why get a master’s degree in public health
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Why Pursue a Master’s in Public Health?

The overall health of our population is integral to creating a safer and more prosperous future for our communities and loved ones. Public health professionals have a chance to make the world a better place. By focusing their careers on improving the health of communities, they impact not only groups of people but individuals as well. The thing is, communities are constantly changing due to technological advancements impacting American’s daily lives, climate change effects, emerging diseases, political and social instability, and much more. Those pursuing a Master’s in Public Health have the opportunity to address these new challenges in society. How can you proactively help maintain the well-being of evolving populations? Here are the top reasons to pursue a Master’s in Public Health.

Discover the essential field of public health

At the beginning of your journey into public health, obtaining an education that touches on the field’s main disciplines can help you decide where you would be most interested in specializing. Goodwin University’s Master’s in Public Health 42-credit curriculum covers topics including:

  • Public Health Policy
  • Social and Behavioral Aspects of Health
  • Emergency Management Health Issues
  • Infectious Diseases
  • Research Methods
  • Biostatistics
  • Global Public Health
  • Principles of Epidemiology

Students learn about acute and chronic illness, health through the lifespan, the links between lifestyle and health, hot-button health issues like obtaining health equity in the system, and the provision of affordable healthcare. Goodwin University’s public health program provides a methodology to help future practitioners tackle top health threats. Authorities like the National Institute of Health are tracking deadly threats such as heart disease and stroke, cancer, opioid addiction, and infectious diseases. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention adds chronic lung disease, Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes, and chronic kidney disease to the list and explains that 6 in 10 American adults have one of these chronic health conditions. With a striking percentage like this, public health problems are unquestionably pervasive in today’s communities. Public health professionals are motivated to seek solutions.

Choose from a diversity of specialties and career options

Public health is a wide-ranging field full of meaningful career paths, whether that’s in epidemiology, policymaking, health administration, or another direction. That’s the beauty of an MPH degree – you can customize your education and career to your interests. A unique feature of the Goodwin University program is the opportunity to choose from three concentrations:

  1. Global Health
  2. Community Health
  3. Health Policy & Management

Each concentration includes nine credits supplied over three topically curated courses that help public health students become specialized practitioners.

Global health students are interested in travel, creating health infrastructure, disease and disaster management and relief, and education. For example, specializing in global health can give you the skills to implement programs and services abroad such as:

  • Supporting women’s health by providing menstrual and sex education, products, and resources.
  • Aiding with food and health care access in the aftermath of a natural disaster, such as an earthquake, tsunami, wildfire, or hurricane.
  • Creating a proposal and plan to bring a water filtration system in a place plagued by water-borne illness, including obtaining funding sources, amassing a team of engineers and scientists, and working with the government.

Community health students enjoy grassroots-level involvement with communities, such as through a local healthcare center, clinic, correctional facility, university, or school. Essentially, this specialization prepares public health workers to meet with people of all backgrounds seeking healthcare interventions, aid, or support. For example, community health practitioners might uncover a pervasive public health problem and brainstorm a plan to tackle it, or work to improve health care or local government policies to benefit those suffering from a health challenge.

Health policy & management students are drawn to research, negotiation, economics, and law. With classes such as, Health Economics and U.S. Policy, Public Health Law, and Public Health Policy as a Prevention Strategy, these public health practitioners become prepared to work behind the scenes of major public health programs, at governing, funding, research, or health communication institutions.

 

Are you interested in pursuing a career in public health? Learn more about Goodwin’s Public Health degree today!

 

Accomplish high-paying public health jobs

Beyond making a difference in people’s lives, an advanced public health degree can lead to a high-paying public health job. This degree opens the door to fulfilling public health career options. Included below are some of the best-paying jobs in the field, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics:

  • Medical and Health Services Managers: $104,830 annually
  • Biostatisticians (Statisticians): $98,920 annually
  • Operations Manager (such as at a non-profit): $98,100 annually
  • Epidemiologists: $85,880 annually
  • Occupational Health and Safety Specialists: $78,570 annually

Benefit from a flexible master’s program

Choosing to pursue an advanced degree is a commitment. However, with Goodwin University’s flexible MPH program, students can complete their education entirely online, and quickly, with accelerated classes. At Goodwin University, students decide whether part-time or full-time makes the best sense for their lives and achieve their master’s degree in as few as 12 to 15 months.

Improve the world

As a public health professional, your work directly contributes to making the world we live in a better place. Earning a Master’s in Public Health qualifies students to become leaders in this field, increasing their positive influence over myriad populations. This degree furthers opportunities to make a meaningful contribution to society. Pursuing a Master’s degree in Public Health is no doubt rewarding, both personally and professionally.

For more information about how you can apply and jump in at any of the six start times for our MPH, get in touch with us at Goodwin University by visiting online or calling 800-889-3282.