Welcome to the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics in the new “community-embedded” UT Tyler School of Medicine (SOM). The SOM is in transition, and the new website is in its testing stage. Our department is committed to the pursuit of excellence through rigorous research and training, including excellence in teaching and mentoring the next generation of researchers to improve population health in East Texas and beyond, especially for rural and underserved communities. The department offers core and elective courses for the Master of Public Health (MPH) Degree Program at the UT Tyler School of Health Professions.

 

Faculty in epidemiology identify the patterns and determinants of health outcomes and diseases in populations, which may be used to determine appropriate health promotion and preventive responses. In studies of public health, medical and biological sciences, many problems and questions are addressed by faculty in biostatistics by collecting and exploring relevant data and focusing on the development and application of statistical methods to better understand, analyze and interpret public health data. There are big health challenges in East Texas when compared to the rest of the state, such as higher rates of mortality for heart disease, stroke, lung disease and certain cancers.

 

The department strives to conduct hypothesis-driven research. The faculty maintain a scholarship agenda that involves both methodological research and interdisciplinary collaborative research. The department prides itself on interdisciplinary collaboration with faculty across The Health Science Center at UT Tyler, the UT Tyler Campus and rural and urban community partners to describe, understand and reduce the burden of disease. The faculty are conducting multi-million-dollar-funded rural and underserved community-based projects. The projects include examining the health and economic costs of undertreated mental health conditions and developing a cost-effective, accessible behavioral health intervention to improve health while lowering health care costs of Northeast Texas residents; and developing programs on “mobilizing local community leaders into a multi-stakeholder coalition to enhance access to evidence-based/culturally-sensitive prevention, treatment and recovery services for opioid and substance use disorder in Henderson, Anderson, Cherokee Counties, TX,” through HRSA’s Rural Community Opioid Response Program (RCORP).

 

It is a great privilege to serve as Chair of a department with a mission to improve the health of the population. Please let us know if we can provide you with any additional information.

 

Sincerely,

Karan P. Singh, Ph.D., FMSSANZ, FASA, FSMS
Professor and Chair, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics