Greetings from Tampa, Florida! I am Lindsey, an alumna of the Network. Kelsey asked if I would be willing to blog today and next Tuesday, and I said “Definitely!”. So while she’s off getting married to a guy that I am partly responsible for getting her together with (long story, just ask!), I guess I will try to fill her shoes. A little bit about me: I just completed my Master’s of Public Health degree at the University of South Florida and will be attending the University of Florida’s College of Pharmacy at the distance learning site in St. Petersburg. So it’s 4 more years of education for me before entering the “real world.”

Today I want to talk a little bit about the field of public health. It’s a field that impacts our daily life and yet people know very little about it. In fact, I often get just a blank stare and a hesitant nod when I tell people I have an MPH. Basically, public health is the study of the health of groups of people: communities, ethnic/racial groups, genders, nations, and ultimately, the world. There are 5 basic fields of public health: health policy and management, environmental/occupational health, epidemiology, biostatistics, and community and family health. Everyone who receives a MPH degree must take at least one introductory course in each of the 5 basic fields. The sort of sixth field is global health, which is what my concentration was in during my master’s. (I also had a certificate in clinical epidemiology.)

So what does public health do? Most if not all of you remember at some point getting vaccinated for something at the local health department. That’s one of the most common public health functions that the general public is aware of. But public health is responsible for many other different things as well: motor-vehicle safety, safer workplaces, control of infectious diseases, reduction of deaths from coronary heart disease and stroke, safer and healthier foods, healthier mothers and babies, family planning, fluoridation of drinking water, and recognition of tobacco use as a health hazard. Those are the 10 greatest public health achievements according to the What is Public Health Web site. That’s a pretty diverse list, which shows how broad the public health field is.

In my 5 semesters studying public health, I worked with domestic violence projects, health education projects, infectious disease projects, and pharmaceutical regulatory affairs projects. And all of that was in less than 2 years! My study of public health has taken me to Germany, the Dominican Republic, and to multiple states here at home. It has been an amazing experience for me, and I would recommend it to just about anyone.

Public health fits so well with Christian doctrine. It focuses on eliminating health disparities between groups of people, whether male/female, white/black, American/non-American, etc. It is truly one of those fields that an individual can radically change the lives of others. So for all of you who are justice-minded, I suggest you look into public health topics, even if it’s just finding out more for yourself or so that you can use it somehow in your career.

“Then the king will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’ And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.’ ” –Matthew 25:34-40
(my apologies for not using inclusive language; this is the best I could do while at work!)