Deciding on a Field of Study

Are you trying to determine where you fit within public health? The following tables arrange some of the questions you may ask yourself as you think about a path in public health. They are grouped by what issues interest you, what tasks interest you, and what skills interest you. These suggestions are neither exhaustive nor absolute.

What Issues Do You Want to Study?

Issues School of Public Health Department
  • Access to health care for underserved populations
  • Social determinants of health
  • Rural health care
  • Child, adolescent, and family health
  • Global health
  • Health behaviors such as alcohol/tobacco/drug use, physical activity, nutrition, eating disorders, and obesity
  • LGBT health and wellness
  • Health disparities and health equity
  • Healthy aging
  • Emergency preparedness
  • Computational modeling, systems theory
  • Chronic disease prevention
  • Community-based participatory research
  • Evaluation of public health promotion and health education programs
Behavioral & Community Health Sciences
  • Computational modeling, systems theory
  • Occupational health issues
  • Preparedness for disasters, bioterrorism, or disease outbreaks
Biostatistics
  • Air pollution, water pollution, exposure to hazardous materials
  • Interaction between genes, behaviors, and the environment
  • Global health
  • Preparedness for disasters, bioterrorism, or disease outbreaks
  • Chronic diseases
  • Enhancing disease prevention and health promotion
  • Occupational health issues
  • Food safety
  • Environmental health risk assessment
Environmental & Occupational Health
  • Air and water pollution, exposure to hazardous materials
  • Infectious and chronic disease surveillance and control
  • Successful aging and longevity
  • Child, adolescent, and family health / childhood autism
  • Global health
  • Women’s health
  • Health-related behaviors such as alcohol/tobacco/drug use, nutrition, eating disorders, and obesity
  • Physical activity and lifestyle interventions
  • Cardiovascular health and diabetes
  • Psychiatric disorders
  • Design and conduct of clinical trials
  • Impact of genetics in aging, cancer, and reproduction
  • Neuroepidemiology / therapies in central nervous system disorders
  • Cancer prevention
  • Prevention and treatment of injury
  • Intersection of public health and medicine (joint MD/PhD)
Epidemiology
  • Prescription drug use among Medicare D and VA patients
  • Women’s health and Medicaid policy
  • Health care reform and the Affordable Care Act
  • Outcomes of investment of information technology in underdeveloped economies
  • Physician adoption of antipsychotic drugs
  • Quality management and measurement in long-term care settings
  • Applying policy analysis and econometrics to evaluate health policies
  • Variation in medical adherence in coronary care
  • Social network analysis applied to public health law
  • Global health and comparative health systems
  • Decision science applied to clinical decision making
Health Policy & Management
  • Interaction between genes, behaviors, and the environment
  • Global health
  • Healthy aging
  • Health behaviors such as alcohol/tobacco/drug use, physical activity, nutrition, eating disorders, and obesity
  • Helping people understand and cope with genetic conditions
  • Computational modeling, systems theory
  • Chronic diseases
  • Enhancing disease prevention and health promotion programs
  • Intersection of public health and medicine (joint MD/PhD)
Human Genetics
  • Access to health care for underserved populations; social and class disparities in health
  • Rural health care
  • Global health
  • Health behaviors such as alcohol/tobacco/drug use, physical activity, nutrition, eating disorders, and obesity
  • Preparedness for disasters, bioterrorism, or disease outbreaks
  • Outbreaks of infectious diseases
  • Food safety
Infectious Diseases & Microbiology

What Tasks Interest You?

Tasks School of Public Health Departments
Political action (local/state/federal governments, lobbying)
Evaluate health promotion and disease prevention programs
Leadership in community groups (non-profit agencies or
health departments)
Develop health promotion and disease prevention programs
Apply quantitative skills or programming to an area of
public health

What Skills Do You Want to Acquire?

Skills School of Public Health Departments
Cost-benefit and cost effectiveness analyses
Geographic Information Systems
Management of clinical trials
Management of laboratories