Public Health Careers

Our public health students complete a range of internships in public health, with some resulting in full-time job offers.

“I always thought that work was physically doing something, so in an office setting I thought part of your job was to be productive at all times. As a first generation student the professional realm is something new to me, so it was a good opportunity for me to see that becoming knowledgeable and seeking learning opportunities is also a part of working.”

Leslie Ortega ’24 public health graduate

Here are a few stories from our 2023/24 student internships.

Andrea Martinez

The first picture is of my desk with some of the paperwork I worked with this whole internship. This picture is meaningful to me because CAPS opened me with their arms wide open. CAPS made me feel so much welcomed and special and treated me like part of the team. On top of that, they created a small cubicle for myself to work from when at the office. Even though I came only weekly, they still thought about me and made the space for me. The second picture is me in “action.”  Most of my time at CAPS, I focused on data entry for many of their programs. This picture is meaningful because it represents what I did at CAPS. As you see, I have a stack of paperwork on my right hand side. Those are data I have already entered. The papers that are spread out with the coral sticky notes is data that I was working on towards the end of my internship.

 

Leslie Ortega & Gabe Martinez

Leslie and Gabe created a survey to be taken by people that are pregnant in Elkhart county. The purpose of the survey was to learn more about where pregnant people are learning about how to take care of themselves. The data collected from the surveys will be used to create programs or policies that can be implemented to combat infant mortality and improve maternal health in Elkhart County. Leslie and Gabe distributed the survey at Healthy Beginnings, a clinic that serves people that are pregnant, infants, and young children.

In this picture, Leslie Ortega is reviewing the online survey to see if everything is working as it should. This takes a careful eye as this form is the most accessible version of our survey. Gabe Martinez can be seen reviewing a completed survey to see if there are any initial trends that can be identified. The location of this picture is the primary location of where the Maternal Health Knowledge survey was being administered. Gabe and Leslie made weekly trips from Goshen, IN to Elkhart, IN to administer these surveys in person.

 

Aeryana Smith

This is me while I am at my internship, I was doing research on my capstone project. I am researching whether kindergarten readiness affects the highschool dropout rate. I chose this because I found it interesting and they were on the child dashboard which the Source has access to. Becca and Shin Yee agreed with me that it is a good topic and while doing my research that maybe I could find a solution to decrease the dropout rate among highschool students.

 

This is me and the PCF (partnership for children) group out at Panera. We always have a meeting on Mondays from 10-11am. They are a group of the best people that I know, they really love doing their jobs and they really show it. One of the best things that happened to me during this internship was meeting them and getting to know them. They are the group I went to a retreat with and I really enjoyed it and got to know them.

 

With a degree in public health from Goshen College, you’ll be prepared to work in any number of health settings. Here are just some of the possible career paths for you:

• Epidemiologist
• Disaster and Emergency Specialist
• Natural Science Manager
• Water Quality Planner
• Healthcare Manager
• Public Health Educator
• Environmental Health Scientist
• Biostatistican
• Public Health Practitioner
• Infectious Disease Specialist
• Private Healthcare Consultant
• Nutrition Health Advisor
• Health Policy Associate
• Nutritionist
• Biomedical Scientist
• International Healthcare Worker
• Diversity, Equity, Inclusion Coordinator
• Health Services Administrator
• Occupational Health Specialist
• Clinical Research Coordinator
• Research Assistant
• Non-Profit Coordinator
• Non-Profit Executive Director