KARACHI – The Dow University of Health Sciences (DUHS) on Saturday launched “summer short courses” in the disciplines of Epidemiology, Biostatistics, Statistical Software and Financing Healthcare.To give the students a brief concept of the courses, an introductory symposium was held at the varsity’s Arag Auditorium. In his address, Dow Medical College Principal Prof Dr Junaid Ashraf said the short courses would increase the knowledge and expertise of students. They will be benefited by these short courses. The principal said, “Since its inception, the DUHS was focusing on three domains, community healthcare, academic excellence and human resource development. Research Department Director Dr Nazeer Khan gave a brief overview of his department. Speaking on the Biostatistics course, he said that the course introduced statistical concepts and analytical methods as applied to data, encountered in biotechnology and biomedical sciences. It emphasises the basic concepts of experimental design, quantitative analysis of data and statistical inferences.“The course will provide appropriate balance between conceptual statistical understanding and their application in medical sciences. It consists of lecture, discussion, and hands-on exercises designed to give users the practical experience with the featured statistical methods.” Briefing students on the statistical software course, he said it was designed to familiarise with MS Excel statistical package for Social Sciences (SPSS), Minitab and Basis SAS and would cover topics, such as importing data, basic data manipulation, graphic data, descriptive analyses and simple inferential tests. It will also provide appropriate balance between statistical understanding and their application employing software. About the epidemiology course, DUHS Basic Medical Sciences Dean Dr Nighat Nisar said that it was initiated to build knowledge and skills around basic epidemiology and medical statistics and would utilise computer packages appropriate to these skills. Furthermore, it will also provide a methodology and practical application of epidemiological tool in the developing countries, the interpretation of data and on reporting of the field studies. “The course is intended for physicians, nurses, biologists, anthropologists.
, and other professionals with an interest in health problems in developing countries.”