Greetings and welcome!  I retired officially from the regular University of Washington faculty at the end of 2011 and am now Professor Emeritus of Epidemiology and Health Services.  I no longer have an active research program or classroom teaching duties.  My main professional activities in retirement have been:

• Co-authoring with colleague Noel Weiss the second edition of Epidemiologic Research: Studying the Occurrence of Illness, which was published in August, 2014.
  
  
• Serving as a statistical / methodological reviewer for JAMA (through November, 2021).
  
  
• Co-authoring scientific papers from projects on which I was an investigator before retiring.
  
  

Research history

   Before retiring, my main research areas were injury epidemiology, neuroepidemiology, veterans health, application of epidemiology to evaluation of health services, and epidemiologic methods.  See my curriculum vitae for details.

Teaching history

    Noel Weiss and I co-created the EPI 512-513 course series, Epidemiologic Methods I and II, in the mid-1980s, and I co-taught it through 2011.  Those courses are now co-taught by Ali Rowhani-Rahbar, Amanda Phipps, and Noel Weiss.  The main textbook is Epidemiologic Methods: Studying the Occurrence of Illness, which is also used in similar courses at other universities.  The second edition, pictured below, is available from Oxford University Press or from fine booksellers worldwide.

Computing

   I have used computers extensively throughout my career since working as a professional computer programmer before and during medical school.  I developed my own preferences for favorite software, most of which is open-source and in the public domain.

Non-professional interests

• I am one member of a 6-person book club, now in its 39th year, for which I serve as club historian.  A list of books we have read is available here.
  
  
• I have a more-than-casual interest in art history.  I completed a 6-year project from 2002-2007, spending one year studying Western art from each century from the 15th century through the 20th.  One spin-off from the project was a series of art cover commentaries for Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine (now JAMA Pediatrics) about different art works related to the lives of children.  Another by-product was a computer-based pictorial companion to Giorgio Vasari's Lives of the Painters, which was one of our book club selections.  Yet another was a special seminar, An Epidemiologist Looks at Art, presented by invitation to the UW Department of Epidemiology in early 2012.  The text and a slightly sanitized version of the slides are available for viewing.
  
  
• In early 2011, I began trying to learn how to play the viola.  It has become a continuing source of both challenge and enjoyment.  I am grateful for the patience and help of two good teachers.
  
  

Retirement goals

   In a manner of speaking, I spend time on the BEACH, by which I mean two things for each letter in "BEACH":

• B is for Books: update Noel's and my book on epidemiologic methods, and read good books written by others
  
• E is for Exploration and Education: explore the world (India, Sub-Saharan Africa, Antarctica, New Zealand, Australia, Cuba, Norway, Italy...), and become more educated on interesting and unfamiliar topics (music, economics, mathematics, philosophy, art history...) by sitting in on classes at UW and by other means
  
• A is for Arts: attend many performing arts and visual arts events, and continue learning how to play the viola
• C is for Contribution and Companion: contribute to the health profession as a JAMA statistical reviewer and to my local community through volunteer work and advocacy, and spend time with my lovely wife and life companion, Kathie
• H is for Health and Home: stay healthy, and work on overdue house projects
  
  

Contact information

    E-mail: koepsell@u.washington.edu

    Regular mail: 725 9th Avenue, Apt. 1801, Seattle, WA 98104

    I no longer have an office on the UW campus.