| Department of Epidemiology (MPH, MSPH, DrPH, PhD)
This department encompasses research and educational foci in epidemiology, the distribution and determinants of disease in humans, with particular emphasis on cancer, occupational and environmental epidemiology, infectious diseases, population genetics, injury and chronic diseases; and in international health, a multidisciplinary approach to tropical infectious diseases, public health nutrition, environmental hygiene, reproductive health and program management in developing countries and under-resourced areas of the United States.
Donna Arnett, MSPH, PhD, Professor and Chair
Faculty: Professors: Arnett, Delzell, Garrison, Go, Jolly, Kaslow; Associate Professors: McGwin, Sathiakumar, Waterbor; Assistant Professors: Brown, Chamot, V. Howard, Kabagambe, Kristensen, Shrestha, Thomas; Research Assistant Professors: Aissani, Baier, Kempf, Perry, Voeks; Emeritus Professors: Cole, Maetz, Mason, Roseman.
The principal mission of the programs in epidemiology is to provide all students in the School of Public Health with epidemiology training that is suited to their career objectives. A second major instructional goal is to carry out research that contributes to the understanding of the causes of major diseases and the methods for their control.
Career Opportunities
The continued importance of diseases such as HIV/AIDS, other infectious and chronic diseases, injuries, and the threat of bioterrorism have highlighted the nationwide shortage of qualified epidemiologists. Graduates find employment in public health agencies, research organizations and foundations, industry, public and private health services delivery organizations, academe, and international agencies.
Master's Programs' Learning Objectives
Graduates with a Master's degree in epidemiology are expected to:
- describe the epidemiology of important diseases, injuries, and causes of death in a population;
- understand and apply the principles of epidemiologic study design and analysis;
- recognize the circumstances in which specific designs are appropriate for an investigation and to identify strategies to minimize and prevent bias in studies;
- design data collection, entry, and management procedures for epidemiological studies;
- compute and interpret the most common epidemiological measures of disease occurrence and association and to perform hypothesis testing and interval estimation on those measures;
- understand and analyze published reports of epidemiologic studies and critically evaluate the data and conclusions presented.
In addition, graduates of the MSPH degree program are also expected to:
- propose a methodologically sound study design for the evaluation of a new hypothesis; and
- manage one or more components of a research project, including instrument design, database design and management, statistical analysis and report writing.
|