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About
The mission of the Department of Epidemiology is to provide outstanding epidemiology and public health training, conduct innovative research, and engage in impactful service.
The Department of Epidemiology integrates research, education and public health service programs. We offer a fully accredited Master’s of Public Health degree and dual-degree programs with medicine (MD), social work (MSW), and pharmacy (PharmD). Our close ties to the Virginia Department of Health allow us to provide opportunities for our students to immerse in experiential learning with our public health partners. Our doctoral training program in epidemiology cultivates public health scientists equipped to use state-of-the-art research methods for the purpose of advancing fundamental knowledge of issues central to the improvement of population health. The epidemiology program is also available to medical students through the School of Medicine's MD/PhD program.
Working collaboratively with the highly productive, multidisciplinary centers and institutes at VCU, our faculty conducts innovative research aimed at understanding the interface between behavior and physiology to integrate social, psychological and biological approaches to understanding health and illness over the life course. The Division offers a strong collegial atmosphere where faculty, students, and postdoctoral fellows work together to promote and share in the creation of knowledge related to the improvement of population health.
The Department of Epidemiology has been training public health students for 20 years, resulting in more than 500 graduates. The department is research-intensive with close ties to public health practitioners in state and local department of health agencies. Philosophically, we believe in fully immersing students into their chosen career path as quickly as possible in the training experience. Linking didactics immediately to context is extremely important for adult learners.
The research programs in the department are diverse and reflect the diversity of our faculty. Our philosophy in research is grounded in team science. We believe discovery occurs more quickly when teams representing different disciplines work together to solve public health problems. Cross-fertilization of ideas beyond disciplinary boundaries leads to more rapid discoveries and translation of science to practice and policy to promote population health.