Profile

The Chair of Epidemiology covers all aspects of epidemiology in teaching and in research. Our courses convey the fundamentals as well as more in-depth content in epidemiology and biostatistics. Our emphasis is to teach all basic and advanced issues of epidemiology as well as statistical methods.

Our main research interest is on the prevention of chronic diseases, with a focus on the area of cancer epidemiology, prevention of cancer, physical activity-based health interventions, and health care research.

Currently, we are conducting scientific studies in relation to these research topics: a case-control study about the frequency of cervical cancer screening participation and the quality of cytology (TeQaZ); a study about the incidence of secondary melanoma and the impact of primary tumour treatment and the development of a secondary tumour (AusTher); and a multicentre study about a risk-adapted prevention strategy for colon cancer (RaPS).

We are also analysing data of our randomized population-based cohort study about cervical cancer screening (MARZY). Additionally, a study evaluating of age-indicators and demographic change in the German society (ADia) was conducted. Moreover, we analyze cancer registry data and other secondary data.

As part of our study framework, we also examine important risk factors for cancer and other chronic diseases, such as smoking, alcohol consumption, diet, and human papillomavirus (HPV) infections, as well as protective factors such as physical activity and healthy diet. Additionally, we aim at generating high-quality evidence for the implementation of preventive programmes. 

Another research focus is the evaluation of evidence and study quality. Therefore systematic reviews, meta-analyses, and pooled re-analyses are performed.

In our statistical/methodological research we focus on the development of regularized regression models and machine learning methods. We are developing methods to be used in the future for the analysis of matched studies.