Department of Internal Medicine
Division of Epidemiology

Epidemiology - ep·i·de·mi·ol·o·gy - [ep-i-dee-mee-ol-uh-jee]: the branch of medicine dealing with the incidence and prevalence of disease in large populations and with detection of the source and cause of epidemics of infectious diseases.

The Division of Epidemiology is an academic home within the Department of Internal Medicine for faculty with methodologic expertise in epidemiology, biostatistics, informatics, health services research, and community-based participatory research.  Clinical and population areas of research focus include cancer, infectious diseases, infection control, nutrition, patient safety, and genetics. The Division comprises 13 full-time and 6 adjunct faculty members. 

Several major research programs are directed by faculty within the Division of Epidemiology, including: the American Indian Alaska Native Cohort (EARTH) study, other cancer studies, the Center of Excellence in Public Health Informatics, the Epicenter for Prevention of Healthcare-Associated Infection, the Salt Lake Informatics, Decision Enhancement, and Surveillance Center.  Division faculty members also make numerous service and teaching contributions to the Health Sciences Center. These include leadership of the Utah Cancer Registry, leadership positions and other core activities at HCI, physician leadership of the University’s infection control program, direction of the Epidemiology and Health Services Research training track within the University of Utah’s K30 program.

Faculty Spotlight

Jeanmarie Mayer, M.D.

Assistant Professor in Medicine

Jeanmarie Mayer received a B.S. in Chemistry from William Smith College in 1981.  She then completed her M.D. degree from the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry in New York in 1985.   More...

Research Accomplishments

The Division’s research activities are spread among a wide variety of investigators and topics, and includes such areas as the epidemiology of antimicrobial resistance; interventions to improve antimicrobial prescribing; outcomes studies using electronic data; surveillance methods of infectious diseases and adverse events; chronic renal failure; patient and provider decision-making; and implementation evaluation, among others. Investigative work relies heavily on productive, inter-departmental relationships.

Service to the Community

The Division seeks to accomplish its objective through three primary activities:

• Educating students
• Conducting sound clinical epidemiologic research
• Building strong research infrastructure and partnerships

The Division is actively involved in the education of students from a wide variety of backgrounds, most of whom are young clinicians (residents, fellows, and junior faculty) seeking to become independent investigators in clinical epidemiology and health services research. Education within the Division of Epidemiology consists of formal coursework, such as that associated with the University of Utah's K30 training program, as well as career development and training (mentorship). Division faculty are actively involved in the mentorship of fellows (through a close relationship with the Division of Infectious Diseases) and junior faculty, the latter typically in association with K-series and other similar mentored clinical scientist awards.

Division of Epi NEWS CENTER

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"RESEARCH TO STEM HOSPITAL INFECTIONS BRING TOGETHER THREE MAJOR UTAH HEALTH-CARE SYSTEMS" - May 8, 2006

"U OF U TO LEAD TO LEAD $4.5 MILLION CENTER OF EXCELLENCE GRANT TO IMPROVE PUBLIC HEALTH RESPONSE TO DISEASE OUTBREAK" - January 9, 2007

 Articles of Interest

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"BIOHEALTHBASE: INFORMATICS SUPPORT IN THE ELUCIDATION OF INFLUENZA VIRUS HOST PATHOGEN INTERACTIONS AND VIRULENCE"

"LEARNING FROM EVIDENCE IN A COMPLEX WORLD"

"SYSTEM DYNAMICS MODELING FOR PUBLIC HEALTH: BACKGROUND AND OPPORTUNITIES"