epidemiologist

/ˌɛpədimiˈɑləʤɪst/

Other forms: epidemiologists

An epidemiologist is a scientist or medical professional who specializes patterns of diseases that spread between people. Epidemiologists study things like the causes and treatment of lung disease, for example.

If you're interested in public health or communicable illnesses, you might decide to be an epidemiologist one day. An epidemiologist might study the spread of a strain of the flu, or investigate the causes of a measles outbreak. Epidemiologist comes from epidemiology, "the study of epidemics," which has a Greek root: epidemios, "among the people."

Definitions of epidemiologist

1. noun

   a medical scientist who studies the transmission and control of epidemic diseases
   type of:

   medical scientist

   a scientist who studies disease processes