March 2024
What Can You Do With A Public Health Degree?
Want to make a real difference in healthcare? A public health degree is your key to a booming field with growing job opportunities. Public health isn't just about safeguarding communities; it's about pushing healthcare knowledge forward and improving patient outcomes for everyone. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment in healthcare occupations is projected to grow much faster than the average for all occupations from now to 2032. If you’re interested in public health, earning a degree in public health is a good first step. So, what can you do with a public health degree?
What is a public health degree?
A public health curriculum equips you with the foundational knowledge of public health principles and practices. But learning isn't just theoretical. Through real-world fieldwork, you'll put your knowledge into action, preparing you to tackle tomorrow's public health challenges.
What can you do with a degree in public health?
Public health is a dynamic field that offers endless possibilities to match your interests. Become a community health champion, navigate healthcare administration, empower others through health education, or rise to leadership as a medical services manager.
The Arizona Online Bachelor of Science in Public Health offers general knowledge and an experiential education in public health principles and practice. Fieldwork provides you with an experience that incorporates classroom learning into public health practice and prepares you for future employment.
You have the opportunity to customize your degree experience to match your interests and aspirations with three areas of emphasis:
- Global Health: Global health professionals work worldwide to help prevent the spread of disease, deploy clean water initiatives, and support communities during natural disasters.
- Health Systems Theory and Practice: Corporations, organizations, governments, and communities need public health leaders to focus on planning, management, and administration.
- Public Health Practice: Public health professionals design and implement programs to ensure all communities have access to crucial health services and safe living conditions.
The Zuckerman College of Public Health has held continuous accreditation from the Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH) since 2003 and is accredited through December 31, 2027.
The Arizona Online Master of Public Health (MPH) program is designed for busy professionals. Dive deep into your chosen concentration with half the courses focused on your area of interest. Plus, gain invaluable real-world experience through an applied practice project, tackling real challenges faced by public health organizations. This program arms you with the skills and knowledge to make a difference – all on your own schedule.
This practice-based professional degree offers five concentrations that reflect key disciplines in public health:
- Applied Epidemiology: Graduates may work in public, non-profit, and private health settings, gathering, analyzing, interpreting, and communicating data to improve health and quality of life.
- Climate Change and Health: Graduates of this concentration may take leadership roles in improving the quality of policies, programs, and services offered in healthcare, social services, academic, and public health organizations.
- Global Health: Graduates work to promote healthier lifestyles, prevent premature death, and fight disease in diverse communities.
- Health Behavior Health Promotion: Graduates learn to develop policies and programs to improve the health and well-being of children and adults in the U.S. and around the world.
- Health Services Administration: Graduates will develop communication skills and adaptation measures to address climate effects on health and the environment, including ongoing and emergent health challenges.
Public Health Outlook
A degree in public health opens doors to a world of impact – from shaping healthcare delivery at hospitals and clinics to crafting vital policies for government agencies; your degree empowers you to make a difference. Public health degree alumni have worked in county/state health departments, non-profit organizations, university settings, healthcare systems/hospitals, the CDC, for-profit organizations that offer health services or employee wellness programs, insurance companies, and a variety of other organizations.
Public Health Degree Jobs Salary
Some of the fastest-growing public health careers include:
- Environmental Scientists and Specialists: Estimated national median salary of $76,530 per year.
- Nurse Anesthetists, Nurse Midwives, and Nurse Practitioners: Estimated national median salary of $125,900 per year
- Medical and Health Services Managers: Estimated national median salary of $101,000 per year.
