Epidemiology is the study of the distribution, determinants and control of illness and impairment in human populations. It is the cornerstone of population health, and informs policy decisions and evidence-based medicine by identifying risk factors for disease and targets for treatment and prevention. The Division of Epidemiology is part of the Department of Health Research and Policy, and it is physically located on the Stanford School of Medicine campus. Its primary activities include:

• Research on the identification, prevention, and treatment of human disorders and the maintenance of population health.
• Training physician investigators in techniques of clinical research.
• Advancing knowledge in epidemiology through educational programs for undergraduate, graduate, and postgraduate students.

Division Strengths

Stanford Epidemiology is a leader in the following areas — cancer epidemiology, infectious disease epidemiology, neuroepidemiology, cardiovascular disease epidemiology, musculoskeletal disease epidemiology, and epidemiologic methods, as well as aspects of genetic epidemiology, reproductive epidemiology and women's health. Our students and scholars benefit from interdisciplinary collaborations with the shared faculty of Stanford's #1 ranked graduate programs in many fields — statistics, computer science, biological sciences, medicine, genetics, genomics and bioinformatics.

Many students are clinical investigators with an MD or comparable clinical degree, often in fellowship stages of their training or already junior faculty members.  The program also considers applicants from doctoral programs in the social, behavioral or biological sciences, who are interested in a concurrent master degree and wish to apply epidemiologic techniques in their areas of research interest.  The program also serves as a rigorous introduction to epidemiology and clinical research for students with baccalaureate degrees who anticipate careers in clinical epidemiology or medicine.

The PhD program in epidemiology and clinical research will provide methodologic and interdisciplinary training that will equip students to carry out cutting-edge epidemiologic research. The program trains students in the tools of modern epidemiology, with heavy emphases on statistics, computer science, genetics, genomics, and bioinformatics. We welcome applicants with diverse backgrounds.