With a degree in public health, you can often pursue one of the following careers: epidemiology, public health management, health informatics specialist, and others.
Reasons to Study Public Health
A unique topic of study offering numerous career prospects for those who appreciate helping others is the expansive discipline of public health. With its practically infinite potential for professional specialization, public health integrates many academic disciplines for a multidisciplinary approach to the healthcare industry. There are ten of the most popular reasons to study public health, but your motivations will be as individual as you are.
- Job Security
In all industries, there will continue to be a need for public health professionals shortly. The majority of graduates find career opportunities right out of college, therefore the unemployment rate for public health professionals is still low. This personnel will be even more in demand as knowledge of the advantages of public health initiatives grows.
By interning while you are in school, you can improve your career stability. In any case, you can earn credit toward your degree while enhancing your career. Some degrees require you to complete a semester-long internship, while other schools do not. Ask for assistance in locating the ideal internship or practicum at well-established colleges because they have a history of working with the community’s health departments and nonprofit groups.
Earning a dual degree is another strategy to increase your public health professional job security. You can study public health while also pursuing a career in social work, law, nursing, or business. A public health dual degree will allow you to complete two master’s degrees in as little as three years, making you a highly sought-after applicant for a variety of career vacancies. Because you’ll be utilizing two different fields, you’ll also have access to twice as many options for internships, tuition reimbursement, scholarships, and fellowships.
- Professional Variety
The enormous diversity of careers and opportunities for upward mobility in the public health sector is another appealing quality. In the subject of public health, you can organize medical care programs, study health statistics, or instruct people on how to maintain their health. Public health professionals have a variety of employment options, including working for the government, the private sector, or schools. Both national and regional organizations require public health professionals. There are numerous options to explore.
Think about a public health career in the non-profit sector if you crave constant change in your professional life. You will be given responsibility for a variety of duties by working with a small team. For instance, if you were the public health director for a homeless shelter, your duties might include seeking grants, planning testing occasions with the regional health department, supervising employee training, organizing a weekly gathering of shelter guests, collaborating with a university to develop a research study that will enable you to provide better services to homeless guests, and developing an emergency response strategy for the organization.
If you’re willing to switch departments or jobs every few years, you can also find shifting public health roles working for a government organization. From an entry-level position as a community health educator, you might advance to a management position in the restaurant inspection division, then change careers to become a director for the entire county. Although you’ll have many nice perks in this profession, like a lot of paid time off and reasonably priced health insurance, your career advancement will be reliant on government financing.
- Solve Problems
Problem-solvers by nature, and public health professionals frequently come up with answers to local and global health problems. Public health professionals love the challenges that come with eradicating diseases and creating preventative measures. Employee engagement is maintained by the ability to recognize health problems and start a plan to address them. They assess a community’s requirements based on individual encounters and statistical information. They then develop plans for correcting the problems using this information as well as ethical concerns for the community members.
In the area of public health, there is always something to fix. In American history, public health has shifted from combating acute problems like polio and malaria to managing chronic ones like obesity, heart disease, and brain disorders. With epidemics of Zika, COVID-19, and even measles in recent years, some of the attention of public health has returned to the prevention of infectious diseases. The demand for public health experts will change as human behavior does.
- Help Others
Improving the health and well-being of other people and communities attracts many public health professionals to this career. Knowing that you are helping to improve society, in the long run, is one of the most satisfying aspects of working in public health. Many public health professionals are actively involved in their local communities and can observe the results of their efforts right away. They are in charge of informing the public and raising awareness of health issues in local communities. They can monitor statistical data at the neighborhood level to identify persons with specific health issues and fight for them.
The chance to assist people in a variety of ways is one of the reasons why so many students are drawn to the profession of public health. If you enjoy interacting with people, working as a patient navigator or public health educator who visits with community members in person to answer questions about health can be very fulfilling. Although working behind the scenes in statistical analysis or program design can be a gratifying career, introverted students can also find it to be the case. You will benefit your community whichever professional path you choose in public health.