Skip to content
BIOSTATISTICS AND BIOINFORMATICS (BIOS)

Join a top 10 fastest-growing profession

Statisticians and data scientists are consistently ranked among the top 10 fastest-growing professions in the U.S., and Fortune magazine ranked a master’s in biostatistics number one on the list of best graduate degrees. With a master’s in biostatistics from the Rollins School of Public Health, you’ll be at the forefront of this sought-after profession.

Innovation meets collaboration

From analysis of infectious diseases to deriving new scientific discoveries in the biomedical and health sciences, biostatistics is a collaborative field that reaches across disciplines. With the Rollins BIOS program, you’ll be prepared to thrive in a public health research career—and truly make an impact.

Forge relationships from day one

BIOS is more than an academic department; it’s a family. Our faculty and staff build relationships with students from day one that extend to graduation and beyond.

Collaborate with industry leaders

Scientific collaboration is a crucial element of public health—and a driving principle for BIOS. At Rollins, you’ll get to work with renowned scholars in statistical methodology and application, from campus faculty to leaders at institutions like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Be at the forefront of the field

Be part of large-scale epidemiologic studies, next-generation sequencing, and cutting-edge clinical trials to make an impact in this fast-moving field.

img-bios-01-1

Power public health discovery

Our degree programs set you up for success across the spectrum of statistical science, from driving public health discoveries, to researching in clinical settings, to academia and technology.

Your dream career is around the corner

At Rollins, we prepare future quantitative leaders for a wide array of focus areas, from genomics and epigenetics to machine learning and infectious disease modeling. You’ll gain hands-on experience through our community engagement programs that put public health into practice: Applied Practice Experience, Global Field Experience, and Rollins Earn and Learn.

And Rollins boasts a high job-placement rate with students pursuing careers in both the public and private sector at organizations including:

  • Google 
  • Eli Lilly 
  • CDC 
  • At universities and research centers worldwide
img-bios-02-1

Award-winning faculty

The BIOS program is home to award-winning faculty devoted to collaborative research and hands-on learning. BIOS faculty are active in public health research on both a national and international scale in areas ranging from mathematical modeling of infectious diseases to statistical genetics. At Rollins, you’ll get to collaborate one-one-one with today’s top leaders in the field.

Meet Our Faculty
Robert Krafty
"We live in a world full of data. Electronic health records, brain images, remotely sensed environmental exposures, next-generation sequencing, microbiome and FitBit data are just a few examples of the amount and variety of health-related data that now flood our lives. Our Department’s mission is to develop, apply, and provide training in quantitative methods that can improve human health by teasing out the information contained within modern data.”
Robert Krafty, PhD
Chair, Biostatistics and Bioinformatics
facutly-nDean
“Our center will promote the timely and reliable use of data for decision-making, while also building the public health workforce who can deploy these tools. Our goal is to undertake the ‘peace time’ work needed to ensure readiness for a future public health emergency.”
Natalie Dean
Assistant Professor, Biostatistics & Bioinformatics
faculty-yHu
“My research focuses on the development of statistical methods and software programs for analyzing highthroughput microbiome data and genetic data in human epidemiological and clinical studies.”
Yijuan Hu
Professor, Biostatistics & Bioinformatics
faculty-dBenkeser
“My methodological research focuses on the theory and applications of machine learning in causal inference. Specific areas of interest include vaccine statistics, competing risks, complex longitudinal data, and theory of robust nonparametric statistical inference. My collaborative research includes work on preventive vaccines, tuberculosis, and HIV prevention.”
David Benkeser
Associate Professor, Biostatistics & Bioinformatics

Research is at our core

With close to $5 million in grant funding in 2023 from top organizations like the National Institutes of Health, conducting innovative research is at our core.

  • Department faculty, staff, and students are active in public health research on a national and international scale.
  • We apply state-of-the-art statistical methods to help researchers in other fields.
  • As a student, you’ll gain hands-on experience in practical biostatistical problems through collaborative research, a 200- to 400-hour practicum, and more.

Biostatistics and Bioinformatics News

Rollins Magazine: Brave New World

Spring 2023

How Rollins researchers are embracing evolving technologies, from artificial intelligence to data apps, to combat biases, improve health equity, and transform public health.   

Read more 

Rollins Researchers Awarded Grant to Establish Center Studying Effects of Climate Change on Health

October 24, 2023

A team of researchers from Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health has been awarded a $3.8M grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to establish a center to study the impacts of climate change on health. Howard Chang, PhD, professor in biostatistics and bioinformatics is a co-lead on the project.

Read more 

Rollins Biostatics Faculty Member Honored for Communications Work

September 14, 2023

Natalie Dean, PhD, assistant professor in the Department of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics, will receive the 2024 Joint Policy Board for Mathematics Communications Award “for a remarkable record of public engagement providing clear meaning and context to COVID models and predictions through traditional and social media.”

Read more