Graduate Certificate in Applied Epidemiology

The Graduate Certificate in Applied Epidemiology, Online (Z152) is offered through the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics in the School of Public Health. The program addresses the need to improve understanding of epidemiologic principles and to learn epidemiologic methods in medical and health institutes, especially related to disease surveillance and prevention of epidemics.

Mentoring and advising are an essential part of the program. Students meet with faculty and the academic program director to ensure that educational goals and career learning and development goals are met. Students with specific academic questions may contact Professor Jamie Trevitt, via email: jtrevitt@umd.edu.

Overview

The Graduate Certificate in Applied Epidemiology, Online (Z152) provides working professionals the opportunity to learn the concepts necessary to improve their understanding of epidemiologic methods and principles and apply them in real-world practice. 

• 12-credit, four-course curriculum that includes epidemiologic study design, disease investigation and measures, identification and control of biases, effect assessment, and epidemic control.
• Covers epidemiologic study design, disease investigation and measures, identification and control of biases (information bias, selection bias, and confounding effect), effect assessment (measure of associations, interaction effort, and mediation effect), and control of epidemics.
• Successful graduates will be well-equipped to measure occurrences of diseases, evaluate the scope of an epidemic, and design sound studies for both disease surveillance and other epidemiologic research.
• Can be completed in twelve months of continuous part-time enrollment. See Designation of Full-time/Part-time Status.

Courses

Below is a listing of all program courses. For a detailed course description, that includes pre-requisites or co-requisites, see The Graduate School Catalog, Course Listing as follows: EPIB Course Descriptions. 

Registration Overview

See the sample plan of study, below. Students should use this as a guide to develop a plan with the academic program director. 

• Actual course offerings are determined by the program and may vary. Students should note if a course has a pre-requisite or co-requisite.
• Specific class meeting information (days and time) is posted on University of Maryland’s (UMD) interactive web service services, Testudo. Once on that site, select “Schedule of Classes,” then the term/year. Courses are listed by academic unit.
• The program uses specific section codes for registration, which are listed on the sample plan of study.

Sample Plan

Overview

• Instruction provided by UMD faculty and professionals in the field.
• Uses the semester academic calendar with classes held during fall and spring semester (16 weeks each) and Summer Session (two 6-week sessions). 

Online Learning

• Features 100% online instruction with engaging and interactive learning.
• Using advanced audio and video technology, UMD’s online learning environment delivers dynamic and interactive content. 
• Featuring convenience and flexibility, online instruction permits asynchronous or synchronous participation.
• Lectures are video archived. Students who are unable to attend in real time can review the session through asynchronous participation.

Upon successful completion, graduates will have mastered the following competencies:

• Understand the application of epidemiologic principles in medical and health data. Specifically, students will know how to describe the role of epidemiology in biomedical research and public health, identify vital statistics and other key sources of data for epidemiological purposes, describe a public health problem in terms of magnitude, person, time, and place, explain the importance of epidemiology for informing scientific, ethical, economic and political discussion of health issues, apply basic terminology and definitions of epidemiology, and demonstrate skills in public health data management.
• Understand how to interpret and generate epidemiologic measures. Specifically, students will know how to calculate and explain point and interval estimates for risk ratios, rate ratios, and odds ratios, understand confounding, effect modification, and mediation, generate adjusted measures (e.g. age-adjusted measures), communicate epidemiologic information to lay and professional audiences, differentiate among the criteria for causality, and draw appropriate inferences from epidemiologic data.
• Understand how to design epidemiologic studies and programs, including public health measures. Specifically, students will know how to describe epidemiologic study designs and assess their strengths and limitations, evaluate the strengths and limitations of epidemiologic reports, design and assess intervention measures, discuss the principles and limitations of public health screening programs.