2025 orientation - posed group outside
Teaching and Prevention Through Quality Research

Our department is leading research and prevention activities that impact public health by training students to evaluate and respond to important public health issues in aging and chronic disease prevention, reproductive health, environmental health, and infectious diseases.

Why Study Epidemiology?

News

Epidemiologist Beth Shaaban

The hidden link between racism and Alzheimer’s risk

Researchers should include historically minoritized communities in studies of these new frontiers in dementia diagnosis and treatment, says epidemiologist Beth Shaaban of the University of Pittsburgh. If adequate attention isn’t paid to diverse populations, communities that already experience disproportionate rates of dementia will be uninformed about their increased risk, how to lower it and how to access diagnoses and care. “We are very concerned that these disparities and the rapid evolution of the new technology could leave people behind,” Shaaban says.

Alexander Sundermann, DrPH, MPH

CSI: Infection Control

Through 15 seasons and four spinoff shows, the intrepid investigators of television’s CSI franchise solved crimes with forensic science. Alexander Sundermann (DrPH, EPI ’22, MPH, IDM ’14) assistant professor of epidemiology, is investigating health care-associated infections with the same zeal to stop dangerous pathogens in their tracks—before they spread.

Professor of Epidemiology Samar R. El Khoudary

Vaginal estrogen tablets not linked with increased recurrent stroke risk

“As an epidemiologist, I see this study as a valuable contribution because it focuses on a population often excluded from hormone therapy research, midlife women with a prior stroke, and examines an increasingly used route of administration: vaginal tablets," said Samar R. El Khoudary, PhD, professor of epidemiology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health.