The need to understand basic epidemiological concepts cannot be overstated for researchers wanting to make a career in any medical field, including hepatology. This course will give an overview of common and cutting-edge methodologies in clinical epidemiology that will be highly useful for clinicians wanting to develop their capacity to read, interpret, and understand limitations of clinical studies in medical journals. Instead of presenting a clinical case, the course will focus on practical skills needed to understand or design clinical studies and to be able to spot flaws and limitations in their own and other’s research work.

In essence, this course will improve the knowledge of applied clinical study design and methodology for the next generation of clinicians and clinical researchers in hepatology. The skills gained can be used across all medical fields and attract a wide audience. The course will improve the quality of future studies in the field of hepatology by improving theoretical knowledge and practical skills in research methodology among young clinicians and researchers.

The aim of this EASL School is to gain a basic understanding of key concepts used in study design and epidemiology.

Hannes Hagström is a senior consultant in hepatology at the Karolinska University Hospital, and adjunct professor at Karolinska Institutet, Sweden’s largest medical university and the host institution for the Nobel prize in physiology or medicine. He leads a research group of approximately 20 researchers and clinicians with a focus on the epidemiology of liver diseases with a special focus on MASLD. The group has published some of the largest and most well-cited studies on the natural history of MASLD, and has established several large register-based cohorts in the field.

• To learn about commonly used study designs and when to use which.
• To understand different forms of bias and how to account for these.
• To improve your reading of scientific papers – what to look out for and why.
• To gain insights into more advanced methods and when these might be needed.

• Networking and knowledge exchange with experts and young fellow researchers and clinicians in your field.
• Learn how to better read and dissect scientific literature.
• Gain valuable skills to design your next study.

The target audience will consist of clinicians and researchers wanting to pursue a career within clinical research in hepatology. Ideally, attendees should be registered as PhD-students or be close to registering, and else are involved in research projects, although we will also consider attendees who have completed their PhD training. A medical degree and at least 1-2 years of experience within hepatology is expected since the course will frequently refer to clinical examples.