Jekels Epidemiology Biostatistics Preventive Medicine and Public Health 4th Edition PDF
17.84 MB PDF
Preface
We are very pleased and proud to bring you this fourth edition of what proved to be in earlier editions a best-selling title in its content area of epidemiology, biostatistics, and preventive medicine. We are, as well, a bit nervous about our efforts to honor that pedigree because this is the first edition not directly overseen by Dr. James Jekel, who set this whole enterprise in motion almost 20 years ago. We hasten to note that Dr. Jekel is perfectly well and was available to help us out as the need occasionally arose. But after some years of a declared retirement that looked like more than a full-time job for any reasonable person, Jim has finally applied his legendary good sense to himself and is spending well-earned time in true retirement with his large extended family. A mentor to several of us, Jim remains an important presence in this edition, both by virtue of the content that is preserved from earlier editions, and by virtue of the education he provided us. When the book is at its best, we gratefully acknowledge Dr. Jekel’s influence. If ever the new edition falls short of that standard, we blame ourselves. We have done our best, but the bar was set high!
To maximize our chances of clearing the bar, we have done the prudent thing and brought in reinforcements. Most notable among them is Dr. Sean Lucan, who joined us as the fourth member of the main author team. Sean brought to the project an excellent fund of knowledge, honed in particular by the Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars program at the University of Pennsylvania, as well as a keen editorial eye and a sharp wit. The book is certainly the better for his involvement, and we are thankful he joined us.
Also of note are five new chapters we did not feel qualified to write, and for which we relied on guest authors who most certainly were. Their particular contributions are noted in the contents list and on the title page of the chapters in question. We are grateful to this group of experts for bringing to our readers authoritative treatment of important topics we could not have addressed half so well on our own.
Readers of prior editions, and we thank you for that brand loyalty, will note a substantial expansion from 21 chapters to 30. This was partly the result of unbundling the treatment of preventive medicine and public health into separate sections, which the depth and breadth of content seemed to require. These domains overlap substantially, but are distinct and are now handled accordingly in the book. The expansion also allowed the inclusion of important topics that were formerly neglected: from the epidemiology of mental health disorders, to disaster planning, to health care reform, to the One Health concept that highlights the indelible links among the health of people, other species, and the planet itself.
Return readers will note that some content is simply preserved. We applied the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!” principle to our efforts. Many citations and illustrations have stood the test of time and are as informative now as they ever were. We resisted the inclination to “update” such elements simply for the sake of saying we had done so. There was plenty of content that did require updating, and readers will also note a large infusion of new figures, tables, passages, definitions, illustrations, and citations. Our hopes in this regard will be validated if the book feels entirely fresh and current and clear to new and return readers alike, yet comfortably familiar to the latter group.
Any book is subject to constraints on length and scope, and ours is no exception. There were, therefore, predictable challenges regarding inclusions and exclusions, depth versus breadth. We winced at some of the harder trade-offs and did the best we could to strike the optimal balance.
Such, then, are the intentions, motivations, and aspirations that shaped this new edition of Epidemiology, Biostatistics, Preventive Medicine, and Public Health. They are all now part of a process consigned to our personal histories, and the product must be judged on its merits. The verdict, of course, resides with you.
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