With the rise in global health challenges, there has been a growing demand for skilled public health professionals. A Master of Public Health (MPH) degree provides the skills, knowledge, and experience necessary to tackle these challenges and make a significant impact in communities across the globe.
According to analysis of job postings data, there’s going to be a 20 percent growth in job opportunities for MPH graduates from 2022 to 2032. This increase isn’t solely driven by clinical and health administration needs. Companies are seeking public health professionals with interdisciplinary knowledge across a range of sectors including public health technology, health policy, program development and evaluation, and data science to drive positive health changes.
If you are interested in an MPH degree but are unsure if you need this qualification, here’s an overview of this interdisciplinary degree and the diverse career paths that you can follow.
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Is Public Health interdisciplinary?
A Master of Public Health (MPH) degree is inherently interdisciplinary, blending various fields of study and practical applications to address complex health issues.
“By definition it’s an interdisciplinary field because most of the work public health professionals do is interdisciplinary, bridging fields such as nursing, social work, education, medicine, and public policy, among others,” says Neil Maniar, Director of the Master of Public Health program at the Bouvé College of Health Sciences. “You have to bring in a number of different perspectives and areas of expertise to really be able to achieve a large-scale intervention.”
For example, public health teams that addressed the COVID-19 pandemic needed computer scientists, health policy experts, clinicians, and community health representatives. These diverse professionals were essential in developing data-driven models for predicting disease spread, creating effective health policies, and ensuring community-wide healthcare access.
By integrating these various fields, public health professionals can achieve an impact across several disciplines. According to our analysis of recent hiring data, the industries hiring MPH graduates include:
- Medical and surgical hospitals
- Government support
- Health insurance
- Health administrative management
- Pharmaceutical manufacturing
While these companies span a number of industries and disciplines, an MPH degree provides crucial skills that are often transferable across different fields and positions.
“In public health, we often have to take a large problem and really be able to break it down into addressable components,” Maniar says. “Students learn to look at how different factors interact with one another to impact a particular outcome.”
Critical thinking isn’t the only interdisciplinary skill that MPH graduates develop. According to an analysis of degree program data, the most common skills developed in an MPH program are:
- Communication
- Management
- Leadership
- Operations
- Planning
With these marketable and transferable skills, public health professionals can pursue diverse career pathways. Here are the most common career paths for MPH graduates.
6 Diverse Career Paths for MPH Graduates
1. Healthcare Technology
The healthcare technology industry integrates medical sciences with advanced technologies to improve patient care, streamline processes, and enhance the efficiency of the healthcare system.
Healthcare technology encompasses a wide range of innovations, including:
- Electronic health records (EHRs)
- Telemedicine
- Health informatics
With the increasing reliance on these digital tools, the healthcare technology industry is pivotal in transforming how healthcare services are delivered and managed globally. This is why public health professionals can leverage their skills in this growing field.
“We’re continuing to see MPH graduates going into the health technology sector,” Maniar says. “They are working for health tech firms, health tech startups, or even big tech companies that are playing an increasingly larger role in healthcare.”
2. Health Education
Health education is focused on promoting wellness by teaching and encouraging healthy behaviors throughout a community.
Professionals in this field must design, implement, and evaluate educational programs on health topics like:
- Nutrition
- Exercise
- Mental health
- Substance abuse
- Chronic disease management
The goal of health education is to enhance the quality of life and reduce health disparities by fostering environments that support healthy living. Since public health professionals understand social determinants of health, which often creates health disparities in underserved communities, they’re well-prepared to address the barriers that prevent individuals from adopting healthier habits.
3. Clinical Practice
Clinical practice is the frontline of healthcare, where medical professionals diagnose, treat, and manage patients’ health conditions.
Some common clinical job titles include:
- Physicians
- Nurse practitioners
- Physician assistants
While these roles have a medical education, an MPH degree equips professionals with the knowledge and skills necessary to excel in clinical practice.
“It can be an important asset in terms of the work that they’re doing and the work that they hope to do in the future,” Maniar says. “What an MPH degree enables individuals in clinical fields to do is really understand the context within which health occurs and the forces that shape health at an individual, community, and societal level. And that’s really powerful in clinical practice.”
4. Biopharma
The biopharma industry, which includes biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, is dedicated to the research, development, and commercialization of drugs and therapies that improve health outcomes.
This industry is at the forefront of medical innovation. By leveraging cutting-edge science and technology, biopharma companies play a critical role in addressing unmet medical needs and enhancing the quality of life for patients worldwide.
Public health can play a very important role in this goal. For example, clinical trials often need the expertise of public health principles like social determinants of health to effectively interpret data.
“If someone with a public health degree is working to help design clinical trials, one of the things they’ll understand is how disparities and inequities impact the likelihood that someone will enroll for a clinical in a clinical trial or how the results of that trial may have a differential impact on different populations based on these inequities they’re experiencing.”
5. Health Insurance
The health insurance industry plays a critical role in the healthcare ecosystem by providing financial protection and access to medical services for individuals and families.
Health insurance products include:
- Private health insurance plans
- Employer-sponsored plans
- Medicare
- Medicaid
Health insurers work to balance the cost of care with the quality and accessibility of services, negotiating with healthcare providers, managing claims, and designing benefit plans that meet the needs of diverse populations.
For public health professionals, the health insurance industry offers numerous opportunities to apply skills in policy analysis, health economics, and population health management. Their expertise in health disparities is invaluable in designing insurance plans that address the needs of historically vulnerable populations.
6. State and Local Health Departments
State and local health departments are vital components of the public health infrastructure. They’re responsible for protecting and improving the health of communities through a wide range of services and initiatives.
Health departments have several responsibilities, including:
- Overseeing public health programs
- Conducting disease surveillance
- Enforcing health regulations
- Responding to health emergencies
For public health professionals, working in state and local health departments offers a dynamic and impactful career path that can directly influence the health of communities. These professionals are instrumental in designing and implementing public health programs that address pressing health issues.
How to Diversify Your Career in Public Health
If you’re hoping to diversify your skills and make a meaningful impact in public health, there are several opportunities for you to advance your education. According to our analysis of degree program data, there’s been a 24 percent growth in MPH programs from 2019 to 2023.
“I think an MPH degree has become more popular over the last several years because we’re starting to see the value of public health in so many aspects of individual and community well-being,” Maniar says.
Choosing the right program can be challenging. However, earning a Master of Public Health degree from Northeastern University can prepare you to become an innovative and impactful public health leader across many different industries and sectors. The interdisciplinary coursework and experiential learning model provides a strong and enduring foundation of knowledge and skills to address complex public health challenges in nearly every industry.
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