Deep Learning for Epidemiologists: An Introduction to Neural Networks

Deep learning methods are increasingly being applied to problems in medicine and health care. However, few epidemiologists have received formal training in these methods. To bridge this gap, this article introduces the fundamentals of deep learning from an epidemiologic perspective. Specifically, this article reviews core concepts in machine learning (e.g., overfitting, regularization, and hyperparameters); explains several fundamental deep learning architectures (convolutional neural networks, recurrent neural networks); and summarizes training, evaluation, and deployment of models. Conceptual understanding of supervised learning algorithms is the focus of the article; instructions on the training of deep learning models and applications of deep learning to causal learning are out of this article's scope. We aim to provide an accessible first step towards enabling the reader to read and assess research on the medical applications of deep learning and to familiarize readers with deep learning terminology and concepts to facilitate communication with computer scientists and machine learning engineers.