Queen’s University is one of Canada’s most research-intensive universities with a medical school. Queen’s also houses a world-class group of biostatistics faculty members who are heavily involved in health-related research. The biostatistics program at Queen’s has been greatly benefited from Queen’s excellence in health research. The program is jointly offered by the Department of Public Health Sciences and Department of Mathematics and Statistics.
The two departments offer strong graduate programs that include a broad range of courses in statistics, biostatistics, epidemiology, and health-services research. By combining these resources, students in the collaborative program will have unique opportunities to develop the analytical skills and practical experience needed to interact with practitioners and to work in health projects closely with health researchers, or to work in methodological research with biostatistics faculty members.
A graduate degree in Biostatistics will equip students with a sound knowledge in observational and experimental study designs, statistical theory, statistical models for health data analysis, and statistical computing. A four-month practicum will provide students opportunities to apply basic knowledge and develop consulting expertise within a health research group in an academic or industry setting. Graduates of this program will be capable of working as biostatistical data analysts in public and private sectors, such as government agencies, pharmaceutical companies in industry, and multidisciplinary health research teams in research centres, institutions, and hospitals.
Opportunities
Students have unique opportunities to develop their analytic skills and practical experience. Students find themselves in a stimulating health research environment and work with excellent research groups in most major fields in health sciences such as the NCIC Clinical Trials Group and the Cancer Care and Epidemiology Group in the Queen’s Cancer Research Institute, the Centre for Health Services and Policy Research, Emergency Medicine and Injury Research Group, Queen’s – ICES Health Services Research, Social Program Evaluation Group, Centre for Studies in Primary Care, Centre for Obesity and Research Education (CORE), Nursing (PRN) group, Mental Health Research Group, Clinical Research Centre in Kingston General Hospital (KGH), and Research and Education Program at KFL&A Public Health Unit.
Career paths – employment opportunities
High employment opportunities in Canada and internationally in pharmaceutical companies, private industry, contract research organizations, regional or national centers for health research, academic centers, public health and government agencies, medical research institutions, and universities.