The manageable volume allowed me to quickly peruse the vast terminology that defines epidemiology. Home > Remembering John Last: Epidemiologist, public health advocate, book collector, writer, John M. Last, OC, MBBS, MD, FRCPC, died on September 11, 2019, just shy of his 93rd birthday. Students seeking clarity on terms that straddle the fence between epidemiology and biostatistics, such as Bland-Altman plot, may need to refer to a biostatistics textbook, as these terms, though often used in epidemiology, are regularly taught and explained in biostatistics textbooks. Racial Disparities in Health among College Educated African-Americans: Can HBCU Attendance Reduce the Risk of Metabolic Syndrome in Midlife? In addition, the Fifth Edition provides several clarifications about the many correct or incorrect uses of RATE by epidemiologists. The new version is close to 50% larger, with many newly defined terms, but the increased size can also be attributed to an increase in font size that allows for easier searching of terms. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. A Dictionary of Public Health Edited by John M. Last-This is the only comprehensive dictionary of public health science and practice on the market.-Editor John Last has a successful track record with his Dictionary of Epidemiology, now in its 4th edition with OUP. I received many awards and distinctions. I was editor in chief of the 11th, 12th and 13th editions of Public Health and Preventive Medicine (“Maxcy-Rosenau-Last”) and editor emeritus of the 14th and 15th editions. I was scientific editor of the Canadian Journal of Public Health in 1981-1992, editor of Annals of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada from 1991-1998 and editor or editorial board member of several other books and journals. We all know how hard it can be for some students to grasp the subtleties of aspects of epidemiology. For example, the Second Edition seemed to imply that the standard term is prevalence rate rather than prevalence: “PREVALENCE … sometimes used to mean PREVALENCE RATE” (4, p. 103). How Long-Term Acute Care Hospitals (LTACHs) Can Play an Important Role in Controlling Carbapenem-Resistant, Common Childhood Viruses and Pubertal Timing: The LEGACY Girls Study, Disseminated Effects in Agent Based Models: A Potential Outcomes Framework and Application to Inform Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis Coverage Levels for HIV Prevention, propensity scores, marginal structural models, About the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Comments from a doctoral student in epidemiology, Receive exclusive offers and updates from Oxford Academic, Chief of ID, VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System, Full or Associate Professor, Head of the Division of Geriatrics, Copyright © 2020 Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. I met Dr. John Last at the Royal College of Physicians likely early 1990`s for an interview as I was teaching my young daughter how to do research. I told him I had purchased his children's novel, "Gloriana and the Twins A Search for Pirate Treasure". I had a very interesting and thoroughly enjoyable life. Even a superb dictionary will likely elicit comment and disagreement. After 10 years treating sick and injured people in hospitals in Adelaide and in Britain, and as a general practitioner in Adelaide, I had a philosophical conversion to the notion that it is better to prevent disease, injury and premature death than to wait for disease or injury to happen and try to treat them. Rest in peace Dr. Last and wife Wendy. John M. Last: “epidemiology is the study of distribution and determinants of health-related states or events in specified populations, and the applica-tion of this study to control of health problems” (Last, 2001). In future editions, the editors might consider consolidating the location of the definitions of incidence and mortality (death) rates under the heading RATE by creating 2 subheadings, one as defined for use in the assessment of population health and one as defined for use in epidemiology. However, where is the definition of the even more complicated notion of an OPEN COHORT? Students further along in their studies appreciated the straightforward definitions; however, many referred to epidemiology textbooks for greater explanation of complex terms.