Public Health is a broad field that cuts across many disciplines, providing career options for many. When you think of public health, vaccinations, drinking water safety and prevention and control of disease might come to mind. In truth, these topics reflect great achievements in the last century, but represent just the tip of the iceberg.

At its core, public health focuses on the health of entire populations, distinguishing it from the field of clinical medicine, which is concerned with the health and disease of individual patients. Public health is about promoting diseases that disproportionately affect disadvantaged populations. Five key disciplines comprise public health — biostatistics, health services administration, environmental health, epidemiology, and behavioral sciences/health education.

Public health professionals perform a wide variety of roles including developing and implementing education programs, developing policies, administering services and conducting research. Individuals with interests and backgrounds in anthropology, economics, education, political science, sociology, psychology, biology, math, chemistry and engineering often gravitate toward careers and further training in public health.

The public health workplace is as varied as the workforce is versatile. Positions exist at the federal, state, local governmental level, as well as in the private sector, community-based and non-profit organizations and academic institutions. Public health professionals work locally, regionally, nationally and internationally.

Biostatistics
If math is your forté, consider a career in biostatistics, where you apply statistical techniques and methodology to health issue investigation. Every week, we hear news about the cause of a disease or a trend in our health status. It is the biostatistician who collects, studies, and analyzes data that lead to these reports and forecasts. Biostatisticians are in high demand, with many more positions available than job candidates.

Health Services Administration
Health services administration is a core area of public health. Multidisciplinary in nature, health services administration examines the cost, accessibility, delivery, organization, financing and outcomes of healthcare services to better understand the full effect of health care for individuals and populations. Individuals interested in healthcare reform, policy analysis and advocacy, and health law would find a career match here, as would those attracted to running HMOs and other healthcare delivery organizations.

Environmental Health
The largest component of the public health field, measured by numbers of personnel and expenditures, is environmental health. Concerned with studying the impact of our surroundings on our health, environmental health practitioners study environmental risk factors that can cause disease as well. Air, water and land pollution are hot topics for these professionals.

Behavioral Sciences/Health Education
Encouraging people to make healthy choices is the focus area of behavioral sciences/health education. In addition to studying behavioral change theories, public health workers in this area develop and implement programs that promote healthy lifestyles, educate the public about disease and injury prevention, and study complex health problems. The “tumor-causing, teeth-staining, smelly, puking habit” message is derived from a health education campaign.

Epidemiology
Epidemiologists are disease detectives and do fieldwork to determine what causes disease and injury. Understanding what the risk factors for disease are, who is at risk and how to prevent further incidence is the business of epidemiology. Epidemiologists analyze demographic and social trends that influence disease and inquiry.

Public health is figuratively and literally “all over the map.” Career opportunities await you in the field of public health if your interests are in social justice, the law and eliminating health disparities; if you want to teach others; if you like working in the community and team problem solving; if you are curious, detail-oriented, and analytical; and if you have strong communication, planning and organizational skills. Join this field and make a difference in the world around you!

Chris Tisch
(First published in the Arizona Daily Wildcat, March 29, 2005).