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I know that U.S. News and World Report ranks schools of public health, but does anyone know which schools are considered the top epidemiology programs? I am mostly interested in chronic disease.
Best Epidemiology Programs?
- Thread starter jkruh
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It's so hard to say. All I can say I a list of places where either really well known faculty are, or places who consistently produce epi leaders among their alumni.
In no particular order, I'd say Harvard, Hopkins, UNC, Berkeley, U Washington, Michigan, Emory, Yale, Columbia. Maybe the next batch would be UCLA, Tulane, Minnesota, Iowa, UAB, OHSU.
I dunno, though - I'm tired and kinda biased.
In no particular order, I'd say Harvard, Hopkins, UNC, Berkeley, U Washington, Michigan, Emory, Yale, Columbia. Maybe the next batch would be UCLA, Tulane, Minnesota, Iowa, UAB, OHSU.
I dunno, though - I'm tired and kinda biased.
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Around my program (UofMN) I think most people would list Harvard, Hopkins, UNC-Chapel Hill, and maybe Michigan as the top of the top, and then Minnesota, Emory, Columbia in the next batch. BU, Berkely, UCLA, and Tulane were also well known to at least be good schools. Yale, Washington, Drexel, and all the others might be stellar but I haven't heard much about them. But this is all just word of mouth and perception. The truth is that you can learn good epi from almost any place, and it depends on what your interests and how that matches up with a school's current faculty and what research is going on.
Oh, and of course, this is just US places. Can't forget The London School (no, not Hogwarts!).
Oh, and of course, this is just US places. Can't forget The London School (no, not Hogwarts!).
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Thanks so much for your input! I have been admitted to a few of the "top" public health schools, but am leaning towards Minnesota because I think it is a better match for my research interests. Insight into Minnesota's program for anyone who is familiar with it would be greatly appreciated! I.e., how is its reputation out in the "real world", are the classes good, are faculty accessible, etc...
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As you can see, I'm a grad from their epi MPH program. Overall I was very happy with the program, and I am blown away by Minnesota's School of Public Health in general. A few impressions/comments:
- I always thought class sizes were very reasonable. The big core classes that everybody has to take can run in the 50's from what I remember, but my epi core classes were always 10-15.
- Real world reputation seems solid. I am talking with researchers looking to begin some clinical epi work, and the questions about my epi background end when I say "epi MPH UofMN SPH". The connection between the SPH and the Minnesota Dept of Health seem very strong. We have one of the best Health Depts in the country, and we regularly bring in their experts to give us lectures when appropriate. I got a foodborne disease lecture from the head of "Team Diarrhea," a group at the Dept of Health that is considered a national leader is foodborne disease surveilance. A good number of my classmates held internships with the Dept of Health (they have a building across the street from the U), all of them enjoyed their experiences and thought they learned a lot. And I know that many, perhaps most, of those within the Dept of Health trained at the UofM's SPH. Reputation within the greater University as well seems strong. We are a top 10 SPH, and we get more NIH research funding then any other public university.
- Being part of the greater University of Minnesota is a big plus. It feels like you're in a small program (epi, in my case) within a huge University (64,489 enrolled in the fall of 2005, of which 18,500 are grad or professioal students). Great libraries. The SPH does not match up admitted students with TAships/RAships when their accepted (a negative), but you are free to get a TA/RAship from any dept. in the greater university, and most depts/programs are solid to excellent. Beyond paying for tuition, health insurance, food, etc, a RAship with another dept. easily leads to collaboration. A good number capstone projects, at least in epi, are associated with another dept/college. Like I said, the other depts/programs at the U tend to be solid to excellent. The Academic Health Center includes Medicine, Dentisty, Vet Med, Nursing, Pharmacy, and Public Health. Beyond the AHC you have even more - Carlson School of Management, great Dept of Chemistry, top law school, Excellent engineering and bioengineering, etc. The UofM has a big big push right now into clinical research (lots of new grants, new buildings, good support, etc), and I think SPH people are going to benefit greatly from this because of the need for people with our type of training. If you're at all a "go-getter" and the type of person who sees great advantages in collaboration, I wouldn't consider a SPH that isn't connected to a strong greater university.
- Minnesota is a great state to live in. Hip urban Minneapolis, generally a progressive state. Great parks. Great schools. Nice people. Yes, it's cold, get over it. I'm very happy to have lived here for so long, and I definitely want to settle in Minnesota when all my training is done.
-Epi is a great program, but I think we've got excellent people in biostats, env. health, and Health Services Research & Policy. While people tend to focus on your major, you do take core classes in all areas. The MPH programs are truely a "liberal arts" education in public health, so you come away understanding the basics of all core areas. Never did I feel like a prof was teaching a class because he/she had to. In fact, each prof that I had clearly seemed to enjoy teaching, and many classes were taught by very senior faculty who could have easily given up the class years ago had they wanted to. I think the SPH is large enough and values teaching enough that they have no problem getting good educators to teach their classes.
- We have a great history. I'm proud to have trained (figuratively) under Gate 27, the place where the field of cardiovascular epidemiology was practically invented.
- There are many strong areas of research. If you don't know what you want to do, it's important to choose a school that is strong in many (and Minnesota is). We have historically been very strong in a number of areas, and we always have young faculty members starting up research in new areas that look promising, so it's hard to say where our next major powerhouse will come from. But overall, I'd say you couldn't go wrong here working in cardiovascular epi, cancer, sexuality (through the Program in Human Sexuality, which is through Family Medicine in the Medical School), nutrition/exercise/obesity, and tobacco. I honestly never thought ID epi was a strong area for us, and we lost a senior faculty member a year or three ago to Columbia. On the other hand, students here have access to the Division of ID in the medical school, the Dept of Microbiology, along with the vet school, pharmacy, dentistry, etc.
Anything else you want to know? PM me.
- I always thought class sizes were very reasonable. The big core classes that everybody has to take can run in the 50's from what I remember, but my epi core classes were always 10-15.
- Real world reputation seems solid. I am talking with researchers looking to begin some clinical epi work, and the questions about my epi background end when I say "epi MPH UofMN SPH". The connection between the SPH and the Minnesota Dept of Health seem very strong. We have one of the best Health Depts in the country, and we regularly bring in their experts to give us lectures when appropriate. I got a foodborne disease lecture from the head of "Team Diarrhea," a group at the Dept of Health that is considered a national leader is foodborne disease surveilance. A good number of my classmates held internships with the Dept of Health (they have a building across the street from the U), all of them enjoyed their experiences and thought they learned a lot. And I know that many, perhaps most, of those within the Dept of Health trained at the UofM's SPH. Reputation within the greater University as well seems strong. We are a top 10 SPH, and we get more NIH research funding then any other public university.
- Being part of the greater University of Minnesota is a big plus. It feels like you're in a small program (epi, in my case) within a huge University (64,489 enrolled in the fall of 2005, of which 18,500 are grad or professioal students). Great libraries. The SPH does not match up admitted students with TAships/RAships when their accepted (a negative), but you are free to get a TA/RAship from any dept. in the greater university, and most depts/programs are solid to excellent. Beyond paying for tuition, health insurance, food, etc, a RAship with another dept. easily leads to collaboration. A good number capstone projects, at least in epi, are associated with another dept/college. Like I said, the other depts/programs at the U tend to be solid to excellent. The Academic Health Center includes Medicine, Dentisty, Vet Med, Nursing, Pharmacy, and Public Health. Beyond the AHC you have even more - Carlson School of Management, great Dept of Chemistry, top law school, Excellent engineering and bioengineering, etc. The UofM has a big big push right now into clinical research (lots of new grants, new buildings, good support, etc), and I think SPH people are going to benefit greatly from this because of the need for people with our type of training. If you're at all a "go-getter" and the type of person who sees great advantages in collaboration, I wouldn't consider a SPH that isn't connected to a strong greater university.
- Minnesota is a great state to live in. Hip urban Minneapolis, generally a progressive state. Great parks. Great schools. Nice people. Yes, it's cold, get over it. I'm very happy to have lived here for so long, and I definitely want to settle in Minnesota when all my training is done.
-Epi is a great program, but I think we've got excellent people in biostats, env. health, and Health Services Research & Policy. While people tend to focus on your major, you do take core classes in all areas. The MPH programs are truely a "liberal arts" education in public health, so you come away understanding the basics of all core areas. Never did I feel like a prof was teaching a class because he/she had to. In fact, each prof that I had clearly seemed to enjoy teaching, and many classes were taught by very senior faculty who could have easily given up the class years ago had they wanted to. I think the SPH is large enough and values teaching enough that they have no problem getting good educators to teach their classes.
- We have a great history. I'm proud to have trained (figuratively) under Gate 27, the place where the field of cardiovascular epidemiology was practically invented.
- There are many strong areas of research. If you don't know what you want to do, it's important to choose a school that is strong in many (and Minnesota is). We have historically been very strong in a number of areas, and we always have young faculty members starting up research in new areas that look promising, so it's hard to say where our next major powerhouse will come from. But overall, I'd say you couldn't go wrong here working in cardiovascular epi, cancer, sexuality (through the Program in Human Sexuality, which is through Family Medicine in the Medical School), nutrition/exercise/obesity, and tobacco. I honestly never thought ID epi was a strong area for us, and we lost a senior faculty member a year or three ago to Columbia. On the other hand, students here have access to the Division of ID in the medical school, the Dept of Microbiology, along with the vet school, pharmacy, dentistry, etc.
Anything else you want to know? PM me.
