Department of Epidemiology & Biostatistics
Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the University of Arizona provides students with the scientific framework for understanding health and disease. The department supports the instruction, research and service mission of the College by providing excellent classroom, research and community training opportunities to students.Our work starts in the communities we study. Faculty and students respond to outbreaks alongside county health departments, follow long-term health outcomes across the border region, and build the statistical methods that make that work possible.
Academic Programs
Our epidemiology students learn outbreak investigation by doing it. Through SAFER, they work alongside Arizona health departments on public health responses, from illness clusters to mass-gathering surveillance. Coursework covers study design, causal inference, and the analytic skills to run an investigation start to finish.
Degrees: MPH (in person) · MPH online, Applied Epidemiology · MS · PhD · PhD minor
Director: Heidi Brown, PhD
Biostatistics at Arizona sits inside an active research department, so students analyze real study data rather than teaching sets. The MS in Biostatistics and Health Data Science combines classical statistical training with modern computational methods, preparing graduates for research, industry, and doctoral study.
Degrees: MS, Biostatistics & Health Data Science · PhD · PhD minor
Director: Paul Hsu, PhD
Why Study at The University of Arizona?
Collaborations
Our students have an abundance of excellent research and instructional opportunities available to them. The University of Arizona has a nationally ranked teaching hospital, a comprehensive cancer center, and a center of excellence for respiratory disease. Also, the University has developed a unique Bio5 Institute. Our faculty and students have developed strong collaborations with all of these centers.
Mentorships
One of the strengths of the department is the quality of interaction between students and faculty. With a low student to faculty ratio, students have better access to faculty and more opportunities for mentoring relationships.
Service Learning
The College has outstanding service learning opportunities, including the SAFER program (Student Aid for Field Epidemiology Response). This program provides public health students real world experience in working an outbreak investigation. In addition to hands-on work with state and county health departments, students have had the opportunity to do field work (including syndromic surveillance) at events like the Super Bowl, MLB All Star game and the Fiesta Bowl.
Contact Us
Prospective students are encouraged to contact us if they have any questions.
Admissions
If you have a question about admission to any of the programs offered by the department or you are interested in scheduling a visit to Tucson, please contact our Director of Admissions at coph-admit@arizona.edu or by phone at 520-626-3201.
Department
If you wish to contact the department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics directly, please email Sharon Bolin or call 520-626-0023.