• Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Occupational Health
• 2001 McGill College Avenue, Room 1200
• Montreal QC H3A 1G1
• Telephone: 514-398-6258
• Email: gradadmin.eboh [at] mcgill.ca
• Website: mcgill.ca/epi-biostat-occh

Chair: Josée Dupuis

This Department contributes to the multidisciplinary Fundamentals of Medicine and Dentistry (FMD), Transition to Clinical Practice (TCP), and Clerkship components of the M.D.,C.M. program. See the Elective Courses page for elective opportunities.

Lectures and small group tutorials cover basic principles of epidemiology and biostatistics as applied in clinical and community settings. Included are research design and methods, dealing with bias and confounding, screening and risk appraisal, statistics, and critical appraisal of the literature.

Elective rotations are available to medical students at the Montreal public health department under the supervision of Public Health and Preventive Medicine specialists and family physicians. Rotations are available in communicable diseases or environmental health, including exposure to on-call duties, health surveillance activities, and epidemiological investigations; as well as disease prevention or health promotion, including early childhood development, youth health, chronic disease prevention and health inequalities.

The McGill residency program in Public Health and Preventive Medicine trains specialists to identify health problems in populations; to plan, implement, and evaluate programs to promote health and control disease; and to apply this knowledge to community-oriented clinical practice. The practice of public health and preventive medicine requires the development of knowledge in several academic fields (epidemiology, statistics, administration, and economics) and skills in different fields of practice such as public health surveillance, clinical preventive medicine, health care policy, health services organization, health promotion, prevention and control of infectious diseases, and occupational and environmental health.

For more information, please consult the Epidemiology, Biostatistics, and Occupational Health website.

Note: **The Department is not currently accepting applications for the M.Sc. (Non-Thesis) Epidemiology program.**

Epidemiology is the study of the distribution and determinants of health and disease. It is a basic science to clinical medicine, public health, and health services research. Our graduate programs have been offered since the 1960s and are known for their strong quantitative and methodological content, as applied to a variety of health areas. We offer education and research training in the etiology, management and prevention of diseases, and the promotion of health. Areas of strength include:

• biostatistics;
• clinical and public health informatics;
• environmental and occupational health;
• health care delivery and organization;
• infectious diseases;
• pharmacoepidemiology;
• population and public health;
• social epidemiology;
• epidemiologic methods;
• chronic diseases;
• reproductive and perinatal epidemiology;
• global health;
• causal inference;
• and many cross­disciplinary activities.

The Department offers three degree programs of study in Epidemiology: M.Sc.(Thesis), M.Sc.(Non-Thesis), and Ph.D. See the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences' Epidemiology section for descriptions of courses and programs.

Biostatistics is the study of statistics and statistical methods with application to the biomedical environment. The department has one of the largest concentrations of Ph.D. statisticians in any Canadian medical school. They receive funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada and from other federal and provincial agencies that fund research in the quantitative and health sciences. The research focus of faculty members is on the development of new statistical methods for the collection and analysis of clinical and epidemiological research data. The Department offers three programs in Biostatistics: M.Sc.(Thesis), M.Sc.(Non-Thesis), and Ph.D. See the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences' Biostatistics section for descriptions of courses and programs.

The mission of the Master of Science in Public Health is to train outstanding public and population health professionals and future leaders by offering a rigorous academic program in methods, research, and practice. Students will study the foundations and principles of epidemiology and biostatistics—as applied to public health research and practice—in order to design, conduct, and analyze population-based, environmental, clinical, policy, and methodological public health-related research. See the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences' Public Health section for descriptions of courses and programs.

Note: **The Occupational Heath Ph.D. and M.Sc.A.(Distance) programs are not currently accepting applications.**

McGill is known for its pioneering research in occupational hazards associated with agents such as respirable dust, chemical hazards, and radiation. The M.Sc. (Applied) and Ph.D. programs in Occupational Health are multidisciplinary and involve engineering, chemistry, ergonomics, epidemiology, and occupational health. The applied programs educate practitioners in occupational health and safety and in industrial hygiene who will be capable of evaluating the work environment and its hazards and of proposing appropriate methods of prevention and control. A part-time "distance education" option is a particularly attractive feature of the Master’s program, for practitioners already working in the field who wish to enhance their theoretical and practical knowledge base. The research programs train independent researchers in the field of occupational health and safety, and workplace environmental sciences. See the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences' Occupational Health section for descriptions of courses and programs.

For further information, visit the Department's website.

• Department of Equity, Ethics, and Policy
• 2001 McGill College Avenue, Suite 1200
• Montreal QC H3A 1G1
• Telephone: 514-398-1236
• Contact: anaik.fortier [at] mcgill.ca
• Website: mcgill.ca/equity-ethics-policy

Chair: Amélie Quesnel-Vallée

Part of McGill's School of Population and Global Health, the Department of Equity, Ethics, and Policy provides an interdisciplinary environment that aims to produce cutting-edge and impactful research on issues related to Ethics and Policy for the improvement of population health and health equity.

The creation of the Department in 2021 brought together the Institute of Health and Social Policy and the Biomedical Ethics Unit. Joining these two units aims to enhance the School's capacity for training and research activity in the areas of public health ethics, health policy, and policy analysis.

Faculty and trainees are active in a variety of interdisciplinary research areas and have expertise that address the ethical, political, social, technological, legal, and environmental issues that impact health, equity, and well-being. The Department fosters cross-disciplinary exchange between normative and empirical scholars and intersectoral collaborations with governmental, non-governmental, and community partners.

The Department undertakes research, teaching, and outreach activities on how policy can be formulated and implemented across different contexts; on how policy affects population health and well-being; and how social conditions impact the health, well-being, and resilience of people and communities locally, provincially, nationally, and globally.

We offer a Master's Degree Specialization in Bioethics. The specialization combines course work, a bioethics practicum and a Master's thesis on bioethics that satisfies the requirements of the specialization and base discipline. Students graduate with a Master's degree in the designation of their base discipline (M.A., M.Sc., or LL.M.) with a specialization in bioethics. Students are admitted from the two supporting Faculties (Law or Medicine and Health Sciences), one School (Religious Studies), and one Department (Philosophy) which confer on completion a Master's Degree with a Specialization in Bioethics.

For further information, visit the Department's website.

• Department of Global and Public Health
• 2001 McGill College Avenue, Suite 1200
• Montreal QC H3A 1G1
• Telephone: 514-398-1235
• Email: dgph.office [at] mcgill.ca
• Website: mcgill.ca/global-public-health

Chair: Madhukar Pai

As one of three departments in the School of Population and Global Health, the Department of Global and Public Health aims to address health inequities and advance public health—locally, nationally, and globally—through action-oriented research, interdisciplinary training, allyship, and equitable partnerships.

The Department aims to foster solution-focused leadership, learning and knowledge generation around priority public health problems. Central to this approach is equitable partnerships. Our research and education will draw upon diverse expertise from across McGill University, within and beyond the boundaries of the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, and our external partners:

• Our faculty members will be engaging in practice- and problem-based projects with particular attention to systems of innovation and the broad range of skills required to solve complex public health challenges and polycrisis.
• Our students will learn by engaging with real-world health problems in partnership with stakeholders using hands-on experiential learning and community-based, participatory approaches.

For further information, visit the Department's website.