Welcome

Welcome to the Division of Epidemiology in the Department of Family Medicine and Population Health, at Virginia Commonwealth University. The Division integrates research, education and public health service programs. We offer a fully accredited Master’s of Public Health degree. Our close ties to the Virginia Department of Health allow us to provide opportunities for our students to immerse in experiential learning with our public health partners. Our doctoral training program in epidemiology cultivates public health scientists equipped to use state-of-the-art research methods for the purpose of advancing fundamental knowledge of issues central to the improvement of population health.

Working collaboratively with the highly productive, multidisciplinary centers and institutes at VCU, our faculty conducts innovative research aimed at understanding the interface between behavior and physiology to integrate social, psychological and biological approaches to understanding health and illness over the life course. Division faculty research programs are in aging, cancer prevention and control, mental health, and maternal and child health. The Division offers a strong collegial atmosphere where faculty, students, and postdoctoral fellows work together to promote and share in the creation of knowledge related to the improvement of population health.

About the Division of Epidemiology

The Department of Family Medicine and Population Health, Division of Epidemiology has been training public health students for twenty years resulting in over 300 graduates! The division is research-intensive with close ties to public health practitioners in state and local department of health settings. Philosophically, we believe in fully immersing students into their chosen career path as quickly as possible in the training experience. Linking didactics immediately to context is extremely important for adult learners.

Our division also firmly believes in the value of creating a community of learning which values diversity. Toward that goal, we participate in “pipeline” educational programs to make visible careers in public health. We also actively work to create opportunities for students to work across degree programs, across years in training, with other VCU schools and programs, and with the community. Through service learning, practicum, internships, seminars and journal clubs, students from all backgrounds come together as teams to work toward achieving their educational goals.

The research programs in the division are diverse and reflect the diversity of our faculty. Our philosophy in research is grounded in team science. We believe discovery occurs more quickly when teams representing different disciplines work together to solve public health problems. Cross-fertilization of ideas beyond disciplinary boundaries leads to more rapid discoveries and translation of science to practice and policy to promote population health.

Division of Epidemiology Faculty