Statistics vs Biostatistics: Grad School and Career Options

As I think about my plans after graduation and start comparing different graduate programs, it can be overwhelming to go through all the different choices with slightly varying titles, and sometimes the program or career is not what I think what it is. This blog summarizes my research about Statistics and Biostatistics graduate programs, as well as different career options after you get a biostatistics degree.

Statistics vs Biostatistics

Biostatisticians focus on data related to biology and healthcare, and they work on projects related to genomics, computational biology, electronic medical records, neuroscience, epidemiology, health-risk analysis, and clinical decision making. While the underlying theories and skills that statisticians and biostatisticians learn are very similar, biostatisticians tend to be more interested in data and the subject matter, and they usually work in pharmaceutical companies and hospitals.

A post on the blog simplystats mentioned that “Biostatisticians, in general, tend to be more interested in data and the subject matter, while in Statistics Departments more emphasis is given to the mathematical theory.”

Biostatistics vs Epidemiology

I also notice that many students applied for programs in Biostatistics and Epidemiology at the same time. According to Public Health Degrees, the epidemiology degree focuses on the causes and distribution of diseases and medical conditions. Coursework will focus on research methods and applications of epidemiology. Generally, the epidemiology degree has a greater emphasis on public health. The biostatistics MPH is built on using mathematical and statistical analysis regarding issues in public health and medicine. The biostatistics route is more focused on statistical analysis than the epidemiology path.

Either discipline is an integral part of public health and medicine. The job outlook for biostatisticians is generally healthier, with a wider variety of career possibilities in statistics or data science. On the other hand, most epidemiologists work for state and local health departments. Depending on the type of epidemiologist, there’s also the possibility of working for universities, hospitals and laboratories.

Career Choices in Biostatistics

I found a really interesting and informative post in the online group “Women in Biotech/Pharma” on Douban, where people try to explain their job in a concise but easy-to-understand way. Replies follow this format:

• Job title
• What is given: documents, samples, raw data, etc.
• What to do: edit documents, test samples, programming, etc.
• What is the outcome: who will get the outcome and how will it be used

The original post is in Chinese and I translated some relevant entries:

Data Analyst at an epidemiology research centre

• What is given: Databases and proposals from PI
• What to do: Find the inclusion and exclusion criteria from proposals, talk to the PI, find matching patients from the databases, and get their consent and collecte data
• What is the outcome: Patient data and report that meets the requirements

Manufacturing Execution System (MES) Engineer at a phamaceutical company

• What is given: Drug development process that needs to be improved
• What to do: Testing and coding with software
• What is the outcome: Streamlined drug development process

Staticstical Programmer at a global CRO

• What is given: Clinical trial data
• What is the outcome: Data analysis report, datasets, tables, figures, and listings that meet the requirement of FDA and companies

Data Analyst at a regulatory science and health econ group

• What is given: Sales data, internal longitudinal survey data, research problems from manager (e.g. a state plans to implement a new policy, check the outcome in other states that implemented similary policies)
• What to do: Find external data, use descriptive statistics, model with regression and other methods, match different metrics to see if there is any change caused by different policies in different states, and check if the proposal can improve some metrics that the FDA cares about
• What is the outcome: Analysis reports, slides for stakeholders, report for the FDA, and poster and papers to research conferences

Further Read

• The Future of Biostatistics
• Relevant podcasts on This Week in Machine Learning & AI