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Epidemiologists

Occupation · SOC 19-1041.00

Investigate and describe the determinants and distribution of disease, disability, or health outcomes. May develop the means for prevention and control.

Also called: Epidemiologist · Infection Control Practitioner (ICP) · Nurse Epidemiologist · Research Epidemiologist · Chronic Disease Epidemiologist · Communicable Diseases Specialist · Environmental Epidemiologist · Epidemiology Investigator · Public Health Epidemiologist · State Epidemiologist · Clinical Epidemiologist · Clinical Lab Scientist (Clinical Laboratory Scientist)

Job family: Life, Physical, and Social Science Occupations

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Download .md

A source-stamped Markdown brief of this occupation — paste it into an agent, or fetch /roles/role-19-1041-00/context.md directly.

AI work map

A fast read on where AI already shows up in this occupation, where it stays a copilot, where humans remain in the loop, and what the labor market is doing. Built from observed Claude.ai conversations mapped to O*NET tasks and from published research — measures of usage and exposure, not advice or predictions that the job is going away.

Use as a copilot

Task areas where people work with AI — iterating, learning, or checking — staying in the loop rather than handing the task off.

  • Consult with and advise physicians, educators, researchers, government health officials and others regarding medical applications of sciences, such as physics, biology, and chemistry. · 1.5%
  • Educate healthcare workers, patients, and the public about infectious and communicable diseases, including disease transmission and prevention. · 1.2%
  • Teach principles of medicine and medical and laboratory procedures to physicians, residents, students, and technicians. · 1.0%
See collaboration patterns →

Keep a human in the loop

Task areas where a human was still judged necessary in a large share of observed conversations — not a safety ruling, an observed-need signal.

  • Educate healthcare workers, patients, and the public about infectious and communicable diseases, including disease transmission and prevention. · 99.1% need a human
  • Teach principles of medicine and medical and laboratory procedures to physicians, residents, students, and technicians. · 92.9% need a human
  • Consult with and advise physicians, educators, researchers, government health officials and others regarding medical applications of sciences, such as physics, biology, and chemistry. · 85.3% need a human
See the boundary tasks →

81st-percentile task overlap — yet about 800 openings a year (+16.2% projected, BLS), and observed AI use leans 7472% copilot, not hand-off (AEI) . What exposure means →

AI & job outlook

What today's research says about this occupation's exposure to AI, how AI is actually being used in it, and where employment is headed. These are positions within published studies — measures of exposure and usage, not predictions that this job will disappear.

Exposure to current AI

Each study uses its own scale, so the raw scores are not comparable across rows — the percentile (this job's rank among all U.S. occupations with data) is the comparable figure, and sizes the bars.

Measure Rank vs all occupations Percentile Score
Overall AI exposure (Felten et al.) High 98th 1.4
LLM task exposure, γ (OpenAI / Eloundou) High 76th 0.9
AI assistant applicability (Microsoft) Moderate 62nd 0.2

OpenAI's exposure study scores tasks three ways: with a language model alone (α 0.0), with simple added tooling (β 0.4), and including AI-powered software (γ 0.9). Higher means more of the job's tasks could be done at least twice as fast — not that they will be automated away.

Most of this job's tasks can be done remotely (Dingel–Neiman), which tends to track with higher digital and AI exposure.

Historical automation estimate (2013)

A pre-LLM (2013) estimate of how automatable this job is by computerization and robotics. Shown for historical context only — it is not part of any current AI ranking.

Frey–Osborne probability 0.2 · 33rd percentile among occupations · Low

How AI is actually used in this job

Among measured AI assistant conversations mapped to this occupation (Anthropic Economic Index, 2026-01-15), these task types came up most. These are shares of observed AI conversations — not shares of the job, of worker time, or of what could be automated.

Consult with and advise physicians, educators, researchers, government health officials and others regarding medical applications of sciences, such as physics, biology, and chemistry. 6.3%
Teach principles of medicine and medical and laboratory procedures to physicians, residents, students, and technicians. 2.1%
Educate healthcare workers, patients, and the public about infectious and communicable diseases, including disease transmission and prevention. 0.6%
Communicate research findings on various types of diseases to health practitioners, policy makers, and the public. 0.3%

Job outlook

Independent U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics employment projection for 2024–2034 — a labor-market forecast, not an AI-impact forecast.

Outlook Growing fast · +16.2% by 2034
Projected annual openings 800
Employment 2024 → 2034 12,300 → 14,300

“Annual openings” counts new jobs plus replacements for workers who leave the occupation, so it can be large even when growth is modest.

Where this work sits on the global GenAI gradient

The ILO's 2025 global study scores generative-AI exposure on the international ISCO-08 occupation system, not US SOC. Bridged through the published (and approximate, many-to-many) IBS O*NET-SOC ↔ ISCO-08 crosswalk, this US occupation corresponds to the international occupation below. Exposure here means how much of the work's tasks today's AI can attempt — task overlap, not automation, adoption, or jobs lost.

40% mean task exposure (2025)
77th percentile of 427 placed occupations
+5 pts shift 2023 → 2025
International occupation (ISCO-08) Task exposure (2025) Most tasks fall in
Biologists, Botanists, Zoologists and Related Professionals · 2131 40% Gradient 2

Read the whole six-band gradient on the GenAI exposure gradient page. The crosswalk is approximate: a US occupation can map to several international ones, and the ILO scores describe the international occupation, not this exact US role.

Working with AI in this job

How people actually apply AI to this occupation's tasks, from Claude.ai (Free and Pro) conversations in the Anthropic Economic Index, 2026-01-15. This is one AI assistant's consumer sample — not all AI, not the whole workforce. Autonomy and the collaboration mix are model-rated estimates; figures below the sample floor are hidden.

Augmentation vs. automation 74.7% working with AI · 12.4% handed to AI
Most common way people use AI here Learning · you ask AI to explain or teach
Typical AI autonomy 4.0 / 5 · higher = AI acts more independently
Used for work (vs. personal / coursework) 17.9%

What people delegate to AI

The role's most common tasks in AI conversations, each tagged with how people work with the AI on it. “Usage” is the share of observed conversations, not of the job.

Task How Usage
Consult with and advise physicians, educators, researchers, government health officials and others regarding medical applications of sciences, such as physics, biology, and chemistry. Learning 1.5%
Educate healthcare workers, patients, and the public about infectious and communicable diseases, including disease transmission and prevention. Learning 1.2%
Teach principles of medicine and medical and laboratory procedures to physicians, residents, students, and technicians. Learning 1.0%

Where a human is still needed

Tasks where the model most often judged that a person remained necessary — a useful read on the current boundary, not a guarantee.

Educate healthcare workers, patients, and the public about infectious and communicable diseases, including disease transmission and prevention. 99.1%
Teach principles of medicine and medical and laboratory procedures to physicians, residents, students, and technicians. 92.9%
Consult with and advise physicians, educators, researchers, government health officials and others regarding medical applications of sciences, such as physics, biology, and chemistry. 85.3%

What people most often hand AI here

Example prompts phrased from the tasks people most often delegate to AI in this occupation (Anthropic Economic Index). Each shows the underlying measured task and its share of observed AI use. They are suggested phrasings of real tasks — starting points, not endorsed instructions.

  • Help me consult with and advise physicians, educators, researchers, government health officials and others regarding medical applications of sciences, such as physics, biology, and chemistry.

    From: Consult with and advise physicians, educators, researchers, government health officials and others regarding medical applications of sciences, such as physics, biology, and chemistry. · 1.5% of measured AI use · learning

  • Help me educate healthcare workers, patients, and the public about infectious and communicable diseases, including disease transmission and prevention.

    From: Educate healthcare workers, patients, and the public about infectious and communicable diseases, including disease transmission and prevention. · 1.2% of measured AI use · learning

  • Help me teach principles of medicine and medical and laboratory procedures to physicians, residents, students, and technicians.

    From: Teach principles of medicine and medical and laboratory procedures to physicians, residents, students, and technicians. · 1.0% of measured AI use · learning

Tasks

All 15 tasks O*NET lists for this occupation, ordered by importance. Each links to its own page with AI-exposure and observed-use detail.

Emerging tasks

Newer responsibilities O*NET has flagged as growing for this occupation.

  • Teach epidemiology to students in public health programs.

Work activities

Knowledge, skills & abilities

O*NET importance rating, from 1 (not important) to 5 (extremely important).

Knowledge

Mathematics 4.5
Biology 4.3
Medicine and Dentistry 4.0
English Language 4.0
Computers and Electronics 3.5
Communications and Media 3.5
Education and Training 3.4

Abilities

Oral Comprehension 4.4
Written Comprehension 4.4
Inductive Reasoning 4.4
Oral Expression 4.3
Written Expression 4.3
Problem Sensitivity 4.3
Deductive Reasoning 4.1
Fluency of Ideas 4.0
Category Flexibility 4.0
Speech Clarity 4.0
Originality 3.9
Information Ordering 3.8
Near Vision 3.8
Speech Recognition 3.8
Mathematical Reasoning 3.6
Flexibility of Closure 3.6
Number Facility 3.4

Essential skills

Reading Comprehension 4.3
Critical Thinking 4.3
Active Listening 4.1
Writing 4.1
Speaking 4.1
Science 4.1
Active Learning 4.0
Mathematics 3.8
Monitoring 3.6
Learning Strategies 3.5

Transferable skills

Complex Problem Solving 4.3
Judgment and Decision Making 4.3
Systems Analysis 4.0
Systems Evaluation 4.0
Social Perceptiveness 3.9
Coordination 3.8

Skills in demand

Skills employers ask for in job postings for this occupation (Lightcast), with whether each is a common or specialized skill.

Showing the top 40 of 41.

Tools & technology

Example Category
Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet software Hot technology In demand
Microsoft Office software Office suite software Hot technology In demand
Microsoft PowerPoint Presentation software Hot technology In demand
R Object or component oriented development software Hot technology In demand
SAS Analytical or scientific software Hot technology In demand
ESRI ArcGIS software Map creation software Hot technology
Facebook Web page creation and editing software Hot technology
IBM SPSS Statistics Analytical or scientific software Hot technology
Microsoft Access Data base user interface and query software Hot technology
Microsoft Outlook Electronic mail software Hot technology
Microsoft Word Word processing software Hot technology
Python Object or component oriented development software Hot technology
Structured query language SQL Data base user interface and query software Hot technology
Tableau Business intelligence and data analysis software Hot technology
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention CDC WONDER Data base user interface and query software
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Epi Info Analytical or scientific software
Circle Systems Stat/Transfer Analytical or scientific software
Cytel Egret Analytical or scientific software
Data visualization software Analytical or scientific software
Database software Data base user interface and query software
Disease Mapping and Analysis Program DMAP Analytical or scientific software
Epicenter Software Epilog Analytical or scientific software
EpiData Analysis Analytical or scientific software
Esri ArcGIS Geographic information system
ESRI ArcInfo Geographic information system
ESRI ArcView Geographic information system
Expert Health Data Programming Vitalnet Analytical or scientific software
GeoDa Analytical or scientific software
Geographic information system GIS software Geographic information system
HiroSoft EPICURE Analytical or scientific software
Meta-analysis with interactive explanations MIX Analytical or scientific software
National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health NIOSH Life Table Analysis System Analytical or scientific software
Pan American Health Organization SIGEpi Analytical or scientific software
RTI International SUDAAN Analytical or scientific software
SaTScan Analytical or scientific software
Signal detection software Analytical or scientific software
StataCorp Stata Analytical or scientific software
Statistical processing software Analytical or scientific software
Statistical software Analytical or scientific software
TerraSeer ClusterSeer Analytical or scientific software

Showing the top 40 of 42.

Work context

How characteristic each condition is of the job, on O*NET's 1–5 context scale (higher = more present in day-to-day work). Each condition links to how it varies across all occupations.

E-Mail 5.0
Indoors, Environmentally Controlled 4.7
Importance of Being Exact or Accurate 4.7
Telephone Conversations 4.7
Face-to-Face Discussions with Individuals and Within Teams 4.7
Freedom to Make Decisions 4.6
Determine Tasks, Priorities and Goals 4.5
Work With or Contribute to a Work Group or Team 4.5
Contact With Others 4.2
Spend Time Sitting 4.2
Coordinate or Lead Others in Accomplishing Work Activities 3.9
Written Letters and Memos 3.8
Time Pressure 3.6
Impact of Decisions on Co-workers or Company Results 3.6
Deal With External Customers or the Public in General 3.4
Level of Competition 3.4
Frequency of Decision Making 3.2
Work Outcomes and Results of Other Workers 3.2
Public Speaking 3.0
Health and Safety of Other Workers 2.9
Physical Proximity 2.7
Conflict Situations 2.7
Importance of Repeating Same Tasks 2.6
Exposed to Disease or Infections 2.4
Spend Time Standing 2.3
Consequence of Error 2.3
Dealing With Unpleasant, Angry, or Discourteous People 2.2
Spend Time Making Repetitive Motions 2.2
Degree of Automation 2.2
In an Enclosed Vehicle or Operate Enclosed Equipment 2.0
Indoors, Not Environmentally Controlled 2.0
Spend Time Using Your Hands to Handle, Control, or Feel Objects, Tools, or Controls 1.9
Spend Time Walking or Running 1.8
Wear Common Protective or Safety Equipment such as Safety Shoes, Glasses, Gloves, Hearing Protection, Hard Hats, or Life Jackets 1.8
Exposed to Sounds, Noise Levels that are Distracting or Uncomfortable 1.7
Outdoors, Exposed to All Weather Conditions 1.6
Exposed to Contaminants 1.6
Wear Specialized Protective or Safety Equipment such as Breathing Apparatus, Safety Harness, Full Protection Suits, or Radiation Protection 1.6
Outdoors, Under Cover 1.4
Exposed to Very Hot or Cold Temperatures 1.3

How to get in

Job zone
Zone 5 — Job Zone Five: Extensive Preparation Needed
Education
Most of these occupations require graduate school. For example, they may require a master's degree, and some require a Ph.D., M.D., or J.D. (law degree).
Typical entry-level education
Master's degree · BLS, the typical path — not a requirement
Related experience
Extensive skill, knowledge, and experience are needed for these occupations. Many require more than five years of experience. For example, surgeons must complete four years of college and an additional five to seven years of specialized medical training to be able to do their job.
Preparation level
SVP (8.0 and above) — total schooling plus on-the-job experience.

What to study: Biological and Biomedical Sciences , Health Professions and Related Programs . Fields of study crosswalked to this occupation (NCES CIP–SOC), not a requirement.

Education of current workers

Share of people in this occupation at each level of education.

Master's Degree 66.7%
Post-Doctoral Training 22.2%
Doctoral Degree 11.1%

Interests & work styles

The interests and personal qualities O*NET associates with people who do this work.

Work styles

Dependability 8.0
Attention to Detail 7.0
Integrity 6.0
Cautiousness 5.0
Intellectual Curiosity 4.0

Career interests (Holland / RIASEC)

Investigative 7.0
Social 4.1
Conventional 3.6

Interest areas

Medical Science 6.7
Life Science 6.2
Mathematics/Statistics 5.5
Social Science 5.3
Public Speaking 5.0
Health Care Service 3.8
Teaching/Education 3.5
Management/Administration 3.0

Wages & employment

U.S. · annual wages (BLS OEWS)

$57k10th$68k25th$84kMedian$106k75th$135k90th
Annual wages by percentile — U.S. (BLS OEWS). The light band spans the 10th–90th percentile; the darker band is the middle half (25th–75th); the line is the median.
12k202414k2034 (proj.)+16.2% · Growing fast
Projected U.S. employment, 2024–2034 (BLS Employment Projections). A labor-market forecast for the occupation, not an AI-impact forecast.
10th percentile $56,950
25th percentile $68,040
Median (50th) $83,980
75th percentile $106,040
90th percentile $134,860
People employed 11,460

Industries that employ this occupation

Where these workers are employed, by number of jobs (national, BLS OEWS). Pay shown is the occupation's national median, not industry-specific.

Industry Workers National median pay
Health Care and Social Assistance · Sector 1,730 $96,660
Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services · Sector 1,170 $108,030
Educational Services · Sector 740 $82,500
Other Services (except Public Administration) · Sector 690 $86,310
Administrative and Support and Waste Management and Remediation Services · Sector 260
Management of Companies and Enterprises · Sector 240
Temporary Help Services · National industry 230
Manufacturing · Sector 100 $113,530
Research and Development in the Social Sciences and Humanities · National industry 90 $159,180

Where this work is most concentrated

Industries where this occupation is far more common than in the economy as a whole. The location quotient is how many times more concentrated it is here (a value of 5 means five times its economy-wide share).

Industry Concentration Workers
Other Services (except Public Administration) · Sector 2.1× 690
Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services · Sector 1.46× 1,170
Temporary Help Services · National industry 1.17× 230
Management of Companies and Enterprises · Sector 1.15× 240
Health Care and Social Assistance · Sector 1.01× 1,730
Educational Services · Sector 0.73× 740
Administrative and Support and Waste Management and Remediation Services · Sector 0.39× 260
Manufacturing · Sector 0.11× 100

Part of the Public Service & Safety career cluster.

Exposure quadrant: AI task-overlap percentile vs Median pay Epidemiologists sits at the 81st percentile of AI task-overlap and the 74th percentile of median pay, placed here against 8 adjacent occupations on the same two axes. Lower overlap · higher pay Higher overlap · higher pay Higher overlap · lower pay Lower overlap · lower pay Epidemiologists Clinical Nurse Specialists General Internal Medicine Physicians Clinical Neuropsychologists Health Informatics Specialists AI task-overlap percentile → ↑ Median pay
AI task-overlap percentile (horizontal) vs. median-pay percentile (vertical), across all scored occupations. This occupation is highlighted; related occupations are plotted alongside it. Overlap measures shared tasks with AI, not automation.

Side-by-side comparisons place two occupations’ pay, preparation, skills, and AI exposure on the same page — same data, same scale, no forecast.

What you can do with this

Options the data surfaces for Epidemiologists — not advice or a forecast. Each is a real cross-link you can follow into the evidence.

Skills that travel

Capabilities this work builds that are used across many other occupations.

Paths in

How people typically prepare for this work.

Zoom out

On the global GenAI exposure gradient this work sits around the 77th percentile of 427 international occupations.

Write a report on thisheadline · factoids · citation

Epidemiologists show 81st-percentile AI task overlap — and about 800 annual U.S. openings

  • Epidemiologists rank in the 81st percentile (High band) for AI task overlap across U.S. occupations — a measure of how much of the work today's AI can attempt, not how much is automated.Eloundou et al. (GPTs are GPTs) + Felten AIOE
  • The occupation is projected to see about 800 U.S. job openings per year (2024–34), counting growth and replacement — a labor-demand projection made independently of AI.BLS Employment Projections 2024–34
  • BLS projects employment to be growing fast (+16.2%) from 2024 to 2034.BLS Employment Projections 2024–34
  • Median annual pay is $83,980, across about 11,460 U.S. workers.BLS OEWS (May 2024)
  • Of the AI use actually observed for this work, 75% looks like augmentation (drafting, iterating, checking) rather than hands-off automation — from a Claude.ai usage sample, not a census.2026-01-15-v4-plus-2025-03-27-v2
Copy the whole kit
Epidemiologists show 81st-percentile AI task overlap — and about 800 annual U.S. openings

• Epidemiologists rank in the 81st percentile (High band) for AI task overlap across U.S. occupations — a measure of how much of the work today's AI can attempt, not how much is automated. (Eloundou et al. (GPTs are GPTs) + Felten AIOE)
• The occupation is projected to see about 800 U.S. job openings per year (2024–34), counting growth and replacement — a labor-demand projection made independently of AI. (BLS Employment Projections 2024–34)
• BLS projects employment to be growing fast (+16.2%) from 2024 to 2034. (BLS Employment Projections 2024–34)
• Median annual pay is $83,980, across about 11,460 U.S. workers. (BLS OEWS (May 2024))
• Of the AI use actually observed for this work, 75% looks like augmentation (drafting, iterating, checking) rather than hands-off automation — from a Claude.ai usage sample, not a census. (2026-01-15-v4-plus-2025-03-27-v2)

Source: Singulariki — "Epidemiologists". https://singulariki.com/roles/role-19-1041-00
Note: AI task overlap measures what today's AI can attempt, not automation, job loss, or a forecast.

AssetsShare imageMethodology & sourcesPress & newsroomThe newsroom

Every line is built only from figures this page already shows and cites. AI task overlap means what today's AI can attempt — not automation, job loss, or a forecast.

Sources for this page

Every figure above traces to a named public dataset and the exact release below — not hand-written opinion. See the full methodology for what each measure does and does not mean.

Data compiled June 2, 2026. Figures are estimates, not advice.

Cite this page
Plain

Singulariki. "Epidemiologists." Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Built from O*NET 30.3; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024; BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034; Anthropic Economic Index v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27); Microsoft “Working with AI” working-with-ai; “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130; AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE) Felten, Raj & Seamans; ILO / Gmyrek et al. GenAI exposure gradient 2025; IBS O*NET-SOC ↔ ISCO-08 occupation crosswalk 2022; Frey & Osborne (2013) frey-osborne-automation; Dingel & Neiman (2020) dingel-neiman-workathome. Accessed June 7, 2026. https://singulariki.com/roles/role-19-1041-00

APA

Singulariki. (2026). Epidemiologists. Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Retrieved June 7, 2026, from https://singulariki.com/roles/role-19-1041-00

BibTeX
@misc{singulariki-role-19-1041-00,
  title  = {Epidemiologists},
  author = {{Singulariki}},
  year   = {2026},
  note   = {O*NET 30.3; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024; BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034; Anthropic Economic Index v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27); Microsoft “Working with AI” working-with-ai; “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130; AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE) Felten, Raj & Seamans; ILO / Gmyrek et al. GenAI exposure gradient 2025; IBS O*NET-SOC ↔ ISCO-08 occupation crosswalk 2022; Frey & Osborne (2013) frey-osborne-automation; Dingel & Neiman (2020) dingel-neiman-workathome. Accessed June 7, 2026},
  url    = {https://singulariki.com/roles/role-19-1041-00}
}

Citations name the underlying public dataset releases — they reflect what this page is built from, not just the URL.

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