Top 10 Biostatistics Courses (Online)

Biostatistics is a great course to apply statistics to real life scenarios in the medical and biology world.

Biostatistics can help students find a possible career path beyond high school.

Learning statistics online can be challenging and overwhelming, which makes choosing the right online biostatistics class very important.

Join me as I dive into a list of online biostatistics courses, and a few books to use as a supplemental resources.

Introduction to Biostatistics By AD Chauhdry

To take this class, AD recommends basic knowledge of mathematics. 

In this course, AD provides 5 hours of video content to help students work through the course material. 

Having video content available is great because most students would not be able to read a biostatistics book or webpage without having someone explain the topics to them,

There are several worked examples embedded in the course modules, which help students see how the processes taught in class can be applied.

I recommend this course to anyone who is interested in the history behind biostatistics as well as the statistical science itself.

Biostatistics Fundamentals using Python By Juan Klopper

The course materials include nearly 6 hours of video content to guide students through the relevant coursework. 

This course claims for students to be able to use python programming language to assist with conducting your own biostatistical data analysis.

You will need a basic understanding of statistics to get the most out of this course.

Juan seems to be a very engaging lecturer and content presenter based on the sample videos he includes on his course webpage.

I recommend this course for students interested in coding.

Mathematics Biostatistics Boot Camp 1 By Brian Caffo, PhD

This course is offered by Johns Hopkins University.

This course will teach students basic elementary probability and statistics concepts. 

You will need a basic understanding of calculus and programming to be successful in this class.

This course contains modules with approximate lengths of time it will take to complete them.

This is great for potential students who may have a very busy schedule and need to know how long the course will take.

I recommend this course to any student who need to know how long the course will take.

Biostatistics in Public Health Specialization By John McGready, PhD, MS

This course is offered by Johns Hopkins University.

This course is intended for those who are going into the public health field. 

Those who complete this course will become productive members of a biomedical research team.

This course will take approximately 4 hours to complete.

This course also will have students complete a couple of applied studies to use the statistical method they learned in the course.

I recommend this course to students who are interested in applying biostatistics to real world scenarios.

Introduction to Applied Biostatistics: Statistics for Medical Research By Ayumi Shintani

This course is offered by Osaka University in Japan. 

This course introduces important topics in medical and biostatistical reasoning.

This course also teaches epidemiological study designs.

The webpage for this course has a brief summary of each “week” of the course to give the students an idea of what will be covered.

There will also be data science tutorials on how to use an R commander for data analysis.

I recommend this course for any student interested in applying biostatistics to real world scenarios.

Hypothesis Testing in Public Health By John McGready, PhD, MS

This course is offered by Johns Hopkins University. 

This course is one of four courses offered in the Biostatistics in Public Health Specialization at Johns Hopkins University.

In this course, you will learn the basics of how hypothesis testing works in statistics. 

There is also an estimate of how long each course module will take to complete listed on the course webpage.

There is also a project for the students to complete at the end of the course that will allow the students to apply the statistical methods they are learning.

Like other courses I have discussed so far, I recommend this course for students who are interested in applying biostatistics.

Fundamentals of Biostatistics By Bernard Rosner (Harvard)

This course focuses mainly on applying statistics to medical research. 

It also teaches introductory statistics courses such as probability, inference, regression, and correlation. 

Applications on medical problems are particularly emphasized throughout this course, which is great for students who are interested in data science as well as applying statistics to real world problems. 

I recommend this course for students interested in reproducible research and applying biostatistics.

Epidemiology & Biostatistics Certificate By Statistics.com

The goal of any student taking this course program is to earn a certificate in one of the two fields mentioned in the course title (Epidemiology or Biostatistics). 

The program consists of 10 courses that are taught by experts in the field.

The courses in this program take a deep dive into biostatistics for medical science and public health. 

The program covers important statistical concepts covered in medical and health sciences.

I recommend this course of study for anyone interested in earning this certificate.

BioStatistics by Michael Kangas

This course shows how long it will take per week to do this course, which is great for students with busy lives. 

At the conclusion of this course, students will be able to design experimental, quasi-experimental, and observational studies that will consist of them collecting and interpreting data using statistics. 

This course also offers foundational skills needed for anyone interested in going into a health professions graduate program that leads to medical school.

This course may also inspire students to get a more advanced degree in biostatistics and work on research projects.

I recommend this course to anyone interested in eventually becoming a healthcare professional.

Introduction to Biostatistics by Shamik Sen on Youtube

This course is a free course offering on YouTube. 

This course would not count for any credit toward a degree, but is meant as more of a supplemental resource to help support topics being taught in an actual college or university. 

There are 40 videos provided by this “course” that are very detailed and thorough explorations of the topic of biostatistics.

The video topics span from basic statistical concepts like mean and median, basic probability, categorical data analysis etc… to more advanced topics like Double ANOVA (Analysis of Variance), inferential statistics (statistical inference), confidence intervals and more. 

The professor in the videos seems very knowledgeable and supportive.

I recommend this “course” to any students who need additional support in an actual college biostatistics course.

Recommended Textbooks

Now that I have discussed some good examples of online biostatistics courses, let’s take a look at some great examples of books that could be used as supplemental resources for a biostatistics course.

Biostatistics for Dummies by John Pezzullo, PhD. 

View on Amazon

The great thing about the author of this book is that he has held faculty positions in departments of biomathematics and pharmacology, so this book is written by an experienced professional in this field.

Now, as the title may seem degrading towards the reader, this is a very useful book that goes back to the basic concepts of statistics. 

The main focus of this book is to help you build your statistical knowledge, so that, when applying statistics to other disciplines like biology or medicine, you will be able to do so more easily.

This book also helps you understand the data collection process when it comes to statistical research.

I recommend this book for students who may be intimidated by the world of biostatistics.

Basic Biostatistics: Statistics for Public Health Practice by B. Burt Gertsman

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This book focuses on common types of data encountered in biomedical fields and public health.

This book builds this topic from the ground up with the first part of it focusing on the basics of statistics and the last part focusing on techniques of categorical response.

There are relevant examples throughout this book related to biostatistics.

The exercises and examples in this book are worded in a way, so that students with the most basic statistics backgrounds could understand them.

Students who purchase this book will have access to the companion website and instructor’s resources. 

I recommend this book for students who may have been away from the statistics world for a long time and need to get used to the language used in the world of biostatistics. 

Frequently Asked Questions

Now that you have gotten an idea of a few of the online high school math offerings and some useful books to use as supplementals to a biostatistics course, the following section of the article answers some of the frequently asked questions that are posed by potential students who are interested in online biostatistics course offerings.

Resources

• Basic Concepts of Biostatistics – Boston University
• Online Masters of Science in Bio Statistics – Louisville university
• Biostatistics @ UCSandiedo extended studies
• Resources for learning biostatistics – UCSF
• Epidemiology & Biostatistics online course – University of North Dakota
• What is Biostatistics ? – School of Public Health
• Epidemiology vs. Biostatistics: Understanding Their Roles in Public Health – University of Nevada
• RADMAN, DR SAMI ABDO. Introduction to Biostatistics. 2003.
• CHAP, T. Le et LE, Eberly. Introductory biostatistics. Wiley, 2016.
• ROSNER, Bernard. Fundamentals of biostatistics. Cengage learning, 2015.
• KILIÇ, İbrahim et ÇELIK, Bülent. The views of academic staff on biostatistics education in health sciences. International Journal of Health Sciences, 2013, vol. 7, no 2, p. 142.
• DAWSON-SAUNDERS, Beth, AZEN, Stanley, GREENBERG, Raymond S., et al. The instruction of biostatistics in medical schools. The American Statistician, 1987, vol. 41, no 4, p. 263-266.
• GILLESPIE, Gordon L. et HOPGOOD, Daniel. Leveraging an Innovative Teaching Strategy to Identify Use of Biostatistics by Advanced Practice Nurses. International Journal of Higher Education, 2021, vol. 10, no 2, p. 1-8.

Conclusion

In conclusion, biostatistics are a cornerstone of public health practice, and an incredible example of how statistics can be applied to the real world.

Taking online courses in this field can be challenging, but it is certainly doable for the motivated student.

I welcome you to leave course suggestions, comments, and reviews in the comment section. I wish you the best of luck if you decide to take online courses in biostatistics.

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My name is Chris Kenny. I have been teaching/tutoring mathematics for over 15 years. I have a B.S. in Mathematics and an M.A. in Teaching Secondary Mathematics. I have experience tutoring for the ACT Mathematics section specifically.

I tutored full time for the Ohio Graduation Test in my home state of Ohio for one year, and I have taught Math at the high school level for over 5 years.

In my time as a high school mathematics teacher, I have taught Algebra I, Geometry, Algebra II, Statistics, and Advanced Placement Calculus.