Discipline-specific Definitions*
Biostatistics
Biostatistics is the development and application of statistical reasoning and methods in addressing, analyzing and solving problems in public health; health care; and biomedical, clinical and population-based research.
Environmental Health Sciences
Environmental health sciences represent the study of environmental factors including biological, physical and chemical factors that affect the health of a community.
Epidemiology
Epidemiology is the study of patterns of disease and injury in human populations and the application of this study to the control of health problems.
Health Policy and Management
Health policy and management is a multidisciplinary field of inquiry and practice concerned with the delivery, quality and costs of health care for individuals and populations. This definition assumes both a managerial and a policy concern with the structure, process and outcomes of health services including the costs, financing, organization, outcomes and accessibility of care.
Social and Behavioral Science
The behavioral and social sciences in public health address the behavioral, social and cultural factors related to individual and population health and health disparities over the life course. Research and practice in this area contributes to the development, administration and evaluation of programs and policies in public health and health services to promote and sustain healthy environments and healthy lives for individuals and populations.
Interdisciplinary/Cross-cutting Definitions*
Communication and Informatics
The ability to collect, manage and organize data to produce information and meaning that is exchanged by use of signs and symbols; to gather, process, and present information to different audiences in-person, through information technologies, or through media channels, and to strategically design the information and knowledge exchange process to achieve specific objectives.
Diversity and Culture
The ability to interact with both diverse individuals and communities to produce or impact an intended public health outcome.
Leadership
The ability to create and communicate a shared vision for a changing future; champion solutions to organizational and community challenges; and energize commitment to goals.
Public Health Biology
Public health biology is the biological and molecular context of public health. A roster of sub-competencies for Public Health Biology can be found here.
Professionalism
The ability to demonstrate ethical choices, values and professional practices implicit in public health decisions; consider the effect of choices on community stewardship, equity, social justice and accountability; and to commit to personal and institutional development.
Program Planning
The ability to plan for the design, development, implementation, and evaluation of strategies to improve individual and community health.
Systems Thinking
The ability to recognize system level properties that result from dynamic interactions among human and social systems and how they affect the relationships among individuals, groups, organizations, communities, and environments.
*Definitions are provided to define the context by which the workgroups' competency modeling development activities took place and are not intended to describe the entire field of the particular discipline's scholarship and practice.
