Career in Epidemiology – Courses, Job, Scope & Top Colleges
Epidemiology is the biology of public health and the one who practices Epidemiology is known as an Epidemiologist. Unlike a pathologist or any such doctor who are concerned about an individual patient, an Epidemiologist is concerned about the health condition of a community or a group of people. In this article, we will try to give you an inside review about the career in Epidemiology in India and different Epidemiologist jobs available after doing Epidemiology courses.
A clinician or a doctor focuses on treating the disease and are less concerned with any other factors. While an Epidemiologist gives more attention to the causes behind a disease, conducts research to gather data about the nature of the disease and the people who got affected by it and eventually come up with a solution to prevent the disease from happening in future. If you are more interested in having a clear idea about what is Epidemiology and what does an Epidemiologist do, continue reading this article.
- 1 What is Epidemiology?
- 2 What is it like to be an Epidemiologist?
- 3 Various Epidemiology Courses in India
- 4 What are the Job Prospects of an Epidemiologist?
- 5 Top institutes in India offering Career in Epidemiology:
What is Epidemiology?
Epidemiology is a branch of public health that studies the patterns, causes, and effects of health and disease conditions in specific populations. The word Epidemiology itself means that a study on public where Epi means on or upon, demos means people or public and logos means study. It is considered as a research activity which involves the application of probability and statistics.
The study or research is conducted based on two factors, which are distribution and determinant. Distribution is an aggregation of frequency which states a number of health events in a particular population and pattern that describes details regarding the time, place and person of a particular health event. Through determinant, the causes and risk factors for the disease or health condition are analyzed.
What is it like to be an Epidemiologist?
Even though it is a branch of medical science, it has got more similarity to a profession that involves investigation. Those people who are into this profession define themselves as sort of a detective as it involves lots research and finally one has to come up with a solution. Being an Epidemiologist, one gets to travel a lot and interact with professionals from other fields. There is an old saying that an Epidemiologist should have clean minds and dirty hands. It is completely wrong to define the career of an Epidemiologist boring since a day in the life of an Epidemiologist means endless projects.
Various Epidemiology Courses in India
To work as an Epidemiologist or to make a career in Epidemiology, one can earn a degree in following Epidemiology courses.
1. Master of Science (M.Sc.) in Epidemiology
- Eligibility: Graduate
- Course Duration: 2 years
2. Post Graduate Diploma in Epidemiology
- Eligibility: Bachelors degree in Medicine
- Course Duration: 1 year
3. Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Epidemiology
- Eligibility: Post Graduate
- Course Duration: 3 years
What are the Job Prospects of an Epidemiologist?
An Epidemiologist has multiple job opportunities. Since the profession is concerned with public health, an Epidemiologist can work under public health or health protection services. Those who love teaching can go working under universities as a teacher.
There are lots of non-profit as well profit organizations such as medical device or pharmaceutical companies that offer job positions for Epidemiologists. Government organizations like World Health Organization (WHO), Health Protection Agency (HPA) and Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) or hospitals offer career opportunities every year.
Top institutes in India offering Career in Epidemiology:
Some of the best colleges in India offering Epidemiology:
- Christian Medical College, TamilNadu
- Krishna Institute of Medical Sciences University, Maharashtra
- SRM University, Kattankulathur
- Homi Bhabha National Institute, Mumbai
- Indian Institute of Technology, Gandhinagar
- Rajendra Memorial Research Institute of Medical Sciences, Patna