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Data and computation

Epidemiologist

Studies how disease spreads and who it affects, finding causes and risk factors so health services can prevent and control illness.

Epidemiologists work in public health agencies, universities, hospitals and drug companies, tracking outbreaks or studying long-term conditions such as heart disease and cancer. It suits careful, numerate people who want to improve health for whole populations rather than one patient at a time.

Also called Communicable disease specialist, Epidemiology investigator or Public health epidemiologist.

At a glance

Way in
Master's degree, often in epidemiology, public health, biology, statistics and medicine
Pay in the US
$87,220 a year, the medianFor epidemiologists, 2025
US outlook
Much faster than average, 2025-2035
Suits you if
You like numbers, care about public health and want to see the bigger picture

Pay is a guide: it moves with the country, the employer, the sector and the years in the job. Figures from O*NET OnLine (US) and the National Careers Service (UK); see the sources below.

The work

What does an epidemiologist do?

  • Design studies, such as cohort and case-control studies, to find the causes and risk factors of disease
  • Collect and clean health data from surveys, records and disease surveillance
  • Analyse data with statistical software to measure risk and spot trends
  • Investigate outbreaks to find the source and stop further spread
  • Write reports and advise policymakers and clinicians on what the evidence shows

Where they work

  • Public health agencies
  • University research departments
  • Hospital infection control teams
  • Pharmaceutical companies
  • International health organisations

Skills

The skills an epidemiologist needs

  • Study designchoosing the right comparison and avoiding bias
  • Statisticsregression, rates, risks and confidence intervals
  • Coding for dataR, Stata, SAS or Python
  • Critical readingjudging the strength of published evidence
  • Clear communicationexplaining risk to the public and policymakers
  • Teamworkworking with clinicians, labs and public health teams

Route in

How to become an epidemiologist

  1. Earn a first degree in a life science, a health subject, mathematics or medicine
  2. Take a master's in epidemiology or public health with training in statistics and study design
  3. Start in a data or research role at a public health body, university or company
  4. Take a PhD for research-led posts, or join a public health training scheme to move into senior roles

Degrees people take

  • Epidemiology
  • Public health
  • Biology
  • Statistics
  • Medicine

Practise for it

The quizzes and tools that fit

Also on biofideX

Next to it

Careers to weigh against it

Sources

Where the facts come from

Written for biofideX from these public sources. The pay figures are theirs, copied as published, last read 2026-10-25.

Requirements differ by country and change over time; check with the body that registers the profession where you will work. Spotted a mistake? Tell us and we'll correct it.

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