Graduate Certificate in Biostatistics

The Graduate Certificate in Biostatistics is a 15-credit hour graduate certificate that allows students to develop foundational skills in the design and analysis of biomedical studies. These skills are necessary for conducting quantitative research in public health and medicine, and they are attractive to future employers.

A graduate certificate is not a degree program, but it does provide formal recognition of the mastery of foundational biostatistics. The certificate is designed for students studying in degree programs outside the Department of Biostatistics or for professionals seeking continuing education.

Upon successful completion of the Graduate Certificate in Biostatistics, students will be able to:

Identify and apply appropriate statistical methods for analyzing public health and biomedical data
Summarize statistical designs, including design issues and power calculations, and their applications in solving public health and biomedical problems
Interpret and convey statistical findings
Use technology to perform statistical procedures

Application Process

Students already enrolled in a graduate degree program at UK may apply at any time. For those not currently enrolled, please follow the UK Graduate School application deadlines.

Students must apply through the UK Graduate School’s ApplyYourself system. A link to the application system as well as Graduate School application deadlines and forms are located at: http://gradschool.uky.edu/.

Official transcripts are required to be provided for prior undergraduate and graduate work from universities other than the University of Kentucky. A GPA of at least 3.0 is also required for admission.

Curriculum

The Graduate Certificate in Biostatistics curriculum includes a total of 15 credit hours, consisting of 3 credit hours of required courses and at least 12 credit hours of electives.

Required Course

BST 600 - Introduction to Biostatistical Methods (3 hrs)

Elective Courses (must choose at least two courses marked with *)

* BST 631 - Design and Analysis of Health Surveys (3 hrs)
* BST 636 - Analytic Methods for Mining Healthcare Data (3 hrs)
* BST 661 - Survival Analysis (3 hrs)
* BST 662 - Applied Longitudinal Data Analysis (3 hrs)
* BST 663 - Analysis of Categorical Data (3 hrs)
* BST 664 - Design and Analysis of Clinical Trials (3 hrs)
* EPI 717 - Introduction to Causal Inference (3 hrs)
* PPS 710 - Techniques in Secondary Data Research (3 hrs)
BST 535 - Introduction to R Programming (3 hrs)
BST 635 - Databases and SAS Programming (3 hrs)
BST 655 - Introduction to Statistical Genetics (3 hrs)
BMI 520 - Designing for Data Visualization (3 hrs)
BMI 633 - Introduction to Bioinformatics (3 hrs)
BMI 733 - Biomedical Natural Language Processing (3 hrs)
CPH 713 - Pharmacoepidemiology (3 hrs)
EDP 712 - Advanced Psychometric Methods (3 hrs)

Note that some electives are not offered every year. Enrollment in courses outside the Department of Biostatistics may be limited, and some electives may have additional prerequisites.

Courses completed prior to admission may count toward the curriculum requirements. Requests to include these courses are made on the application.

Students in the Graduate Certificate in Biostatistics must maintain a certificate GPA of 3.0 or better to progress with certificate coursework. All course work for the Graduate Certificate in Biostatistics must be completed within 5 years of admission. For students not enrolled in a UK degree-granting program, coursework must be completed in consecutive semesters.