In most health professions, the patient is an individual. In public health, the patient is the entire community.
On Oct. 7, Christina Ross, program manager for The University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) School of Public and Population Health, and I, a first-year Master of Public Health student, visited Ball High School in Galveston to speak at its Health Science Career Exposition.
The exposition gave Ball High students a look at the many health careers open to them, with speakers from across the health professions sharing their career paths and experience.
“Public health is the water you drink, the air you breathe, the food you eat. Everything around you is public health,” Ross said as she opened our presentation. I followed with what I call a “three-pronged approach” to public health — improving community wellness, preventing poor health outcomes before they happen, and mitigating and controlling health threats when they occur. I introduced students to careers such as program management, policymaking, health inspection, and water quality testing. Because I am concentrating in epidemiology, I also described the career path and day-to-day work of epidemiologists, walking students through how an investigation unfolds and the visible difference it makes in a community.
We also emphasized that people from all educational and career paths can find a place in public health. Ross herself joined the School of Public and Population Health after a long career in criminal justice. I shared that during my time at the Texas Department of State Health Services, I worked alongside colleagues with a wide range of educational backgrounds. I closed by telling students that if they can find a way to apply their passion and education to public health, the field has a place for them.
Ross also described other health career pathways at UTMB, including degree programs in the John Sealy School of Medicine, School of Nursing, and School of Health Professions, as well as UTMB’s Certified Nurse Assistant (CNA) Training Apprenticeship program.
The exposition was a chance to connect with Galveston’s future health care professionals and introduce them to the world of public health. It was also a homecoming for both of us. As proud Ball High alumnae — Ross from the Class of 1992 and I from the Class of 2023 — we were thrilled to return to our alma mater together to inspire the next generation of Tors.
Pictured in the featured photo, Christina Ross (left), Ball High Career and Technology Education teacher Jamika Wilson-Harris (center), and Anastasia Kuzmina (right) in front of the Ball High School mascot.
