PUBLIC HEALTH at Purdue University

The Public Health major prepares students to plan, implement, and evaluate public health programs for individuals, groups, and populations in a variety of settings that include worksites, hospitals, schools, and communities. As healthcare costs continue to rise in the United States, training a highly skilled public health workforce is becoming a much greater priority.

Courses in this major introduce students to the five core public health competency areas (Behavioral Social Sciences, Biostatistics, Environmental Health, Epidemiology, and Health Policy and Management). An internship at a worksite or in a clinical, community, or government public health setting is part of the curriculum.

The goal of the program is to prepare students for entry-level positions in a variety of public health areas. Some students choose to pursue graduate or professional education. Students with the goal of earning a Master of Public Health (MPH) degree now have the opportunity to pursue an accelerated 5-year program through the College of Health and Human Sciences; the accelerated option can potentially eliminate one year of tuition costs and allow an additional year in the workforce.

In addition to entering the workforce and pursuing Public Health, students pursue graduate/professional school in other areas such as nursing, occupational therapy (OT), physical therapy (PT), physician assistant (PA) and medicine. Graduates of the undergraduate program are eligible to sit for the ACSM/NPAS Physical Activity in Public Health Specialist (PAPHS) Exam and the NCHEC Certified Health Education Specialist (CHES) Exam.