Educational Programs

The Master's Degree in Epidemiology and Clinical Research is oriented primarily for physicians and other students with interests in clinical epidemiology who anticipate careers in translational and clinical research.  Students receive training in epidemiologic methods, statistical analysis, and other areas essential to patient-oriented clinical research.

The PhD in Epidemiology and Clinical Research provides methodologic and interdisciplinary training that prepares students to carry out cutting-edge clinical, translational, and population-based epidemiologic research.  The program distinguishes itself from other PhD programs in epidemiology and clinical/translational research by drawing on Stanford’s unique strengths in statistics, biology, computer science, genetics/genomics, and bioinformatics.

The Graduate Certificate in Epidemiology and Clinical Research - offered to students worldwide via online learning - provides students the knowledge and skills essential to patient-oriented clinical research, including epidemiologic methods and statistical analysis.

The medical school also offers these related graduate programs: 

Master of Science Degree in Health Policy:

Most students admitted to this program have an MD (or comparable advanced degree) and are in in the fellowship stages of their training, or are current medical students or have worked in a health care related field. The program provides advanced students with the skills to conduct independent research in health policy.  MS students must satisfy a concentration requirement in one of four content areas: empirical methods, clinical decision-making, health policy, or implementation science. The MS program is typically completed in two years of study in residence.

PhD in Health Policy:

Stanford Health Policy, through the Department of Health Research and Policy at the Stanford University School of Medicine, offers a PhD program which promises to educate students who will be scholarly leaders in the field of health policy, and will be highly knowledgeable about the theoretical and empirical approaches that can be applied in the development of improvements in health policy and the health care system.  The curriculum offers courses across a wide range of health policy areas including health economics, health insurance and government program operation, health financing, international health policy and economic development, cost-effectiveness analysis and the evaluation of new technologies, relevant statistical and methodological approaches, and health policy issues related to public health concerns like obesity and chronic disease. In addition to taking a set of core courses, students are expected to complete coursework in one of two tracks:

1. Health Economics - including the economic behavior of individuals, providers, insurers, and governments and how their actions affect health and medical care,   or
2. Decision Sciences - with quantitative techniques to assess the effectiveness and value of medical treatments and for decision making about medical care at the individual and/or collective level.

Biomedical Informatics is an interdisciplinary graduate and postdoctoral training program, part of the Biosciences Program at Stanford University's School of Medicine. It combines ideas from computer science and quantitative disciplines (statistics, decision science) to solving challenging problems in biology and medicine. Applicants enter our program with many different backgrounds, so the program is designed to be flexible. This center runs a PhD program; an Academic (Research) MS for postdoctoral trainees; an Honors Cooperative Program (Professional Masters) MS; a part-time distance education program; and a coterminal MS for Stanford undergraduates.

Masters of Medicine (MOM) provides Stanford University PhD candidates serious exposure to clinical medicine with a view to fostering translational research. Students who pursue the MS in Medicine while engaged in their doctoral programs will be highly knowledgeable about human biology and disease, and thus more able to translate scientific discoveries into useful medical advances.

Masters of Human Genetics and Genetic Counseling is a program that trains students to understand the molecular, clinical and psychological implications of differences in the human genome, and to translate these intricacies to health care professionals, laboratory researchers and patients/families. Graduates of this program will be eligible for board certification by the American Board of Genetic Counseling. In addition to these degrees available directly through the School of Medicine, Stanford MD students may also pursue a Master of Public Health (MPH) degree at UC Berkeley through our MD/MPH dual degree program.

Masters of Public Health (dual MD/MPH; MPH from UC Berkeley) with two possible concentration tracks.
- A Scholarly Concentration in Health Services and Policy Research focuses on the methodological tools of health services and outcomes research, including meta-analysis, cost-effectiveness analysis, outcomes research and quality of care measurement and evaluation. Students will become familiar with major U.S. health-care institutions, such as managed care, integrated delivery systems and government programs like Medicare and Medicaid.
- Stanford MD students enrolled in the Scholarly Concentration in Community Health can apply for the collaborative MD-MPH Program with the University of California, Berkeley, designed to train medical students to be effective physician scholars and public health leaders. The program allows students to integrate their year of training at Berkeley with the community-based work begun at Stanford, and to complete original research that fulfills requirements for both degrees.

The Knight-Hennessy Scholars program awards full funding to Stanford graduate students from all disciplines, including Health Research and Policy, with additional opportunities for leadership training and collaboration across fields. Apply to KHS by October 14, 2020.

Clinical Excellence Research Center (CERC) Fellowship. Designing better, more affordable care models The Clinical Excellence Research Center (CERC) Fellowship provides post-doctoral students an opportunity to gain knowledge, skills, and experience developing innovative health care delivery models that improve patient health and lower annual per capita health spending. We seek fellows from multiple disciplines and specialties who have secured at least one year of pre-arranged research fellowship funding.

Medical Informatics Fellowship. This postdoctoral fellowship enables trainees to combine formal training in Medical Informatics with research in areas of relevance to the VA health care system, such as decision support systems technologies. Applicants must be U.S. citizens, have completed an M.D. and residency training or have completed a Ph.D. in computer sciences, medical informatics, decision sciences, economics, or related fields. Applicants with strong quantitative and computer science backgrounds will be given priority.

Dr. George Rosenkranz Prize for Health Care Research in Developing Countries. The Dr. George Rosenkranz Prize is awarded to a young Stanford researcher whose work aims to improve health care in the developing world.

Stanford-AHRQ Health Services Research Training Program has a mission of developing independent, well-trained, diverse researchers who conduct rigorous and innovative health services (HSR) on critical challenges facing the U.S. health-care system. Supported by a grant from the U.S. Dept. of Health & Human Services’ Agency for Healthcare Resaerch and Quality, pre- and post-doctoral fellows will work with mentors on topics and methods of interest, as well as career development.

The Department of Epidemiology and Population Health is committed to fostering a diverse community in which all individuals are welcomed, respected, and supported to achieve their full potential.  We welcome applicants with diverse backgrounds.