 smallpox, yellow fever, cholera, scarlet fever, typhoid, H1N1, blue, and polio. Have you heard of these? These are just a few examples of epidemics. I'm Melanie Chivroch and I'm the instructor to dynamics of epidemics. This course is going to cover various topics including biology, microbiology, public health, and vaccine development. After covering the basics of immunology and pathogens, we will use case studies to study different epidemics. We will discover the dynamics of childhood diseases, the evolution of drug resistance, digital epidemiology, disease surveillance, and vaccinations. We will learn the organisms that infect humans and make us sick called pathogens. We will learn about the factors that determine the outcome of infection, like host immunity, innate, and adaptive immune responses. We will explore the ecological factors that influence the dynamic patterns of infectious disease as well as mechanisms involved in controlling epidemics. By looking at the history of epidemiological response and modern-day public health initiatives, we can analyze individual epidemics for how effective they were, and in particular, we can look at the many equity issues surrounding those responses. This course will use case studies to promote seminar-style dialogue and it's going to be filled with discussion, research, and systems-designed thinking. If this sounds like a course that you might be interested in, I hope that you will consider enrolling.