UNMC to offer doctoral degree in epidemiology

A Ph.D. program in epidemiology, the basic science of public health, will be offered by UNMC’s College of Public Health starting next fall.

Dana Loomis, Ph.D.

The University of Nebraska Board of Regents approved the new doctoral program, which will begin next fall. It is the fifth doctoral program in the College of Public Health. The other doctoral programs include:

• Biostatistics;
  
• Health promotion and disease prevention research;
  
• Health services research, administration, and policy; and
  
• Environmental health, occupational health, and toxicology.

Epidemiology is a specialized field and only 39 other medical centers in the United States offer this degree – universities in Iowa and Minnesota being the closest.

“Epidemiology is relevant to everything in public health,” said Dana Loomis, Ph.D., chairman and professor of epidemiology. “It studies the causes and distribution of illness and injury, it measures the magnitude of health problems and generates scientific data for decision-making in all fields of health.”

Epidemiologists design and conduct studies to identify causes of disease, evaluate interventions and contribute to risk assessment.

Students interested in this program include:

• Graduates with training in epidemiology or public health;
  
• Physicians who want to transition into research; and
  
• People with a background in mathematics, statistics and social science.

The U.S. Department of Labor estimates that by 2020 the job market for epidemiologists will grow faster than the average rate for other jobs. Career options for professionals with a Ph.D. in epidemiology include:

• Academic health centers;
  
• Government agencies;
  
• Private research firms; and
  
• The pharmaceutical industry.