California School of Public Health – CA

By Jennifer Williams, allied health world contributing writer
Published:  February 2nd, 2010

California Public Health Schools

Wouldn’t you love to have one of those careers that suit the benefit of the community? Wouldn’t you love to interact with the public and help to promote a healthier, better quality of life for them? If you answered yes to either of those questions, a job in public health may be the right fit for you.

This is probably one of the most rewarding of all of the careers out there because part of your job entails working to keep the community safe through interaction, research, development, and implementation of new security measures, vaccines, and general health knowledge. This is truly a career that is devoted to helping your peers and expanding their lifespan.

Some areas of public health that you can get involved in include:

• Research and Development
• Public Health Nursing
• Public Health Laboratory Practice
• Nutrition and Dietician Practice
• Health Education
• Health Services Administration and Management
• Maternal Child Health
• Environmental Health

This list is no way completely comprehensive of all of the careers within the realm of public health, but rather it is designed to give you an idea of how you can work to help keep the community safe and healthy.

Public Health Education and Degrees

To work in public health in California, you will need to at least have the educational equivalent of a bachelor’s degree. Regardless of which field in public health you study, you will still need to learn about some of the overlapping areas of public health as they pertain to your particular job. For that reason, a bachelor’s degree, which takes around 3 to 4 years to complete, is sufficient for entrance into this field.

A master’s degree is not essential initially; however, it will become essential if you are considering career advancement. Many of the more in-depth areas of public health, such as research and development, will require you to have a higher degree earned online or through California public health schools. Before you choose your degree option, you should at least try to consider where you want this career to take you. That should help you decided if you want to reach for a master’s degree.

In addition, a lot of schools teaching public health programs are now available online. This opens up a wide variety of out-of-state schools, different approaches to education, and, of course, the ability to attend school in a most convenient manner. Wherever you decide to go to school, you will always want to make sure that it is recognized by the CEPH.

References:

www.indeed.com
The Council on Education for Public Health, www.ceph.org
The National Board of Public Health Examiners, www.nbphe.org
California Department of Public Health, www.cdph.ca.gov