我们的目标是将严格的流行病学方法与遗传原理和技术相结合，以识别基因如何导致疾病风险。遗传流行病学系积极参与广泛的研究项目，包括神经精神疾病，先天缺陷，传染病，癌症，肾脏疾病，心血管疾病，糖尿病和衰老的研究，以及开发和评估统计方法的方法研究。用于遗传流行病学。目前和以前的学生都对许多主题进行了论文研究，包括对糖尿病，艾滋病，双相情感障碍，认知能力下降，乳腺癌，肾脏疾病，心血管疾病和哮喘的遗传易感性。通过该系内外的合作研究项目，学生有机会发展自己的想法并实施必修课程中介绍的分析方法。
Genetic Epidemiology is the study of how genetic factors contribute to health and disease in families and populations, and how genes interplay with environmental factors. In the post-genomic era where large amounts of genetic data are now readily available, it has become increasingly important to design studies and analytical techniques to accurately detect and describe the role genes play in human disease. Genes alone can cause some human diseases, and the public health impact of such Mendelian diseases must be considered. For many complex diseases, however, both genes and environmental factors contribute to risk. Our track aims to integrate rigorous epidemiologic methods with genetic principles and techniques to identify how genes contribute to risk for disease. The genetic epidemiology faculty are actively engaged in a wide range of research projects, including research into neuropsychiatric disorders, birth defects, infectious diseases, cancer, kidney disease, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and aging, in addition to methodologic research to develop and assess statistical methods for genetic epidemiology. Current and former students have conducted their thesis research on many topics including genetic susceptibility to diabetes, AIDS, bipolar disorder, cognitive decline, breast cancer, kidney disease, cardiovascular disease, and asthma. Through collaborative research projects both within and outside the Department, students have the opportunity to develop their own ideas and implement the analytical methods introduced in the required courses.