Epidemiological Studies Courses and Certificates
Are you interested in finding causes of noncommunicable diseases? Would you like to research the spread and prevention of viral and bacterial illnesses? Are you a wildlife scientist concerned about how animal disease could affect human societies? A career in epidemiology might be for you. Read on to learn more. Schools offering Epidemiology degrees can also be found in these popular choices.
What is Epidemiology?
Epidemiology is the study of diseases that afflict all biological species, though most commonly, humans and animals. Epidemiologists are medical scientists that research causes, prevention and controls of diseases. In this field, you'll commonly research or respond to illness occurrences in large populations using a branch of mathematics called biostatistics. You'll design and conduct research, analyzing and interpreting the results and sharing your research findings with the public and medical community.
What Education Do I Need?
To enter this field, you'll typically need a master's degree, though some institutions and positions require a medical or research doctoral degree. If you have sufficient medical, research and laboratory education and experience, several graduate schools offer certificate programs that allow you to specialize your research or applied science practice in epidemiology. Graduate certificates can also be used to prepare you for master's or doctoral-level study in the discipline. Depending on your current occupation or career goal, you can find graduate certificate programs in general biostatistics or specific applications, such as human disease, veterinary science or dentistry.
What Courses Could I Take?
In a graduate certificate program in epidemiology, you'll take courses in infectious disease, chronic illnesses, nutritional epidemiology, social epidemics, ethics and public policies. You'll learn and practice different research methods and laboratory sciences. Many programs include significant training on biostatistical data assembly, research and evaluation.
Dentistry programs cover oral and blood-borne diseases and are usually part of a master's or doctoral program. Certificate programs designed for veterinarians or animal scientists might expect you to have some graduate education or a degree and typically include one or more courses in veterinary epidemiology. In these courses, you'll investigate causes and prevention of diseases for animals, as well as how animal disease impacts human populations.
To continue researching, browse degree options below for course curriculum, prerequisites and financial aid information. Or, learn more about the subject by reading the related articles below: