March 23, 2021
A career in biostatistics, which is the development and application of statistics for health-related fields such as epidemiology and genomics, requires a passion for math, science, and programming. It is often associated with the analysis of clinical trials, although biostatisticians gather and evaluate many types of quantitative data related to medicine, biology, and public health. The many different career paths are in academia, non-profits, and biotech, among other industries; each with its own pros and cons in terms of flexibility and compensation. Monica Gerber (‘11, Anthropology) will review the various career and grad school options for biostatistics, how to gain exposure to the field as an undergrad at Reed, and how an interest in public health led her to this career.