Will my new job give me the work experience for an MPH Program?

[misssydneyj]

I am interested in applying to San Jose State's MPH Distance Learning Program for Community Health Education in the next year or two. I am a recent graduate of UC Davis (June 2010), with a BS in Psychobiology and a minor in African/African-American Studies. I will be starting a job as a Staff Services Analyst with California Prison Health Care Services next week, and I would like to know if this job will give me the work experience to apply for the MPH Program.

In a nutshell, I'll be an auditor for CA Prison Health Care Services, and I will: analyze action plans, facilitate meetings with program managers to prepare action plans, ensure that action plans are compliant with the mission of the department, review external audit reports, and analyze confidential cases against the department.

Does this sound like it would count as public health work experience?

[NMRN]

It seems like you could certainly spin it that way. You will be doing planning and auditing for the community (rather than individuals), right? Also the flow between prison and "the outside" due to high arrest rates and recidivism means that prison healthcare impacts the health of the wider, non-incarcerated community. That prisons are underserved and under-researched healthcare-wise settings is also a selling point.

On a side note, this would be a very exciting (wrong word?) time to be in the California state prisons what with the Supreme Court ruling and the drug war related over crowding. Congratulations on the job.