He has published a number of books focused on disease mapping and
spatial epidemiology. In particular, a new volume entitled *Bayesian
Disease Mapping* will be a course text for the IBDM course. A copy of
the book is included in the course fee for that course only.

*Who should attend*

The courses are intended for epidemiologists and public health workers
who need to analyse geographical disease incidence. In addition, the
courses may be of interest to statisticians or geographers and planners
who deal with spatial disease data. Some statistical/epidemiological
background would be beneficial but is not essential.

*Why attend*

Participants will gain an in-depth understanding of the basic issues,
methods and techniques used in the analysis of spatial health data using
a Bayesian approach. They will gain insight into the detailed analysis
of practical problems in risk estimation and cluster detection. The
course is presented by a leading researcher in the field of disease
mapping and spatial epidemiology.

*course fees*

IBDM Two-day Course – 495 GBP

Two-day course fee includes comprehensive course notes, lunch,
refreshments and a copy of Bayesian Disease Mapping: Hierarchical
Modeling in Spatial Epidemiology, Lawson, A. B., (2009), CRC press, New
York.

ABDM Two-day Course – 460 GBP

Two-day course fee includes comprehensive course notes, lunch, and
refreshments.

Joint booking of both courses in the sequence is discounted to 800 GBP 
and with an academic/charity rate of 720 GBP

Attendees must bring a laptop with R and WinBUGS 1.4.3 software
preloaded*. Datasets will be provided. R and WinBUGS software can be
downloaded from the following websites: http://cran.wustl.edu
<http://cran.wustl.edu/> and/or www.mrc-bsu.cam.ac.uk/bugs
<http://www.mrc-bsu.cam.ac.uk/bugs>


*VENUE*

The courses will take place at the Medical School of the University of 
Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland.


*REGISTRATION INFORMATION*

The form and further course information is available from

http://www.lifelong.ed.ac.uk/bdm

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