Careers in Public Health

The Mailman School curriculum prepares students for a variety of career opportunities in the field of public health. Graduates pursue careers at health agencies, academic and research institutions, and nonprofit organizations, as well as with consulting firms, pharmaceutical, and other for-profit companies.

In addition to being well prepared to enter the public health workforce, Mailman School graduates are also positioned for acceptance into other graduate and professional schools. Each year, some graduates defer employment to pursue additional advanced degrees in public health, medicine, social and behavioral sciences, business, and law with the goal of a future career that is informed by a public health perspective.

Domestic Careers

Mailman School graduates are prepared to assume a wide array of professional positions. Below is a small sampling of post-graduate career options.

A Biostatistics graduate might pursue opportunities as a data analyst at NYU or Columbia University Medical Centers or the New York State Psychiatric Institute, a statistician with one of the many biotech firms in the Cambridge/Boston area, or a research biostatistician/statistical programmer in the pharmaceutical industry, an alytics consulting firm, or with a governmental agency or nonprofit organization. Some might become data scientists with health technology firms.
An Environmental Health Sciences alumna might accept a position as an analyst with the Environmental Protection Agency in Washington, DC, or New York City, a research scientist with the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, a scientific/regulatory consultant with a New Jersey-based scientific consulting or Virginia-based environmental consulting firm, a researcher with Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City or Howard Hughes Medical Institute in Boston, MA, or a climate health policy analyst at an environmental advocacy nonprofit organization.
An Epidemiology alumnus might follow their dream of a career in surveillance with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta or the San Francisco Department of Public Health, a career in research with Pfizer or Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, or a post-graduate fellowship with the National Institutes of Health in Maryland, the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists at various locations in the United States, or the Kaiser Family Foundation in Menlo Park, CA.
A Health Policy and Management graduate might pursue opportunities in health care administration with the Northwell Health System in Long Island, NY, the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN, or Kaiser Permanente in California, health policy/public health analysis with a state agency in Hartford, CT, the Department of Health Care Finance in Washington, DC, or the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in Maryland, or health care consulting with a New York City or Boston-based consulting firm.
A Population and Family Health graduate might be recruited for a position as a program coordinator with the Population Council in New York City, accept a position as a monitoring, evaluation, and research associate with the International Rescue Committee, pursue an opportunity as a Presidential Management Fellow with the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, MD, or the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in Washington, DC, or become an HIV specialist/trainer with UNAIDS in New York City.
A Sociomedical Sciences alumnus might accept an opportunity as a research project manager or research analyst at the New York State Psychiatric Institute or the National Center for Children in Poverty in New York City, a project coordinator in the monitoring, evaluation, and research unit of a nonprofit in California, be recruited as a health and welfare associate at a New York City metropolitan area consulting firm, or develop policy at a municipal Department of Aging or the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health in New York City.

For additional department-specific career paths, click on the departmental links above. For a partial list of employers who recruit at the Mailman School, visit this page. For highly detailed reports on careers our graduates have pursued, visit our Courseworks page.

Global Careers

Our graduates can be found working in virtually all areas of the world. Some graduate global health opportunities accepted by past Mailman School graduates include:

AIDS Walk Los Angeles/AIDS Project Los Angeles, Capacity Building Advisor
Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, Global Surveillance Fellow
Child Protection in Crisis Learning Network, Program Manager
Clinton Health Access Initiative, Research Associate
Columbia University--AMDD (Averting Maternal Death and Disability) , Research Assistant
FHI 360, Research Associate I
Global Health Corps, Monitoring, Evaluation, and Research Officer
Global Healthy Living Foundation, Data Scientist
Ibis Reproductive Health, Research Assistant
ICAP at Columbia University, Research Project Coordinator
ICAP, Program Assistant
J.C. Flowers Foundation, Program Officer
Medecins Sans Frontieres, Epidemiology Deputy Project Coordinator - Advocacy & COVID Response at Médecins Sans FrontièresIntern
Natural Resources Defense Council, Environmental Fellow
NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, Project Coordinator, National HIV Behavioral Surveillance
Office of the U.N. Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Health in Agenda 2030 and for Malaria, Research Assistant
Pan American Health Organization, Consultant: Data Analyst
Pfizer, Inc., Study Coordinator
Rabin Martin, Junior Associate, Global Health Consulting
Robin Hood Foundation, Program Officer, Health
Sabin Vaccine Institute, Senior Associate - Vaccine Access and Uptake
Trek Medics International, Director of Operations
US Department of State, Office of the Global AIDS Coordinator, Program Support Officer, Strategic Information Liaison for Cote d'Ivoire
USAID, Global Health Fellows Program--Key Populations Intern
USAID, USAID Foreign Service Officer (Health Backstop)