Online and in-person courses in Training in Clinical Research Program (TICR), online courses in implementation science, as well as a mini-course in implementation science are available to individuals within the UCSF community and from other institutions.
Summer Quarter Courses
Fall Quarter Courses
Winter Quarter Courses
Spring Quarter Courses
Contact [email protected] for questions about enrollment or follow the current quarter enrollment link on this page.
Only UCSF students (defined as individuals enrolled in UCSF degree or certificate programs) will receive academic credit for courses. Official transcripts are available to UCSF students only. A Certificate of Course Completion will be available upon request to individuals who are not UCSF students and satisfactorily pass all course requirements.
Designing Clinical Research for Clinical Residents
This course provides instruction in developing a clinical research question and creating a concise protocol that includes literature review, study design, subject sampling and recruitment, instruments and other measurement approaches, sample size, consent form, budget and timetable. Each trainee reviews and supports the work of colleagues. The course closely follows the textbook Designing Clinical Research, by W. Browner and other TICR faculty, now in its fifth edition. This course is intended for clinical residents at UCSF.
Epidemiologic Methods (EPI 203)
Instruction in the diverse array of study designs, and their theoretical interrelatedness, available in clinical and epidemiologic research; importance of measurement; different types of measures of disease occurrence; methods to measure exposure - disease association; measures of attributable risk; effect-measure modification; approaches to identify and minimize selection, measurement and confounding bias; and conceptual motivation for more sophisticated methods (e.g., regression or marginal structural approaches) to manage confounding, which are increasingly common tools in epidemiologic analyses.
Clinical Epidemiology (EPI 204)
Instruction in the development and interpretation of metrics commonly used in evidence-based clinical medicine, (e.g., screening tests, diagnostic tests, and prognostic tests), as well as any field that seeks to make predictions of either concurrent or future conditions or events.
Epidemiology of Aging (EPI 210)
Will not be taught during 2023-2024 academic year.
Instruction in the issues and methods for the study of the epidemiology of aging with a focus on common chronic diseases in older populations.
TICR Program Seminar for First-Year Master’s and Certificate Program Scholars (EPI 220/230))
Biweekly seminar for first-year students to present their research to their colleagues and faculty.
Masters Seminar II Fall (EPI 221)
Biweekly seminar for second-year students to present their projects and specialized methodologic topics to their colleagues and faculty.
Introduction to Implementation Science Theory and Design (EPI 245)
An introduction to the different target audiences and approaches needed to translate biomedical evidence into practice. The course is the gateway for scholars who plan for additional study within this discipline but also suffices as cross-exposure for scholars from other disciplines. In addition to didactic work, scholars are guided through the creation of a research protocol aimed towards translating their particular choice of evidence into practice.
Community-Engaged Research (EPI 248)
Introduces the principles and applied methods of community-engaged research, including defining the community and partnership models for identifying relevant research questions, developing and implementing study designs, interpreting and disseminating findings, and scaling-up studies for translational implementation research.
Human Centered Design (EPI 243)
Instruction in the process of human-centered design as it applies to developing solutions for problems faced by anyone involved in the healthcare delivery system (patients, family and friends of patients, caregivers, and administrators).
Demographic Methods for Health (EPI 263)
Will not be taught during 2023-2024 academic year.
Instruction in basic demographic methods, including population dynamics, fertility, mortality, migration, urbanization, aging, and family structure. The emphasis will be on how and why understanding these factors is important for public health practitioners.
Biostatistical Methods for Clinical Research I (BIOSTAT 200)
Introduction to descriptive statistics, distributions, probability, exploratory data analysis, and selected variable parametric and non-parametric inference. Statistical software will be used throughout to implement concepts learned in class and to allow scholars to begin to explore their own data.
Biostatistical Methods for Clinical Research IV (BIOSTAT 210)
A continuation in the biostatistics for clinical research sequence, covering advanced methods for building and evaluating regression models. The emphasis is on methods that cut across common families of regression models in biostatistics: predictor selection, model diagnostics, and missing data. The statistics package STATA will be used throughout the course.
Programming for Health Data Sciences In R II (BIOSTAT 214)
This course builds on students' prerequisite core R language knowledge to cover skills in advanced data transformations, visualization, working with big (in-memory) data, report-writing, and core statistic testing.
Grant Writing Workshop on Mentored Career Development Awards
Instruction in writing successful grant applications for NIH mentored career development awards. Workshop uses examples from patient-oriented research career development awards (K23s). Underlying concepts for the career development plan, mentoring plan, and research plan also apply to research scientist development awards (K01s) and clinical scientist development awards (K08s).
Clinical Trials (EPI 205)
Instruction in experimental study design options; methods of randomization; blinding, interventions and controls; measuring outcomes and adverse effects; follow-up, compliance and postrandomization problems; ethical issues; and working with pharmaceutical companies.
Epidemiologic Methods II (EPI 207)
Instruction in the interrelationships between various measures of disease occurrence and association; concepts of attributable risk; interactions; practical and theoretical considerations of the most common study designs in observational research; methods of reducing confounding including matching, instrumental variables, and propensity scores.
Cost-Effectiveness Analysis in Medicine and Public Health (EPI 213)
Will not be taught during 2023-2024 academic year.
Instruction in creating decision trees; obtaining input values for probabilities, utilities, and costs; and calculating health, cost and cost-effectiveness outcomes. Course participants will design and complete group-based decision and cost effectiveness analyses using customized software.
Molecular and Genetic Epidemiology I (EPI 217)
Introduction to the concepts, principles, and use of molecular and genetic methods in epidemiologic and clinical research and how to develop a framework for interpreting, assessing, and incorporating molecular and genetic measures in research.
TICR Program Seminar for First-Year Master’s and Certificate Program Scholars (EPI 220/230)
Biweekly seminar for first-year students to present their research to their colleagues and faculty.
Masters Seminar II Winter (EPI 221)
Biweekly seminar for second-year students to present their projects and specialized methodologic topics to their colleagues and faculty.
Social Determinants of Health and Health Disparities: What Every Researcher Should Know (EPI 222)
An introduction to the knowledge and skills needed to conduct high-quality research in diverse human populations with an emphasis on understanding the measurement and influence of race/ethnicity and socioeconomic status on health. The 1-unit, 5-week option is relevant for any researcher who intends to work with human subjects, and the 2-unit, 10-week option will cover advanced material for students with a more focused interest in race and socioeconomic-based health disparities.
Informatics Tools for Health Disparities Research (EPI 226)
This course is designed for learners interested in accessing data sources and using informatics tools that are helpful in identifying cohorts, developing research questions, and conducting health disparities research.
Program Evaluation in Clinical and Public Health Settings (EPI 242)*
Instruction in different types of program evaluation, including needs assessment, formative research, process evaluation, monitoring of outputs and outcomes and impact assessment; developing an evaluation plan and using systematically collected information about a program to understand whether and how the program is meeting its stated goals and objectives; improve program effectiveness; and make decisions about future programming.
Designing Individual-Level Implementation Strategies (EPI 246)*
Instruction in developing interventions for individual health behavior change, including behavior change strategies at the individual, interpersonal, and system/community level; developing practical frameworks to integrate principles of behavior change theory.
Cancer Epidemiology (EPI 252)
Instruction in how the principles and methods of epidemiology can be applied to the study of neoplastic diseases.
NIH F & K Grant Writing Workshop (Online) (EPI 258 A)
This course is designed to clarify early investigators’ research and career goals and to learn the different components of NIH pre- and post-doctoral grants.
Neglected Tropical Diseases (EPI 261)
Will not be taught during 2023-2024 academic year.
An overview of neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), especially those transmitted by vectors (arthropods, snails), their public health importance, and strategies for their control.
Qualitative Methods Research (EPI 267)*
The focus of this course is qualitative and mixed methods research, with a particular emphasis on the role of qualitative or open-ended inquiry in health-related implementation research
Equity Issues in Reproductive Health (EPI 269)
Will not be taught during 2023-2024 academic year.
This is a graduate-level course focused on Reproductive, Maternal, Neonatal and Child Health (RMNCH). The course will cover foundational RMNCH concepts, including providing an overview of selected RMNCH issues in the US and globally, highlighting best practices and innovations in measurement in RMNCH, examining ways in which social determinants influence RMNCH and produce health inequities and evaluating approaches to meet the needs of vulnerable populations.
Biostatistical Methods for Clinical Research II (BIOSTAT 208)
Instruction in multiple predictor analyses as a tool for control of confounding and for constructing predictive models. Topics will include linear regression and logistic regression. The Stata statistical package will be used throughout.
Mathematical Foundations of Biostatistics (BIOSTAT 211)
This course was designed to equip students with core statistical concepts and methods. Topics include mathematical, computational, statistical and probabilistic background; the basics of probability distributions including the definitions of density functions, cumulative distributions, moments of the distributions; theory and methods for point estimation; and methodology for the construction of hypothesis testing and confidence intervals.
Machine Learning in R for the Biomedical Sciences: Methods for Prediction, Pattern Recognition, and Data Reduction (BIOSTAT 216)
An introduction to use of machine learning (automated statistical algorithms applied to complex data structures) to solve problems of prediction, pattern recognition, and data reduction in various fields related to biomedical research; the R software environment will be used throughout.
Applied Data Science with Python (DATASCI 223)
Survey of Data Science methods in Python, starting with common data science tools and processes and spending one week per topics learning to build common ML/AI solutions.
Grant Writing Workshop on Mentored Career Development Awards
Instruction in writing successful grant applications for NIH mentored career development awards. Workshop uses examples from patient-oriented research career development awards (K23s). Underlying concepts for the career development plan, mentoring plan, and research plan also apply to research scientist development awards (K01s) and clinical scientist development awards (K08s).
*enrollment in this course (or track) not guaranteed due to high demand
Publishing and Presenting Clinical Research (EPI 212)
Instruction in preparing abstracts for scientific conferences; the essential components of a research manuscript (Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion); and navigating the submission and revision aspects of the peer-review process.
Systematic Reviews (EPI 214)
Instruction in the methods of systematic and unbiased identification of primary research studies; abstraction of data; determination of summary estimates and evaluation of heterogeneity.
TICR Program Seminar for First-Year Master’s and Certificate Program Scholars (EPI 220/230)
Biweekly seminar for first-year students to present their research to their colleagues and faculty.
Masters Seminar II Spring (EPI 221)
Biweekly seminar for second-year students to present their projects and specialized methodologic topics to their colleagues and faculty.
Use of Electronic Health Record Data for Research (EPI 231)
Introduction to electronic health record (EHR) data, including relational database and data warehouse models as they pertain to EHRs; medical vocabularies and ontologies used in EHRs; construction of patient cohorts based on structured data, such as diagnosis codes, encounters, and procedures; extraction of relevant associated data for a specified patient cohort into analytic files; and formulating research questions that benefit from the strengths and limit weaknesses of EHR data.
Study Designs for Intervention Research in Real-World Settings (EPI 241)*
Instruction in the design of studies that are alternatives to individual participant-level randomization for the evaluation of interventions in real-world settings. Both randomized (e.g., cluster-randomized and stepped-wedge randomized trials) and quasi-experimental design (e.g., pre-post and interrupted time series) will be discussed.
Designing Interventions to Change Organizational Behavior (EPI 247)*
Instruction in translational tools at the health care system level to promote the adoption of evidence-based medicine by the public and providers through mechanisms that influence health care delivery systems.
Translating Evidence Into Policy: Framing Research to Influence Policy (EPI 249)*
Instruction in types of questions that can be addressed with large administrative and clinical databases; gaining access to these databases; determining validity of information; risk adjustment; linking datasets; and building registries. Instruction in the policy process and strategies for collecting and disseminating research findings to inform and influence that process. The course will be taught through a series of lectures and interactive sessions during which trainees will have an opportunity to apply the strategies to their own work.
NIH F & K Grant Writing Workshop (EPI 258 B)
Will not be taught during 2023-2024 academic year.
This course is designed to clarify early investigators’ research and career goals and to learn the different components of NIH pre- and post-doctoral grants.
Epidemiologic Methods III (EPI 265)
Will not be taught during 2023-2024 academic year.
This course will focus on clearly articulating and testing research hypotheses related to the determinants and consequences of chronic conditions. Each session will introduce specific methodological concepts for epidemiologic studies, organized around an illustrative applied research paper. The course will emphasize causal inference from observational data. Most examples will be drawn from literature on social and lifecourse determinants of dementia, stroke, and cardiometabolic disease.
Mathematical Modeling of Infectious Diseases (EPI 266)
Will not be taught during 2023-2024 academic year.
Introduction to concepts of mathematical modeling of infectious diseases; topics include branching processes and the basic reproduction number, dynamical systems, and methods for data fitting including Markov chain Monte Carlo.
Econometric Methods for Causal Inference (EPI 268)
Will not be taught during 2023-2024 academic year.
Instruction on estimating the causal effects of health-related policies, programs, and interventions using observational data and methods developed in the field of econometrics. Topics include difference-in-differences, instrumental variables, and regression discontinuity.
Biostatistical Methods for Clinical Research III (BIOSTAT 209)
A continuation of the Winter Quarter course in multivariable statistical analysis that includes instruction in survival analysis and analysis of repeated measures and clustered data. The course culminates with student presentations of statistical analyses of their own research projects.
Advanced Approaches to the Analysis of Observational Data (BIOSTAT 215)
A common goal of observational clinical or epidemiologic research is to estimate the causal effect of particular exposures or interventions on some health outcome. This course will describe more advanced methods that may succeed in estimating causal effects in cases where standard approaches break down.
Understanding Machine Learning: From Theory to Applications (DATASCI 224) (course page pending)
This course teaches the mathematical foundations of machine learning (ML). Each week, the course surveys a different algorithm to examine its underlying machinery, covering topics such as linear algebra, calculus, and optimization. ML algorithms range from linear models to gradient boosting and deep learning. The course also discusses newer concepts such as model fairness and ML for causal inference. Upon course completion, students should be able to learn new ML algorithms independently.
Advanced Machine Learning for the Biomedical Sciences II (DATASCI 225)
Will not be taught during 2023-2024 academic year.
Extends upon BIOSTAT 216 (introduction to machine learning) to provide instruction in a deeper mathematical and statistical understanding of machine learning algorithms to solve problems of prediction, pattern recognition and data reduction. Students will learn how to manipulate and customize popular machine-learning algorithms to best satisfy specific research needs. The R software environment will be used throughout.
Grant Writing Workshop on Mentored Career Development Awards
Instruction in writing successful grant applications for NIH-mentored career development awards. The workshop uses examples from patient-oriented research career development awards (K23s). Underlying concepts for the career development plan, mentoring plan, and research plan also apply to research scientist development awards (K01s) and clinical scientist development awards (K08s).
*enrollment in this course (or track) not guaranteed due to high demand