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Internships, Career Opportunities and Graduate Competencies
The field of public health is extremely broad and encompasses a variety of careers. Upon completion of the program, students are qualified for graduate studies and/or leadership roles in many public and private organizations. These organizations may include hospital outreach programs, community health centers, community-based nonprofit organizations, public and private corporations, foundations, workplaces, schools, colleges and local, state and federal public health agencies.
The demand for public health professionals continues to rise in response to global concerns such as bioterrorism, pandemics, HIV/AIDS and environmental issues. Rising insurance costs and increased awareness of health and wellness have also generated corporate and government support for prevention and education programs in areas such as diet, diabetes and tobacco use. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment of health educators and community health workers is expected to grow by 11% by 2028 — much faster than the average for other occupations.
Internships allow students to apply their knowledge and skills to realworld public health settings. Some recent examples of public health student internships include:
- Working on improving pediatric health care quality at BayCare
- Assisting with corporate wellness at Tampa General Hospital
- Working with One Bay Healthy Communities on health care access and health disparities within the Tampa Bay area
- Assisting the Florida Asthma Coalition with developing programs
Sandy Shwe ’16 interned for the Brunei Ministry of Health as an undergraduate public health major.ÌýFor two months, Shwe worked in a health promotion center where she researched the effectiveness of a collaboration the ministry has with a local gym, which the government felt wasn’t being utilized. Through focus groups, surveys and interviews, Shwe helped identify a better way to encourage fitness within the ministry by offering group classes on-site. She presented her findings to the Minister of Health, which he approved and implemented.
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Sample Job Titles
- Community health coordinator
- Health services administrator
- Corporate wellness director
- Epidemiologist
- Infectious disease specialist
- Biostatistician
- Clinical researcher
- Emergency management specialist
- Environmental specialist
- Health educator
- Research analyst
- Locate public health information
- Evaluate public health information
- Communicate public health information orally
- Communicate public health information in writing
- Communicate public health information to a non-specialist audience through a medium other than standard narrative writing: e.g., social media posts, videos, PSAs, brochures, blogs, podcasts, etc.
- Synthesize public health information: i.e., compile information from multiple sources and distill it into cohesive conclusions
Students who successfully complete this degree program are eligible to sit for the national certification exam to become Certified Health Education Specialists.
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