What is Public Health?

I am pursuing a field that is usually misunderstood by the general public. When someone hears public health, they usually think of health inspectors and the people who report on disease outbreaks. There is so much more to public health though, that I kind of dread people asking me about it. It's not easy to explain, and until I'm done with grad school, I won't have a specific area that I work with.

The following description is taken from http://www.whatispublichealth.org

Public Health is the science and art of protecting and improving the health of communities through education, promotion of healthy lifestyles, and research for injury and disease prevention.

Pubic Health improves the health and well being of people in local communities and across our nation.

Public Health helps people who are less fortunate to achieve a healthier lifestyle.

Public Health works to prevent health problems before they occur.

I will be studying Health Behavior/Health Education at U of M. The program will prepare me to "utilize behavioral science and research methods to analyze public health issues, address health disparities, and develop and evaluate interventions and policies." Some of the areas of focus of this program are:

*health behavior over the life course
*health disparities - race, gender, class
*gender and health
*research methods
*interventions from individuals to communities to nations
*health communication

Graduates have opportunities to work in communities, non-profit organizations, schools, hospitals, government agencies, etc. Some job titles of recent U of M graduates from the HBHE program are:

Outreach and education director
School health educator
Worksite health promotion coordinator
Health media web designer
Patient education coordinator
Health literacy expert
Assistant professor

(U of M's School of Public Health, Health Behavior/Health Education)

I hope this helps shed some light on what is I'll be spending the next two years studying :)