About EpiBio

Department Head's Message

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Welcome to the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics. Epidemiology and Biostatistics use quantitative methods to support evidence-based decision making in public health and biomedicine. Our mission is to train public health professionals in the use of epidemiological principles and biostatistical methods and to conduct innovative research to address existing and emerging public health issues. To accomplish the former, we offer Masters of Public Health degrees with concentrations in Epidemiology and Biostatistics. Honors undergraduate students may pursue a combined B.S. in Statitics and MPH in Biostatistics. Students compling an MPH with concentrations in Epidemiology or Biostatistics have career opportunities in public, non-profit and private sectors.

Epidemiology is the study of the distribution of disease in populations, focusing on patterns of risk and preventative measures for disease. Epidmiologists are involved in infectious disease surveillance, and the assessment of risk factors for infectious and chronic disease for government agencies and healthcare organizations. Our faculty faculty are actively engaged in research in infectious disease, and molecular epidemiology as well epidemiology of aging in collabaration with faculty from Veterinary Medicine, the Institute of Gerontology, and Genetics.

Biostatistics is concerned with the development and application of quantitative methods for collecting, summarizing, analyzing, and interpreting biological information in the presence of uncertainty. Biostatisticians may become involved in the design and analysis of clinical trials and public health surveys, total quality assurance, and may be employed as consultants and research-team members by the pharmaceutical industry, medical schools, government agencies, or insurance firms. Our faculty are actively engaged in reseach on methods of survival analysis, analysis of data from ecological momentary assessment, and bioinformatics.

- Stephen L. Rathbun, Ph.D.