Program Delivery
Curriculum Design
Criteria for Admission
Program Faculty
Student Handbook
The Public Health Epidemiology major prepares students for careers involving the study of the distribution of disease in large groups or from a population-based perspective. It involves factors affecting disease and disability in populations. As a fundamental science of public health and preventive medicine, epidemiology research has traditionally focused on questions of disease causation through population studies for both infectious and chronic diseases. Epidemiologists attempt to quantify the distribution and establish the determinants of health problems by describing and analyzing the biological, environmental, social and behavioral factors affecting health, illness and premature death. Descriptive and analytic techniques are used to gather information on disease occurrence, extend basic knowledge about the physical, mental and social processes affecting health, and develop effective disease-control measures. The products of such inquiries are also used in the formulation of health policies. Quantitative skills, including biostatistics and computer applications, are emphasized in this major. Epidemiologists work closely with other health professionals including physicians, environmental health personnel, behavioral scientists, demographers, biostatisticians, and administrators of health agencies. Epidemiologists often work for local, state, and federal governments, health care organizations, private industry, and institutions of higher education. Epidemiology MPH graduates often continue their education by pursuing doctoral-level studies in epidemiology, biostatistics, or some other related health field.
Public Health Epidemiology graduates are prepared to:
| • | Define and calculate measures of disease frequency and measures of association between risk factors and disease. |
| • | Describe the major epidemiologic research study designs and their advantages and limitations. |
| • | Describe the major sources of bias in epidemiologic research (confounding, selection bias, and measurement error) and the ways to evaluate and reduce bias. |
| • | Evaluate effect modification. |
| • | Apply criteria to support whether an association is causal. |
| • | Understand the basic terms and methods used in outbreak investigation, infectious disease epidemiology, chronic disease epidemiology, disease prevention trials and evaluation of screening tests. |
| • | Review the scientific literature with competence, synthesize findings across studies and make appropriate public health recommendations based on current knowledge. |
| • | Design an epidemiologic study to address a question of interest. |
| • | Interpret results of an epidemiologic study, including the relation to findings from other epidemiologic studies, potential biologic and/or social mechanisms, limitations of the study, and public health implications. |
| • | Write a clear description of the rationale, methods, results, and interpretation of an epidemiologic investigation. |
| • | Apply epidemiologic skills in a public health setting, specifically in the formulation or application of public health programs or policies. |