The health care workforce in the U.S. looks significantly different from many of its patients.
About 4 percent of doctors are African-American, even though African-Americans make up 13 percent of the population, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges. And while Hispanics were 16.3 percent of the population in 2010, about 5.4 percent were dentists, according to the Hispanic Dental Association. The number of minorities are also low in nursing and other health fields.
But when it comes to the number of minorities in public health, a career that includes jobs for teaching about health care and building healthy communities, minorities are growing strong in numbers.
The percentage of Asian and Pacific Islanders receiving a bachelor’s degree in public health increased from 5 to 12 percent between 2003 and 2012, according to the Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health. There was also a 3 percentage point growth among Hispanics between 2003 and 2012.
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The number of black graduates actually decreased — from 23 percent in 2003 to 18 percent in 2012 — though African-Americans are still more represented in the public health sector than other health care disciplines.
The number of schools offering public health degrees at the undergraduate level has also increased, giving more students an opportunity to select this major. In 1992, 45 institutions awarded undergraduate degrees in public health, but 176 schools gave this degree by 2012, according to the report. By 2013, 270 institutions awarded public health degrees at the graduate level, according to the association.
Minorities may be more interested in studying public health in college because they have a personal connection with it, experts say.
“They recognize that there’s a significant opportunity for them to go back to, for instance, their own communities and really make a difference,” says Jolynn Gardner, director of the public health program at American University in the District of Columbia, which only offers degrees in public health at the undergraduate level. “We’re learning that a lot of public health issues are really secondary to things like socioeconomic status, lack of access to healthy food, other things that maybe, sadly, are disproportionately affecting some minority groups.”
Latino students may find themselves informally working in health care at a young age, and then later decide to study it in college, says Michelle Quinteros, executive director of Hispanic-Serving Health Professions Schools.
“A lot of Latino students have often served as medical interpreters for various family members,” says Quinteros. “So from a very young age they’ve had exposure to health disparities.”
Students who pursue this major have several employment options, experts say, and can do a number of things in college to prepare for the field.
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“Some of them will go into working for state or local health departments,” says Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association.
Other graduates might do more on-the-ground work.
“Many public health professionals are working directly with the community, whether that be through health promotion activities or health education,” Quinteros says.
They may also work in policy development, manage programs, write grants or work in health communications or health marketing, experts say. If students want to expand their job options, though, they may need more than a bachelor’s degree.
“I think that at this point in time a graduate degree to really advance in the field is required,” says Benjamin, who is also a doctor. With a graduate degree, he says, a public health professional can become a more senior-level person in a state or local health department, epidemiologist or statistician.
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To excel as a public health major, and one day an employee, experts encourage students to do well academically and to also make public health a part of their lives outside of class.
Quinteros encourages students to identify a mentor, who can help them plan their career path, apply for graduate school or connect them with professionals in the field. Students should also be involved in student and professional organizations that are related to public health.
These organizations will always know the latest research, developments, best practices and upcoming events, she says.
Experts also encourage students to get hands-on experience before they graduate. They can volunteer or intern at a state or local health department, or with a community based organization, Benjamin says, so they get an idea of what the work is actually about.
“Realize that public health is about people, and it’s about social justice,” he says. “People that do this kind of work are people very focused on improving the health of a community and the well-being of a community.”
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For Minority Undergrads, Public Health Is Becoming a More Popular Major originally appeared on usnews.com
