Vol 103, No. 5 Printed in U.SA.

AMERICAN JOURNAL or EPIDEMK>LOCY

Copyright ® 1976 by The Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Pubhc Health

A SURVEY OF USA SCHOOLS OF PUBLIC HEALTH—FACULTY, RESEARCH PERSONNEL, AND STUDENTS IN BIOSTATISTICS AND EPIDEMIOLOGY PROGRAMS, 1974-19751

programs. Departments expected that 118 would receive master's degrees and 47 doctoral degrees during the year. There were 10 students with a prior medical

In 1973 we reported briefly on the accomplishments of schools of public health in North America in training epidemiologists (1). In the present communication we describe the teaching resources and student output of these schools for both biostatisticians and epidemiologists for 1974-1975. Data were obtained from questionnaires returned by 16 of the 18 schools of public health in the United States which were accredited at the time of the survey. No reply was received from Puerto Rico, and at Illinois there was no identifiable degree program in biostatistics or epidemiology. The material was assembled for presentation at a workshop entitled "Matching Needs and Resources in Epidemiology and Biometry" held at the University of California, Los Angeles, April 1975. Biostatistics or biometry degree programs. As seen in table 1, there were 150 budgeted, full-time teaching positions in biostatistics in the 16 schools, of which 136 were filled. Part-time faculty numbered 71. The size of departments varied from 30 down to three in a relatively new department. Over 500 student applications for biostatistics programs were reported. The 16 schools reported they could accommodate 550 students a year, new enrollees plus continuing students; the reported number of students working toward degrees was 40 less—510. Of these, 306 (60 per cent) were in master's programs and 204 in doctoral

TABLE 1

Reported number of biostatistics or biometry and epidemiology faculty, applicants, and students enrolled, in master's and doctoral degree programs in 16* US schools of public health, 1974-1975 Biostatistics Epidemor biom- iology etry

Budgeted full-time faculty positions Filled Vacant

Part-time facultyt Student applicants "Quota" or size of class that could be accommodated No. of students In master's programs With prior medical degree Other degree In doctoral programs With prior medical degree Other degree Estimated no. receiving degree^ In master's programs With prior medical degree Other degree In doctoral programs With prior medical degree Other degree Student/faculty ratio Student/"quota" ratio

1 From the School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720 (Reprint requests to Dr. Winkelstein). This survey was made possible by a grant from the Epidemiology and Disease Control Study Section of the Division of Research Grants, NIH.

436

150

148

136 14 71 531 550

138 10 105 612 478

510 306 8 298 204 2 202 165 118 5 113 47 2 45 3.8 0.9

482 304 88 216 178 45 133 208 166 72 94 42 18 24 3.5 1.0

•The 16 accredited schools in the US were: California-Berkeley, California-Los Angeles, Columbia, Harvard, Hawaii, Johns Hopkins, Loraa Linda, Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Pittsburgh, Texas, Tulane, Washington, and Yale; Illinois and Puerto Rico are not included. t Part-time included non-salaried faculty; excluded students. | The estimate of those who received a degree during the 1974-1975 academic year may have been an over-estimate since it was made early in 1975.

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W. WINKELSTEIN, JR., AND F E. FRENCH

437

USA SCHOOLS OF PUBLIC HEALTH TABLE 2

Reported number of full-time faculty and graduates in biostatistics or biometry and epidemiology in US schools of public health, 1959-1960, 1964-1965, and 1974-1975.' {Sources- references, 2, 3) Biostatistics or biometry

Full-time faculty Graduates Master's Doctoral Total

1964-1965

1974-1975

1969-1960

1964-1965 1974-1975

Biostatistics or biometry

Epidemi-

ology

66f

7 It

136*

60f

63t

138$

1.9

2.2

22 5 27

51 14 65

118 47 165

50 2 52

59 12 71

166 42 208

2.3 34 2.5

2.8 3.5 2.9

* (1959-1960) 13 schools: California-Berkeley, Columbia, Harvard, Johns Hopkins, Michigan, Minnesota, Montreal, North Carolina, Pittsburgh, Puerto Rico, Toronto, Tulane, Yale (1964-1965) 15 schools: the above plus California-Los Angeles, Hawaii. (1974-1975) 16 schools: the above plus Loma Linda, Oklahoma, Texas, Washington; excluded Montreal, Puerto Rico, Toronto. Also excluded Illuois because only a generalist degree was offered. t Included assistant professors and above. % Questionnaire requested number of "full-time faculty."

degree in statistical programs, eight in master's and two in doctoral programs. Epidemiology degree programs. The fulltime epidemiology faculty of 138 was almost the same size as the biostatistics faculty. There were 10 vacancies in epidemiology compared with 14 in biostatistics. Part-time epidemiology faculty numbered 105. The number of epidemiology student applications was 612, somewhat larger than the 531 in biostatistics. The estimated number of students for which the epidemiology faculty felt they could provide instruction and advising was 478, and this quota was filled by the 482 enrolled. Of these 482, 304 (63 per cent) were in master's and 178 in doctoral programs. Of the 304 master's students, 166 (55 per cent) were scheduled to receive degrees during the year, and 42 (24 per cent) of the 178 doctoral candidates probably finished. A larger proportion of epidemiology students had a prior medical degree than was true for those in biostatistics: 29 per cent of those in the master's and 25 per cent of those in the doctoral programs. Increases since 1960. For several years the American Public Health Association received questionnaires from accredited

schools of public health supplying information on the number of faculty and students. Annual summaries, prepared by Dr. James Troupin, were published for 1959-1960 through 1970-1971 (2-3). Table 2 shows the number of full-time faculty and graduates for 1959-1960 and 1964-1965, together with information we collected 10 years later. The number of schools included increased from 13 in the earliest period to 15 in 1964-1965, and 16 in our 1974-1975 survey. In terms of teaching resources and the training of professionals, the changes were impressive. During the 15-year period, for both biostatistics and epidemiology the full-time faculty more than doubled. Biostatistics students receiving degrees were some six times what they were, and epidemiology students four times. The increase in doctoral students was particularly great. Considering only the last 10 years, full-time faculty doubled, and for both programs the number of students receiving degrees almost tripled. Discussion. It appeared from this survey in 1974-1975 that overall, student demand for training in biostatistics in schools of public health was met. The total number of students enrolled was some 40 less than the number the schools estimated they could

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1969-1960

Ratio 1974-1975/1964-1965

Epidemiology

438

WINKELSTE3N AND FRENCH

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accommodate. For epidemiology the quota time trend data, almost three-quarters of appeared to be filled, which could mean the 1974-1975 epidemiology students were that some qualified applicants were not without a prior medical degree: 71 per cent accommodated. of those in master's programs and 75 per During the past 10 years there was a cent of the doctoral students (table 1). striking increase in faculty resources and From our 1973 survey (1) and from comstudent output in both fields and it is safe ments in this recent survey, we learned to hypothesize that federal support for that at least eight schools have set up research and training in these fields, par- two-year master's programs for the increasticularly prior to 1973, was a significant ing number of such applicants, two profactor. There is now indication that the grams starting in 1973-1974 and another to policies of the federal government with begin in 1975-1976. respect to support of research and training, REFERENCES particularly in evidence since 1973, have 1. Winkelstein W Jr, French FE: The training of epihad a chilling effect on this trend. demiologists in schools of public health in the United States, a historical note. Int J Epidemiol One trend related to teaching resources 2:415-416, 1973 and to student output has received consid- 2. American Public Health Association: Schools of erable attention in recent years. This is the Public Health in the United States and Canada1959-60. Compiled by J L Troupin. Am J Public increasing proportion of students in epideHealth 50 1770-1791, 1960 miology programs who do not have prior 3. American Public Health Association: Schools of training in the medical or allied fields. Public Health in the United States and Canada for the year ending June 1966. (Mimeographed) While this survey was not designed to yield

A survey of USA Schools of Public Health-faculty, research personnel, and students in biostatistics and epidemiology programs, 1974-1975.

Vol 103, No. 5 Printed in U.SA. AMERICAN JOURNAL or EPIDEMK>LOCY Copyright ® 1976 by The Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Pubhc Health...
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