Careers in Public Health

A graduate degree in Public Health opens door to many career paths.

Why choose a career in public health?

The critical role of public health in our daily lives has seldom been more apparent as we face challenges such as emerging pandemics, bioterrorism, global climate change, and a healthcare system in need of restructuring guided by cogent data-based policy decisions. In addition, health improvement in the US will be increasingly based on prevention & risk reduction programs developed by public health professionals rather than new medical treatments, vaccines, or cures. In the U.S. we face an aging public health workforce, a substantial proportion of which is poised to retire in the next five years. There is a pressing need to replace those leaving the public health workforce with new public health professionals ready to respond to emerging health challenges both in the US and worldwide. Multidisciplinary training in the core fields of public health - epidemiology, biostatistics, environmental health, health policy and systems management, and the behavioral and community health sciences - as well as in growing areas such as informatics, bioterrorism and emergency preparedness, and health disparities is essential to meet such challenges. Job opportunities abound. Public health practitioners work in governmental public health agencies at the local, state and federal level; in not-for-profit community social and health service agencies; and in academic health centers. The ultimate goal in each of these settings is preventing disease and promoting health.