Department of Epidemiology

Master of Science 42.5 Credit | Academic Year

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The 42.5 credit SM is typically completed over Fall and Spring semesters of one academic year and is designed for applicants with a medical degree or master’s-level background in relevant disciplines (e.g., biology, chemistry, genetics, physiology, bioengineering, and related social and computational sciences). Some students begin the program by also completing one of the Summer programs in Clinical Effectiveness or Public Health Studies.

*The GRE is recommended but not required for the degree application. The absence of test scores will not negatively affect  an applicant over the review process.  If you have questions about this, please contact Eric DiGiovanni at edigiova@hsph.harvard.edu

All other questions regarding the application process can be directed to
Jeffrey Noyes: jnoyes@hsph.harvard.edu

Course Requirement
Epi 201 Introduction to Epidemiology (2.5)
Epi 202 Elements of Epidemiologic Research (2.5)
Epi 203 Study Design in Epidemiological Research (2.5)
Epi 204 Analysis of Case-Control and Cohort Studies (2.5)
Bst 201 Introduction to Statistical Methods (5)
Bst 210
OR 213		 Analysis of Rates and Proportions(5) OR
Applies Regression for Clinical Research (5)

Course Requirements

  • 42.5 total credits earned
  • 30/42.5 credits are ordinal
  • 10/30 Ordinal credits must be in Epidemiology
  • 10/30 Ordinal credits must be in Biostatistics

**All core courses listed above must be taken for ordinal grading**

At the end of the 42.5 Credit Master of Science program, the student will be able to:

  • Demonstrate basic skills in core public health sciences of epidemiology and biostatistics.
  • Develop comprehensive knowledge of the role of epidemiology as a basic science for public health and clinical medicine to provide a quantitative approach to addressing public health and clinical problems.
  • Interpret descriptive epidemiologic results in order to develop hypotheses of possible risk factors for a disease.
  • Critically evaluate public health and medical literature through knowledge gained of the basic principles and methods of epidemiology, including disease (outcome) measures, measures of association, study design options, bias, confounding, and effect measure modification.
  • Develop a foundation for designing valid and efficient protocols to address public health and clinical problems.
  • Apply quantitative skills to analyze and synthesize epidemiologic data related to public health issues.
  • Design, implement, analyze and/or summarize an epidemiologic research project.