Epidemiology (Non-Thesis): Environmental & Occupational Health (M.Sc.) (48 credits)
Offered by: Epidemiology and Biostatistics (Faculty of Medicine & Health Sciences)
Degree: Master of Science
Program credit weight: 48
Program Description
This program provides in-depth training for graduate students in methods used in Environmental and Occupational Health (EOH) and the application of these methods to study the effects of environmental and occupational exposures on human health. Students will be provided with tools to critically evaluate studies in EOH, as well as to be able to participate in these studies, learn how to apply specific methods to environmental and occupational problems, and understand how to apply research results to public health or policy. Career opportunities exist in academia, industry, and the public health sectors. Each student will be assigned a supervisor to provide guidance for their project. Research topics must be related to environmental and occupational health and approved by the program coordinating committee.
Note: For information about Fall 2025 and Winter 2026 course offerings, please refer to Visual Schedule Builder. A technical issue is causing the "Terms offered" field to incorrectly report "this course is not currently offered" for many courses in the Course Catalogue.
Research (12 credits)
| Course | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| EPIB 691 | Research Project in Epidemiology. | 12 |
Research Project in Epidemiology. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Students will critically assess research and summarize the findings in a research paper on a health related topic from an epidemiologic perspective. Topic to be approved by faculty member who will direct student and evaluate the paper. | ||
Required Courses (30 credits)
Students exempted from any of the courses listed below must replace them with additional complementary course credits.
| Course | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| EPIB 601 | Fundamentals of Epidemiology. | 4 |
Fundamentals of Epidemiology. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. This course aims to provide a comprehensive introduction to epidemiologic concepts and corresponding terms. After an introduction to the history, definition, and purposes of epidemiology, "core" concepts that are relevant in several areas of investigation (e.g., etiologic research, health care research, and community medicine practice) will be presented. | ||
| EPIB 603 | Intermediate Epidemiology. | 4 |
Intermediate Epidemiology. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Concepts and methods for epidemiology at the intermediate level, including causation, measures of disease occurrence and effect, study designs, biases in epidemiologic research, interaction, and data analysis for categorical and survival data using statistical software. | ||
| EPIB 605 | Critical Appraisal in Epidemiology. | 1 |
Critical Appraisal in Epidemiology. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. This course provides the opportunity to develop skills to critically evaluate evidence presented in the biomedical and health sciences literature, based on the concepts acquired in the epidemiology introductory courses. | ||
| EPIB 607 | Inferential Statistics. | 4 |
Inferential Statistics. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Introduction to the basic principles of statistical inference used in clinical and epidemiologic research. Topics include variability; methods of processing and describing data; sampling and sampling distributions; inferences regarding means and proportions, non-parametric methods, regression and correlation. | ||
| EPIB 613 | Introduction to Statistical Software. | 1 |
Introduction to Statistical Software. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Introduction to statistical software and data management; including basics of entering, manipulating data and elementary statistical analysis, SAS software, with reference to other packages of potential interest to students (R, Stata, SPSS). | ||
| EPIB 621 | Data Analysis in Health Sciences. | 4 |
Data Analysis in Health Sciences. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Univariate and multivariate statistical techniques for continuous categorical and survival data. Topics include generalized linear models, multiple linear and logistic regression, introductory survival analysis, model selection. Maximum likelihood and Bayesean approaches will be presented. | ||
| EPIB 684 | Principles of Environmental Health Sciences 1. | 3 |
Principles of Environmental Health Sciences 1. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Topics in environmental health sciences: principles of exposure assessment and of toxicology. | ||
| EPIB 685 | Principles of Environmental Health Sciences 2. | 3 |
Principles of Environmental Health Sciences 2. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Topics in environmental health sciences: principles of environmental epidemiology. | ||
| EPIB 686 | Environmental Health Seminar. | 3 |
Environmental Health Seminar. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. The seminar will promote critical thinking among students regarding current topics in environmental and occupational health. The course will comprise critical review of papers and topics from the literature, discussion of key studies in environmental health, student presentations, presentations by outside speakers, presentation of novel methods by students and faculty, and other topics. | ||
| PPHS 602 | Foundations of Population Health. | 3 |
Foundations of Population Health. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Introduction to population health and the conceptual basis of the population health approach to measuring disease occurrence and to prevention. Fundamentals of, and methods for, studying burden of disease in population, and how these differ across time, space, and groups. Topics include population dynamics, denominators, occurrence of events, time, person and place, health indicators, standardization, life tables, age, cohort and period effects, disease surveillance and vital statistics. Introduction to the concepts and principles of measurement including measurement error, validity, reliability, and accuracy. | ||
Complementary Courses (6 credits)
6 credits of coursework, at the 500 level or higher, chosen in consultation with the student's academic adviser or supervisor. Complementary courses are meant to further the student's general knowledge in environment, environmental health, methodologies, and related aspects to a student's project.