How To Become An Environmental Health Physician: What It Is and Career Path

What is an environmental health physician and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Quoted expert

John Colclough

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being an environmental health physician. For example, did you know that they make an average of $101.19 an hour? That's $210,467 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 7% and produce 55,400 job opportunities across the U.S.

What general advice would you give to an environmental health physician?

John Colclough

Professor, Marshall University

Be patient and stay informed. Many performers think their career is about the work in the rehearsal hall or in performance-not so, the real work is in the management of your business. Being an authority of WHO, WHAT and WHERE is key. WHO are the players in your market? The directors, actors, casting people, producing organizations, etc...these are who you need to know-your network. WHAT opportunities exist in your market? The theatres, video companies, universities (if you have an MFA you may be able to teach a class or two), Improvisation groups, any opportunity that allows you to grow your brand is worth your attention. And finally, WHERE are the opportunities-knowing your community and having a sense of how each company fits into the fabric of the community. Having a sense of where the company resides both geographically and virtually (web sites) and having a solid knowledge base of details of each company can inform your marketing tactics as well as provide you with specific details unique to each organization. Careers develop over time and keeping expectations realistic over the first year can be challenging. Be practical and methodical in your approach: save money (there's never enough), find a place to live (the best you can afford), find a side hustle (you're going to need money and routine), find out the lay of the land (WHO, WHAT, and WHERE), develop your skill set (take a class and meet colleagues), go to productions, screenings, workshops, document your growth (keep a journal or calendar to track your progress), celebrate your successes and be patient with your stumbles-Hard knocks are the best teachers!

ScoreEnvironmental Health PhysicianUS Average

Salary

10.0

Avg. Salary $210,467

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

10.0

Growth rate 7%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

1.7

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.17%

Asian 18.99%

Black or African American 5.31%

Hispanic or Latino 9.91%

Unknown 4.50%

White 61.13%

Gender

female 53.57%

male 46.43%

Age - 48

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 48

Stress level

10.0

Stress level is very high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

10.0

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

7.1

Work life balance is good

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become an environmental health physician

Explore environmental health physician education requirements

Most common environmental health physician degrees

Bachelor's

39.5 %

Doctorate

31.6 %

Master's

10.5 %

Start to develop specific environmental health physician skills

Skills	Percentages
Medical Care	71.59%
Health Maintenance	28.41%

Complete relevant environmental health physician training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 4-10 years on post-employment, on-the-job training. New environmental health physicians learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as an environmental health physician based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real environmental health physician resumes.

Research environmental health physician duties and responsibilities

Manage children with diabetes and asthma among other diagnoses.
Perform EKG; blood glucose testing; pregnancy tests; pulmonary function testing; spirometer; vision testing.
Provide overall quality prenatal health care, gynecological services, patient triage, refer patients with complications, provide patient education service
Collect and dispatch blood samples according to national malaria eradication and sputum samples for national tuberculosis control program.

Prepare your environmental health physician resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your environmental health physician resume.

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Choose from 10+ customizable environmental health physician resume templates

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