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What career options/examples are there for someone pursuing Public Health Policy as a major?

I feel like my field is very vague and broad so I want to ground myself in a better understanding of what I can do in my field. #publichealth

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Katherine’s Answer

Hi Van, this was asked quite a few years ago, so you might have already gotten your answer and are on your way. I'm back in grad school pursuing my MPH to change careers to work in public health and I chose the policy track at my school because I'm interested in learning how policy decisions are made and I'd like to work on health policy issues related to infectious diseases. You are right in expressing that public health is such a vast field. In policy, you can work on health care issues (access to health care, insurance coverage/Medicaid/Medicare), advocating for health care change (think social determinants of health: advocating for changes in affordable housing, access to transportation and green spaces, environmental changes relating to clean water/pollution, etc), and this can also apply globally too (global health). Graduate schools have MPH programs for health policy & management and global health, so if you take the MPH route, you'll have to choose one, but you can always take electives in both departments.

Where you might work:
-Public health consulting firms
-Advocacy organization that work to get support from the legislature to make change
-County/state public health organizations
-Federal level - CDC, SAMHSA (mental health), Department of Health & Human Services
-Health care organizations, insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies
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Rachel’s Answer

Hi Van! The great thing is that the public health field is becoming more broad and open to more career fields. I majored in exercise science but worked in the public health field for three years with the State of Florida. I worked in the community health/chronic disease department because that is what my passion was for and what I was most suited for but there are plenty of other departments. Other departments include: epidemiology, clinics, preparedness, HIV/STD, operations, finance, health education, nutrition, WIC (women, infants and children), family planning, environmental health, administrative and many more! Not sure what state you are in but a lot of public health departments have internship opportunities or opportunities to shadow a specific career field which is where I would start.

Rachel recommends the following next steps:

Research the variety of departments/positions within public health.
Intern or shadow at a public health department.
If policy change is your passion look into more political positions or federal organizations like the CDC.
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