Job Outlook

A degree in biostatistics provides broad technical training that is marketable to a broad range of employers, leading to a wide range of potential jobs. Of our PhD students who graduated between 2018 and 2020, for those who were employed in the private sector or are in a government setting, job titles include Principal Biostatistician, Principal Data Scientist, Associate Scientist, and Mathematical Statistician; the academic positions our recent PhD students have moved to include postdoctoral scholar positions and tenure-track positions at major universities.

The Division has an excellent record of placing students in academic research institutions, government agencies, and private industry. Recent graduates have obtained faculty or postdoctoral positions at Harvard University, MD Anderson Cancer Center, Duke University, University of Maryland, and the Mayo Clinic. Others are employed at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Medtronic, Eli Lilly, and Boston Scientific.

What Do Graduates Do?

Careers are available in academic, governmental, non-governmental, and private industry settings. Recent graduates have been hired at publicly funded research institutions including: Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, University of Texas, Stanford University, the Food and Drug Administration, and also at private companies including St. Jude Medical, Eli Lilly, Boston Scientific, Medtronic, Merck, 3M, and Affymetrix. Of our PhD students who graduated between 2018 and 2020, 40 percent% were employed in the private sector, 55 percent% moved to an academic position, and five5 percent% moved to a government setting.