Is Epidemiology Hard? — What to Know? (2024)

Epidemiology is a branch of medical science that deals with the study of the distribution and determinants of health-related states or events (including disease) in populations.

Epi means ‘on or upon’, Demi is derived from Demos that refers to ‘people’ and ology comes from logos which is ‘the study of’. The literal meaning falls more in the context of the study of people though now its broader explanation is for public health.

It is a crucial tool for understanding and preventing diseases, including some of the most serious and widespread conditions such as heart disease, cancer, and infectious diseases. The history of the field dates back to BC, however in the recent times it has gained more traction, especially after the anthrax outbreak, and recently by COVID-19. Every year thousands of epidemiologists are trained across the world to answer pressing health issues, find the root cause and if they are also physicians, they continue to take this discussion to bridge clinical care as well.

Over the course of last few years, many of my colleagues, have asked me about pursuing Epidemiology as a career for which one needs to weigh in many options. There are many dimensions to know before signing it up or considering it as a hybrid career, and would keep that discussion for the later time, especially the details around the structure, career options and growth in the field but for now these are few things you can consider if you want to learn a general understanding about the field.

Here are some of the main ideas one should know if they want to study or work in the field of epidemiology:

1. Investigation Mindset — Sherlockian Approach

One major thing any aspiring epidemiologist should know is its core nature of investigation. A modern day medicine works on set patterns, algorithms and strongly established facts. Epidemiology does not work that way. You need a Sherlock Holmes mindset where you investigate with numerous permutations ranging from creating questions with no possible answers, and many answers with no potential background. You have to create multiple assumption, innumerable connections and associations, and test each of them, track each link meticulously before giving the conclusions. Just not it, you also need to give evidence and your justification of how you brought that up.

These can be basic investigations, e.g. a study done in a smaller town to a larger setting like may be a continent or the world!

You may come across a disease with a possible cause to find (e.g. People died due to pneumonia caused by a virus — found by a virus found in a certain area), and a presence of an evidence with series of events unlike a direct association (Racial minorities have overall lesser average span of life in the United States tracking back to variety of reasons).

2. Numbers and More Numbers

The need for a strong foundation in math and statistics. Epidemiology relies heavily on the use of statistical methods to analyze data and draw conclusions. As a result, students of epidemiology need to have a strong foundation in math and statistics, including topics such as probability, regression analysis, and hypothesis testing. If anyone is not liking the numbers or always felt detached from the maths— I would simply say to not pursue it. There are many types of numbers, each of it showing different details, many leading us to conclusions and quite some even taking us away from it.

If you plan to pursue a career or just inquisitive of learning epidemiology, it is the time to know that it will have numbers. However, if you like maths or you are that math nerd who remembers many numbers and values, welcome, this may make your journey less difficult. Epidemiologists are logical — always will question things (in a good way of course). If there is an x, there will be a y. If there is a disease, there is a cause. If the cause is unknown, we need to find it. This is only possible through objective numerical approach.

3. Design a Study — Painting a new mural

One needs to understand the complexity of the process require to investigate and collect numbers. This requires designing a study that is correct, feasible, applicable, and robust enough to draw conclusions. One of the challenges of epidemiological research is that it can be difficult to design studies that are able to accurately measure the factors that are associated with a given health outcome. It is like painting a new mural from scratch. This is because many health outcomes are affected by a wide range of factors, including genetics, lifestyle, and environmental factors. As a result, epidemiologists need to carefully design studies that are able to isolate and measure the effects of specific factors.

It can be a possibility that if your design of the study is not adaptable to changing trends or a better study is designed over the course of the same time when you were investigating, your work may have lesser value and could be either discarded or low ranked. This can lead to frustration and setbacks — therefore to start with — you need to be on the top of the game.

4. Computer Engineering Side of Epidemiologists

In general, epidemiologists are responsible for analyzing large amounts of data in order to identify trends and relationships between different factors. This requires strong analytical skills, including the ability to think critically and to draw logical conclusions from complex data sets. I would not mix it with the point 2 which is actually reading a lot of them but here one has to code numerous things, using various tools that many times computer engineers use (e.g. Python) or have to collect large amount of data, code, recode, analyze, create calculators, make risk predictions and yes — we play with a lot cool gadgets as well (e.g. the accelerometers collecting fine details of our movements or the air quality index meters to study pollution).

5. Collaborators and Life Long Writers

Epidemiology like medicine cannot work from a clinic. They need to collaborate and communicate. Epidemiological research often involves collaboration with other researchers and public health professionals. As a result, epidemiologists need to be able to work well in teams and to effectively communicate their findings to a wide range of audiences. To communicate the findings to the public, they also need to write, write and more write. This makes them a bit of literature lovers as well. They write so much over the course of their careers, and read a lot too which make them not less than any small library encapsulated in them.

Overall, while there are certainly challenges associated with studying and working in epidemiology, it is a rewarding and fascinating field that offers many opportunities to make a positive impact on public health. If you have a strong foundation in math and statistics, a love of data analysis, and a desire to improve the health of populations, then epidemiology could be a great field for you.

I am Ali, a physician, an epidemiologist and a writer. I study the outcomes and care of patients with vascular diseases. I like to write about life, productivity, science and other nice things. Born-raised in Lahore and now reside in Pennsylvania. Connect with me on Twitter.