MPH Looking for a more hands on experience

[DREAMER_CHASER]

Hey everyone!

I'm currently working on my MPH in Epidemiology. This summer I interned at a health department and spent most of my day sitting in a cubicle coding in SAS. I don't mind the coding and the research, however once I graduate I want a career that's a little more hands on. I have a passion for chronic disease prevention and working with people in the community. I don't want my knowledge of epidemiology to go to waste, however I know that I won't be happy sitting in a cubicle for the rest of my career. Does anyone have any advice on how to use the training you have received in epidemiology and transition it into a more hands on career? Have any on you done this? Something that has been suggested to me is going into Public Health Practice, but I'm not sure what that specifically entails.

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[oceanhue]

Have you tried going to your school's career service or speaking to your advisor? I haven't started my MPH program yet, but I'm basically doing the same thing that you're doing (except it's not on SAS). I'm working in the epidemiology division at the health department and while it's nice, I'm happy that I'm determined to focus more on research and clinical trials. It's nice, but it isn't my cup of tea.

I was fortunate enough to get this opportunity under my belt before starting my program. Believe me, I know!

 

[Stories]

Health departments are a good place to start. Local, state, national levels all have them.

 

[SPSS]

Hey everyone!

I'm currently working on my MPH in Epidemiology. This summer I interned at a health department and spent most of my day sitting in a cubicle coding in SAS. I don't mind the coding and the research, however once I graduate I want a career that's a little more hands on. I have a passion for chronic disease prevention and working with people in the community. I don't want my knowledge of epidemiology to go to waste, however I know that I won't be happy sitting in a cubicle for the rest of my career. Does anyone have any advice on how to use the training you have received in epidemiology and transition it into a more hands on career? Have any on you done this? Something that has been suggested to me is going into Public Health Practice, but I'm not sure what that specifically entails.

You have a noble vision working on prevention of chronic diseases which are prime killers and disabling conditions of the modern era besides wars and natural disasters.

Yet I'm a bit confused by what you mean of the phrase ( more hands on career ) ?!

In general a research career will be involving hands on experiences :
Research question and hypothesis
Designing methodology
Collecting data from the field ( clinical setting, communities, target populations, previous papers, biological samples)
Data entry and analysis be it SAS, SPSS , mat lab or whatever your comfortable with.
Interpretation and recommendations and publications

Environmental protection agency would be involve in research linking chronic disease to air/water quality.
FDA for food,chemicals, ..etc
CDC for epidemiological field, outbreak investigations,.. Etc if that's what you mean by hands-on except it will be more in to acute communicable diseases .

It depends on your job description after all.

 

[DREAMER_CHASER]

Thanks! And Sorry I should be more clear about what I mean by "Hands on". In my free time I volunteer in a community center teaching and creating community programs for children and their parents to help them learn about chronic diseases and how to make modifications to prevent these diseases further on in life. Since I have a large interest in programing and working in the community, I want to find a career that allows me to use my training in epidemiology along with my interest in programming and community work. I'm not sure what kind of career will offer me that.

 

[CourtkneeBee]

I'm not an epidemiologist (I did an MPH in basically in health promotion), but from what I know of the career from doing a project at a health department, that is a large part of it. An epidemiologist I worked with largely did survey work; (content and face validity) and reliability. The program planning and working with the community seems to be more related to "MPH - Community/Behavioral Health/Health Promotion/Community Health Education/etc." You can definitely do that kind of work w/o an epi background.

I found this:

1. Epidemiology is the study and control of disease or injury patterns in human populations. Epidemiologists do fieldwork to determine what causes disease or injury, what the risks are, who is at risk and how to prevent further incidences.

When I think of Epi, I think of ^^ -- so more research/computer investigation. If you want to work with vector borne diseases or communicable diseases, investigation typically involves doing fieldwork. If you do chronic disease, it's typically investigation through the computer (GIS tracking of chronic disease, YRBSS type stuff).