The objective of the course is to provide the participant with insight in the principles and important issues of cardiovascular disease epidemiology. Topics that will be covered are:

• Atherosclerosis, the underlying pathology for the most common cardiovascular diseases;
• Risk factors for cardiovascular disease;
• Worldwide trends in cardiovascular disease morbidity and mortality;

In addition, there will be several key lectures given by invited speakers from both inside and outside the UMC Utrecht. During these lectures the latest developments in CVD epidemiology will be presented. Topics in key lectures may include sex differences in CVD, the importance of genes and environmental factors in CVD
Interactive teaching is key in this course. Apart from active participation during the lectures, the participant will be assigned to tasks: First, an individual assignemnt about cvd research in 2030 has to be made and second particpants have to defend a proposition in a debate. This will be a group assignment.