Epidemiology vs Health Promotion

[pulse]

Hi Everyone, I was just wondering if I could get some perspective on these streams of public health? I am currently torn between applying for one of these programs next year and just wanted to find out why you may have selected epidemiology/health promotion or neither!

[ravyn]

I am only replying because I around this time last year I was considering a career in public health/epidemiology. I knew a family friend who got her PhD from Johns Hopkins in public health and she was really enthusiastic about it (but it wasn't epidemiology or health promotion ...it was something else, but I have forgotten what it is). Anyway, in the end, I picked neither and decided not to do public health at all. I worked in a molecular epidemiology one summer and I got bored of the molecular work. Then I realized that even if I went into Epi at all, then it would still be boring because it is more about the numbers/statistics than actually understanding/characterizing disorders/health conditions/diseases and stuff.

 

And although health promotion is always a great idea, I'd eventually get bored of thinking/delving into ways to improve the health of any community if I made it my life long career.

[Femtastic]

Those are actually pretty different concentrations, are you more into science/data analysis/math kind of thing? That's Epi. Health promotion is more working with health education programs, outreach, community organizations, etc. I find them to be different so I think you should read up on both.

[pulse]

Thanks for the quick reply! This is where I'm kind of torn :/ Currently I run two health promotional organizations on campus, and extremely enjoy doing outreach where I talk to people and educate them about various health initiatives - I guess I enjoy the project management side of health promotion. I also have been working on a few health research studies throughout my undergrad and have really developed a strong passion for statistics and research. I feel like you can still do research with health promotion and you can still do health promotion with epidemiology, which makes this decision so hard for me! 

[juilletmercredi]

Well, I think that you could probably do community health outreach and health promotion with an epidemiology degree, but it'd be more difficult for you to find jobs as an epidemiologist with a health promotion degree. In other words, the epidemiology concentration is probably more flexible, so I'd go with that. I also disagree that epi is always more about the numbers - I think it depends on the kind of epi that you are doing. There are some social epidemiologists at my alma mater that are focused on characterizing the social determinants of disease and health, and others who do research on the effects of illness and disease on people's health and well-being. They use sophisticated mathematical models to do it, but how much they are focused on the numbers varies by their job and their interests. 

 

You might choose an epidemiology MPH program where you can do a concentration (either a formal one, or one of your own construction) in health promotion, taking some coursework and then taking the exam to become a Certified Health Education Specialist (CHES).

[NaomiSa]

Well you could always do project management. That way you'd be able to be a project manager for a health program/project