What Can You Do With a Public Health Degree?
Public health has become an increasingly popular field of study as the world begins to grapple with the realities of the pandemic and its associated health risks. With a public health degree, you can take a lead role in protecting and improving the health of the public. This article will explore the various career opportunities you can pursue after graduating with a public health degree.
Roles In Government And Non-Profits
One of the most popular roles for someone holding a public health degree is working in the government or with a non-profit organization. These organizations are often engaged in the planning and implementation of public health initiatives.
For example, you may work as an epidemiologist, whose job is to monitor the spread of infectious diseases and implement preventative measures. You may also use your skills in public health to help create and evaluate public health education programs. In both of these roles, you would be responsible for analyzing data, conducting research and making sure that the programs you support are relevant and effective.
Careers In Community Engagement
With a public health degree, you could also pursue a career in community engagement. This role involves working with local communities to identify health disparities and develop initiatives to address these issues.
As a community engagement specialist, you might be involved in organizing outreach activities, providing health promotion information, conducting surveys and focus groups, and offering resources that can improve health outcomes. This important role can have a tangible impact on the health of a community, and can be incredibly satisfying work.
Healthcare and Human Services
If you are interested in working directly with patients, you may want to pursue a career in healthcare or human services. These healthcare roles require a thorough understanding of public health and a commitment to helping individuals and entire communities improve their health outcomes.
You may be responsible for developing treatment plans for patients or overseeing quality improvement initiatives. You could also work as part of a multidisciplinary team providing social services, mental health counseling, or addiction treatment.
Research
Finally, those with a public health degree can pursue a career in research. This can involve a variety of different aspects, including:
- Conducting field and laboratory studies – this includes analyzing data and testing hypotheses for public health research projects.
- Monitoring public health trends – this involves collecting, analyzing, and interpreting data from public health data sources.
- Writing grants and policy recommendations – this involves summarizing findings from your research and presenting the key evidence that should be used to inform policy decisions.
Public health research can be incredibly rewarding work, as it can not only lead to better health outcomes for communities and individuals but can also inform the development of policy changes to improve the public’s health.
Conclusion
As you can see, a public health degree can lead to many different rewarding and meaningful career opportunities. From working in government and with non-profits, to providing health services and conducting research, there are many different paths you can pursue in this field.
If you are thinking of pursuing a public health degree, take the time to research the various career options available to you and make sure it is the right fit for you. After all, with a public health degree, you can make a real difference in people’s lives.