Epidemiology

The Specialized Master’s degree program in Epidemiology at the University of Basel is run by the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH), an internationally recognized center for public health excellence. The program centers around (1) teaching the basics of epidemiology and biostatistics, and (2) on the pursuit of an epidemiological research topic. Epidemiologists investigate the health of populations, study disease and possible risk factors, propose actions and then measure whether the situation has improved. They also study disease outbreaks, conduct disease surveillance, identify possible health risk factors and propose measures of disease screening. To this end, epidemiologists design field studies, collect and analyze data using a variety of methods, often in the frame of large teams. Multi-disciplinarity is often important, as is the ability to deal with societal and cultural factors.