Earn Your Master of Science in Clinical Epidemiology Online
Become a force in the quest to understand, prevent and treat diseases through life-saving research. Kent State University’s STEM-designated Online MS in Clinical Epidemiology program equips you with sophisticated research methods and biostatistical expertise essential to clinical discovery. You'll develop the analytical skills that power evidence-based medicine and prepare for a rewarding career at the research epicenter of public health.
Program Snapshot
- 100% online course delivery
- Two annual start dates: fall and spring
- Focused 15-week courses
- No GRE required
- Complete your degree in as few as 24 months
Benefits of a STEM-Designated Program
STEM-designated public health programs offer key advantages:
- Extended OPT for international students: Up to 36 months of Optional Practical Training (OPT), giving additional time to gain U.S.-based work experience after graduation
- In-demand skills for domestic students: Training in data analysis, quantitative methods, and technical skills valued across public health fields
- Rigorous, analytical focus: The STEM designation highlights the program’s emphasis on evidence-based, data-driven approaches to public health challenges.
Recognized for Excellence
Ranked in the top 4.1% of world universities,1 Kent State University is also proud to be recognized for the outstanding service we provide to the military community with the Military Friendly Gold Designation.
The Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH) and the Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health (ASPPH) accredit our online MS in Clinical Epidemiology, ensuring adherence to the highest educational standards. This accreditation, combined with our Quality Matters certification, reflects our commitment to excellence in online public health education.
Build the Career You Want
Take your career to a higher level with Kent State’s affordable, flexible undergraduate and graduate public health programs. Our 100% online programs allow you to keep up with your current responsibilities while you study. Find out how these programs can help you create the career and positive public health impact you want to have.
Download our guide to learn more about:
- Career Opportunities
- Customizing Your Degree
- The Student Experience
- Admission Requirements
- Tuition and Financial Aid
Download Program Brochure
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Committed to Your Success
You’ll thrive at Kent State thanks to uniquely personalized instruction, tutoring and applied practice experience support. The close-knit learning environment, small class sizes, robust online student portal and dedicated faculty help you build the professional connections and competencies that define successful public health careers.
- Dedicated tutoring support for your biostatistics courses ensures your mastery of essential analytical skills
- Faculty mentors work closely with you to secure applied practice experiences aligned with your career goals
Master of Science in Clinical Epidemiology Program Overview
The program begins with core knowledge of theoretical and ethical frameworks, along with up-to-date information on statistical analysis, and study design and implementation.
Customize your degree with a selection of electives on topics including:
- Scientific writing
- Regulatory affairs
- Pharmacoepidemiology
- Epidemiology of chronic diseases
- Epidemiology of infectious diseases
You may also pursue individual investigation on a subject of interest before solidifying your knowledge through a clinical research practicum or thesis.
Coursework will prepare you for key roles in clinical trials and research, including advanced observational and experimental study design methods.
You’ll graduate able to:
- Conduct patient-oriented research to understand and modify health outcomes
- Design and carry out epidemiological studies
- Analyze clinical data and understand the sources, strengths and limitations of patient data
- Design and carry out clinical trials
- Describe disease prognosis, therapies and outcomes
The scope of work for epidemiologists is broad, with variations across employer types, including:
- Public health agencies
- Research institutions
- Advocacy organizations
- For-profit companies
Clinical Epidemiology graduates often pursue careers as:
- Research scientists
- Data scientists
- Clinical research coordinators/managers
- Clinical trial managers
- Clinical data analysts
- Research associates
- Epidemiologists
Already Working in the Field?
Our online Graduate Certificate in Clinical Research can serve as a direct pathway to the MS in Clinical Epidemiology, with certificate credits fully applicable toward your master's degree.
Rapid Expansion Means Growing Career Opportunities
16% Projected Job Growth for Epidemiologists, 2024-2034: Much Faster Than the National Average2
Specialized skills yield big rewards. Yours can save lives.
With an MS in Clinical Epidemiology, you'll qualify for research-focused positions that advance medical science—and offer attractive salaries:
We Do More for You
Kent State’s public health programs are already competitively priced. In addition, you may be eligible for scholarship support.
Courses
Major Requirements
BST 62019 BIOSTATISTICS IN PUBLIC HEALTH (3 credits)
This course provides graduate students with an understanding of basic statistical methods as well as the skills to perform and interpret basic statistical procedures and interpret the results. Emphasis is on principles of statistical reasoning, presentation of graphical and numerical descriptive statistics, statistical inference (estimation and hypothesis testing) and careful interpretation of results. By the end of the course, students achieve competency in applying appropriate basic statistical methods to real-time data and presenting the results appropriate for public health professionals and educated lay audiences.
Prerequisite: Graduate standing.
Schedule Type: Lecture
Contact Hours: 3 lecture
Grade Mode: Standard Letter
BST 63013 EXPERIMENTAL DESIGNS IN PUBLIC HEALTH RESEARCH (3 credits)
(Slashed with BST 83013) Introduces students to experimental research methods in public health settings. First introduces a number of quasi-experimental and experimental study designs, then identifies a number of statistical methods that can be used to draw correct causal inferences from the study.
Prerequisite: BST 62019 and BST 63014; and graduate standing.
Schedule Type: Lecture
Contact Hours: 3 lecture
Grade Mode: Standard Letter
BST 63014 APPLIED REGRESSION ANALYSIS OF PUBLIC HEALTH DATA (3 credits)
(Slashed with BST 83014) Focuses on developing student proficiency in building and evaluating various regression models for public health studies. Topics covered include exploratory and descriptive methods, simple and multiple linear regression models, predictor selection, binary and multinomial logistic regression models, survival analysis, repeated measures and generalized linear models.
Prerequisite: BST 62019; and graduate standing.
Schedule Type: Lecture
Contact Hours: 3 lecture
Grade Mode: Standard Letter
EPI 62017 FUNDAMENTALS OF PUBLIC HEALTH EPIDEMIOLOGY (3 credits)
(Slashed with EPI 72017) Introduces principles, methods and application of epidemiology. Covers the history of epidemiology, concepts of disease causation and prevention, measures of disease frequency and excessive risk, epidemiologic study designs, causal inference, outbreak investigation and screening. Provides experience with calculation of rate standardization; measures of disease frequency, association and impact; and sensitivity and specificity of screening tests. Highlights applications of epidemiology to understanding of disease etiology, transmission, pathogenesis and prevention; evaluation and public policy development.
Prerequisite: Graduate standing.
Schedule Type: Lecture
Contact Hours: 3 lecture
Grade Mode: Standard Letter
EPI 63016 PRINCIPLES OF EPIDEMIOLOGIC RESEARCH (3 credits)
(Slashed with EPI 83016) Course builds upon EPI 62017 to explore deeper the concepts and methods in epidemiologic research. Reviews the measures of disease frequency; association and impact; epidemiologic reasoning and causal inference; and methods and techniques for designing, implementing, analyzing and interpreting various epidemiologic study designs. Discusses advantages and limitations of various study designs. Explores threats to validity, precision and generalizability of epidemiologic studies.
Prerequisite: BST 62019 and EPI 62017; and graduate standing.
Schedule Type: Lecture
Contact Hours: 3 lecture
Grade Mode: Standard Letter
EPI 63019 EXPERIMENTAL DESIGNS FOR CLINICAL RESEARCH (3 credits)
(Slashed with EPI 83019) Principles of experimental designs as they apply to clinical research and clinical trials are presented at an intermediate level. Students understand randomized control trial designs and alternative designs. Study methodology, including randomization and blinding techniques, is covered. Topics include evidence-based medicine; risk prediction and risk scores; instruments and measurement; data issues; and recruitment, retention and adherence.
Prerequisite: EPI 63016; and graduate standing.
Schedule Type: Lecture
Contact Hours: 3 lecture
Grade Mode: Standard Letter
EPI 63020 ADVANCED EPIDEMIOLOGY AND CLINICAL RESEARCH METHODS (3 credits)
(Slashed with EPI 83020) This advanced course focuses on why particular methods, study designs or approaches are used in particular investigative scenarios in clinical research. Students develop an advanced understanding and application of epidemiology methods in clinical research.
Prerequisite: EPI 63019; and graduate standing.
Schedule Type: Lecture
Contact Hours: 3 lecture
Grade Mode: Standard Letter
EPI 63021 ETHICAL ISSUES IN PUBLIC HEALTH AND CLINICAL RESEARCH (3 credits)
(Slashed with EPI 83021) Introduces students to historical and contemporary ethical issues that arise during public health and clinical or biomedical research studies. Broadly covers human subjects research, the responsible conduct of research and the good clinical practice guidelines.
Prerequisite: EPI 62017; and graduate standing.
Schedule Type: Lecture
Contact Hours: 3 lecture
Grade Mode: Standard Letter
or HPM 62017 HEALTHCARE LAW AND REGULATION
Healthcare is one of the most heavily regulated industries in the United States. In order to contain spiraling costs, the federal and state governments are focusing on individual provider conduct in the context of fraud, waste and abuse scrutiny. This course covers the underlying theories behind healthcare law and regulation as well as specific provisions affecting the organization, delivery and payment of primary health services. Administrators and clinicians gain a basic understanding of the regulatory environment and provisions impacting their practice.
Prerequisite: Graduate standing.
Schedule Type: Lecture
Contact Hours: 3 lecture
Grade Mode: Standard Letter
or PHIL 50005 HEALTH CARE ETHICS
Ethical problems in health care critically assessed and consideration of how these specific ethical problems illuminate the ethical enterprise.
Prerequisite: Graduate standing.
Schedule Type: Lecture
Contact Hours: 3 lecture
Grade Mode: Standard Letter
Major Electives
Choose from the following (6-9 credits):
BST 60010 USING R IN PUBLIC HEALTH
(Slashed with BST 70010) Students learn the role of the computing software R for data analyses. The course covers the basics of R including how to organize and clean data and how to display data visually. Students understand how to perform descriptive and inferential statistics using R.
Prerequisite: Graduate standing.
Schedule Type: Lecture
Contact Hours: 1 lecture
Grade Mode: Standard Letter
BST 60011 USING SAS IN PUBLIC HEALTH
(Slashed with BST 70011) Students learn the role of the computing software SAS for data analyses. The course covers the basics of SAS, including importing data, organizing and cleaning the data and using different procedures. Students understand how to perform descriptive and inferential statistics using SAS.
Prerequisite: Graduate standing.
Schedule Type: Lecture
Contact Hours: 1 lecture
Grade Mode: Standard Letter
BST 60012 USING EXCEL IN PUBLIC HEALTH
(Slashed with BST 70012) An introduction to using Excel in the field of public health. Students learn the skills to analyze and present data, including using formulas, pivot tables, graphs and the data analysis toolpak.
Prerequisite: Graduate standing.
Schedule Type: Lecture
Contact Hours: 1 lecture
Grade Mode: Standard Letter
BST 62020 DATA MANAGEMENT AND LOGIC USING SAS® SOFTWARE
(Slashed with BST 82020) This course introduces graduate students to SAS® software, reading external data into SAS software, use of SAS data step, basic SAS functions, logical data steps for data management, and different SAS procedures for creating summary reports, graphical displays, and conducting basic statistical analysis using the SAS software. SAS Lab sessions are designed to mimic real time challenges working with different kinds of data and learn how to meet such challenges. By the end of the course, students will achieve competency in proper and efficient use of SAS software.
Prerequisite: Graduate standing.
Schedule Type: Lecture
Contact Hours: 3 lecture
Grade Mode: Standard Letter
EPI 50015 SCIENTIFIC WRITING FOR CLINICAL RESEARCH
(Cross-listed with PH 40015) Course provides students the tools to develop proficiency in scientific reading, to conduct presentations and to demonstrate skill in scientific writing, with the goal of preparing clinical researchers to be able to communicate findings to the science community and the general population. Course includes an examination of the science literature in clinical trials research.
Prerequisite: Graduate standing.
Schedule Type: Lecture
Contact Hours: 3 lecture
Grade Mode: Standard Letter
EPI 50017 PHARMACOEPIDEMIOLOGY
(Cross-listed with PH 40017) Introduction to the field of pharmacoepidemiology, which uses epidemiology methods to understand medication use and distribution at the population level. Course examines risk-benefit and epidemiology approaches to examining medication use and therapeutic trials. Drug and device manufacturing to market are explored.
Prerequisite: BST 62019 and EPI 62017; and graduate standing.
Schedule Type: Lecture
Contact Hours: 3 lecture
Grade Mode: Standard Letter
EPI 50018 REGULATORY AFFAIRS IN CLINICAL RESEARCH
(Slashed with PH 40018) Course provides the tools for students to develop an understanding of the researcher and organization responsibility in research and development of clinical trials products. Students understand regulations from the government and industry, privacy concerns, liability and ethical issues related to clinical trials research. Examples from the field are explored in detail.
Prerequisite: Graduate standing.
Schedule Type: Lecture
Contact Hours: 3 lecture
Grade Mode: Standard Letter
EPI 50196 INDIVIDUAL INVESTIGATION IN EPIDEMIOLOGY
(Repeatable for maximum 6 credits) Individual graduate investigation or research in areas related to epidemiology.
Prerequisite: Graduate standing; and special approval.
Schedule Type: Individual Investigation
Contact Hours: 1-3 other
Grade Mode: Standard Letter-IP
EPI 63014 EPIDEMIOLOGY OF CHRONIC DISEASES
(Slashed with EPI 83014) With a life course approach to chronic disease epidemiology, this course focuses on cardiovascular, respiratory and cerebrovascular diseases and cancer. Health and disease are addressed from a multicausal perspective, which includes individual behaviors; psychosocial issues; and sociodemographic, biological and physiological factors. Time points for prevention and intervention are identified.
Prerequisite: EPI 62017; and graduate standing.
Schedule Type: Lecture
Contact Hours: 3 lecture
Grade Mode: Standard Letter
EPI 63015 EPIDEMIOLOGY OF INFECTIOUS DISEASES
(Slashed with EPI 83015) Surveys the history, principles, methods and practice of infectious disease epidemiology by (1) defining and understanding infectious disease epidemiology surveys, (2) collecting and measuring surveillance data, (3) interpreting epidemiology data and (4) predicting evidence-based outcomes. Primarily a course in epidemiology, students learn some infectious disease microbiology as well.
Prerequisite: EPI 62017; and graduate standing.
Schedule Type: Lecture
Contact Hours: 3 lecture
Grade Mode: Standard Letter
Choose from the following: (3-6 credits)1
Culminating Requirement
EPI 63192 RESEARCH PRACTICUM IN CLINICAL EPIDEMIOLOGY
(Repeatable for credit) Research practicum allows students to gain hands-on experience conducting research in a clinical setting, such as a hospital or other approved organization. Students complete the experience under the supervision of a field preceptor and faculty member.
Prerequisite: Graduate standing.
Schedule Type: Practical Experience
Contact Hours: 3-9 other
Grade Mode: Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory-IP
EPI 63199 THESIS I
Student must register for a total of 6 credit hours in the program. Student may register for 2 to 6 hours in a single semester
Prerequisite: Graduate standing.
Schedule Type: Masters Thesis
Contact Hours: 2-6 other
Grade Mode: Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory-IP
Minimum Total Credit Hours: 36
1 All students will be required to present their thesis or research-based practicum to the College of Public Health at a presentation day, either in person or using videoconferencing technology. Students choosing a 3-credit hour research practicum will take 9 credit hours of electives. Students choosing a 6-credit hour thesis will take 6 credit hours of electives.
Graduation Requirements
| Minimum Major GPA | Minimum Overall GPA |
|---|---|
| - | 3.000 |
- Some students may be required to take science-based courses in addition to the requirements for the degree and, therefore, will graduate with more than the listed credit hours.
- No more than one-half of a graduate student’s coursework may be taken in 50000-level courses.
- Grades below C are not counted toward completion of requirements for the degree.
Course Requirements
To participate in this online program, you will need a computer and broadband Internet connection. Your program may have further requirements that include the ability to record video and audio. If you have questions regarding technology requirements for the program, please contact your admissions outreach advisor at onlinedegrees@kent.edu or call us toll-free at +1 844-234-4073.
Once you are admitted to the program, your student success coordinator will craft your personalized degree plan, giving you a clear course sequence and path to graduation.*
*Students are responsible for taking courses in the prescribed sequence. Any deviation from the prescribed sequence that leads to a delayed graduation is the responsibility of the student.
Fascinated by the Big Picture?
If you’re intent on addressing broad public health challenges in diverse settings, including health care administration, public policy and advocacy, the online Master of Public Health in Epidemiology may be the path for you.
Questions and Answers
Have questions? We have answers.
Choosing the right online program comes with lots of questions, and our admissions outreach advisor is here to help you sort through them all. Connect with this friendly, knowledgeable advisor for personalized guidance. Taylor will make sure you have everything you need to feel confident about your next steps at Kent State.
Admissions and Application Deadlines
- Retrieved on August 28, 2025, from cwur.org/2025.php
- Retrieved on August 28, 2025, from bls.gov/ooh/Life-Physical-and-Social-Science/Epidemiologists.htm
- Retrieved on August 28, 2025, from payscale.com/research/US/Job=Research_Scientist/Salary
- Retrieved on August 28, 2025, from bls.gov/ooh/life-physical-and-social-science/epidemiologists.htm
- Retrieved on August 28, 2025, from payscale.com/research/US/Job=Senior_Biostatistician/Salary
- Retrieved on August 28, 2025, from payscale.com/research/US/Job=Senior_Data_Scientist/Salary