Are you looking for a doctoral program that:

• Matches you with successful researchers who involve you as a co-investigator
• Integrates training and research across clinical, laboratory, and quantitative disciplines
• Emphasizes use of actual data from your research team in your course work.
• Focuses on strong theoretical grounding and advanced quantitative methods
• Offers a beautiful campus in a major U.S. health care hub

The Vanderbilt Ph.D. in Epidemiology could be the right program for you and your career.

The Ph.D. is a graduate program affiliated with the Vanderbilt Epidemiology Center, home to more than 127 researchers who are raising the bar for large-scale collaborative research. Our work ranges from DNA databank studies in our clinical populations to large population-based cohorts with data and biological samples from more than 250,000 participants. Vanderbilt Epidemiology Center faculty have more than 80 NIH awards totaling more than $82 million in current funding, with more than $228 million within the Epidemiology Ph.D. Program.

Strong candidates for epidemiology doctoral training at Vanderbilt will have:

• A Master’s degree in a quantitative discipline (preferably epidemiology or biostatistics) or the equivalent
• Experience in the conduct of research and independent data analysis
• Work or research experience that informs their content area interest
• Strong quantitative preparation and aptitude
• Interest in application of advanced quantitative methods within a content area
• Orientation towards an academic career
• Competence in an accepted analytic software package (SAS, STATA or R).

If Vanderbilt’s Ph.D. program in epidemiology sounds like a good fit for you, we would like to talk with you more about what you are looking for and what we offer. Contact us at epi.phd@vanderbilt.edu.

The Fall 2025 Application is now closed. The Fall 2026 Application will be available in August 2025.

Fall 2025 Application Deadline was December 15, 2024.
Fall 2026 Application Deadline is December 15, 2025.

MD/PhD Applicants

The Epidemiology doctoral program partners with the Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP) for those applicants interested in a combined MD/PhD pathway. Applications are submitted directly to the MD/PhD program via AMCAS. Visit MSTP Admissions for more information on program requirements and the application process.

Community of Belonging

The Vanderbilt Epidemiology PhD program is intentional about and assumes accountability for fostering advancement and respect for principles of equal opportunity for all students, teaching faculty, and staff. We support our efforts with respect for the inherent dignity, worth, and unique attributes of every person. To realize our vision of excellence in our scholarly community, we seek to recruit, admit, and support outstanding students with a variety of life and academic experiences, regardless of socioeconomic background, race, ethnicity or nationality, color, sex, gender, sexual orientation, religion, disability status, or political ideology. We value human rights. As educators, we also accept the responsibility to foster and graduate highly educated and reality-grounded future faculty who embrace the complexity and varied backgrounds of the populations they will serve.