Short Course in Obesity Research

A 5-day short course on “Strengthening Causal Inference in Behavioral Obesity Research” will be hosted at the University of Alabama at Birmingham from July 20, 2015–July 24, 2015.

Identifying causal relations among variables is fundamental to science. Obesity is a major problem for which much progress in understanding, treatment, and prevention remains to be made. Understanding which social and behavioral factors cause variations in adiposity and which other factors cause variations is vital to producing, evaluating, and selecting intervention and prevention strategies. In addition, developing a greater understanding of obesity’s causes requires input from diverse disciplines including statistics, economics, psychology, epidemiology, mathematics, philosophy, and in some cases behavioral or statistical genetics. However, applying techniques from these disciplines does not involve routine well-known “cookbook” approaches but requires an understanding of the underlying principles, so the investigator can tailor approaches to specific and varying situations. The nine course modules are designed to provide rigorous exposure to the key fundamental principles underlying a broad array of techniques. In addition, through guided discussion using real examples in obesity research, the participant will gain experience in applying the principles and techniques.

For full details of the course, please refer to the course’s website. You may also apply online. Limited travel scholarships are available to young investigators. The course application deadline is February 26, 2015. Accepted applicants will be notified no later than March 6, 2015.