Public Health professionals can follow their passion choosing distinctive career pathways, addressing bio-medical, research, and social determinants of population health and equity, Indigenous health, economic factors, and global approaches to health issues, such as obesity and heart disease.
As a public health professional, you will perform essential services that protect our communities. You might monitor the health status of a community to identify potential problems, diagnose and investigate health problems and hazards in the community or inform, educate, and empower people about health issues, particularly the underserved and those at risk.
You may develop policies and plans that support individual and community health efforts, enforce laws and regulations that protect health and ensure safety or link people to needed personal health services and ensure the provision of health care when otherwise unavailable.
Employment growth
Australian Jobs 2018
Graduates are expected to progress into employment in public health policy, management and practice that includes the following potential occupations:
Professionally accredited programs with globally recognised qualifications that increase your job opportunities worldwide.
Our Masters of Public Health degrees meet the Australasian Faculty of Public Health Medicine (AFPHM) and aligns with the Council of Academic Public Health Institutions Australia (CAPHIA)
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In my studies at Flinders, one of the most fundamental skills that I learnt was critical thinking. The academic staff encouraged us to analyse scenarios in different perspectives and from a range of viewpoints. I learnt to think more broadly and apply outcomes from previous cases with practical knowledge and considered theory: this is already a significant attribute for me professionally, and an asset for my employers.”
Professor Nicola Spurrier, Chief Public Health Officer, SA Health delivered the October 2020 Chalmers Oration on the topic “Leadership in a time of crisis and key learnings for a post-COVID world.”
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The Southgate Institute for Health, Society and Equity leads high quality scholarship on the social and economic determinants of health and health equity.
In 2020 the Southgate Institute was designated as the World Health Organization Collaborating Centre on Social, Political and Commercial Determinants of Health Equity.
Our incredible teaching and research staff are experts in their professions and well-connected to industry.
Professor and Head of Public Health: Professor Paul Ward
Paul is a social scientist with a background in medical sociology, geography and health services research. Paul’s main research interests are around socio-spatial inequalities and inequities in health, medicine usage and the provision of health and social care. Paul also has a particular interest in research around lay and professional perceptions, knowledge and understandings of health, healthcare, medicines, risk and trust.
Matthew Flinders Distinguished Professor: Professor Fran Baum
Fran is a Matthew Flinders Distinguished Professor of Public Health and Director of the Southgate Institute of Health, Society and Equity at Flinders University. She was named in the Queen’s Birthday 2016 Honours List as an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) for “distinguished service to higher education as an academic and public health researcher, as an advocate for improved access to community health care, and to professional organisations”. Professor Baum is a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia, and one of Australia's leading researchers on the social and economic determinants of health. In 2008 she was awarded a prestigious Australian Research Council Federation Fellowship focusing on development of effective government and community responses to social determinants of health inequity and social exclusion. She holds several other national competitive grants investigating aspects of health inequity, and has an extensive teaching career in public health.
Associate Professor in Health Economics: Associate Professor Hossein Afzali
I have a background in medicine (MD) and obtained my PhD in health economics from the University of Adelaide. My main area of expertise relates to the economic evaluation of new health technologies with a focus on the application of decision analytic models aiming to improve models of clinical care in the primary care setting and the decision-making process around the public funding of health care interventions. In terms of applied economic evaluations, my major research activity is the design, conduct and analysis of economic evaluations alongside observational studies and clinical trials. This also includes the application of decision analytic models to extrapolate the findings beyond the observed data in order to estimate lifetime costs and outcome of new health technologies. The main focus of my methodological research is on the improvements in the decision-making process with a view to better inform public funding decisions. Examples include the development of diseases-specific models, model structuring (including structural uncertainty) and the estimate of the cost-effectiveness threshold in Australia.
Public Health is defined as “the art and science of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts of society” (Acheson, 1988; WHO). This public health definition is incorporated into all aspects of our degree offerings. Our courses are multidisciplinary, have a lens on the social determinants of health, and focus on research training.
Public Health professionals:
In Australia, public health jobs pay an annual salary of ~$80,000 (source: payscale.com)
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