Coursework

Master of Epidemiology

The experience

Overview

The Master of Epidemiology is a focused degree, giving you both the theoretical and practical knowledge you need to become an epidemiologist. The course is ideally suited to practicing clinicians wanting to hone their skills and expertise in clinical and epidemiological research.

The University of Melbourne is ranked No. 1 in Australia and No. 17 globally for Public Health related disciplines.

The day-to-day experience

The Master of Epidemiology is studied part time over two years, ideal for working professionals who are looking to enhance their careers. This course offers you flexibility, with study delivered through a combination of on-campus and online subjects.

The course covers contemporary research methods in infectious disease epidemiology as well as generalist epidemiology.

Your learning experience can be uniquely tailored to meet your interests. The course offers you the ability to complete a research project in an epidemiological topic of your choosing, examples of which may include:

  • COVID-19
  • Sexually transmitted infections (STIs)
  • Mental health
  • Chronic respiratory disease
  • Infectious diseases
  • Cancer.

You will have the opportunity to complete this research project at the esteemed Melbourne Biomedical Precinct. The Precinct is a world-leading hub that delivers outstanding patient care, cutting-edge research and world-class education, providing the perfect environment for success.

Your research project also offers you the perfect stepping stone towards a PhD.

Opportunities

During your study, you will be taught by leading epidemiologists both nationally and internationally who can connect you to prospective employment networks, not only in Australia but around the world.

Profile

Hayden Mackenzie

Moving from a clinical career to a research-oriented one, I wanted to expand my research skills and specifically explore population-based research and analysis methods. I’d always been stirred by questions like “How would people’s health outcomes change if we paid attention to X?”, and the idea of finding answers to these sorts of difficult questions I think is a really worthwhile challenge.

I’d looked around, and Melbourne was ranked among the best universities both locally and globally for the kinds of projects I find interesting. I’d also be lying if I didn’t admit part of the appeal was the campus and its architecture – I love the sense of history they convey and it reminds me how many people have walked these paths before me.

For me, the appeal of science in general is shining light on ideas which improve our understanding of the world. At the moment epidemiology has been thrown into the spotlight of that pursuit as we try to navigate our way through a global pandemic. I’m fortunate that being a student of the field has allowed me to start developing the skills to approach questions of enormous impact to humanity, and to help assess and translate the flood of information coming through different channels currently.

Good science involves separating the reliable information from the unreliable, and turning that information into good decisions. This course has really helped fine tune my ability to tell the difference between good and bad information, and ask better questions of the data so that we can make better decisions.

Currently I work as the Research and Development Lead at Work Healthy Australia – a company which partners with workplaces to triage, manage and reduce workplace injuries. What I love most about it is that the data we collect and the experience we have allows us to ask and answer really interesting questions about why injuries occur, in whom, and what factors influence recovery. The lessons we take from this allow us to have a huge positive impact on the recovery of individuals, many of whom are in low-income roles and can’t afford to be off work. It’s a nice situation where everybody wins, and we get to advance the field while we’re at it.