How To Become A Public Health Assistant: What It Is and Career Path

What is a public health assistant and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Public health assistants, under direct supervision, assist medical and professional staff in public health clinics by performing clerical and health-related duties.

If you want to become a public health assistant, you may consider earning the Certified Health Education Specialist credential administered by the National Commission for Health Education Credentialing, Inc. Some states require health educators working in public health departments to be certified. In addition to a bachelor's degree, you must pass an examination covering essential health education responsibilities to be eligible for certification.

Many private and nonprofit organizations hire public health assistants. In a hospital or other medical facility, you might promote community health programs, such as those concerning parenting, cancer prevention, or fitness. Additional employment opportunities are available in private research and development organizations, as well as areas of business.

Salaries for public health assistants vary by industry, occupation, level of education, and experience. According to the BLS, the median annual wage of health assistants is $69,660.

ScorePublic Health AssistantUS Average

Salary

3.0

Avg. Salary $38,433

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

7.9

Growth rate 16%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

4.4

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.81%

Asian 9.25%

Black or African American 11.18%

Hispanic or Latino 24.13%

Unknown 4.66%

White 49.97%

Gender

female 78.42%

male 21.58%

Age - 35

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 - 35

Stress level

7.9

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

6.4

Complexity level is intermediate

7 - challenging

Work life balance

8.6

Work life balance is excellent

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a public health assistant

Explore public health assistant education requirements

Most common public health assistant degrees

Bachelor's

62.3 %

Associate

12.1 %

Master's

11.1 %

Start to develop specific public health assistant skills

Skills	Percentages
NYC	12.35%
School Health	10.38%
Patients	9.98%
Phone Calls	7.31%
Data Entry	7.22%

Complete relevant public health assistant training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-3 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New public health assistants 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 a public health assistant based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real public health assistant resumes.

Research public health assistant duties and responsibilities

Monitor / enforce OSHA standards and coordinate / lead daily, weekly, and monthly safety meetings to educate staff.
Adhere to all Hippa policy.
Adhere to HIPAA policies and procedures.
Fax medical records and various documents following strict HIPPA guidelines and regulations.

Prepare your public health assistant resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your public health assistant resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a public health assistant resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable public health assistant resume templates

Build a professional public health assistant resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your public health assistant resume.