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Epidemiology — PhD reading list.

The advanced references a doctoral scholar in Epidemiology works from, and what each one is for.

7Titles listed
4Worked right through
3–6 yrsProgramme length
12Coursework credits
The subject

Epidemiology as a research subject

ScopeStudy design for cohort, case-control and cross-sectional research, outbreak investigation and surveillance, infectious disease modelling, non-communicable disease risk factor research and health technology assessment.
Who can registerMPH, MD Community Medicine, MSc Epidemiology or Statistics, MBBS, MVSc for zoonoses and One Health work, MSc Nursing for clinical epidemiology.
How you get inEither the fellowship route — CSIR-UGC NET, ICMR, DBT-BET, DST-INSPIRE — straight to interview, or the institute entrance test, half research methodology and half epidemiology.
CourseworkOne semester, at least 12 credits: research methodology and biostatistics, plus Research and Publication Ethics, before the research phase proper begins.
How this list is used

Reading for Epidemiology

Doctoral epidemiology reading is layered: Gordis for the vocabulary, Szklo and Nieto for the intermediate design and bias material, and Rothman-Lash Modern Epidemiology as the book you argue with for the rest of the degree. Comprehensive exams in Indian schools of public health typically draw confounding, effect modification, misclassification and study-design questions from the first two; the fourth edition of Modern Epidemiology and Hernan and Robins are what you actually cite when a reviewer challenges your causal assumptions or DAG. Field-based theses — outbreak investigations, surveillance evaluations, FETP-style work — lean on the CDC manual instead, and protocol writing generally happens with Hulley open on the desk. Buy Modern Epidemiology once and keep it; the rest can rotate.

Titles are tagged core reading — the ones scholars work right through — or reference, the ones they look things up in. Editions are given where the current edition is what you want to buy.

  1. Modern Epidemiologycore readingTimothy L. Lash, Tyler J. VanderWeele, Sebastien Haneuse, Kenneth J. Rothman · Wolters Kluwer · 4th edition (2021)The reference you defend your design against — counterfactual causal models, bias analysis and regression choices at doctoral depth.
  2. Gordis Epidemiologycore readingDavid D. Celentano, Moyses Szklo · Elsevier · 7th edition (2024)The clean explanation of measures of association, screening and study designs that coursework and teaching assignments are built on.
  3. Epidemiology: Beyond the Basicscore readingMoyses Szklo, F. Javier Nieto · Jones & Bartlett Learning · 4th edition (2019)The bridge text — stratified analysis, interaction and quality-of-data chapters that get worked through problem by problem.
  4. Epidemiology: An Introductioncore readingKenneth J. Rothman, Krista F. Huybrechts, Eleanor J. Murray · Oxford University Press · 3rd edition (2024)Rothman's compact statement of the same logic as Modern Epidemiology — read first, then used to teach juniors.
  5. Causal Inference: What IfreferenceMiguel A. Hernán, James M. Robins · Chapman & Hall/CRCWhere DAGs, g-methods and target-trial framing come from when a thesis makes a causal claim from observational data.
  6. The CDC Field Epidemiology ManualreferenceSonja A. Rasmussen, Richard A. Goodman (eds.) · Oxford University PressThe operational manual for outbreak investigation, surveillance evaluation and rapid field surveys — used by FETP scholars and field-based theses.
  7. Designing Clinical ResearchreferenceWarren S. Browner, Thomas B. Newman, Steven R. Cummings, Deborah G. Grady, Alison J. Huang, Alka M. Kanaya, Mark J. Pletcher · Wolters Kluwer · 5th edition (2022)Protocol-writing companion — sampling, sample size, measurement and questionnaire design chapters are the ones that get reread.

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Alongside the subject list

The two lists every scholar also needs

Whatever the subject, the coursework semester is examined on research methodology, biostatistics and publication ethics, and the bench work runs on a handful of protocol volumes. Both lists are kept separately so you are not buying them twice.

Other PhD subjects

Also on the site

Related on the site

Epidemiology at postgraduate level

Printing your Epidemiology reading?

Send the PDF on WhatsApp — colour Rs 1/page, B&W 50p/page, binding Rs 40. Printed, bound and delivered anywhere in India.

Frequently asked

PhD Epidemiology — questions

Which books does a PhD scholar in Epidemiology read?

The 7 titles on this page, of which 4 are worked right through and the rest are kept as references. Most scholars own two or three and use the department copy for the others.

Who can register for a PhD in Epidemiology?

MPH, MD Community Medicine, MSc Epidemiology or Statistics, MBBS, MVSc for zoonoses and One Health work, MSc Nursing for clinical epidemiology.

What does a PhD in Epidemiology cover?

Study design for cohort, case-control and cross-sectional research, outbreak investigation and surveillance, infectious disease modelling, non-communicable disease risk factor research and health technology assessment.

Is the coursework examined?

Yes. One semester of at least 12 credits, assessed before the research phase begins, covering research methodology, biostatistics and Research and Publication Ethics.

Can you print this reading for me?

We print from the PDF you send us. Send the file on WhatsApp with your page count and whether you want colour, black and white or mixed, and we print, bind and deliver anywhere in India. We do not supply copyrighted book files.