Epidemiology

University of Missouri-Columbia
Graduate certificate
Chart of epidemiology outbreaks.
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Overview

Epidemiology is the core science of public health — and those employed in the field are shaping the way that decisions about health are made. This certificate program is designed to help health professionals in a variety of roles rise to the challenge of utilizing analytic methods to study the occurrence and distribution of health-related conditions.

In addition to public health specialists, including those working at governmental agencies, community-based nonprofits or for-profit health care organizations, students in a variety of graduate programs (such as anthropology or sociology) or employed in clinical fields (such as medicine or nursing) will find value in this program’s course work. Enhance your employability and add epidemiological analysis to your skill set with MU’s online graduate certificate in epidemiology.

Quick facts

Official name

Graduate certificate in epidemiology

Campus

University of Missouri-Columbia

Program type

Graduate certificate

Academic home

College of Health Sciences | Department of Public Health

Delivery mode

100% online

Accreditation

Higher Learning Commission; Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH)

Credit hours

12

Estimated cost

$6,900.00

*This cost is for illustrative purposes only. Your hours and costs will differ, depending on your transfer hours, your course choices and your academic progress. See more about tuition and financial aid.

Epidemiologist looking at charts and data.

Career prospects

Potential careers

  • Infection control epidemiologist
  • Public health analyst
  • State epidemiologist
  • Public health laboratory scientist
Burning Glass Technologies. 2021. Salary numbers and employment growth numbers are based on models that consider advertised job posting salary, Bureau of Labor Statistics data and other proprietary and public sources of information for multiple occupations.
10.06%
employment growth
Burning Glass Technologies. 2021. Salary numbers and employment growth numbers are based on models that consider advertised job posting salary, Bureau of Labor Statistics data and other proprietary and public sources of information for multiple occupations.
$79,000
median salary

Graduate outcomes include

  • Understand the key role of epidemiology in informing health issues and in preserving and improving public health;
  • Appropriately select and use information technology to identify, locate and access health-related data;
  • Accurately evaluate the integrity of data and identify gaps in data;
  • Analyze data arising from epidemiologic studies using appropriate software;
  • Interpret the output of regression models from standard statistical programs and present the results in research papers and project reports;
  • Evaluate outcome-based research on public health interventions for its potential use in public health practice;
  • Convey community assessment and intervention findings to lay audiences.

Program structure

The online graduate certificate in epidemiology is 100 percent online: no campus visits are required.

Courses are semester-based. Students typically take two classes each semester session and finish the program in one year.

Course work covers

  • Veterinary epidemiology and biostatistics
  • Applied epidemiology in community assessment
  • Participatory research approaches for health systems

Delivery

100% online

Calendar system

Semester-based

Typical program length

1 year

Typical course load

2 classes per semester

Accreditation

The University of Missouri is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission, one of six regional institutional accreditors in the United States.

The epidemiology graduate certificate program is accredited through the Council on Education for Public Health.

Faculty spotlight

Photo Lynelle Phillips: Grinning caucasian woman with blond hair and green blouse

Phillips received her MPH in 1992 and has worked for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in areas including environmental health, immunization and tuberculosis control. She also worked at the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services as a nurse consultant and CDC field assignee to the tuberculosis program. She has had numerous publications in the areas of tuberculosis prevention and control, infectious diseases, immunizations and environmental health. She now teaches for both the bachelor’s of public health and master’s of public health programs, and serves as the MPH field placement coordinator.

Lynelle Phillips, MPH, BSN
Assistant Teaching Professor

Learn more about this program

This program is administered by the Department of Public Health