What to do with Biomath?`

[Hanyuye]

Hi all,

I am looking at programs in Biomathematics and I was wondering, what exactly can Biomath grads apply to after graduation? I've been looking at Indeed and usually see jobs requiring Biostats and Bioinformatics, but never Biomath. Is it something ONLY for research (Research Triangle in NC, etc.) or an actual job job?

Edited December 29, 2011 by Hanyuye

[ANDS!]

If you take some graduate statistics classes the you can no doubt get the jobs the BioStat's get and more. From what I understand, BioMath has a stronger emphasis on the biological side than BioStat (which generally will focus on design and analysis of experiments).

So short answer - a lot.

[Hanyuye]

I think most Biomath programs that I looked at (FSU, NCSU, University of Utah) have about 2-3 Stat classes in their curricula. While Biostat courses have about 6-7 and biomath have a lot of applied math as well. I'm just thinking that Biomath isn't at concentrated as Bioinformatics/Biostats and that it's not that helpful to apply for jobs with it.

[cyberwulf]

These are really two quite different fields. Wiki says:

[biomathematics] aims at the mathematical representation, treatment and modeling of biological processes, using a variety of applied mathematical techniques and tools.

The science of biostatistics encompasses the design of biological experiments, especially in medicine and agriculture; the collection, summarization, and analysis of data from those experiments; and the interpretation of, and inference from, the results.

So, a biomathematician might be interested in deriving a set of differential equations describing how a particular protein transports ions across a cell membrane, while a biostatistician would develop and apply statistical techniques for establishing whether higher concentrations of that protein in (say) blood are associated with a disease.

Job prospects for biostat grads are good: they are employable in private industry (often pharmaceutical or medical device companies) or in the public sector (FDA, CDC, universities). Biostatisticians are involved with most post-Phase I clinical trials (and increasingly pre-clinical studies as well!), so there's a pretty big demand.

I don't know as much about biomath, but I get the impression that it's more of a "niche" area, where certain companies and research institutions have small groups working on the modeling of biological processes. Would be interested to hear from someone more familiar with the field.