Biostatisticians work in a wide range of industries, including contract research, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, medicine, health care, clinical trials, health education, software development, and other specialized science and medical fields. Jobs can be found in hospitals, research centres, universities, pharmaceutical companies, government agencies, or in other organizations that support statistical research in the health sciences. With a solid background in the recommended subject areas, future biostatisticians can look forward to promising and gainful employment.

Biostatisticians develop and apply statistical methods to scientific research in health-related fields, including medicine, epidemiology, and public health. The role of the biostatistician is an important one, especially when it comes to designing studies and analyzing data from research problems. Biostatisticians help formulate the scientific questions to be answered, determine appropriate sampling techniques, coordinate data collection procedures, and conduct statistical analyses to answer those scientific questions. Biostatisticians also play a very important role in the preparation of research material for publication.

Biostatisticians not only address medical questions using established statistical methods, they also develop new statistical techniques. A look at research in the biostatistics discipline shows that new techniques are being developed as quickly as new medical questions arise. Biostatisticians are also making large strides in the public policy arena. For instance, the work that biostatisticians do, plays a large role in informing policy makers about issues such as risk and protective factors affecting heart and lung disease, formulating new drug policy to combat infectious diseases, assessment of environmental protection guidelines, injury risk management, or various different cancer treatment outcomes.