"One of the best things about being a student at UCSF is the incredible network of faculty who are eager to mentor students. This collaborative environment includes experts in diverse health sciences fields, which provides unmatched opportunities for learning and innovation."

— Carrie Chan, PhD student, Epidemiology & Translational Science

Epidemiology & Translational Science

The Epidemiology and Translational Science PhD program is a four to five year course of study for individuals wishing to pursue independent research careers. Incoming students have typically completed training at the master’s level in epidemiology, public health, or related quantitative research fields prior to entering the program. Students are trained in the most advanced methods for studying disease etiology and prevention; for evaluating diagnostic tests and treatment efficacy in clinical settings; and for implementing evidence-based approaches in clinical practice and population health.

The Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at UCSF is the largest of its kind in the ten-campus UC system in terms of full-time primary faculty and number of affiliated faculty. Epidemiology serves as a key discipline — an “epicenter” in team science and in problem-based learning, bridging basic and population sciences. It serves translational science with a critical perspective on population health and provides instruction on research methods that move basic scientific discoveries to practical clinical applications.

Faculty

The program has about 70 primary faculty members in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics and an additional 60 affiliated faculty from other UCSF departments as well as from other institutions and organizations throughout the San Francisco Bay Area and the around the country. Affiliated faculty are associated with departments including general and internal medicine, cardiovascular medicine, pediatrics, psychiatry, obstetrics and gynecology, neurology, nursing, clinical pharmacy, biopharmaceutical sciences, radiology, and dentistry.

Concentrations

aging (including cardiovascular disease, musculoskeletal disease, and dementia/brain aging)
bioinformatics
biostatistics
cancer epidemiology
clinical epidemiology and methods
environmental and occupational epidemiology
epidemiology of cardiovascular and neurological disorders
genetic epidemiology
global health

implementation science
infectious disease epidemiology
lifecourse
machine learning
precision public health and computational epidemiology
reproductive, perinatal and neonatal epidemiology
social epidemiology

The Epidemiology and Translational Science Program is based at UCSF's Mission Bay campus. The doctoral program is housed in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics (DEB) in the School of Medicine, and is a joint effort with the University’s Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute (CTSI).


The Epidemiology and Translational Science program is offered by the UCSF Graduate Division, administered by the UCSF School of Medicine, and delivered by faculty members in the UCSF School of Medicine.

Contacts

Program Manager
Eva Wong-Moy

Program Director
Catie Oldenburg, ScD, MPH