Career Resources Overview
Students can explore a wide range of career opportunities in the Public Health field by learning about the roles available and the types of employers that hire public health professionals. Discover internships, fellowships, and job opportunities through a variety of resources.
To better prepare for entering the field, students should focus on developing essential materials like resumes, cover letters, and CVs, as well as honing their interview skills. By taking advantage of these tools and resources, future public health professionals can position themselves for success in a competitive job market.
Careers in Public Health
Because the field of public health is so broad, where you work and what you do is as varied as the field. You can work in local, state or national government, in academia, in the non-profit sector, in non-governmental organizations, or in private companies. You can work in the pharmaceutical industry, clinical laboratories, state health departments, international relief organizations, health care systems, universities, or even large non-health related manufacturing companies. Here are some examples of potential employers of a public health practitioner:
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There's something for everyone in public health. Some of the possible careers in public health are in these broad fields. Visit What is Public Health.
Environmental Health: The air we breathe; the water we drink; the complex interactions between human genetics and our surroundings. These environmental risk factors can cause diseases such as asthma, cancer, and food poisoning. Environmental health studies the impact of our surroundings on our health.
Biostatistics: Estimating the number of deaths from gun violence or looking at trends in drunk driving injuries by using math and science is the study of biostatistics. Biostatistics uses data analysis to determine the cause of disease and injuries, as well as to identify health trends within communities. This field entails collecting and studying information, forecasting scenarios, and making reliable conclusions.
Behavioral Sciences / Health Education: Stopping the spread of sexually transmitted diseases, such as herpes and HIV/AIDS; helping youth recognize the dangers of binge drinking; and, promoting seat belt use. Behavioral Science/Health Education focuses on ways that encourage people to make healthy choices. This includes the development of community-wide education programs that range from promoting healthy lifestyles to preventing disease and injury, to researching complex health issues.
Epidemiology: When food poisoning or an influenza outbreak attacks a community, the "disease detectives" or epidemiologists are asked to investigate the cause of disease and control its spread. Epidemiologists do fieldwork to determine what causes disease or injury, what the risks are, who is at risk, and how to prevent further incidences. They understand the demographic and social trends upon disease and injury. The initial discovery and containment of an outbreak, such as West Nile virus, often comes from epidemiologists.
Health Services Administration: Managing the database at a school clinic; developing budgets for a health department; creating polices for health insurance companies; and, directing hospital services all depend on health administrators. The field of health services administration combines politics, business, and science in managing the human and fiscal resources needed to deliver effective public health services.
Maternal and Child Health: Providing information and access to birth control; promoting the health of a pregnant woman and an unborn child; and dispensing vaccinations to children are part of maternal and child health. Professionals in maternal and child health improve the public health delivery systems specifically for women, children, and their families through advocacy, education, and research.
Nutrition: Promoting healthy eating and regular exercise; researching the effect of diet on the elderly; teaching the dangers of overeating and over dieting are the responsibility of public health nutritionists. This field examines how food and nutrients affect the wellness and lifestyle of population. Nutrition encompasses the combination of education and science to promote health and disease prevention.
International / Global Health: Addressing health concerns from a global perspective and encompasses all areas of public health (e.g., biostatistics, epidemiology, nutrition, maternal and child health, etc.). International health professionals address health concerns among different cultures in countries worldwide.
Public Health Laboratory Practice: Public health laboratory professionals perform tests on biological and environmental samples in order to diagnose, prevent, treat, and control infectious diseases in communities, to ensure the safety of our food, and water, to screen for the presence of certain diseases within communities and to respond to public health emergencies, like bioterrorism.
Public Health Policy: Analyzing the impact of seat belt laws on traffic deaths; monitoring legislative activity on a bill that limits malpractice settlements; advocating for funding for a teen anti-smoking campaign. Professionals in public health policy work to improve the public's health through legislative action at the local, state, and federal levels.
Public Health Practice: Public health is an interdisciplinary field and professionals in many disciplines such as nursing, medicine, veterinary medicine, dentistry, and pharmacy routinely deal with public health issues. A degree in public health practice enables clinicians to apply public health principles to improve their practice.
Career Development Tools
Dive into career exploration by viewing the following sites to learn about the different career paths, salaries, and the overall job outlook of any given position. With Public Health being such a broad degree there are a variety of career paths to choose from, by exploring what is out there, you can narrow the scope to match your personal and professional goals.
- O-NET Online: Learn about hundreds of occupations. You can search for careers based on industry, job outlook, and interest categories.
- Occupational Outlook Handbook: Learn about different career paths including salaries, job outlook, and how to get into the field.
- Public Health Career Guide: View what other students have done with their Public Health degrees through the different career areas.
- Public Health Workforce: Check out a report of surveyed state public health agency workers and local health department workers concerning workforce development priorities, the workplace environment, and key national initiatives.
Review the following sites for potential internship and fellowship opportunities. If you are looking for practicum sites, please review the weekly email for practicum opportunities.
Career Outcome: Discover the variety of career outcomes achieved by University of Utah graduates.
Handshake: Find job opportunities and receive recommendations based on search history, education, skills, etc. Log in with your uNID and CIS password to get started.
Utah Job Boards
- Salt Lake County Health Department
- Utah Nonprofit Association
- Utah County Health Department
- Intermountain Healthcare
- MountainStar Healthcare
- University of Utah
National Job Boards
- Emory Public Health Employment Connection
- American Public Health Association Career Mart
- Association of State and Territorial Health Officials
By following these preparation steps and practicing common interview questions, you should be equipped with the necessary material for your next interview.
Sometimes it’s not what you know, but who you know. Through networking you can make connections which may lead to future employment.
Learn the best ways to structure your resume, develop better cover letters and explore ways to create a strong CV.