Skills
Epidemiologist Skills & Tools
The technical skills, people skills and tools employers look for in epidemiologists, and how to build and show them.
What skills do epidemiologists need?
Epidemiologists need technical skills such as epidemiologic methods, biostatistics, and outbreak investigation, plus people skills like curiosity and communication. They also use tools such as R and SAS.
Technical (hard) skills
- Epidemiologic methods
- Biostatistics
- Outbreak investigation
- Surveillance
- Data analysis
- Report writing
People (soft) skills
- Curiosity
- Communication
- Calm under pressure
- Collaboration
Tools, equipment and technology
- R
- SAS
- Epi Info
- GIS
- REDCap
- Dashboards
Skills in action: common tasks
These step-by-step guides show how epidemiologists put their skills to work:
- How to investigate a foodborne outbreak
- How to build an epidemic curve
- How to write a public health alert
How to show these skills on a resume
- Lead your skills section with the technical skills from the job posting, for example, “Epidemiologic methods” and “Biostatistics.”
- Prove soft skills with results: instead of listing “curiosity,” describe a situation where you used it.
- List credentials such as CPH near the top, with the issuing organization and date.
- Use the employer’s vocabulary. Our epidemiologist glossary covers the terms hiring managers expect.
How to build these skills
Formal training, supervised practice and certification are the most direct routes. Our Epidemiologist training introduces each of these skills with plain-language lessons, procedures and a final knowledge check: a strong foundation before hands-on training or your first day.