Virginia School of Public Health – VA

By Kathy Foust, allied health world contributing writer
Published:  January 29th, 2010

Public Health Education in Virginia

As with any other state, Vermont has a growing need for people in the public health industry. With health concerns becoming more and more focused, advances in technology and the advances in travel that allow transmission of otherwise hard to find diseases, knowledgeable people in this industry are simply invaluable. Virginia has the ability to offer a higher than average yearly salary for this field, with the numbers sitting at about $66,000 a year. It’s impossible to give a definitive salary for this field since there are so many different professions and levels to those professions. Each has its own salary and requirements to be met.

The first step in the education of someone working in public health is to define what area they wish to work in. once the individual knows what area of public health they wish to serve, they need to focus their education on that area. To do this, interested individuals should first contact the Virginia Department of Professional and occupational Regulation to see what the requirements for the field are.

Once the educational requirements are determined, the next step is to find online programs or campus based Virginia public health schools accredited by the proper agency. Programs that are not accredited by the proper agency may not be recognized when it comes to the licensing portion of the profession. If the program is accredited by the proper agency, then the student should enroll and plan to go to the master level in order to maximize their potential in the area. Most licenses in the public health area require a master level degree along with some sort of internship or clinical practicum.

Resources: Indeed.com, Bureau of Labor and Statistics, Virginia Department of Health and the Virginia Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation