Public Health
Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science
They who have health, have hope; and they who have hope, have everything.
Unique in the region, this major prepares you to go directly into a public health career or to pursue a Master of Public Health or an advanced health care degree. Public health teaches you to tackle health issues at the community/population level, learning how the environment, media, government policies, and health care delivery systems affect health. This program works well as a double major with programs such as anthropology or business; you can add valuable skills with a minor such as analytics.
Course curriculum: B.A. / B.S. • Student outcomes • Cost of attendance
Highlights
Work in advocacy, policy, health education with the B.A.
Pursue science-focused options such as medicine, biostatistics, or epidemiology with the B.S.
Design your own concentration, such as advocacy & health literacy; bioethics; gender & health; or health entrepreneurship
Small classes and personalized mentoring and career coaching
Career Paths
- Health educator
- Community health worker
- Environmental scientist
- Occupational health and safety specialist
- Physician, nurse practitioner, midwife
- Lawyer for a health care organization, government, or advocacy group
Internships
- Centers for Disease Control
- County and state health departments
- Washington Internship Institute
- American Red Cross disaster relief
- Mary's Place refugee health outreach
- Legislator's offices in Albany or Washington, D.C.
- Foodlink
Graduate School
After graduation, continue your professional advancement at Nazareth and earn a master's degree: Master of Public Health »
99%
of new Nazareth grads are employed or in grad school within six months of graduation
1,631
high-impact experiential learning experiences completed by the undergraduate class of 2024
$4,000
Our SPARK Grant provides up to $4,000 for you to pursue internships, research, and study abroad. SPARK details »
Internship quickly leads to full time public health job
Guidance from faculty and his Nazareth career coach, and great experiences during an immersive public health internship at Trillium Health helped Ian Bankes '24 discover what impact he wants to make.
He said he is well prepared to make a difference in health disparities for marginalized and vulnerable communities — and was quickly hired by Trillium for a full-time job in his field. "I believe that everybody deserves a good quality of life and nobody is ever broken or wrong," he says.
Program Director
Alumni Spotlight
Maria Rodriguez '20
"The support you receive from your professors from day one and the relationships you build with them were very inspiring to me. Every time I shared an idea with Dr. Maher about a project, she never said "no"; she would respond with 'What can we do or who should we contact to make it happen?'
"Two of the most meaningful experiences at and through Naz that prepared me for what I'm doing now were working as an advocate for the Oxfam Hunger Banquet and my summer internship at Cameron Community Ministries. Being able to be part of experiences like these is necessary because they serve as perfect scenarios to apply everything that you have learned during your courses, have that first real-life work experience in your field of interest, and strengthen your professional and personal skills."
Maria went on for a master's in public health education at the University of Puerto Rico, Medical Science Campus; works at IMPACTIVO, LLC as research assistant in collaboration with the Region 2 Public Health Training Center; and teaches Pilates Mat weekly.