The Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology programs aim to provide students with strong analytic and quantitative skills needed to conduct public health research, disease surveillance, program evaluation, and public health practice. The Biostatistics and Epidemiology areas, complementing each other academically and professionally, are based on the mathematical, natural, and social sciences. Each program prepares researchers and public health professionals who will work to improve the health of the public. The academic program includes a base of theoretically sound courses complemented by hands-on research experience and public-health-agency practice experiences.

The primary goal of biostatistics is to create the theoretical and applied statistical methods necessary to design laboratory, medical, and public health studies; to undertake quantitative evaluation and measurement; and to use statistical inferences to arrive at appropriate conclusions from medical and public health data.

The primary goal of epidemiology is to foster the prevention or early detection of disease by describing the distribution of various diseases in human populations, identifying the determinants of diseases through research, and aiding in the development and evaluation of health programs.