Working in Public Health: An Introduction to Careers in Public Health

What can you contribute to improving and protecting the health of your community? Public health is becoming an increasingly central area of healthcare practice and people working in public health come from a wide range of disciplines and backgrounds.

This practical and accessible book maps out the range of exciting and varied options open to people considering a career in public health, and provides helpful information on how to get there, either as a fully-fledged specialist or in an operational practitioner role. Designed especially for those wanting to learn about public heath, it looks at public health work in a range of settings, from health services to the commercial sector, and in a range of different roles, from health protection to public health intelligence.

Numerous personal accounts and case studies from highly experienced practitioners and specialists, as well as those new to their roles, illustrate what their roles involve and how have they had an impact on improving health and reducing inequality. This is the ideal book for anyone interested in putting public health at the centre of their working lives.

Fiona Sim is a Research Fellow at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and a visiting chair at the University of Bedfordshire, UK. She is a former Head of Public Health Development at the Department of Health, where she was responsible for the national development of the public health workforce.

Jenny Wright is executive director of Solutions for Public Health, the largest NHS public health agency in the UK. She has been involved with the development of the public health competence framework and led the project developing and running the UK-wide public health careers website, Phorcast.