Group Interview
Year: October 17th, 2003
Interviewed by: Blackburn, Henry
Abstract
Ian and Millicent Higgins discuss how they met at an AHA Methods Committee meeting and their careers in epidemiology at Michigan and at NIH. For the major part of the interview Millicent Higgins discusses the Tecumseh Study in depth: its beginnings, hypotheses, methodology, successes and challenges; the idea of a natural community; and the roles of Tommy Francis, Fred Epstein and Felix Moore in the study. She pays particular attention to why Tecumseh ended and to Epstein’s career and leadership style in general. (Suzanne Fisher)
Quotes
But the exciting thing, of course, was Tommy Francis’ idea of a study of a human population – a natural community. The idea was to do this comprehensive, prospective study of health and disease in a natural community. And, of course, that was a very overly ambitious plan….The other thing, of course, was that it included everybody from the cradle to the grave and that meant that people could be looked at as individuals or as members of families. They could be looked at in terms of socio-economic status, where they lived – rural vs. urban, what they did. So this was really part of Tommy’s design that he was interested in the biological, physical, social environment in which these people lived.
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