Letter From the Director

Dear Prospective Students,

We are pleased that you are interested in the Epidemiology and Human Genetics Program within the Graduate Program in Life Sciences (GPILS) at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. The program provides students with opportunities to acquire skills in population and molecular-based research in human health, and research on genetic mechanisms relating to health and disease. Students at both the master’s and doctoral levels work closely with a talented faculty consisting of epidemiologists, geneticists, disease specialists and physicians, social scientists, biostatisticians, molecular biologists, bioinformatics specialists and computer scientists who collaborate with colleagues at the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. Our graduates move on to post-doctoral fellowships, faculty positions at colleges and universities, research positions with government agencies and to various other opportunities, including working with pharmaceutical companies.

The program boasts three distinct tracks: Epidemiology, Molecular Epidemiology and Human Genetics and Genomic Medicine. With a strong quantitative focus, the Epidemiology track prepares students with an advanced set of tools to apply to studies of population health and disease through the completion of independent research in a biomedical setting. While gaining the laboratory and informatics skills needed to incorporate genomic data into their research, the Molecular Epidemiology track also supplies students with a solid knowledge base in epidemiology and biostatistics. The Human Genetics and Genomic Medicine track offers broad training in human genetics for students wanting to understand human genetic variation and its relations with health and disease. After receiving a broad overview of human genetics, students then specialize in their particular areas of interest. All three tracks provide students with fascinating research rotation opportunities in state of the art facilities and with an abundance of informative seminars and journal clubs featuring well-published guest speakers.

I hope that this website answers many of your questions about our program. Please don’t hesitate to contact me, any of our faculty and track leaders, or our academic coordinator. We are here to assist and eager to hear from you!

Regards,

Ann Gruber-Baldini, Ph.D.
Program Director, Graduate Program in Epidemiology and Human Genetics
Professor, Department of Epidemiology and Public Health
(410) 706-2444
abaldin@som.umaryland.edu