Public Health On the Rise

A recent Washington Post article by David Brown highlighted the fact that Public Health classes and majors are on the rise across the nation. Here’s an excerpt:

Courses in epidemiology, public health and global health -- three subjects that were not offered by most colleges a generation ago -- are hot classes on campuses these days.

They are drawing undergraduates to lecture halls in record numbers, prompting a scramble by colleges to hire faculty and import ready-made courses. Schools that have taught the subjects for years have expanded their offerings in response to surging demand.

This is certainly good news for those of us who teach, research, work and learn at the School of Public Health, but why the new interest? What can students gain from studying public health? For that and more, we turn to our Director of Student Services, Blakely Pomietto:

Healthy Turtle: Why do you think more students are interested in studying and majoring in public health?

Blakely Poimetto: Public health issues affect everyone, every day, everywhere. It’s as simple as that. It is impossible for people to miss the inextricable relationships among human behaviors, social conditions, environmental factors, policies and human health. How many stories and articles appear in the news every day about tobacco, obesity, diabetes, asthma, MRSA (methicillan-resistant staphylococcus aureus), heart disease? Countless.

As life expectancy has increased in America, many people don’t even need to look to the news for public health stories: they are watching first-hand as their family members live with – and in many cases suffer from – chronic diseases like diabetes and obesity. These are classic examples of diseases that are rooted in social and behavioral factors, as opposed to an infectious agent, which means the medical model of intervention and treatment alone cannot fix the problem.

And of course, the idea of working in the public health field in some capacity resonates with many people who have an interest in helping others, improving their community, and leaving the world a slightly better place than they found it. If you look around at all the different programs, organizations, and opportunities available to students here at UMD, I’d say we have a lot of people on this campus who embrace those ideals. In considering all of these factors together, it’s not surprising that enrollment in our public health programs is growing.

HT: What careers are public health students moving into after graduation?

BP: Wow, it would be easier to list the careers that public health students can’t get into after graduation! Obviously the opportunities may vary based on the level and concentration of the degree earned, but the possibilities are virtually endless.

We are facing a major public health workforce shortage in this country today. Current projections from the Association for Schools of Public Health indicate that by 2020 the United States will be short more than a quarter million public health workers – 1/3 of the workforce we need to keep the public healthy. TODAY there are documented major shortages of public health nurses, epidemiologists, environmental health workers, and public health laboratorians. Job prospects for students in these areas are tremendous right now.

HT: What can public health courses offer students from other majors?

BP: Public health courses can offer any student, regardless of their background, a different lens and context through which to consider their own health and health-related behaviors/decisions, population-based human health, and the relationship between human health and their chosen discipline-of-study.

The Washington Post article touched on several important factors that make a basic understanding of public health valuable: the ability to apply basic epidemiology concepts to understanding the health stories that appear in the news and how they might relate to the reader; an increase in social and global consciousness among students, where an understanding of basic principles of public health provides greater depth and context for understanding how international issues become global issues.

But there are other—and perhaps in some cases more practical—benefits to developing an understanding of public health, including appreciating how one cares for his/her own health, how essential tax dollars are to supporting essential public health services like water and sewage treatment or the FDA, why there is no simple solution to the health care debate, how the medical model alone cannot reverse the health trends we read about every day…Truly, the list goes on

HT: The Washington Post article also touches on how the study of public health connects with other fields of study. Where do you see public health linking with other disciplines?

BP: No matter a student’s major, there is a facet of public health for him/her to understand and which links to his/her discipline. Interested in business? Health care service delivery is a mega-industry in the United States. Communications? How can we market public health messages—like the importance of being physically active on a regular basis—just as sexily and effectively as the tobacco companies who successfully recruit young, new smokers every day? Emergency Services and Preparedness? How can we develop disaster control and emergency service plans to prevent the types and numbers of mass casualties we experienced when the towers collapsed on September 11? Law? How can you ensure that a new bill or policy is not just public health policy, but is healthy public policy?

Again, the list goes on. I started out above by saying that public health issues affect everyone, every day, everywhere, and it really is true. The more you understand about public health, the more you understand about the world around you.

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Blakely Pomietto directs the activities and programs of the Student Services Center, including recruitment, orientation, career services, advising and student records.