Public Health

The first step in beginning your pathway is signing up for the Public Health Newsletter. If you are a First Year student, this is completed during the pathway selection process after subscribing to the general Pathways Newsletter. Second Year students can subscribe directly to Pathways-specific newsletters using the same form. Our team will send an email right to your inbox every other week detailing all Public Health related events happening around grounds. This newsletter will be your primary connection to our curated opportunities. Through these events, you can build connections in the field, gain experience, develop knowledge about key current events, and meet peers, faculty, and alumni interested in public service.

Some exciting examples of past events and guest speakers include:

• Global Partnership Essentials: Travel Health and Safety
  • Join the Center for Global Health Equity to begin learning about effective and culturally appropriate global health work.  
• Alzheimer's Disease: Research, Caregiving, and Community
  • Join UVA experts to hear about the different stages of Alzheimer's Disease, the impact on care partners, and future directions in Alzheimer's research.
• Trailblazing a Path as a Woman in Science, Medicine, and Entrepreneurship
  • Discussion with Dr. Jennifer Elisseeff, professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering, the interim head of the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, the Morton Goldberg Professor of Ophthalmology at the School of Medicine, and the director of the Translational Tissue Engineering Center at Johns Hopkins.
• 2023 CGHE Symposium Keynote Speaker: Dr. Christine Ngaruiya
  • ​​​​​​​Dr. Ngaruiya, Population and Global Health Research Director, Department of Emergency Medicine, Stanford School of Medicine will be presenting, "The three P’s of partnership: the role we play in leading underserved population work".  In her words, "Often, ascribed “leaders” working in underserved communities are not afforded the opportunity, or do not have the impetus, to reflect on their roles. 
• Nursing History Forum
  • ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Doctoral candidate Angela Xia will share findings from her dissertation research on religion, aging, and end of life care in the modern U.S., focusing on the lives of three women of color in the fields of elder and palliative health.

The Public Health Pathway will help prepare you for a wide variety of careers in the medical field. Work environments are diverse and dynamic, including jobs focused on individual and community wellness as well as those practicing as part of the clinical health profession.

Students who graduate this Pathway can expect to pursue careers as or in:

• Medicine
• Physician Associate
• Biostatistician
• Physical Therapy
• Optometry
• Epidemiologist
• Podiatry
• Dentistry
• Mental Health Counselor
• Veterinary Medicine
• Health Education Specialist

• Michelle Ball, Director of Career Communities; Education & Youth Development and Healthcare Communities, UVA Career Center
• Ruth Bernheim, William Hobson Professor and Chair of the Department of Public Health Sciences, Director of the Institute for Practical Ethics and Public Life; School of Medicine
• Chris Holstege, Professor; Emergency Medicine School of Medicine
• Kelsie Kelly, Assistant Professor of Public Health Sciences, Associate Dean of African American Affairs; School of Medicine, Office of African American Affairs
• Mohan Nadkarni, Professor of Medicine, David A. Harrison Distinguished Educator; School of Medicine
• Aaron Pannone, Assistant Professor of Public Health Sciences; School of Medicine
• Jamie Zoellner, Co-Program Lead for the Cancer Prevention and Population Health (CPH) program, Associate Professor of Public Health Sciences; School of Medicine
• Michael D. Williams, Associate Professor of Surgery and Public Policy, Clinician Physician; School of Medicine, Batten