What jobs are there in Public Health?

[vpm007]

I know this is probably a stupid question, but I am a graduating senior in college, and I have no idea which direction I am going in terms of career.

I am a accounting major and public health minor. I added public health as a minor during my junior year after realizing that I hated accounting (from interning for 2 years.) I interned my junior and senior year at Red Cross and an internal medicine practice. After I graduate, I will be interning for my mayor's mental health department for the summer. After that I am completely lost!


I really want to become a health policy maker, but I haven't found much information regarding those jobs. I spoke to my professor about it, and he suggested I completely start over and finish my prereqs and apply to med school, and after years of practicing I can branch into policy making, but I didn't understand how that is possible.

My original goal was to apply to an MPH/JD program (my school has one.) I thought the dual degree would be beneficial for my goals, but after talking with people that got the degree, I am hearing the two are not worth it.

Recently, I have been looking into PA programs (Physician Assistant.) I would rather become a PA than a MD (for personal reasons) There is a PA-c/MPH program near by that I have been looking into. However, my question is what do you do with such a degree?

It is important for me to get these out of my career:
1. Practical (thats why I like the idea of being a PA or MD because I am actually doing a hands on job and that is very important to me)
2. Job security
3. Educational (I want to educate and inform people about their health)
4. Legislative ( health policy making)

So does anyone know of any job title that encompasses all that I want in a career? Could I become a PA (with an MPH) and find a way to get into policy making? It doesn't have to be on a marco level, it could be on a micro level such as policy maker within a hospital.

I am taking a year of 2 off to take time to discover that I really want to do + I am taking a EMT program at night after graduation. Can anybody help guide me, I am grateful for any input.

Thanks!

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[Emsy]

You definitely need to get some experience working in a legislative environment, it sounds like your summer internship is going to give you some nice exposure. I say that because change in this world is not immediate, it's not like being in a clinical environment and you can witness a patient's immediate progress. Policy work is slow, change is slow on a national level. My graduate internship was federal and the project I worked on has spanned close to a year and our report is not still not public so as long as you are not the type that gets frustrated with sticking with something that long and the slow pace state/federal government works, you should be fine.

Secondly, you don't need an MD or have to pursue the PA/NP route to be a player in this game. During my interview journey, I've spoke with people in pretty prominent institutions that did not practice clinical medicine and some didn't even major in anything healthcare related - one guy I interviewed with has his Ph.D in anthropology.

Working in policy can be think tanks like Urban Institute, foundations like Kaiser that act like a think tank, local/state/federal government, etc. A lot of these positions are analyst roles so being used to qualitative and quantitative research methods, the ability to write well, knowing some kind of programming is a plus (SAS, STATA), loving tedious research/lit reviews, and having a good understanding of project development (moving from a work plan, to study design, methodology, etc).

You could pursue an MPH that will give you those skills, you could also pursue a Master's of Public Policy and focus on healthcare. Generally these degrees are terminal, meaning you don't *need* to go further unless your dream is to work on your research or work as a high level researcher in places like RAND, then you will need a doctorate.

So positions you would be looking at would be research assistant, health policy analyst, program analyst.

The no-brainer of course is figuring out whether pursuing MD/PA/NP is the path you want to take, it's long and expensive. A good friend of mine in graduate school was in medical school and pursued MPH, he took a year off between 3rd and 4th of medical school and added 80k of debt to his medical school debt. Try to get a job in a hospital to see if you really like that environment or law if you are still unsure about a JD.

 

[MphGh]

I agree with Emsy, you do not need an MD for what you want to do. If you want health policy and MPH would be fine, also look at MPA programs that do health policy as well, like NYU Wagner school.
I would highly recommend working for a few years first, something related in the healthcare field.

 

[vpm007]

You definitely need to get some experience working in a legislative environment, it sounds like your summer internship is going to give you some nice exposure. I say that because change in this world is not immediate, it's not like being in a clinical environment and you can witness a patient's immediate progress. Policy work is slow, change is slow on a national level. My graduate internship was federal and the project I worked on has spanned close to a year and our report is not still not public so as long as you are not the type that gets frustrated with sticking with something that long and the slow pace state/federal government works, you should be fine.

Secondly, you don't need an MD or have to pursue the PA/NP route to be a player in this game. During my interview journey, I've spoken with people in pretty prominent institutions that did not practice clinical medicine and some didn't even major in anything healthcare related - one guy I interviewed with has his Ph.D in anthropology.

Working in policy can be think tanks like Urban Institute, foundations like Kaiser that act like a think tank, local/state/federal government, etc. A lot of these positions are analyst roles so being used to qualitative and quantitative research methods, the ability to write well, knowing some kind of programming is a plus (SAS, STATA), loving tedious research/lit reviews, and having a good understanding of project development (moving from a work plan, to study design, methodology, etc).

You could pursue an MPH that will give you those skills, you could also pursue a Master's of Public Policy and focus on healthcare. Generally these degrees are terminal, meaning you don't *need* to go further unless your dream is to work on your research or work as a high level researcher in places like RAND, then you will need a doctorate.

So positions you would be looking at would be research assistant, health policy analyst, program analyst.

The no-brainer of course is figuring out whether pursuing MD/PA/NP is the path you want to take, it's long and expensive. A good friend of mine in graduate school was in medical school and pursued MPH, he took a year off between 3rd and 4th of medical school and added 80k of debt to his medical school debt. Try to get a job in a hospital to see if you really like that environment or law if you are still unsure about a JD.

Wow, thank you! I was talking to a family friend today that has her Mph. She said that it is a good idea to do a PA/MPH program and specialize in either international public health management, public health policy and management, or public health administration. She said the one I chose depends on what I want out of a career. I guess my question is (if you know) which one of the sub specialities are the most humanitarian based? I always though policy making was the most humanitarian and that's why I wanted to work with developing policies because it benefits the greater good of society. I want to do something less politically focused, and more about having a direct impact on the greater good of the community.

 

[Cartoons]

It might be worth your time to run searches on the usual job hunting sites out there to see what kind of openings there are right now. Sounds basic, but it's a decent indicator of what the market is looking for. I think. Maybe! Sounds good, anyway.

I'd be interested to hear what people say about your nonprofits question. My guess would be health policy or administration. I hear a lot about global health these days, but...I dunno, I'd really want to hear what people in the field say about it. I want to say it sounds right up the humanitarian alley, but on the other hand it has a ring to it that sounds a lot like a nebulous kind of neocolonial, "college voluntourism" direction. On the other hand, it may just be the bigger picture of a big picture field. I dunno, I tend to be skeptical of things that resonate with "international policy," but I could just be ignorant.

 

[Emsy]

Wow, thank you! I was talking to a family friend today that has her Mph. She said that it is a good idea to do a PA/MPH program and specialize in either international public health management, public health policy and management, or public health administration. She said the one I chose depends on what I want out of a career. I guess my question is (if you know) which one of the sub specialities are the most humanitarian based? I always though policy making was the most humanitarian and that's why I wanted to work with developing policies because it benefits the greater good of society. I want to do something less politically focused, and more about having a direct impact on the greater good of the community.

There really is no way to divorce politics from health policy making, especially in such a partisan environment in the US.

The way you are speaking it sounds to me that advocacy organizations may be the closest to what you are looking at. Just google Medicare/Medicaid advocacy and you'll see a number of non-profit organizations that you can look at their websites and get a sense of what skills they look for in their open positions. Just as an example, I realize this is probably not your area of interest.

Administration, I would pursue an MHA if that was the goal.

HPM seems the closest, another friend of mine is currently working in Japan with a foundation with a humanitarian slant.

But don't pick international public health management if you have no interest in that or global. You need to figure out yourself what interests you and what you want because before you embark on this, you need to remember there is super competition for these jobs because the job market is not so great currently.

 

[vpm007]

Thanks Emsy, you are right. Public Health is definitely my passion, but I guess where to specialize is the problem. That is why I am take 1-2 years off to figure all of this out and research, research, research. Would you happen to know what kind of national positions there are within the CDC or WHO? I know those kind of jobs are super competitive, but I know that I can do anything I set my mind to achieving. I went on their websites to search for jobs, and I did not get much information, I saw something about contractors? It seems these are only short-term positions. Do you think those positions are within the HPM, PHA, or PHM realm? Thanks again.

 

[Emsy]

Federal positions are listed on usajobs.gov - you can search by agency or type of position. The best search terms to use are "recent graduate", "pathways" and "intern."

I don't know much about WHO, but CDC may have some pathways opportunities, which is basically an easy way to get into the government, it's like having an internship that then becomes a full time position (depends on agency though). I know the CDC has a 2 year fellowship opportunity, I think the deadline already passed so not sure if there will still be information up about it. MPH can apply to that fellowship, it may have more of an epi slant but there may be some policy type work there.

In terms of health policy, the agencies you'll see working on that are Congressional Budget Office (they usually are looking for economists but they run a yearly internship program), Congressional Research Service (CRS), HRSA, GAO, CMS, HHS (job listings are usually for public health advisors, program analysts), you may see something pop up for policy with FDA. I've seen one listing but it's pretty rare.