Public health sets safety standards and policies to promote, as well as protect the health of people in every community where they live, learn, work and play.
What does a public health professional do?
- Unite community health services with underserved and those at risk to assure the conditions in which they live are healthy
- Evaluate potential issues and screen the health status of a community
- Connect people with the appropriate resources to assist with health issues
- Advocates for and implement community health policies, plans and laws
- Explore, analyze, and respond to health problems and hazards in the community
- Develop diverse and trained public health and personal health care workforce
- Works to limit health disparities with robust organizational structure for public health
- Employ judicial measures to safeguard health and safety
- Communicating the ways to stay healthy and giving science-based solutions to problems
- Organize and collaborate with community partnerships to recognize and answer health problems
Fields in Public Health
- Public policymakers
- Environmental scientists
- Life, physical and social science technicians
- Scientists and researchers
- Mental health and substance abuse social workers
- Social and human services
- Social scientists
- Urban and regional planners
- Nutritionists
- Epidemiologists
- Public health caregivers
Public Health Occupations
- Government agencies: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), Food and Drug Administration (FDA) or the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), to name just a few.
- State and local health departments or agencies, such as the Texas Department of State Health Services, the Bexar County Health and Wellness, or the City of San Antonio Metropolitan Health District.
- Nonprofits, such as the American Red Cross, Planned Parenthood or the Allies for Health + Wellbeing
- Health care organizations
- Private sector companies
- Colleges and universities
