Microbiology Career Advice: Can I specialize in epidemiology?

[H Singh]

I am pretty sure I want to be a microbiologist, and I'm leaning towards public health microbiology, but I still have some questions...

Do I need a public health or epidemiology degree to work in epidemiology, or can I specialize in epidemiology at the graduate microbiology level?

If I am a Phd, but not an MD how will this affect my job opportunities?

Is epidemiology just a desk job where all you do is play around with statistics, crunch numbers, and read/interpret lab results?
If I focused on epidemiology (as a microbiologist) could I ever get into the lab myself and T-streak some petri dishes and isolate/identify some pathogens for myself or would only the lab technicians be allowed to do that?
Would I be able to actually get out into the scene of the outbreak and investigate and gather specimens for myself?

I really don't think I want to focus my entire microbiology career on research, but at the same time I don't want to get stuck with an all day desk job (part time desk job/lab job would be great). I must also mention that I couldn't do anything that involved animal testing, that's just me... I'm not saying animal testing is wrong, but I couldn't do it, but I have no problem disecting! Heck, if it's dead I might as well use it to prevent more death.

Would examining the link between mental illness and infectious disease fall under epidemiology? For example, spend time in the lab analyzing human blood, etc, samples from people suffering from mental illness for signs of infectious disease, then spend time behind the desk putting the results together.

I hope someone can help answer my questions. I have been in a battle of what I should do with my life for a while now, and I think I'm finally on to something!

[Alexramos]

The epidemiologist work in the field or doing control and surveillance program to different diseases, including infection diseases.
My recommendation, if you want to perform as a Microbiologist, do this as your main professional field, physician or not you need a strong academic background in microbiology.
The epidemiology part you could learn yourself or participating in infection control and antibiotic resistance control committee, but you will need demonstrate a strong epidemiology correlation and strategy ability.

Professionally, a MS in Biology with a mention in Microbiology and a certificated course in Epidemiology could help you.
You will need work in a lab to gain experience in the different microbiology procedures, work in the bench but more important that technical procedures and skills are the knowledges and abilities for epidemiology and medical correlation, statistics, strategies and procedures.

Good look.

[H Singh]

Thanks. Sounds challenging, but I think I would enjoy the work!