Degree Programs Heading link
About the Degree Programs Heading link
Biostatistics refers the development and application of statistical methods in biology, medicine, public health, and other life sciences. Such methods allow us to better characterize public health problems, and to draw important inferences about them. Along with designing studies, students learn how to manage, analyze, and interpret data in a way that illuminates the complexities of public health.
Epidemiology, the basic science of public health, studies the distribution and determinants of disease and other health-related events. Epidemiologic methods help us establish links between risk factors and disease, clarify disease distributions, elucidate the natural history of diseases, assess the effectiveness of public health interventions, and evaluate the use of health resources.
Center for Biostatistical Development Heading link
The Center for Biostatistical Development (CBD) provides a biostatistical research environment aimed at fostering and developing innovative methods to address health-related scientific problems. The CBD also provides education and training, via lectures and workshops, to increase the accessibility and use of the novel statistical methods.
Areas of particular interest include methods for developing clustered designs, longitudinal studies, clinical trials, Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) studies, missing data and observational studies.
The overall goal of the CBD is to provide and disseminate biostatistical research that will address and advance questions in the health sciences.
Chicago Center for Health and Environment (CACHET) Heading link
The ChicAgo Center for Health and EnvironmenT (CACHET) is an NIEHS-funded P30 Environmental Health Sciences Core Center and an equal partnership between the University of Illinois Chicago and the University of Chicago. Housed within the School of Public Health’s divisions of Epidemiology & Biostatistics, CACHET members are from multiple colleges and schools across the UIC campus. CACHET promotes synergistic, multidisciplinary environmental health research between the clinician, laboratory and population scientists to evaluate, delineate and ultimately reduce environmental health related disparities among residents of Chicago and beyond.
The need for a dedicated environmental health research center in Chicago is highlighted by a disproportionate racial/ethnic health imbalance observed for multiple diseases and outcomes. In this context, the CACHET mission is to “elucidate the biological, social and economic underpinnings between relevant urban environmental exposures and human disease and translate the findings to reduce health inequities within our communities.” As such, the overarching theme is “Mitigating Disparities in Environmental Health.”