About
Epidemiology is the basic science of public health, evidence-based medicine, and comparative effectiveness research. Our goal is to educate and train our MS students in a comprehensive set of epidemiologic and biostatistical methods, so they are ready to launch or further a career as a scientist after completing this research-focused degree. Graduates of the MS program will be prepared for a variety of career opportunities where they can apply competencies in conducting and critically evaluating health-related research, and collecting, managing, and analyzing health-related data. MS students must complete a thesis where they must conduct and communicate an original, epidemiologic research project.
Upon completing the requirements for the MS in Epidemiology, graduates are able to:
- Describe and communicate the scope of epidemiology
- Quantify and apply measures of disease occurrence to populations and describe types of error that can affect the measurements
- Quantify and apply measures of disease association to populations and communicate the findings
- Describe the “why, what, and how” of public health surveillance
- Describe and appraise diagnostic testing and screening studies
- Develop detailed protocols for collecting epidemiologic data accounting for various considerations
- Describe and critically evaluate randomized and observational study designs and evidence from randomized and observational studies
- Apply appropriate statistical approaches in the analysis of epidemiologic data from different study designs
- Interpret and communicate the methods and results from the analysis of epidemiologic data and different designs
- Demonstrate basic data management and analysis skills using statistical software by translating raw epidemiologic data into actionable public health information.
- Plan and conduct a review of the existing peer-reviewed literature and of other sources to describe the current evidence for a specific scientific question, and be able to use a current reference library (e.g., endnote)
- Describe the historical context of human subject protections, ethical issues, and regulatory and guidance information for human subjects research
- Describe and outline the structure and contents of an original scientific manuscript
- Describe and apply frequently used basic and advanced statistical concepts and techniques related to managing, summarizing, analyzing, and interpreting data of interest to epidemiologists and other clinical and public-health professionals
Time to Degree
For students enrolled full-time, the normative time to complete the MS degree program is two academic years (or six quarters) of full-time study, but the degree can be completed in five quarters.
Questions?
Please note that this degree is not yet accredited by the Council on Education for Public Health. UC Irvine is a member of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) and it’s graduate programs are fully accredited by the WASC Senior Commission of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WSCUC), California’s regional accrediting agency.
