Preface to the first edition

This book has grown out of our collective experience of teaching introductory epidemiology both in the classroom and to distance students enrolled in public health and health studies programmes in the School of Population Health (formerly the Department of Social and Preventive Medicine), University of Queensland. It began life as a detailed set of course notes that we wrote because we could not find a single epidemiology text that covered all of the areas we felt were important in sufficient detail. As the notes were to be used primarily by distance students, we tried hard to make them accessible with lots of examples, minimal jargon and equations, and by engaging readers in ‘doing’ epidemiology along the way. Feedback from students and colleagues convinced us that the notes were both approachable and practical. We have built on this, and offer this text as a practical introduction to epidemiology for those who need an understanding of health data they meet in their everyday working lives, as well as for those who wish to pursue a career in epidemiology.

Acknowledgements

If we were to name everyone who had contributed in some way to this book the list would be endless. We would, however, like to acknowledge some of the great teachers (and their books) from whom we have learned most of what we know, and the books we have relied heavily on for our teaching.