Announcing a Two-Day Course Sequence:

 

 

Introduction to Bayesian Disease Mapping (IBDM)

Advanced Bayesian Disease Mapping(ABDM)

 

 

April 15th - 16th and 18th - 19th 2013

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 15th – 16th and the ABDM course will run on April 18th – 19th 2013.

 

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, BRugs, INLA 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;

·         INLA demonstration and use

 

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 17th 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, the 2nd edition of the title Lawson, A. B. (2013) Bayesian Disease Mapping, CRC press, 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, research scientists

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 the 2nd Edition of Bayesian Disease Mapping: Hierarchical Modeling in Spatial Epidemiology, Lawson, A. B., (2013), 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 Paterson's Land, Holyrood Campus, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH8 8AG, Scotland.

 

*REGISTRATION INFORMATION*

 

The form and further course information is available from

 

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

 

 

 

You may leave the list at any time by sending the command

SIGNOFF allstat

to [log in to unmask], leaving the subject line blank.