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| Year | # of jobs | % of population |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 324 | 0.00% |
| 2020 | 299 | 0.00% |
| 2019 | 293 | 0.00% |
| 2018 | 212 | 0.00% |
| 2017 | 195 | 0.00% |
| Year | Avg. salary | Hourly rate | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | $59,172 | $28.45 | +3.6% |
| 2025 | $57,118 | $27.46 | --20.3% |
| 2024 | $71,635 | $34.44 | +1.7% |
| 2023 | $70,419 | $33.86 | +1.2% |
| 2022 | $69,575 | $33.45 | +1.0% |
| Rank | State | Population | # of jobs | Employment/ 1000ppl |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | District of Columbia | 693,972 | 237 | 34% |
| 2 | Minnesota | 5,576,606 | 1,860 | 33% |
| 3 | Idaho | 1,716,943 | 522 | 30% |
| 4 | North Dakota | 755,393 | 212 | 28% |
| 5 | Virginia | 8,470,020 | 2,068 | 24% |
| 6 | Indiana | 6,666,818 | 1,594 | 24% |
| 7 | Iowa | 3,145,711 | 762 | 24% |
| 8 | Rhode Island | 1,059,639 | 255 | 24% |
| 9 | North Carolina | 10,273,419 | 2,335 | 23% |
| 10 | Maryland | 6,052,177 | 1,419 | 23% |
| 11 | Washington | 7,405,743 | 1,618 | 22% |
| 12 | Nebraska | 1,920,076 | 425 | 22% |
| 13 | New Hampshire | 1,342,795 | 299 | 22% |
| 14 | Arizona | 7,016,270 | 1,459 | 21% |
| 15 | Missouri | 6,113,532 | 1,257 | 21% |
| 16 | Colorado | 5,607,154 | 1,197 | 21% |
| 17 | South Dakota | 869,666 | 185 | 21% |
| 18 | Wisconsin | 5,795,483 | 1,184 | 20% |
| 19 | Arkansas | 3,004,279 | 586 | 20% |
| 20 | Ohio | 11,658,609 | 2,216 | 19% |
| Rank | City | # of jobs | Employment/ 1000ppl | Avg. salary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Frankfort | 1 | 4% | $55,291 |
| 2 | Annapolis | 1 | 3% | $71,765 |
| 3 | Dover | 1 | 3% | $75,061 |
| 4 | Juneau | 1 | 3% | $77,491 |
| 5 | Hartford | 1 | 1% | $80,636 |
| 6 | Lansing | 1 | 1% | $67,329 |
| 7 | Little Rock | 1 | 1% | $52,387 |
| 8 | Chicago | 2 | 0% | $60,961 |
| 9 | Atlanta | 1 | 0% | $51,164 |
| 10 | Baton Rouge | 1 | 0% | $55,308 |
| 11 | Boston | 1 | 0% | $68,162 |
| 12 | Denver | 1 | 0% | $63,082 |
| 13 | Des Moines | 1 | 0% | $57,760 |
| 14 | Indianapolis | 1 | 0% | $58,571 |
| 15 | Modesto | 1 | 0% | $62,240 |
| 16 | Montgomery | 1 | 0% | $53,450 |
| 17 | Phoenix | 1 | 0% | $60,395 |
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University of Nevada - Las Vegas
Michigan State University
Ohio Wesleyan University
North Dakota State University
Calvin University
The University of West Florida
Catherine Annis Ph.D.: The jobs that pay top dollar in the public sector are leadership positions or highly specialized roles, so it is important to focus on building your credentials. Utilize resources like the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook to easily explore careers by salary, field of degree, education requirements, predicted job growth, and more. Identify and target the jobs you might want early on. Build experience in the content, skills, and experience that will make you a strong candidate for the job. Keep track of instances where you made a positive impact and demonstrated performance success for future job applications and interviews!
Catherine Annis Ph.D.: The world continues to become more interconnected, digitized, and globalized. Strong public sector candidates will be able to demonstrate skills related to collaboration, technology, and foreign language proficiency.
Catherine Annis Ph.D.: Seek out those in the career paths that you are interested in and ask to meet. Ask them questions about how they got there and details about their work. In this way, you can assess whether that career trajectory fits you while also building your professional network.
Angie Otiniano Verissimo Ph.D., M.P.H.: There is an abundance of research that shows women, people of color, and other marginalized groups do not negotiate to the extent that their white male counterparts do in terms of salary and other benefits. I would encourage those starting out in their career to reach out to their mentors and practice the negotiation process.
Natalie Stepanian Ph.D., RN: Maximizing your salary is of course an important aspect of starting any career or job. When you are looking for your first job do your homework. You will need to look at the company or agency where you would like to apply for a job. You will need to understand what type a career ladder exists or potential for growth. You will want to know what type of benefits you will receive. Perhaps depending on your current degree, you may want to obtain a Masters in Public Health, will the company or agency help you with tuition? Would there be a career advance if you did obtain an MPH? Sometimes it is not about the highest paying job if the working environment is a healthy one and has room for growth may be more important. Do not dismiss the opportunities that exist in the U.S. Public Health Service (https://www.usphs.gov/) or working with the local, state, or federal Public Health Departments, they have many career opportunities.
Natalie Stepanian Ph.D., RN: Having a degree in Public Health can provide you many opportunities in the job market. There are a wide variety and levels of jobs that are available depending on the degree or degrees you hold. When you are first starting to look at possible venues you would like to work for start with a good internet search. There are many opportunities within the U.S. Public Health Service which most people are unaware of. You can also look at the Department of Health and Human Services with the federal government where Public Health is under their umbrella. This is a federal agency, there are also state and local Public Health Departments that have a variety of jobs. Some of the categories for jobs are: Epidemiology, Disaster and Emergency Specialists, Natural Science Managers, Public Health Nurses, Water Quality Planner, Healthcare Manager, Public Health Educator, Environmental Health Scientist, Biostatistician, Infection Preventionist, Public Health Consultant, Public Health Nutritionist, Health Policy Analyst, Biomedical Researcher, Occupational Health and Safety Specialist, Clinical Research Coordinator, Research Assistant, Nonprofit Coordinator, Nonprofit Executive Director, Social and Community Service Manager, just to name a few. Before you jump in see if you can arrange to shadow someone that is in a Public Health job so you can really see what the job will entail before you pursue it.
Natalie Stepanian Ph.D., RN: Since the Covid Pandemic of 2020 happened it has been very apparent that our Public Health infrastructure needs to be strengthened at the local, state, and federal levels. Currently there is a great need for individuals with Public Health degrees and training. I only see this need to continue to rise. The U.S. government is making efforts to fortify and strengthen our Public Health services. Between climate change, manmade and natural disasters, viral, bacterial, prion, and vector born illnesses new or emerging outbreaks are continuing.
Shawn Gibbs PhD, MBA, CIH: There are plenty of jobs available in the field of public health. However, the exact position you want may not be in the exact location you want at the exact time that you want. So, it is important to be flexible in your job search. Setting yourself apart from the rest of the applicant pool is also important, you can demonstrate this through your skillsets or through additional certifications that others may not have. Of course, I am biased, but I would also recommend a Texas A&M; University School of Public Health degree; we are a land-grant, space-grant, sea-grant, member of the Association of American Universities so we have everything you could need to set you up for success in your career.
Shawn Gibbs PhD, MBA, CIH: Public Health has a rich history. I think the ability to manage change in the field, including the applicability of new and evolving technologies. Communication is a skillset that always has value, you need to know your audience and be able to meet your audience where they are with your communications.
Stephanie Hooper MPH, HTL: Attaining degrees and additional credentials like certifications and licensures will certainly help with job options as well as salary increases. If there is an area of public health that is of particular interest (i.e., nutrition, physical activity, etc.), researching credible certifications or licenses and attaining them shows a mastery in that area, and dedication to continual education in order to maintain that credential. If there are many applicants competing for the same job, but you are able to show that you have advanced degrees or additional credentials, it could be the difference in landing the position over someone else. Additionally, it is important to recognize that even if you have advanced degrees and credentials, often times in life we have to be willing to start at a lower salary than we had hoped for and work our way up. Many times, public health students are offered positions following an internship role, but the pay may be less than anticipated. It is important to remember that hard work and experience are also essential for getting our salaries to where we want them to be.
Stephanie Hooper MPH, HTL: One of the most important things to do is volunteer or shadow at places that align with your future professional goals. Not only does doing these types of activities show potential employers that you are ambitious and willing to put in the time needed to be successful, sometimes we think that a career might be the one for us but once we get out there and try it, our opinion changes. Public health is an extremely broad field so getting hands-on experience can be extremely beneficial for helping to narrow down the choices and save time and money in the long run by eliminating what you are not interested in.
Stephanie Hooper MPH, HTL: In the next 5 years I think it will be extremely important to have basic computer skills in many areas including Microsoft Office and even data analysis software. No matter what area of public health we work in, data is collected and used to determine population health issues, resources available/lacking, and effectiveness of health or education programs. Therefore, if young professionals are able to utilize the basic data collection and analysis tools, they will be best prepared to enter the workforce. Additionally, public speaking skills are essential in this field. Even if you land a job that does not require speaking at a conference, we are always tasked with presenting our public health findings to a wide variety of players including community members and various stakeholders; so, having presentation skills and being comfortable speaking in front of others is very useful. Aside from the aforementioned skills, I also believe that communication skills are necessary in public health. As I mentioned previously, we are interfacing with all sorts of groups, and with large populations of people. Therefore, aside from having the ability to speak publicly, understanding how to create written materials (i.e., fact sheets), and using social media to create health content is invaluable. Being that technology is continually expanding, and along with that means of communication are shifting, it is important to stay on top of trends and familiarize ourselves with new communication platforms as they allow us to reach large audiences in real-time.
Ms. Michelle Edelstein MPH: Attached are responses from Claire Brown, MPH, Director for Student Experiences & Alumni Affairs, Rutgers School of Public Health.
Ms. Michelle Edelstein MPH: Attached are responses from Claire Brown, MPH, Director for Student Experiences & Alumni Affairs, Rutgers School of Public Health.
Laura Rusnak MPH, CPH, CHES: People need to know their specific area within public health and understand the salary potential for that specific field. They also need to realize that for-profit organizations are going to pay folks very differently than non-profits or governmental organizations. While salary is important, so are benefits like healthcare, educational assistance, work-life balance, and many others. Graduates need to consider the whole compensation package and do their research on the industry, as well as employer, within their field of interest.
Laura Rusnak MPH, CPH, CHES: Find your passion and jump in to gain experience. Many students don't know "what I want to do with my life" and feel stuck. They don't know how to figure that out. It doesn't come from thinking about it. It comes from DOING it and gaining some hands-on experience. Part-time jobs, volunteering, and internships all provide invaluable experience that students need to figure out the best fit for them in the beginning of their careers. I advise students to get out there and gain experience early on, even before they graduate if they can. Getting into the field will help you decide if you're doing what you should be doing, and the steps you need to take to cultivate your career in public health.
Laura Rusnak MPH, CPH, CHES: Technology skills are essential, as are people skills. Being able to leverage technology is essential to improving health outcomes. But public health professionals also need to be able to deal with people. Technology is going to be able to do many of the tasks that people used to do. But it is people who will have to effectively leverage that technology and make sure that it is being used correctly/ethically. And people want to get health services from humans, not computers. Computers can't do what we do in public health. So we need to be able to leverage technology and keep doing what computers can't, personalizing public health activities.
Kristin Van De Griend PhD, MPH: Try to gather as much information as you can about current trends in salaries in the field. Ask your colleagues, professors, and career counselors, and then negotiate for yourself before you accept a job offer. Often, you can negotiate salary, paid time off, parental leave, and startup costs for research.
Kristin Van De Griend PhD, MPH: To maximize your salary potential, try to gather as much information as you can about current trends in salaries in the field. Ask your colleagues, professors, and career counselors, and then negotiate for yourself before you accept a job offer. Often, you can negotiate salary, paid time off, parental leave, and startup costs for research.
SUNY College at Oswego
Gerontology
Dr. Jessica Harris CHES: Adapting to evolving trends, technologies, and population needs will be critical for success in the health promotion field in the coming years. Alongside this trend, digital health literacy is set to become increasingly important, with virtual care delivery and integration of digital health technologies into everyday practice. Furthermore, cultural awareness and diversity awareness will remain essential as the field continues to serve diverse populations, requiring professionals to tailor interventions that resonate with different cultural backgrounds.
Dr. Jessica Harris CHES: Acquiring additional certifications or specialized training in high-demand areas can significantly enhance your qualifications and marketability, thereby potentially increasing your earning potential. Secondly, actively seek out opportunities for career advancement and professional growth within your organization or through networking with industry peers and mentors.
Dr. Jessica Harris CHES: For graduates stepping into their career field, I suggest fostering a curious and adaptable mindset. This is crucial as many fields are constantly evolving, with new research, technology, and approaches emerging regularly. Staying updated on current trends, best practices, and advancements can be achieved through seizing learning opportunities like workshops and conferences. Furthermore, strong communication and interpersonal skills are essential for effective collaboration and engagement with diverse populations.
Gerard Carrino PhD, MPH: Many public health jobs are in the public and nonprofit sectors, which offer a lot of autonomy, authority, and visibility, while providing a good paycheck, great benefits, and solid job security. You can maximize your earning potential in these sectors by learning a few skills that most graduates and many in the workforce don’t have, such as project management, budgeting, and managing disaster scenarios. You can also double down on some highly sought-after skills like mathematical modeling of disease or working with Big Data, if that’s your skillset. More and more, private industry is recognizing the extraordinary value of the public health degree - which helps make it the second fastest-growing undergraduate degree in the nation - because our graduates hit the ground running and are able to apply real-world skills like critical thinking, evaluating evidence, and project management immediately after graduation.
Gerard Carrino PhD, MPH: Public health professionals must be curious, open-minded, systematic, and adaptable to rapidly changing situations. Now and in the near future, being creative and cool-headed and having an entrepreneurial spirit will certainly help too. At the Julia Jones Matthews School of Population and Public Health, we teach all our students to think critically; to evaluate facts and evidence fairly, systematically, and dispassionately; and to make tough decisions when situations are uncertain. By the time you graduate from a public health program, you should have a command of common tools like Microsoft Excel, you should understand the great promise and potential peril of artificial intelligence, you should be able to interpret Big Data to make important decisions, and you should be able to spot misinformation and disinformation from a mile away.
Gerard Carrino PhD, MPH: Be curious, and be open to a very different way of thinking about health, healthcare, illness, and wellness. Rather than working to cure disease or to fix people up after they get sick or hurt, public health professionals work to make sure they don't get sick or injured in the first place. At the Julia Jones Matthews School of Population and Public Health, our goal is to ensure the well-being of entire communities and populations, analyzing trends, identifying root causes, and implementing interventions to promote health and wellness on a large scale.
Baylor University
Public Health
Gabriel Benavidez MPH, PhD: I think students can maximize their salary potential by having a strong technical skill set. The more a graduate knows how to do, the more valuable they make themselves to future employers. Another important aspect is networking. Graduates should also attempt build a large network of individuals from a variety of different career fields. Building a strong professional network can open doors to opportunities that may not be advertised publicly. Attend industry conferences, join professional organizations, and connect with alumni to expand your network
Gabriel Benavidez MPH, PhD: Many skills in the field of public health are likely to become more crucial due to technological advancements and evolving health priorities. Proficiency in data analytics and digital health tools will be extremely important as public health increasingly relies on big data and telehealth technologies for decision-making and health management. Skills in health equity and cultural competency will be essential, with a growing focus on designing inclusive health programs that address disparities and reach diverse communities effectively. Additionally, the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration and crisis management. Public health professionals will need to adeptly manage cross-sector partnerships and navigate complex crisis scenarios, including emergency preparedness and response. Effective communication and policy advocacy skills will also be critical for conveying public health messages and influencing health policies in response to emerging global health challenges and misinformation.
Tennessee State University
Health Professions And Related Clinical Sciences
Charles Brown Ph.D., M.Ed.: Recent graduates should strive to acquire skills that are transferrable throughout various sectors of the health field. For instance, project management, business, and collaboration skills are imperative and tends to offer individuals numerous opportunities when seeking to maximize their overall salary potential.
Charles Brown Ph.D., M.Ed.: In the next 3-5 years, it will be important for graduates to become proficient in collecting, analyzing, and reporting data to better understand the barriers, facilitators, and effective strategies that may be used to help people improve their overall health.
Charles Brown Ph.D., M.Ed.: My advice to recent graduates is to become more self-aware of your professional strengths and areas for improvement in the field. With this in mind, pursuing opportunities that offers the ability to work on areas for improvement and utilizing key strengths may be the best approach for recent graduates. This realization may lead graduates to their next set of experiences in the field.
Northeast Ohio Medical University
Public Health
Amy Lee MD, MPH, MBA: For any field, including public health, I would advise a graduate to network—speak to everyone and find mentors. If you aspire to be promoted in your organization, talk to people who are in a job that you want and find out what they would advise that you do to grow and develop your career.
Amy Lee MD, MPH, MBA: To maximize your salary potential, young professionals should keep on top of their field. This includes finding mentors, expanding your network, asking questions, finding out what others are doing.
Amy Lee MD, MPH, MBA: Public health is diverse! However, general skills that will be more important in the next few years are communication and the ability to collaborate. Being able to address misinformation and being able to use multiple channels of communication, including social media is important to deliver evidence-based information to the public. Collaboration is important to mobilize resources and to change systems to improve the community’s health.
University of Nevada - Las Vegas
Mental And Social Health Services And Allied Professions
Manoj Sharma: Additional certifications help demand higher salaries. For MPH (Social and Behavioral Health) graduates, the Certified Health Education Specialist (CHES) credential is given by the National Commission for Health Education Credentialing (NCHEC), and the Certified in Public Health (CPH) is given by the National Board of Examiners (NBE) are great certifications that can enhance one's earning potential.
Manoj Sharma: Mental health issues have come to the forefront, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic and they are going to be more prevalent in the coming year. So, the importance of mental health promotion will become even more important. Further, Artificial intelligence (AI) is coming up. So, new graduates would have to become savvy at using AI to their advantage in their work. Proactive interpersonal skills, effective communication skills, and efficient time management skills will continue to be important.
Manoj Sharma: Master of Public Health (Social and Behavioral Health) at the University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV) which is accredited by the Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH) prepares a graduate in state-of-the-art competencies for public health practice which includes working for mental health promotion. The general advice for these graduates that I would give is to continue to hone the competencies acquired during their studies by practice, practice, and practice. Mental health promotion is an especially challenging specialty where graduates must deal with stigma, myths, work pressures, time management, and so on. So, they must maintain equanimity, patience, and sharpness of mind.
Michigan State University
Public Health
Dr. Darline El Reda DrPH, MPH: Data management skills and policy and health advocacy skills will continue to be very important skills in the near future, and this includes communication skills. We saw this during Covid-19 worldwide and we continue to see this regardless of the public health topic area. It goes without saying that as a society we are generating data in an unprecedented fashion (variety, volume, and velocity) and this will not change anytime soon. Our ability to leverage data to describe the drivers of sub-optimal health and communicate risk reduction strategies to those impacted will only be strengthened with advanced data manipulation skills, ability to leverage insights to advocate for and communicate to members of the public and policy makers.
Dr. Darline El Reda DrPH, MPH: Prioritize continuing to enhance skills that were developed or introduced in your public health studies. For example, you may have learned data analytic skills or a coding language; consider taking courses to earn a certification in a coding language or package (there are plenty of low cost of free trainings online); this demonstrates initiative and may save your Employer time and resources required to onboarding you. An employee that is viewed as entering the workforce ready to roll up their sleeves will be more likely to negotiate a higher salary. Also, do not forget to invest in field agnostic skills like project management and coaching employees; these are important for individual contributors and even more important for Managers or Directors. Ability to manage people and projects result in higher paid roles.
Dr. Darline El Reda DrPH, MPH: Public health is a broad field, and it may take you a few years (and, maybe a few positions) to discover what specific topics or areas of public health practice interest you the most. Be patient with this process because exposure to a wide variety of topics and interest areas will ultimately make you a stronger public health practitioner.
Dr. Christopher Fink PhD: I think that having diverse internship experiences, a wide network, and an openness to work in both the public and private sector are key. Public Health touches all aspects of our lives, and having background and experience to be agile in your career path is important.
Dr. Christopher Fink PhD: Really be open to new experiences and building networks. Public health is a broad field that a public health orientation is important in almost every aspect of life. The question *how can this project or policy be enhanced to make our community healthier* is relevant in almost every aspect of the working world.
Akshaya Bhagavathula PhD: My daily tasks include: collecting and analyzing health-related data, conducting research, planning and evaluating public health programs, preparing reports, and collaborating with diverse teams to address public health challenges.
Akshaya Bhagavathula PhD: I strongly believe that pursuing a career as a Public Health analyst is an excellent choice in the current context. The COVID-19 pandemic has underscored the critical importance of public health professionals in responding to health crises, protecting population health, and promoting health equity.
Akshaya Bhagavathula PhD: Public health analysts often find their work highly rewarding and fulfilling, as they have the opportunity to make a meaningful impact on population health outcomes and reduce health disparities.
Calvin University
Public Health
Toluwani Adekunle: Public Health is quite broad with five primary streams: Epidemiology, Health Policy and
Management, Health Promotion and Behavioral Sciences, Biostatistics, and Environmental
and Occupational Health. It is important for a graduate, who is just beginning their career to
engage in adequate research on where their skills would be most needed within their
selected niche. There is often a lot of crossover and collaborations between specialists from
any of the primary focal areas. However, it is advised that graduates do their research on
identifying the institutions (i.e., academic, non-academic, non-profit, research institutes,
etc.) that are hiring people with the skills that they have.
More so, it is important for graduates to be active on job board, institutional organizations
etc., looking at the profile of employers that have the types of jobs that they are either
currently looking for, or aspire to have in the future. Frankly, understanding the skills needed
for the type of job one wants should be something we do before we enroll in any academic
program so that we can fully take advantage of courses and resources that would help us
gain those skills. However, if we happen to lack the necessary skills needed, we can always
work towards gaining those skills, while looking for jobs that fit the wealth of knowledge and
skills that we bring to the table. We might not start out with our "dream" job, but we can work
our way towards it by equipping ourselves with the necessary knowledge.
Toluwani Adekunle: Expert knowledge is necessary, albeit not sufficient. Skills that would be important for a
thriving Public Health workforce in the next 3-5 years may be categorized into soft and hard
skills. The soft skills would include the ability to engage in systems thinking using ecological
theories and models to conceptualize of health disparities/inequities and the burden of
disease; communication skills in order to get across cumbersome information in digestible
and trustworthy nuggets to the general public, listening to and understanding the needs of
varying populations from differing cultural and language backgrounds, and persuading
policy makers to implement the changes that would improve the health of the populace,
amongst others); building trust with the general population, and especially populations that
have been disenfranchised for decades; managing the very limited resources needed to
create sustainable changes; and tackling the impacts of racial and ethnic discrimination as a
determinant of health outcomes. Meanwhile, the hard skills will include data
analysis/analytics (qualitative and quantitative) that can drive research; using Artificial
Intelligence to increase the efficiency of Public Health work and bridge gaps in health
outcomes; using Social Media effectively for communication and branding trustworthy
Public Health Systems; effective writing for dissemination in all media include academic,
peer-reviewed, and general public consumption; community engagement, public speaking
for engaging in advocacy and sustainable change; and competency in most, if not all
spectrum of research (e.g., research conceptualization, implementation, analysis of
findings, etc.).
Toluwani Adekunle: Money comes when you master your niche and work diligently and passionately. Focus on your goal and
make sure that you bring value to the people you serve - Public Health is about people. Work on
becoming a brand and/or product that people would seek after. Focus on the skills needed to efficiently
do your work and then people would pay you for your time doing what you are competent at and
hopefully enjoy doing.
Wesley Farr MD, MPH: A Public Health Analyst researches public health issues and creates programs to solve these public health problems. They research existing programs to determine if they are effective and need to be modified or expanded. Public Health Analysts advise other health and government officials on the extent of the issues and their recommended solutions. They also communicate with the public and the media through posters, reports, and news releases.
Wesley Farr MD, MPH: The opportunities to benefit the public with effective programs that combat infectious diseases and non-communicable chronic diseases provide much job satisfaction for Public Health Analysts.
Many Public Health Analyst positions are government positions with lower pay than the private sector, and the volume of data that has to be analyzed can be stressful.
Wesley Farr MD, MPH: The COVID-19 pandemic emphasized how important it is to research current health issues, develop solutions, and analyze the effectiveness of existing and newly implemented programs. Ongoing infectious disease problems and future pandemics require a state of constant vigilance and preparedness. Health care requirements and utilization continue to expand, and demonstration of the effectiveness of programs is essential to optimize resources under budgetary constraints.
Leland Ackerson ScD, MPH: For career advancement, students should learn, improve and demonstrate their soft skills directly relevant to the position, such as critical thinking, time management, communications, team work and willingness to take on challenges. It is important for new graduates to show that they can apply what they learned in classrooms to solve real-world problems, prove a strong ability to learn by themselves in new environments, and demonstrate their value to the company or organization.
Leland Ackerson ScD, MPH: The use of data is becoming more important in all job fields, including public health. Skills in informatics and technology will be crucial in the coming years to allow public health professionals to collect, analyze, store, and communicate this information so they can optimize population health outcomes. Learning to use software for data visualization, information management, and statistical analysis will improve your ability to plan better public health strategies, and can really give a boost to your career prospects.
Leland Ackerson ScD, MPH: Networking is as crucial as ever. Accredited public health programs require a student to complete some kind of internship or practicum experience to graduate. Students have the most success after graduation if they use this practicum experience to gain, not just job skills, but also connections in their field and the people skills required to cultivate these connections. Any interaction can provide you with an important opportunity if you keep an open mind.