Master of Science in Health Sciences - Specialization in Epidemiology

Overview

The Master program in Health Sciences aims to provide students with a thorough understanding of methods in either clinical or public health research. Specializations include clinical epidemiology, epidemiology, biostatistics, public health epidemiology, medical psychology, genetic and molecular epidemiology, and pharmacoepidemiology. After completion, candidates will have the knowledge, understanding, and skills to propose state-of-the-art studies, write excellent study protocols, perform the research, analyze the data using modern statistical techniques, make defensible causal inferences, come to justified conclusions, and write outstanding research papers. Depending on the choice of specialization, the candidate will focus on for example observational population studies, randomized controlled clinical trials, public health interventions, registry data or modeling studies.

This program is NVAO accredited. For more information, visit the Netherlands-Flemish Accreditation Organisation (NVAO) at www.nvao.net.

Objectives

Students acquire the following competencies:

• Ability to formulate a clinical or public health problem and translate it into a scientific question.
• Ability to perform an extensive study of the literature concerning a problem.
• Ability to translate a scientific question into a research protocol.
• Acquisition of quantitative skills.
• Ability to make causal inferences.
• Ability to critically appraise published research.
• Ability to conduct the research, collect and analyze data, and draw conclusions.
• Ability to write a Master’s thesis, including the objective(s) of the investigation, a summary of the literature, materials, methods, results, discussion, and conclusions of the research project and to present these findings at scientific meetings. Publication of the research findings in an international peer-reviewed journal is encouraged.

Career opportunities

The degree prepares you for a career in international medical research or for executive or advisory positions in clinical medicine, public health, pharmaceutical research, or health policy.

Are you eligible?

You should fit each of the following criteria:

• You have a relevant Master’s degree from a discipline in or related to clinical medicine or public health (medical doctor, health sciences, nutrition, biology, pharmacy, environmental sciences, social sciences, economics, psychology, etc.)
• You have some relevant research experience and you already (co-)authored a few scientific publications.
• You have a good working command of the English language, both oral and written.

Specialization Epidemiology contents

Program director

Professor Arfan Ikram, MD Ph.D.

Description

Epidemiology plays an integral role in the application of medical research to populations, interacting with almost every other specialism.

Epidemiology studies the incidence, causes, consequences, and control of disease, as well as people, patients, and populations. It is a fundamental discipline for clinical medicine and public health. It may, together with basic science and clinical research, provide tools to learn about the etiology and consequences of diseases, the possibilities for prevention and treatment and the risk profiles of individuals and populations. Using advanced methods such as statistical analyses, field research, and complex laboratory techniques, epidemiologists map various elements of disease and the ways they are related.

The objective of the epidemiology program is to prepare candidates for a research position (e.g. a Ph.D. project) in the area of clinical medicine or public health, or for example, a more health policy-oriented career. The program comprises compulsory courses directed at study design, biostatistics, and data analysis. In addition, further specialization in specific areas of epidemiological research is needed. Extensive training in widely used statistical packages is also an important part of the curriculum. A large part of the program is devoted to research.