We acknowledge that the UBC Vancouver campus is situated on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territory of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam).
The MSc program is for students who want to gain research experience by applying epidemiological and biostatistical methods to a thesis under the supervision of a faculty member.
The MSc program generally requires a minimum of two years of full-time study with the first eight months devoted primarily to coursework. Masters students may choose to complete their degree requirements through part-time study. Please see our Timeline page for more information.
30 Credits Minimum
Thesis Required
Maintain at Least a 76% (B+) Average
Full-time or Part-time Option
These courses are required of all MSc students.
SPPH 400 Statistics for Health Research 3 Credits
Planned collection, numeric and graphic summarization, and elementary statistical analysis of data.
SPPH 500 Analytical Methods in Epidemiological Research 3 Credits
Basic epidemiological designs as a framework for commonly used biostatistical techniques such as the Mantel-Haenszel, chi-squared, linear and logistic regression, and survival analysis.
Traditional Syllabus
DL Syllabus
SPPH 502 Epidemiological Methods I 3 Credits
Sources and uses of epidemiologic data for health services planning and administration including methods of data collection and study design.
Traditional Syllabus
DL Syllabus
SPPH 599 M.Sc Thesis 12 Credits
If you have taken an equivalent course previously, you can ask for an exemption, except for SPPH 507. If you want to check whether you are eligible for an exemption, please contact the course instructor before the class is held. Should you receive an exemption, you will still need to register for the course, which will show on your transcript as ‘EX’. It’s important to note that this will not reduce the total credits required for the degree – you will need to substitute the same number of credits by taking a different course.
Electives should be chosen, with the advice of the thesis supervisor and thesis committee. They may be chosen from the list of SPPH courses or from other University courses.
For more information on the thesis for this program, please visit this page. The School of Population and Public Health cannot guarantee funding for successful applications. Applicants are advised to pursue potential funding opportunities with their identified supervisor. Alternatively please see our Awards and Funding Programs page.