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Interested in a Career in Public Health?

Various public health tracks can utilize different aspects of one’s personality, strength and weaknesses

Tiffany Simpson, MHSA

As a Director of Community Capacity Building for the City of Berkeley Public Health Department in California, I have dedicated the last decade of my life to the field of public health.  Although, when I originally entered college, I had aspirations of becoming a pediatrician, I struggled with math and science courses and I wanted to find a health field that better utilized my strengths.  For individuals that are interested in impacting health of a community level versus a patient level, this profession might be suited for you.  Here are some general differences between clinical health and public health:

• Clinical health involves working with patients one-on-one to treat illnesses and working with the patient to prevent their condition from becoming more severe.
• Public health seeks to bring an adequate level of health care to the most vulnerable populations via preventive health education, community outreach, home visitation, and case management programs to encourage better lifestyle choices that support good health.
• A clinical healthcare professional primarily focuses on the relationship with the patient to improve their health.
• A public healthcare professional not only addresses the patient’s behavior but also addresses social conditions that might contribute to poor health such as poverty, economic and educational disadvantages as well as discrimination and racism.
• Clinical healthcare happens primarily in hospitals, clinics and private medical practices.

In the following paragraphs, I will provide insights into various tracks that one can pursue in the field of public health based on my current and past experiences.

In my current role as Director of Community Capacity Building, I work with residents to help them understand the impact of unequal neighborhood resources on their health and safety.  The goal is to create better living conditions, access to quality care and to assist the local government in addressing unequal distribution of economic and educational resources. These factors all contribute to better health for all who live in a community.  This type of job would fall under the community capacity building or social justice track of public health. The benefits of this type of track are that you have the opportunity to learn the impact of neighborhood conditions on health, train communities, and advocate for better distribution of local government resources to make their neighborhoods safer. One skill necessary to be successful in this type of work is patience.  One must have the patience to meet community members at their current state, with the goal of creating awareness. Are you willing to hit the street corners to talk to people about what will make their communities safer?  Another characteristic that people who excel at community capacity building or neighborhood-based health promotion programs tend to have is an outgoing and down-to-earth personality.  It is essential that you understand the culture of the community that you are assisting and you have the ability to engage people with a variety of personalities.  In parallel, to be successful one needs to have the commitment to go the extra mile.  Many times one has to work in the evening time and on the weekends to reach community members.  But more importantly, many poor people need advocates that have their best interest in mind and are willing to take risks to ensure that they receive adequate health services.

If you are passionate about equality, decent access to health care, and eliminating discrimination against the poor and people of color this may be the career path for you.

A career in public health can also be utilized to focus on health conditions in a given community.  For example, in the past I had the opportunity to work as a community health worker and educator for the California Black Infant Health Services in the Bay Area. This program focused on reducing the high rates of infant death and sickness in the African American community. Part of my role as a community health worker was to provide basic prenatal health education, and coach women with basic life skills education so that they could be healthy functioning mothers. This type of job would fall under the maternal child and adolescent track of public health.  People that are ideal for these types of jobs are those who enjoy mentoring others and are creative in teaching life skills that support health (continuing education, getting off county assistance).  One benefit of being a health educator/case manager is that you have the opportunity to see the changes in your clients as they apply the tools that you have shared  to assist with improving their health and overall status in life.  One caveat, to this work is emotionally dealing with clients that continually make poor life choices.

If you like to work on health issues from a community perspective, public health is the ideal career path for you. Here is a sampling of common public health position titles:

• Community health worker (Usually requires a high school diploma)
• Health Educator (requires a Masters in Public Health in California)
• Health Services Program Manager (requires a Bachelors or Master’s Degree in Health Science, Public Health, Community Health, or Human Services)
• Program Director (Usually requires a masters degree or bachelors degree with at least 3-5 years experience

The following majors can assist you in becoming a health educator or public health program manager: public health, health science, community health, health promotion and health education. The educational training that you receive allows you to sample courses from a variety of disciplines. As an undergraduate at San Jose State University I majored in Health Science. I took courses ranging from human anatomy and physiology to multicultural health education. A recent graduate can expect to make $30,000 to $40,000 a year in their first job. However, if you choose to further your education and pursue a masters or doctoral degree your salary working in public sectors could reach well over six figures if you are working as a senior level manager, executive directorship and/or an independent public health consultant.   There are many rewards that are associated with this career profession.  For me, the greatest reward is planting a seed in poor communities of color to fight for better health care and equitable resources to support health for generations to come.

I hope that my perspective on the field of public health can be used as a starting point, as you explore the different career options that are available with a science background.

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