In this episode, Medlock Holmes approaches one of the most sensitive and socially complex domains of public health: sexuality.

Sexual health is not merely the absence of disease. It encompasses physical wellbeing, psychological safety, consent, reproductive autonomy, identity, and human rights. Holmes explores how sexuality intersects with infectious dis…

In this episode, Medlock Holmes turns his attention from pathogens and probabilities to people and power. Public health is not solely biological - it is deeply social and psychological.

We explore how sociology examines the structures that shape health: social class, inequality, institutions, norms, culture, and power dynamics. Holmes investigates how so…

In this episode, Medlock Holmes steps away from snapshots of disease and instead examines the long arc of health across an entire lifetime.

Life course epidemiology asks a transformative question: How do exposures at different stages of life influence later health outcomes? Health is not merely the product of present conditions - it is layered, cumulativ…

In this episode, Medlock Holmes shifts from prediction to vigilance. Public health surveillance is not passive data collection - it is structured, continuous, systematic observation designed to trigger action.

Holmes begins by defining surveillance in its modern sense: the ongoing collection, analysis, interpretation, and dissemination of health data for…

In this episode, Medlock Holmes enters the world of dynamic systems - where infections move not randomly, but according to patterns that can be described, simulated, and sometimes predicted.

Mathematical modelling of infectious disease seeks to answer urgent questions:How fast will an outbreak grow?When will it peak?What level of vaccination is needed fo…

In this episode, Medlock Holmes steps onto a global stage. Instead of a single outbreak or local study, we now examine the health of entire populations - across countries, decades, and causes.

The Global Burden of Disease (GBD) framework was developed to answer a profound question: How do we compare the impact of different diseases, injuries, and risk fa…

In this episode, Medlock Holmes enters the engine room of epidemiology: statistical reasoning. Behind every risk ratio, confidence interval, and p-value lies a framework of probability, estimation, and uncertainty.

Holmes begins by revisiting foundational concepts - populations and samples, distributions, measures of central tendency, and variability. We…

In this episode, Medlock Holmes turns from individual studies to the architecture of accumulated evidence. One study may suggest. Several may hint. But how do we know when the totality of research points decisively in one direction?

We explore the principles of systematic reviews - structured, transparent, reproducible approaches to identifying, appraisi…

In this episode, Medlock Holmes steps into one of the most fundamental questions in public health: What does it mean to say that something causes disease?

From early infectious disease models and Koch’s postulates to Bradford Hill’s criteria and modern counterfactual reasoning, we unpack how causal thinking has evolved. We explore the difference between …

Every epidemiological finding must answer a deeper question: is it true?

This chapter examines the foundations of validity in epidemiological research. It distinguishes between random error and systematic error, and it dissects the principal forms of bias that threaten inference.

We explore:

* Internal validity versus external validity

* Selection bias

* Informati…