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Summary Epidemiologists look for the cause of public health threats.
This field offers many opportunities. A career in epidemiology can take
you around the globe.
In the world of disease, there are a select band of healthcare professionals who call
themselves disease detectives -- but those in the industry call them epidemiologists.
A career in epidemiology can take you around the world to fight the Ebola virus in
Africa and bring you home to study needle-sharing behavior among intravenous drug users.
Dr. Gwendolyn Hammer, PhD, MSN, CRNP, an officer in the Centers for Disease Control's
(CDC) elite Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS), has worked in the United States and
abroad solving medical mysteries and fighting disease.
Early in her EIS posting, she traveled in India for three months, working as part of a
CDC team attempting to eradicate polio. "That was the dream of a lifetime for me to
be doing work in a foreign country, setting up a surveillance system and knowing I was
doing really good work," she recalls.
"While I was in India, I found thousands of vials of expired vaccine given to
children. I was able to trace it back and find that the people who were distributing it
didn't understand it had expired. In an indirect way, I know that thousands of kids are
better off," says Hammer.
EIS officers, be they doctors, nurses, or health professionals, take one of two routes.
They either specialize in a disease -- in which case they're based in Atlanta at the CDC
-- or they become jacks-of-all-trades -- posted in state or local health departments.
Hammer, who's on the latter track now, works from the San Francisco Health Department,
where she deals with everything from outbreaks of food-born illnesses to trends in
infectious diseases such as hepatitis A and tuberculosis.
While most EIS officers are doctors, the CDC does hire PhD nurses and nurses who have
master's degrees in public health. "Technically, once you're in, you're doing
epidemiology. Everybody is able to work on any outbreak that comes up." Hammer
explains.
Beyond the CDC
While the CDC only hires about 75 EIS officers a year, there are many other
opportunities in the field. RNs can find work in epidemiology labs, help conduct surveys
or assist with database analyses, if they have the right skills, says Frances Burman,
academic coordinator for the epidemiology department at the Bloomberg School of Public
health at Johns Hopkins University.
However, if you want to advance beyond entry-level, you'll need at least a bachelor's
degree and Burman suggests taking courses in biology, anatomy, physiology, calculus,
economics, policy and management. "Many people do well by establishing themselves and
working their way up taking evening classes or special courses," she says.
Working in a hospital or clinic will give you insight into the health of people and a
good feel for the normal course of illnesses and diseases -- which will help you spot the
not-so-ordinary diseases later on, says Hammer. You may also be able to find a position as
an assistant to an epidemiologist or work in a lab while you're in school for your
master's degree.
Who's Happy in Epidemiology
"People who enjoy epidemiology are folks who have a highly developed sense of
logic and mathematical skills, as well as a supreme desire to work with people and improve
people's health," says Burman. For instance, at Hopkins, epidemiologists are studying
the DNA material left behind in used syringes to see how many people have used the
syringe. That project involves lab work, studying design and implementation, education and
interventions. "Epidemiologists find themselves anywhere along that spectrum,"
says Burman.
The starting salaries vary widely. You might make $5,000 a year or $250,000 a year,
depending upon your field of interest and the size of your employer's pockets. "Do
you want to work in rural Bangladesh or in a pharmaceutical company? The government pays
less and corporations pay more," explains Burman. Although charitable organizations
might pay the least, you may get to do amazing work in exotic locations.
Most of all, if you want to be a disease detective, go for it, advises
Hammer. "Don't ever think you can't do it. Don't let people say you
can't do that."
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