You are thinking about getting a degree in public health, but don’t want to work in actual service delivery. Can you get a consultant position with a public health degree? The simple answer is yes, but it is important to look at the field of public health to understand that there is a more complex response to the question as well.
Further Reading: 10 Best Online MPH Degree Programs
What is Public Health?
The field of public health deals with interrelated issues like improving access to healthcare, evaluating and mitigating infectious disease risks and working to identify environmental hazards. People in public health even work in areas like substance abuse and domestic violence. Public health workers function at local, state, national and international levels in many arenas, such as:
• Health services administration
• Bio statistics (the use of statistics to study things like epidemiology)
• Epidemiology (or the study of patterns, causes and effects of health and disease conditions)
• Health education and behavioral sciences
• Environmental health
• Nutrition
• International health
• Public health practice and program management
Are Consultant Positions Available in All These Areas?
The list of consultant jobs in public health is diverse. They range from jobs working with healthcare facilities to manage infectious diseases to working with teams to assess the risk of bioterrorism. One position listed in the California government jobs postings is for a Public Health Nutrition Consultant. The duties of this job are to work as an advisor to the state licensing and certification agency to set and evaluate standards for healthcare facilities, to evaluate complex surveys, to interpret laws and regulations to the agency personnel and to assist in taking legal action against non-compliant facilities. Another consultant position, in Washington State, is for a Health Services 2 Budget and Fiscal Advisor. The job description includes making sure the finances are available to support core state public health infectious disease prevention. In addition, there is a listing in the public health job openings for a Senior Public Health Advisor to the National Council on Aging. That person advises a national cabinet member on public relations and on legislation and policies. In these three examples, it’s clear to see the diversity of opportunities is obvious.
What Kind of Degree Do I Need?
There are two types of public health degrees. The first is an academic degree. This type is for people who want to pursue research and teaching. The second designation is a professional degree. These are MPH, DrPH and MHA, and are for those wanting to be practitioners. Most high-level consultant positions require at least a master’s degree, though a few entry level jobs are open to those with bachelor’s degrees. In addition to this, however, you will need to add minors in other areas. In the Budget and Fiscal Advisor position above the preference was for someone with finance experience. Some positions requested a nursing license as well as a public health degree.
Public health consultant jobs are available in many areas. “MPH Online” lists several that are not posted as “consultant” but reading the job descriptions shows they are just that. You should be prepared to supplement your degree with a specialty if you want these plumb opportunities.