How to Become a Community Health Administrator

Community health administrators, sometimes called public health administrators, are health professionals who specialize in educating the community about important health matters as well as keeping track of overall community health (such as monitoring for disease outbreaks). Community health administrators often design health education programs and thus require a broad base of skills. There is no single path that can lead to a career in community health, but the best way to get there is generally to get a good education and experience in the field.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

1. Get a college degree in a field related to community health. Although not an absolute requirement to work in the field, any type of advancement in the public health industry is likely to require a degree. Good majors include public health, community health, epidemiology or similar fields.

2. Seek internships in community health during the course of your undergraduate study. This should give you something to list on your resume after graduation and provide you with some experience.

3. Find a job working in community health organizations after graduation. You may have to start in a lower-level role, but gaining experience in positions with a maximum amount of responsibility is the best route to ultimately reaching the administrator level. A good choice of a first job is to work as a health inspector.

4. Apply to a Master's degree program to get your MPH (Master's in Public Health). Again, although not an absolute requirement, the MPH is widely recognized in the community health field and will solidify your future application to an administrator position. Another option is to seek a CHES (Community Health Education Specialist) credential (see Resources below).

5. Apply to a community health administrator position, or get promoted into one, after you have a solid education and years of experience working in the field.

Tips & Warnings

• Stay up-to-date with happenings in the industry. Read trade journals and other publications, and whenever possible, get published in these publications.

Resources

• The National Commission For Health Education Credentialing
• Learn About Health Issues

Who Can Help Sponsored

• Earn your degree from industry experts at University of Phoenix. Take the next step in your career.