Public Health Careers

Public Health Career Overview

Public health is the study and practice of improving the health of communities and of society as a whole. The overall goal of public health workers is to improve the health of individuals and communities by treatment and prevention of disease.

Public health includes not only physical health but also mental health, and includes a wide variety of different scientific disciplines, including epidemiology and biostatistics, both of which often focus on studying patterns of disease in communities and societies. In addition, many public health workers focus not on scientific research but on working in communities, helping people learn about health and staying healthy. Public health topics include:

• Vaccination programs
• Family planning
• Fluoridation of water
• Healthy eating campaigns

Public health workers should have a strong commitment to improving the general health of communities, often with a particular focus on disease prevention, to ensure that people remain consistently healthy. They will typically need excellent communication skills as well as interpersonal and organizational skills.

Public Health Training & Education

Careers in public health have definite education requirements: in most cases a bachelor's degree is required, and for managerial career paths, post-graduate degree requirements are the norm.

People interested in public health careers should focus on a degree in public health or a related field, and consider post-graduate study if they are interested in enhancing their career opportunities to include managerial positions. Biostatisticians, however, will require a degree in biostatistics or statistics, perhaps with elective courses in public health.

Career Fields/Specializations

Health Program Director Career

Health program directors are responsible for planning, coordinating and implementing special projects that relate to a particular field of public health. This may involve tasks such as developing goals for the project, coordinating research to determine community needs, developing program policy, designing education programs, working with community agencies, preparing reports and budgets, and evaluating the long-term success of the program they are responsible for.

The health program director is essentially responsible for coordinating all aspects of a given project, and working with people and agencies that carry out the smaller tasks involved. They may work with professional groups such as physicians, community healthcare workers, volunteer organizations, government agencies, and educational institutions.

Health program directors must have excellent written and verbal communication skills, as well as good interpersonal skills. They should also have good organizational skills, and the ability to determine how different aspects of a project will further the goals of the entire program. They should be detail-oriented but also keep the "big picture" in mind at all times.

Government Health Department Analyst Career

Government health department analysts work within government public health agencies, or agencies that have a special interest in public health. Their main role is the analysis of public health issues that are of particular concern for the department. They may analyze current policies, or the social and economic effects of disease, and prepare written reports that detail the results of their analysis. These reports are typically used by policymakers to evaluate the success of current public health policies, and to determine if policy changes are needed.

Government health department analysts should have excellent written communication skills, and be adept at analyzing and organizing data, and at explaining difficult medical topics in easy-to-understand terms.

Health Educator Career

Health educators are an important part of community health education projects. They work with members of the public and the community as a whole to provide information about healthy living, with a focus on preventative healthcare. For example, they may provide information about:

• Substance abuse
• HIV/AIDS
• Healthy eating
• Smoking
• Diabetes
• Family planning

Their main focus is on promoting healthy lifestyles by providing people with knowledge.

Health educators are often responsible for gathering data from the community, which is then used to develop new policies and design new healthcare programs. They may also be involved in writing grants, reports, public health information newsletters and other documents.

Health educators must have excellent interpersonal skills, and be able to work with a variety of different types of people. They should have excellent written and verbal communication skills, and have a strong commitment to helping people in the community through providing knowledge of preventative healthcare.

Health Initiative Manager Career

Health initiatives are large-scale projects that focus on a particular aspect of public health such as children's health, breast cancer, diabetes management, and other topics. Health initiatives are designed to educate the public, and provide them with information about the topic so they can stay healthy.

The health initiative manager is responsible for the implementation of health initiatives in the community. They are involved in a variety of different aspects of the project, such as determining the best way to publicize the initiative, deciding what types of information to disseminate, and working with people (such as health educators) to evaluate the success of the initiative in both the short and long terms.

Health initiative managers should have a strong commitment to public health, as well as excellent communication skills, organizational skills, and time-management skills. They should be both detail-oriented and have the ability to see the "big picture" of a project, and understand how all the different elements of a project will fit together to achieve its goals.

Biostatistics Career

Biostatistics is a field of scientific research and analysis that involves the use of statistics to solve problems or understand issues. In public health, biostatisticians use their knowledge of statistics to study:

• Disease in communities
• The effects of public health programs
• Initiatives
• Other topics

Biostatisticians often work with raw data, and must decide how to organize the data to gain meaningful information from it. After organizing and analyzing data, they prepare written reports that summarize the most important aspects of the data, and perhaps make recommendations or conclusions about what the data means in terms of public health. Their reports are often used by policymakers and other public health workers to determine the success of current public health programs.

Biostatisticians must be proficient in understanding and working with new data, and should be familiar with all the different ways data can be organized and interpreted. They should have excellent analytical skills, good written and verbal communication skills, and be able to organize data in ways that make it easier for non-experts to understand the most important points. They should maintain a high degree of accuracy, and be familiar with computer software and tools for statistical analysis.

Public Health Communications Career

An important aspect of public health is determining the best ways to communicate information to communities. Public health communications experts are involved in evaluating and implementing methods of communicating with the public on health issues.

Public health communications experts have three main types of duties: administrative, public health research, and teaching-oriented tasks. For example, they may determine the best way to use new statistics regarding a public health issue in order to educate the public, and then develop a communications program that includes magazine advertising, television advertising, and press releases to disseminate the information.

Public health communications workers should have very strong written and verbal communications skills and interpersonal skills, as well as organizational and administrative skills. They should have a good understanding of the efficacy of different types of advertising, and also be able to read and understand scientific statistics and research information.