What does a public health epidemiologist do?
Public health epidemiologist responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real public health epidemiologist resumes:
- Manage projects relate to mammography promotion, hospital profiling, prenatal care, immunization and diabetes.
- Present quarterly lectures on statistics, data analysis, and SAS to epidemiologists and program directors.
- Develop a juvenile prevention, rehabilitation and health promotion program for incarcerate teens.
- Perform analytical medical necessity audits of clinical documentation for CMS compliance and quality improvement of PT/OT department.
- Design, develop and produce statistical reports to describe school-wide assessment-base surveys of childhood and adult immunization levels using SAS.
- Prepare monthly monitoring reports for health care facilities pertaining to the TB treatment of health care workers.
- Coordinate and assist with expand contact investigations to assess TB transmission.
- Develop and introduce standardised case definitions for communicable diseases in Caribbean countries.
Public health epidemiologist skills and personality traits
We calculated that 11% of Public Health Epidemiologists are proficient in Health Issues, Data Collection, and SAS. They’re also known for soft skills such as Math and statistical skills, Communication skills, and Detail oriented.
We break down the percentage of Public Health Epidemiologists that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Health Issues, 11%
Identify, investigate, and interpret health issues, trends and prevalence of specific diseases and conditions.
- Data Collection, 10%
Provide analytical and technical assistance during on-site data collections at military installations.
- SAS, 10%
Worked on City's Mainframe SAS (JCL/COBOL) prepared weekly, monthly epidemiological surveillance reports.
- Statistical Analysis, 7%
Performed statistical analysis over the information collected by several areas of the cooperative by using SPSS.
- Health Data, 6%
Identified and analyzed health data to develop relevant investigations, partner with audiovisual division resulting in several research papers and projects.
- Data Management, 6%
Performed site visits to sub-standard performing clinical trial units to observe and evaluate data management and source documentation.
Most public health epidemiologists use their skills in "health issues," "data collection," and "sas" to do their jobs. You can find more detail on essential public health epidemiologist responsibilities here:
Math and statistical skills. The most essential soft skill for a public health epidemiologist to carry out their responsibilities is math and statistical skills. This skill is important for the role because "epidemiologists may need to analyze data when reviewing results from studies and surveys." Additionally, a public health epidemiologist resume shows how their duties depend on math and statistical skills: "coordinate data quality improvement efforts across nys doh and nyc dohmh laboratories, external laboratories, and health care facilities. "
Communication skills. Many public health epidemiologist duties rely on communication skills. "epidemiologists use speaking and writing skills to inform officials and the public, such as for community outreach activities to explain health risks," so a public health epidemiologist will need this skill often in their role. This resume example is just one of many ways public health epidemiologist responsibilities rely on communication skills: "establish data sharing and instigates communication with various agencies, programs and organizations to disseminate the information gathered by the registry. "
Detail oriented. This is an important skill for public health epidemiologists to perform their duties. For an example of how public health epidemiologist responsibilities depend on this skill, consider that "epidemiologists must be precise and accurate in moving from observation and interview to conclusions." This excerpt from a resume also shows how vital it is to everyday roles and responsibilities of a public health epidemiologist: "conducted detailed quantitative and qualitative analysis of cdc issued data sets. ".
The three companies that hire the most public health epidemiologists are:
- System One3 public health epidemiologists jobs
- State Of Montana2 public health epidemiologists jobs
- Kelsey-Seybold Clinic2 public health epidemiologists jobs
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Compare different public health epidemiologists
Public health epidemiologist vs. Communicable disease specialist
An epidemiologist specializes in studying and investigating different diseases, including its causes and effects on the human body. Their responsibilities revolve around gathering samples and subjecting them to various experiments and scientific procedures, traveling to different areas to conduct observations and in-depth analysis, maintaining extensive records, coordinating with other scientists and experts, and summarizing findings into reports and presentations. Furthermore, as an epidemiologist, it is vital to utilize expertise by creating policies for a healthy and safe environment for everyone.
There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, public health epidemiologist responsibilities require skills like "health issues," "data collection," "sas," and "health problems." Meanwhile a typical communicable disease specialist has skills in areas such as "public health," "patients," "patient education," and "communicable diseases." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.
Communicable disease specialists tend to reach lower levels of education than public health epidemiologists. In fact, communicable disease specialists are 30.9% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 2.1% less likely to have a Doctoral Degree.Public health epidemiologist vs. Infectious disease epidemiology director
Each career also uses different skills, according to real public health epidemiologist resumes. While public health epidemiologist responsibilities can utilize skills like "health issues," "data collection," "sas," and "health problems," infectious disease epidemiology directors use skills like "development programs," "collaborative relationships," "business development," and "advisory boards."
Infectious disease epidemiology directors earn lower levels of education than public health epidemiologists in general. They're 34.2% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 2.1% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for public health epidemiologists in the next 3-5 years?
Dr. Julie Gast Ph.D.
Professor and Director, Master of Public Health, Utah State University
Public health epidemiologist vs. Injury epidemiologist
Some important key differences between the two careers include a few of the skills necessary to fulfill the responsibilities of each. Some examples from public health epidemiologist resumes include skills like "health issues," "health problems," "health data," and "data management," whereas an injury epidemiologist is more likely to list skills in "health professionals," "fact sheets," "injury prevention programs," and "oral presentations. "
Most injury epidemiologists achieve a higher degree level compared to public health epidemiologists. For example, they're 17.5% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 7.8% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Public health epidemiologist vs. Epidemiologist
Types of public health epidemiologist
Updated January 8, 2025
