Environmental Factor – February 2023: Epidemiology named finest science job for 2023
The annual U.S. News and World Report Best Jobs report is out and this yr’s No.1 science job is epidemiology. Epidemiology is a medical science that investigates all of the elements that decide the presence or absence of illnesses and issues in populations. The report featured NIEHS Epidemiology Branch Chief and Senior Investigator Dale Sandler, Ph.D. She weighed in on what it’s prefer to work as an epidemiologist.

“The thing about epidemiology is it’s a career that can go in many different directions,” Sandler informed U.S. News. She defined that epidemiologists work in hospitals and follow an infection management, and so they work for governmental companies just like the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to trace outbreaks of infectious or noninfectious diseases, develop vaccines, and assist eradicate illnesses. She additionally defined that they research non-infectious illness and talked about her work in massive inhabitants cohorts.
Epidemiology at NIEHS
The NIEHS Epidemiology Branch is made up of eight epidemiology analysis teams led by intramural scientists.
- Environment and Cancer Epidemiology Group, led by Alexandra White, Ph.D.
- Fertility and Reproductive Health Group, led by Anne Marie Jukic, Ph.D.
- Genomics and the Environment in Respiratory and Allergic Health Group, led by Stephanie London, M.D., Dr. P.H.
- Molecular and Genetic Epidemiology Group, led by Jack Taylor, M.D., Ph.D.
- Perinatal and Early Life Epidemiology Group, led by Kelly Ferguson, Ph.D.
- Social and Environmental Determinants of Health Equity Group, led by Chandra Jackson, Ph.D.
- Women’s Health Group, led by Donna Baird, Ph.D.
Sandler leads the Chronic Disease Epidemiology Group.
NIEHS epidemiological research
Among their work, NIEHS intramural scientists lead quite a few long-term potential epidemiological research.
- Sister Study
The Sister Study is a potential cohort research analyzing the environmental and genetic threat elements for breast most cancers and different illnesses amongst 50,884 sisters of girls who’ve had breast most cancers. The Sister Study will commemorate its twentieth anniversary in October. - The GuLF Study
The Gulf Long-term Follow-up Study investigates potential well being results related to response and clean-up actions following the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill catastrophe within the Gulf of Mexico. Nearly 33,000 people who carried out oil spill associated work or obtained security coaching however didn’t take part within the oil spill response are enrolled within the research. - Agricultural Health Study
The Agricultural Health Study is a collaboration amongst NIEHS, the National Cancer Institute (NCI), and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to comply with a potential research cohort of licensed pesticide applicators and their spouses from North Carolina and Iowa, all of whom had been recruited in 1993-1997. - SELF Study
The Study of the Environment, Lifestyle, and Fibroids follows 1,700 individuals to higher perceive uterine fibroids, comply with fibroid progress, determine threat elements for fibroid growth, and develop much less invasive therapy interventions.
Visit the Studies web page for a full record of NIEHS epidemiological research.
NIEHS assets for epidemiologists
NIEHS provides varied assets for epidemiologists, too.
“The NIEHS Epidemiology Branch is the ‘crown jewel’ of our intramural research program,” stated NIEHS Scientific Director Darryl Zeldin, M.D. “NIEHS epidemiologists enhance the public health relevance of our work by helping us translate our basic and clinical research findings to human populations in addition to the primary data that they generate from their large prospective cohort studies and novel hypotheses. Their ability to go from lab bench to population and back again is a major strength of our intramural program.”
U.S. News ranks jobs by calculating seven element measures: 10-year progress quantity, 10-year progress share, median wage, employment price, future job prospects, stress degree, and work-life stability. See 2023 Best Jobs report for the total article.
(Jennifer Harker is a technical writer-editor within the NIEHS Office of Communications and Public Liaison.)