Dr. Vicki Adams applies her veterinary training and experience in state-of-the-art epidemiological and statistical methods to the investigation of diseases of cats, dogs and horses. The methods employed include the use of observational study designs such as the cross-sectional survey, case-control study and cohort study as well as experimental studies such as clinical trials. These types of studies are perfectly suited to obtaining the data required to answer the questions that we seek to ask and answer.
Epidemiology
- Research question and hypothesis formulation
- Study design and sampling
- Data collection and management
Statistics
- Data analysis
- Data interpretation
- Data presentation
Teaching
- Principles of epidemiology
- Statistical analysis
- Survey and questionnaire design
Additional skills
- Grant proposal writing and project management
- Scientific writing and review
- Critical appraisal of published literature
While definitions can be quite boring, an explanation of what epidemiology is all about is important. Simply put, epidemiology is "much more than finely dressed statistics"! Epidemiology is the study of disease in populations and the factors that contribute to the development of disease. The population under study may be an entire population of cats living in a cattery, a sample of a population of cats living in a city, a sample of horses stabled in a training yard or it may even be a single breed of dog. Epidemiology is an ancient field, dating back to the time of Hippocrates around 400 BC. Epidemiology is a continuum with the focus on groups of subjects rather than individuals. The spectrum of epidemiological activities stretches from demography (census taking) through survey research and observational studies to experimental medicine (clinical trials).
Dr. Vicki Adams’ research interests focus on the study of diseases of importance in companion animals. With our pets living longer, the chronic diseases such as cancer, heart disease, kidney disease and diabetes have become ever more important, particularly due to their effects on quality of life and outcomes (such as reasons for euthanasia). What we are doing in small animal epidemiological research is similar to what has been done in human research into chronic diseases with the difference that we are some years behind the human medical epidemiologists in terms of what we know about the prevalence and incidence of disease, the risk factors for disease, efficacy of treatments and preventive measures, and prognosis or predicted outcome for many of the important conditions in our pets.
