Key-note speakers, lecturers
Michael G. Marmot
Director of International Institute for Society and Health
MRC Research Professor of Epidemiology and Public Health, University College London, UK
Action on Social Determinants of Health
Abstract
Brief personal description Professor Sir Michael G. Marmot (1945) MBBS, MPH, PhD, FRCP, FFPHM, FMedSci, FBA has led a research group on health inequalities for the past 30 years. He is Principal Investigator of the Whitehall Studies of British civil servants, investigating explanations for the striking inverse social gradient in morbidity and mortality. He leads the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA) and is engaged in several international research efforts on the social determinants of health. He chairs the Department of Health Scientific Reference Group on tackling health inequalities. He was a member of the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution for six years and is an honorary fellow of the British Academy. In 2000 he was knighted by Her Majesty The Queen for services to Epidemiology and understanding health inequalities. Internationally acclaimed, Professor Marmot is a Vice President of the Academia Europaea, a Foreign Associate Member of the Institute of Medicine (IOM), and was Chair of the Commission on Social Determinants of Health set up by the World Health Organization in 2005. He won the Balzan Prize for Epidemiology in 2004, gave the Harveian Oration in 2006 and won the William B. Graham Prize for Health Services Research in 2008. He is currently conducting a review of health inequalities at the request of the British Government. |
Martin Bobak
Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University College London, UK
Social inequalities in Central and Eastern Europe in the period of societal transformation
Abstract
Brief personal description Prof. Martin Bobak (1963), MSc, MD, PhD, is Professor of Epidemiology and leader of the East-West research group in the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health at University College London. He is the principal investigator of the multi-centre Health, Alcohol and Psychosocial Factors in Eastern Europe (HAPIEE) study. He qualified as a medical doctor at Charles University in Prague, subsequently obtaining MSc and PhD in Epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. He joined the Department of Epidemiology at UCL in 1994. His research interests focus on social, environmental, behavioral, genetic and psychosocial determinants of chronic diseases and well-being in Central and Eastern Europe and on health effects of rapid societal changes. |
Bettina F. Piko
University of Szeged, Hungary
Explanation framework of health inequality
Abstract
Brief personal description Assoc. prof. Bettina F. Piko (1966) graduated from medical school (M.D., 1991), studied sociology (M.A., 1996) and management (CertManag, 1997), received a Ph.D. in behavioral sciences at Semmelweis University, Budapest (Ph.D., 1998). She is currently an associate professor of behavioral sciences at the University of Szeged, Department of Psychology, Behavioral Sciences Group; in 2000, she worked as a visiting research professor at the Department of Sociology, UAB, Birmingham, AL, USA. She is also a Bolyai research fellow supported by the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. |
Sijmen A. Reijneveld
University Medical Centre Groningen, University of Groningen, The Netherlands
Ethnic differences in health and health behaviour
Abstract
Area based analyses in health and deprivation
Abstract
Brief personal description Prof. dr. Sijmen A. Reijneveld (1960) is full professor at the University Medical Center Groningen and chair of Department of Health Sciences. Moreover, he is affiliated with TNO (Netherlands Organization of Applied Scientific Research) Quality of Life in Leiden. His research focuses on the mental health and development of children and adolescents, and the opportunities for prevention in this area as well as the contribution of deprivation. Previously, he headed the department of Quality of life, division of Child Health at TNO in Leiden, and co-ordinated the national monitoring of child and public health by public health services (GGD-en and Consultatiebureaus). He is associate editor of the European Journal of Public Health, past-president of the Netherlands Epidemiological Society, and referee of various journals in the domains of public health, paediatrics and psychiatry, and of various programs of ZonMw (Netherlands Organization for Health Research and Development) and NWO (Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research). |
Niko Speybroeck
Universite Catholique de Louvain, Brussels and Institute of Tropical Medicine, Belgium
Measuring and understanding SE inequality in health
Abstract
Brief personal description Prof. Niko Speybroeck (1967) works at the Institute of Tropical Medicine (Antwerp, Belgium), holds a position at the Faculty of Medicine, Université Catholique de Louvain (Brussels, Belgium) and at the University of Antwerp (Belgium). He teaches courses of epidemiology and statistics. Professor Speybroeck holds a Masters of Science in Bio-engineering (Ghent University, Belgium), a Masters of Science in Biostatistics (Hasselt University, Belgium) and a PhD in Applied Biological Sciences (Ghent University, Belgium). He stayed, as a Marie Curie Fellow, at the Environmental Research Centre (UFZ) in Leipzig, Germany. His work is described in more than 60 scientific papers with an Impact Factor and in 2004, he obtained the Merial Award from the Netherlands Society for Parasitology. Between 2004 and 2006, N. Speybroeck worked at the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva, where he contributed to building up country-level capacities to collecting and analysing data relevant to public health and to use these data to design and implement effective health policies. |
Marc Suhrcke
University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK
Economic analysis of the Social Determinants of Health
Abstract
Brief personal description Prof. Marc Suhrcke (1968) is a Professor and Chair in Public Health Economics with the University of East Anglia in Norwich (UK) since 2008. Previously he has worked as an economist with the WHO European Office for Investment for Health and Development (Venice), where he was in charge of the ‘Health and Economic Development’-area of work. His preceding professional experience includes: the UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre (Florence), Hamburg University, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (London), the Centre for European Policy Studies (Brussels), and the European Commission (Brussels). His background is in economics and his main current research interests are: health and economic development, economics of prevention, socio-economic determinants and inequalities of health. |
Jitse P. van Dijk
University Medical Centre Groningen, University of Groningen, The Netherlands
Translating research into policy: how to cope with systematic difficulties?
Abstract
Brief personal description Assoc. prof. Jitse P. van Dijk (1950) got his degrees in Medicine as well as in Laws and Public Administration and is specialised in the field of Public Health. He is appointed as an Associate Professor and Principle Researcher in the Department of Social Medicine in the University of Groningen. He lectures on ‘The Organisation of the Health Care System‘ and ‘Health Laws‘. The subject of his thesis was focused on the structural determinants of municipal health policy in the Netherlands. Since the early nineties he is co-operating with the Safarik University in Kosice. His main research focuses on ‘Social Determinants of Health and Health Behaviour in Adolescents‘ and on ‘Quality of Life in Chronic Disease‘. He was one of the founders of the Kosice Institute for Society and Health, of which he is the Scientific Director. |
Mark Exworthy
School of Management
Royal Holloway, University of London, UK
Why policy matters: translating evidence into policy
Abstract
Brief personal description Dr. Mark Exworthy is a reader in Public Management and Policy at Royal Holloway and is also a member of the Knowledge Network (measurement and evidence) which forms part of the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) Commission on Social Determinants of Health. His research focus on public management and policy including health policy, new public management, professional-managerial relations, policy formulation and implementation, decentralisation, inter-agency working/partnerships and international comparisons. Topic areas include performance, primary health care and policies to tackle health inequalities/social determinants of health. |
Iveta Nagyova
KISH, Faculty of Medicine
P.J. Safarik University in Kosice, Slovakia
Data sources: Health equity surveillance system (URHIS)
Abstract
Brief personal description Dr. Iveta Rajnicova-Nagyova (1972) got her Master`s degree in psychology (1995) at the University of PJ Safarik, Kosice, Slovakia and PhD degree in medical sciences (2005) at the University of Groningen, the Netherlands. After graduation, in years 1995-1999 she was appointed as a researcher at the Faculty of Medicine, PJ University, Kosice, Slovakia. Her research topic dealt with quality of life in patients with rheumatoid arthritis and was carried out within the framework of the EURIDISS study (4th FP). Between 1999 and 2003 she worked for Social Work Advisory Board as a project manager. She co-operated on projects aimed at improving the quality of social services in Slovakia, in particular their transformation, decentralisation and deinstitutionalisation. Since 2004 she has been appointed as a senior researcher at the PJ Safarik University, Kosice Institute for Society and Health (KISH). Her main research interests lie in chronic diseases, disability and quality of life as well as methodology of research and statistics. Since 2003 she is an executive director of the Slovak Public Health Association (SAVEZ). Since 2003 she is a member of the European Public Health Association (EUPHA) International Scientific Committee and since 2006 she is the president of the EUPHA section on Chronic Diseases. |
Andrea Madarasova Geckova
KISH, Faculty of Medicine
P.J. Safarik University in Kosice, Slovakia
KISH findings on social determinants of health and health related behaviour
Abstract
Brief personal description Dr. Andrea Madarasova Geckova (1972; Psychology, Safarik University, Kosice, 1995) received her PhD degree in medical sciences from the University of Groningen, The Netherlands. Since 1997 her international research projects focus on inequalities in health among (Slovak) adolescents and young adults. Since 2002 she has been responsible for the supervision of new Slovak projects in the framework of the Kosice Institute for Society and Health focusing particularly on health and its determinants among adolescents and young adults. She participates in several projects from Slovak research agencies, in bilateral research projects and in two European projects (INEQ-CITIES; and EUROTHINE). Moreover she collaborates with WHO; she is Slovakia's Principal Investigator of the Health Behaviour of School-aged Children study (HBSC), and is Member of the Multi-Disciplinary Working Group on Social Inequities in Health in the Slovak Republic. She is a member of the editorial board of the International Journal of Public Health and referees several international journals in her field. Since 2007, she has been operating as a national delegate within the European Health Psychology Society. |
Ivan Zezula
Faculty of Sciences
P.J. Safarik University in Kosice, Slovakia
Brief personal description Assoc. prof. Ivan Zezula got his master s degree in statistics from Charles University in Prague, Czechoslovakia (1984). After graduation he joined Biometrical Center at Veterinary University in Košice. While working there, he obtained his PhD degree in statistics from Mathematical Institute of SAS in Bratislava (1991). In 1991 he moved to Šafárik University in Košice, where he works currently at Institute of Mathematics as associate professor in applied mathematics. His research interests are linear models, multivariate statistics, and computational statistics. He likes applications of mathematics in other sciences, and contributed to many of them. |
Daniel Klein
Faculty of Sciences
P.J. Safarik University in Kosice, Slovakia
Brief personal description Daniel Klein (1979) got his master degree in mathematics at the Safarik University in 2004. He started the PhD study after the graduation at the same University and he obtained His PhD degree in 2008. In oktober 2008 he started to work at the Institute of Mathematics as a researcher. |
Chris Brown
Brief personal description Chris Brown is Deputy Head of the WHO European Office for Investment for Health and Development based in Venice Italy. She has been working there since 2003, leading activities to support countries to better integrate concern for health and socially determined health inequities into health systems and into broader government investment plans and development policies. In 2005 and 2006, Chris was responsible for the design and implementation of the WHO European policy dialogues on the social determinants of health which brought together countries to share and debate learning-to-date in tackling health inequities. Her current duties include technical assistance to WHO European member states in the area of stewardship of the social determinants of health. Previous Chris worked for WHO in Geneva, in the team responsible for the Global Commission on Social Determinants of Health (CSDH). In this she was responsible for developing the CSDH Country strategy and supporting pathfinder countries in policy development and capacity building. Chris has worked for many years as an international consultant to the Danish Foreign ministry and specializing in design and evaluation of bilateral assistance and programs in area of sustainable livelihoods, institutional strengthening and cross sectoral action for development. Current areas of work and interest include synthesis of innovations in governance of health equity and related policy implementation. |
Franklin Apfel
Brief personal description ... |
Variables – Žežula I.
Introduction to medical data. Types of data. Notion of variables and cases. Measurement of data, uncertainty of measurement. Different types of errors in data, missing values. Types of missingness. Characteristics of data, notion of statistic.
Study designs – Madarasová Gecková A.
Introduction of the main types of study designs in epidemiological research (cross-sectional studies, cohort studies, case-control studies, interventional studies, ecological studies). Link to existing guidelines (STROBE, CONSORT, ...).
Measures of effect – Žežula I., Klein D.
Different types of frequencies. Prevalence, incidence rate, risk, mortality rates. Contingency tables and measures of association. Relative risk, odds ratio. Average, median, and mode.
Confounding and interactions – Žežula I., Klein D.
Type I and II errors. Confounders and Simpson’s paradox. How to discover confounding. Methods which prevent or remove confounding. Interaction of effects.
Stratified analyses – Žežula I., Klein D.
Simple stratification. Mantel-Haenszel statistic. Confounders and interactions in stratified analyses. More complex stratification.
Errors and bias – Žežula I., Klein D.
Most common sources of errors in medical data. Selection bias, misclassification and information bias. Estimation of bias.
Logistic regression – Žežula I.
Log-odds and logistic regression model. Test of association. Comparing of 3 or more groups. Quantitative explanatory variable.
Multiple logistic regression – Žežula I.
Logistic regression with several explanatory variables. Logistic regression and confounding. Composite effects and interactions. Hypotheses testing and model building.