The world needs answers.
How are health and disease affected by personal characteristics? Behavior? Geography? Time? These are the central questions of epidemiology, the foundation of public health. As epidemiologists, our answers form the basis for developing policies and interventions to protect and improve the health of populations.
The field of epidemiology has grown dramatically in scope and importance in recent decades. With increasing concerns about emerging infections, environmental hazards, and global health disparities, epidemiologists are playing key roles in an expanding range of public health issues. Our faculty members are experts in epidemiologic methods, chronic and infectious diseases epidemiology, and pharmacoepidemiology. We measure how social, behavioral, medical, infectious, and genetic factors relate to a wide range of reproductive, perinatal, and pediatric outcomes, as well as conditions that accompany the aging process. We evaluate the interplay among environmental and societal conditions, psychosocial factors, and disease. And we quantify the risks and benefits of medications and other treatments.
Affiliated Degrees:
MS in EpidemiologyPhD in Epidemiology
Master of Public HealthDoctor of Public Health
Research Clusters:
- Methodology: Measurement, Recruitment, Sampling, Study Design, and Analyses
- Structural and Social Determinants of Health and Health Equity
- Environmental Determinants of Health
- Psychiatric Epidemiology Research
- Infectious Disease Research
- Aging and Chronic Diseases Research
- Reproductive, Perinatal and Developmental Research
Latest Department News
Latest Publications
- Published On 10/21/2026The need for interconnected global biorepositories from tuberculosis studies to address fundamental questions at scale.The Lancet. Microberead at PubMed
- Published On 10/21/2026Global biological sample collections from tuberculosis studies: a scoping review.The Lancet. Microberead at PubMed
- Published On 1/8/2026Prevalence, Economic Burden, and Healthcare Utilization Among Medicare and Commercially Insured Oropharyngeal Cancer Patients.Cancer epidemiology, biomarkers & prevention : a publication of the American Association for Cancer Research, cosponsored by the American Society of Preventive Oncologyread at PubMed
- Published On 1/8/2026Losing sleep? The effects of exposure to shootings near one''s residence on self-reported sleep quantity in Chicago, 2020-2021.American journal of epidemiologyread at PubMed
- Published On 12/31/2025Using machine learning to identify parenting features prospectively related to callous-unemotional traits from infancy to early adolescencePsychological Medicine
