A degree in public health is an investment in the future. Public health education will open doors to a lifetime of diverse work settings and challenges to improve communities large and small.

Your son or daughter has good reason to be interested in public health. The field touches everyone’s lives and is always in need of well trained professionals. Public health workers ensure you have safe water to drink, safe food to eat, and clean air to breathe. Public health professionals also work to prevent and improve treatment for cancer, tuberculosis, obesity, and countless other diseases and conditions. Some of the many milestones in public health include: vaccinations, motor-vehicle safety, decline in deaths from coronary heart disease and stroke, control of infectious diseases, and healthier mothers and babies.

The scope of public health and influence of its workforce are growing. At the same time, the number of trained professionals needed in the United States and abroad continues to grow. Today is a great time for your son or daughter to get a degree and become prepared to tackle the evolving problems facing the public’s health.

Public health is a diverse field. Its specialists focus on a wide range of topics. The range of degree options reflects this variety. By earning a public health degree, your son or daughter can build upon his or her previous fields of study and add to the field’s diversity. Schools of public health may offer degrees at the undergraduate, graduate, or doctoral levels. More frequently, schools offer distance learning options, joint or dual degrees, and short-term certificates.

• What is Public Health?
• Podcast by CDC Director Dr. Julie Gerberding: highlights how colleges and universities think an understanding of public health is an essential ingredient of preparing students to become good and healthy citizens in the 21st century.

Figure source: U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey, 2003 Annual Social and Economic Supplement.