WHAT CAN I DO WITH A MAJOR IN PUBLIC HEALTH?

Overview
Explore Career Options
Career Preparation
Hopkins Public Health Alumni
Graduate School
Honor Societies & Professional Associations
Links

Overview
Public health is an organized effort to protect, promote and restore people’s health by studying the scientific, political, and cultural causes of disease, the medical treatments for diseases and the ways to prevent and treat public health crises around the world.1 Its mission is to focus on the prevention of illness, disease and healthcare inequalities around the world.2 An interdisciplinary field, public health includes endemiology, environmental health sciences, health policy and management, and biostatistics, all drawing on a fundamental knowledge of biology and an appreciation of socio-economic and cultural variance of different societies and peoples.3 A few of the challenges public health professionals face include:

• Identifying sources of illness in population groups;
• Controlling disease outbreaks;
• Evaluating the economic impacts of changing demographics;
• Developing media campaigns to promote healthy behavior;
• Writing and lobbying health policy legislation;
• Researching and promoting public understanding of issues such as childhood nutrition, work-related hypertension, pesticide exposures and other threats to public health.4

The undergraduate program in public health at Johns Hopkins allows students to focus in either natural science, which fulfils requirements for admission to medical school, or social science, which prepares students for careers in health policy, finance, ethics, law, and environmental issues. Both concentrations are designed to provide excellent preparation for graduate programs in public health, but also medical and law school.5 To accomplish this, all senior public health majors are required to take a full semester’s worth of graduate courses at the Bloomberg School of Public Health, giving students a real-world introduction to study at the graduate level.6

The distinction between public health and clinical health is that where clinical health focuses on the diseases and disorders of the individual by offering diagnosis and treatment, public health focuses on the overall health of populations through prevention and health promotion.7 As the world’s population grows and challenges arise in prevention and sustainability, public health is emerging as one of the most exciting and influential areas of healthcare and social science.

Explore Career Options

The public health profession works to protect the health and welfare of all people by preventing and controlling disease, and this requires the expertise of practitioners across a broad spectrum of disciplines, including medicine, nursing, business, epidemiology, law, biology, economics, nutrition, social work, environmental science, and education.8 An undergraduate degree in public health provides a foundation for a career or advanced study in any of these disciplines, and the field of public health involves the coordination of knowledge and practice within all these disciplines.

Public health professionals work in a variety of settings including government agencies, community clinics, academic and research institutions, biotechnology firms and non-profit organizations.9 The types of positions in which graduates work vary by discipline, but a few include:

• Policy advisor – investigates specific public health care issues, provides analysis of alternate points of view and provides policy recommendations to legislators, government agencies, non-profit organizations and academic institutions;
• Epidemiologist – studies the distribution of diseases, health determinants and disease risk of human populations by testing hypotheses using data garnered from population studies;
• Behavior scientist – addresses public health issues such as HIV/AIDS, smoking, violence, accidents and substance abuse through research and work in agencies, hospitals and clinics;
• Public health educator – works to change policies and environments as well as attitudes and behaviors that affect health;
• Mental health researcher – conducts research on mental health issues aimed at helping other public health professionals understand the structure of communities as an essential precursor to the development and implementation of meaningful public health outreach;
• Communications specialist – creates strategies for encouraging people to change certain attitudes, beliefs or behaviors so that they adopt better health practices to improve their health;
• Journalist – acts as an information interpreter and filter to the general public by reporting on health and medical issues via the media;
• Corporate medical director – monitors the health of workforces so that employees can work effectively and safely;
• Environmental scientist – works with government agencies, private organizations and community groups to identify and solve health problems by examining the ways in which biological, chemical and physical environmental agents affect human health;
• Public health attorney – works in the policy, regulation and legislation that govern public health-related issues.10

While this list is by no means inclusive, public health professionals in all areas of the field experience the opportunity and rewards of making a positive and tangible difference in the lives of people throughout the world.

Career Preparation

Most public health professionals obtain advanced degrees such as a masters or doctorate, while others pursue fields such as medicine and law.  In addition to excellent academic credentials, internships in government agencies, non-profit and community based organizations, biotech and pharmaceutical firms, and healthcare consulting firms are recommended to give undergraduates real world experience and an opportunity to explore different areas of specialization.11 The Public Health program at Hopkins also involves superior opportunities to participate in undergraduate research.

Hopkins Alumni

Hopkins Public Health alumni go into a variety of career fields. Since 2003 the Career Center has surveyed recent graduates about their academic and career plans 6 months after graduation. Here is a summary of their responses.

Hopkins Alumni in Public Health

Hugh Scott II
Science Teacher, Nash Rocky Mount Public Schools (Teach for America)
Public Health, Class of 2006

inCircle - a professional and social networking site for Hopkins students and alumn where you can identify alumni by career field, major and orgnaization.

LinkedIn.com -a professional networking site where you can identify Hopkins alumni. Join the LinkedIn Johns Hopkins University Alumni Group to add over 4000+ alumni to your network.

Graduate School

The Career Center is here to help you navigate the graduate school search process. Click here for guidelines and preparing for Graduate School and Professional School.

For information on the specific programs, the best people to talk to are the experts in your field you wish to study, faculty members and graduate students in that specific discipline. We strongly encourage you to talk with your advisor and other faculty members with whom you have a good working relationship. This will also help when you request letters of recommendation. The Career Center has a handout to guide you in asking for letters of recommendation.

Professional Associations and Honor Societies

Given the dynamic and interdisciplinary nature of public health, there are countless organizations devoted to furthering its work and fostering connections among those who work in it.  Among the larger organizations are the American Public Health Association and the Public Health Foundation (PHF).

The American Public Health Association is the oldest, largest and most diverse organization of public health professionals brings together researchers, health service providers, administrators, teachers, and other health workers in a unique, multidisciplinary environment.  The organization strives to protect American communities from preventable health threats and to ensure that preventive health services are universally accessible in the United States.12

The Public Health Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to achieving healthy communities through research, training and technical assistance, and to helping health agencies and community health organizations connect and more effectively use their resources.13

Links
General Public Health Related Websites
American Public Health Association
Centers for Disease Control
Public Health Foundation
Association of Schools of Public Health
Public Health Jobs
What is Public Health?
Careers in Healthcare, Health Career Connection
An Introduction to Epidemiology
Careers in Public Health, Harvard School of Public Health
National Environmental Health Association
Council on Education for Public Health
Association of Schools of Public Health
American Board of Industrial Hygiene, Certification

Endnotes:

1 Description of Public Health Major, Johns Hopkins University Office of Academic Advising

3 ibid

4 Description of Public Health in the Career Field - Healthcare catalog, Career Center, University of California - Berkeley

5 About Public Health Studies, Zanvyl Krieger School of Arts and Sciences, Johns Hopkins University

6 ibid

7 Careers in Public Health, What is Public Health?

8 Description of Public Health in the Career Field - Healthcare catalog, Career Center, University of California - Berkeley

9 Careers in Healthcare, Health Career Connection

10 Careers in Public Health, What is Public Health?

11 Description of Public Health in the Career Field - Healthcare catalog, Career Center, University of California - Berkeley

12 About Us, American Public Health Association

13 About PHF, Public Health Foundation (PHF)