What You'll Do

  • Oversee public health programs, including statistical analysis, health care planning, surveillance systems, and public health improvement.
  • Investigate diseases or parasites to determine cause and risk factors, progress, life cycle, or mode of transmission.
  • Plan and direct studies to investigate human or animal disease, preventive methods, and treatments for disease.
  • Plan, administer and evaluate health safety standards and programs to improve public health, conferring with health department, industry personnel, physicians, and others.
  • Provide expertise in the design, management and evaluation of study protocols and health status questionnaires, sample selection, and analysis.
  • Conduct research to develop methodologies, instrumentation, and procedures for medical application, analyzing data and presenting findings.
  • Consult with and advise physicians, educators, researchers, government health officials and others regarding medical applications of sciences, such as physics, biology, and chemistry.
  • Supervise professional, technical, and clerical personnel.
  • Identify and analyze public health issues related to foodborne parasitic diseases and their impact on public policies, scientific studies, or surveys.
  • Teach principles of medicine and medical and laboratory procedures to physicians, residents, students, and technicians.

Essential Skills

Reading Comprehension 4.25/5
Critical Thinking 4.25/5
Complex Problem Solving 4.25/5
Judgment and Decision Making 4.25/5
Active Listening 4.12/5
Writing 4.12/5
Speaking 4.12/5
Science 4.12/5
Active Learning 4.0/5
Systems Analysis 4.0/5
Systems Evaluation 4.0/5
Social Perceptiveness 3.88/5

Career Fit Overview

Use this summary to understand the kind of profile this role rewards. It helps you judge whether this career looks like a stronger match than your current role, a nearby move worth exploring, or a broader path to compare more seriously.

Top passions

  • Analyst: Investigating problems and finding patterns keeps you engaged.
  • Helper: Supporting people and making a difference matters to you.
  • Organizer: Bringing order to data and processes satisfies you.

Common styles

Attention to Detail, Intellectual Curiosity, Dependability, Integrity, Cautiousness

Want a personal read on fit? Take the free assessment and compare this career to your current role, nearby alternatives, and broader stronger-fit options.

Key Abilities

This career demands strong capabilities in the following areas:

Oral Comprehension 4.38/5
Written Comprehension 4.38/5
Inductive Reasoning 4.38/5
Oral Expression 4.25/5
Written Expression 4.25/5
Problem Sensitivity 4.25/5
Deductive Reasoning 4.12/5
Fluency of Ideas 4.0/5

Technologies & Tools

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention CDC WONDER Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Epi Info Circle Systems Stat/Transfer Cytel Egret Data mining software Data visualization software Database software Disease Mapping and Analysis Program DMAP Epicenter Software Epilog EpiData Analysis Esri ArcGIS ESRI ArcGIS software ESRI ArcInfo ESRI ArcView Expert Health Data Programming Vitalnet Facebook GeoDa Geographic information system GIS software HiroSoft EPICURE IBM SPSS Statistics

Work Environment & Strengths

Common Strengths for This Career

  • Attention to Detail (High importance: 4.8/5)
  • Intellectual Curiosity (High importance: 4.78/5)
  • Dependability (High importance: 4.73/5)
  • Integrity (High importance: 4.65/5)
  • Cautiousness (High importance: 4.52/5)

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How to Become One

This career requires extensive preparation, typically including a graduate degree (Master's or Doctoral) and several years of experience. Most professionals in this field have invested significant time in education and training.

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Also Known As

This career is known by many different job titles across industries. Here are all the variations:

Chronic Disease Epidemiologist Clinical Epidemiologist Clinical Lab Scientist (Clinical Laboratory Scientist) Clinical Researcher Communicable Diseases Specialist Environmental Epidemiologist Epidemiologist Epidemiologist Researcher Epidemiology Analyst Epidemiology Investigator Epidemiology Research Doctor Histopathologist Infection Control Coordinator Infection Control Manager Infection Control Practitioner (ICP) Infection Control Preventionist Infection Control Specialist Infection Prevention Coordinator Infection Prevention Specialist Infection Preventionist (IP) Infectious Disease Specialist Malariologist Medical Epidemiologist Nurse Epidemiologist Pharmacoepidemiologist Public Health Epidemiologist Research Epidemiologist State Epidemiologist

Career Fit FAQs

Is this career a good fit for me

This page shows the role itself. To see personal fit, use the assessment to compare your interests, motivations, and strengths against this career and against the role you are in now.

Can this help if I want to stay in my field

Yes. Many people use career pages like this to compare nearby roles in the same field and see whether they need a full switch or a better-fit version of the work they already know.

What should I compare first

Start with the daily tasks, the preparation level, and the work-style signals on this page. Then use the assessment to see whether this role looks like a stronger fit than your current role or just a different title.