Shaping the Future of Public Health: Advice from Two University Public Health Program Directors

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As National Public Health Week comes to an end, we examine the future of public health. To gain insight into public health programs training the future workforce, I interviewed Dr. Ellyn Mulcahy, Director, Master in Public Health Program, and Dr. Christina Bridges Hamilton, Director of the Undergraduate Public Health Degree, at Kansas State University.

Listen to or read their responses below to three questions I posed to each of them.

What does public health mean to you on a personal level and on a professional level?

 

Dr. Ellyn Mulcahy: Personally, I think when I see public health, I see it as a really important part of the system that protects my children. Right now I see it as a system in place that protects the health of my children, but also protects bigger parts of our system like our environment, our water, our air, access to healthy foods, because we have all those systems in place at the structural level. And of course, it could be yes, my children are vaccinated, or yes, my children are taught about substance use at school, or, you know, yes, we live in a community where we have parks and bike lanes. So all of those things I think are really important at the personal level. But I also see it for me personally for women’s health, that public health is really important because we have a lot of structures in place to protect women’s health across the lifespan. Professionally, of course, public health has different implications. When I think of public health right now where I am in my career professionally, I see it as very much aligned with my employment, in terms of what my job is. So fundamentally, when it comes down to it, my job is to make sure that public health students have a good start in their career. So public health to me right now is workforce development, skills, competencies, making sure students can get started in a great career.

Dr. Christina Bridges Hamilton: Personally, I’m at a time of my life where a quality of life is really important and thinking about everything that I do in regards to like, services I have access to as well as regulations that are in place that impact, you know, clean air, clean water. And so, it’s one of those that I’m like, for me, I see public health everywhere that I go and it impacts every single aspect of my life. And personally, it’s more about making sure that those services or policies are in place to facilitate a good quality of life, because it’s not necessarily just about absence of disease, but making sure that we’re living our best life. So professionally, there is, I wear multiple hats, and so one of my hats is making sure that I’m preparing future professionals, and so public health to me professionally is ensuring that we are having an equitable and informed workforce. So making sure that our next wave of public health professionals are prepared, they’re informed for the climate that they’re going into, right, whatever area, whatever aspect it may be. And since the public health bachelor’s degree is a generalist degree, I do lean on my professional expertise in regards to like general health promotion, in that aspect. And so, I also am more of a niche in like the social and community context as well, so I get students to understand how their connections to people are also gonna impact other people’s health. In regards to like my research, I specifically research physical activity, but I was having a conversation with someone and the best way I felt like it was described was I look at the social determinants of physical activity. So, I don’t necessarily study physical activity with the outcome specifically of weight loss or weight management, which is what it’s commonly thought about, but I look at outcomes such as sense of community. I do community-based participatory research so that, we look at how taking that type of an approach can create a more sustained behavior change, specifically around physical activity.

What do you wish everyone understood about public health?

 

Dr. Ellyn Mulcahy: Like many things, we see it in a wave or in a cycle, right? Public health is always there working behind the scenes, if you will. It’s a constant presence in many communities, countries, across the world, but we don’t necessarily notice it or see it until one of two things happen. A major success. Right? Something really big, elimination of a disease, major strides in a particular outcome, or we have something that goes wrong, that is related to public health, or that there’s a problem or a concern. So it’s the highs and the lows, but the majority of the work of public health is in the middle. All the work and all the people that go to work every day all over the world, we work in the middle and it’s population level and it’s prevention, but the public and people who don’t work in public health see the highs and the lows because that’s what’s shared.

Dr. Christina Bridges Hamilton: Especially from the undergraduate perspective and talking to prospective students who don’t maybe know what public health is, I really wish people understood how broad it is and what it all covers. And so I’ve gotten to where, the broadness is not scary, right? So some people think that the fact that public health covers so many things makes it a scary profession or a scary field, and it’s not, right? You just learn where you fit under that broader area, and so essentially, I wish people realized that, you know, public health efforts are all about prolonging life and promoting health, however that may look, right? But a lot of people or students, especially, I liked how you had talked about when we have big successes or big problems, that’s what sticks in people’s mind. And so since we’re still, you know, kind of pretty close, post-pandemic, a lot of people just think about public health as clinical. And so I want people to really understand how interdisciplinary it is and that everybody that’s in their own little area works together.

What advice do you have for public health graduates who are heading into the workforce?

 

Dr. Ellyn Mulcahy: We really have two groups of students in public health at the graduate level, and this is not unique to a Masters of Public Health program. It’s also similar across the country. We have students who are already working in a profession. It may be public health or it may be another profession, and they come back to graduate school for retraining or a new direction or to enhance what they’re currently doing. And that group of students, the workforce, it may not be as daunting or as difficult, because they’ve already been in their career, they are employed or they’re looking for a new job. So that kind of career advising is more nuanced, like how are you going to use an MPH to advance your current career. So that is like one group of students that we have, that’s a separate discussion about career advising. The other group of students that we have are what we say are more traditional students in academia, but in my opinion, they’re not as traditional anymore. Because we have all of these groups, but students who are after their undergrad, they may not have ever had like a regular, you know, regular employment, like 40 hours a week or like one job, they may have worked in college, they may have had several part-time jobs, but maybe they’ve never had a fully professional career yet. That group of students, navigating that first job can be challenging and daunting, and really scary because it’s the first time that they are now going to be responsible for starting their career. In that that first job, can be difficult, first of all, to identify, like, what job do I want? But also what job is there for me right now? So there’s two things. It’s really hard to navigate the distance between what job I really want and what jobs are out there, because it’s based on time, where you are, both physically and where you are in like the time scale, right? And then what are you interested in? So looking for that first job is a balance of all of those things. So when I talked to students about looking for a job, it’s always, of course, good to start as soon as you can, but that’s not always possible either if you’re a full-time student and you’re in your last semester, you’re really busy, doing your project, you’ve got classes, you might be TA-ing or doing research. So there is a point in time where you have to dedicate some time in your week to actually sitting down and going through the nuts and bolts of finding a job. And it’s not glamorous, and it’s not exciting, but it’s really important. And it seems like a very simplistic piece of advice, but figuring out all those parameters, where do I want to be? Do I want to stay where I’m located? Do I want to move? Does it really matter? I don’t mind where I go, right? What type of job am I looking for? Do I want to be in a remote position? Do I want to be working in, with people physically every day? Do I want a blend of those two things? What am I willing to actually do, in terms of outside my skillset? Am I willing to be way outside my skillset? Am I not? Am I, do I really want to stick to what I know, or am I willing to be a little flexible? So that preparation is key, in getting all those things together, in order to be successful in the job market. And like I said, that’s not very exciting. And it’s certainly not, you know, a glamorous description of how to find a job, but it is, you know, a practical sensible approach.

Dr. Christina Bridges Hamilton: I think it’s similar to what Dr. Mulcahy said is definitely the first advice which, Karsen since you and I, I’m mentoring you, you’ve gotten this advice already, is sort out your priorities, right? Very similar to Dr. Mulcahy’s point. Do you want to move? Yes or no? Like that’s probably the biggest thing that you’ve got to decide first, and maybe add on to that. Do you have the ability to move? So, you know, two different questions. So deciding that, and then deciding, from there what looks like it could, would just be fun, or what do you feel like is your niche, right? And so that’s one thing that I encourage students to do is cause, I even catch myself still as a working professional, being like, “Oh, that looks really fun.” But like, really, is that what is my niche and what I want to do, you know? And then, go ahead and submit the application, is my second piece of advice, right? Your answer is always no if you don’t apply, and then you can always change your mind. A submitted application does not mean that you’re telling them you will accept the job. And then something that I personally struggle with, that I’ll share is, don’t feel like you have to do it all by yourself, right? Public health is a very big, we’re huge on interdisciplinary work, so ask the questions. And don’t sit there and spend half a day trying to figure something out, and nobody will think that you’re not doing your job, right? Asking questions, asking who you should go talk to about an issue, is gonna be key, right, whenever you’re first in your first job, cause not only are you doing the work you’ve been trained for, but you’re learning the system that you’re working within, so don’t be afraid to ask questions.

About the Author

Karsen DeWeese
Karsen DeWeese is an intern for the Journal of Public Health Management and Practice. She is finishing her Master of Public Health degree at Kansas State University and will be graduating May 2025, with an emphasis area of physical activity and a graduate certificate in strategic health communication.
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