A public health major is a perfect fit for service-oriented students who like to ask the bigger questions about health, understand why health differs across populations, and address health disparities and social justice on a community level in diverse local, national and global settings. Public health is a natural fit with the Jesuit mission as a service-oriented field.
Public health professionals address challenging health-related issues in today's world, such as: How can social media be used to track disease outbreaks? How do we address the growing burden of cancer in low/middle-income countries? What policies and interventions are most effective for addressing the opioid crisis? How do we ensure safe drinking water in communities across the globe?
Saint Louis University's B.S. in Public Health is offered through the College for Public Health and Social Justice and is accredited by the Council on Education for Public Health.
Additional program highlights include:
- Immediate impact. Public health students at Saint Louis University can immediately impact community health with a curriculum that emphasizes hands-on learning, field exposure and social justice.
- Evidenced-based. As public health majors, SLU students use evidence-based approaches to addressing health issues and examine the roles of individual behavior, environment, biology, social structures and policy in determining health outcomes.
- Diverse opportunities. SLU's public health major opens the door to multiple career opportunities in various settings, including community organizations, hospitals, pharmaceutical companies, government agencies and nonprofit organizations.
- Employment outlook. Public health has faster-than-average job growth in a diverse workplace.
- Pre-medical studies. Pre-med students who major in public health at SLU gain a more robust understanding of how social, community, organizational, environmental and policy factors affect the health of their future patients.
- Medallion Program. Designed for first-year students in all CPHSJ majors, this program connects first-year students with each other, their major, and the College through social, academic enhancement, and professional development events, as well as faculty mentoring.
Additional degree options for students majoring in public health at SLU include:
- SLU's accelerated program in which students earn a B.S. in Public Health in four years and a Master of Public Health (M.P.H.) with one additional year of study; students apply to this program during their fifth semester of study
- A pre-med track for students interested in going to medical school
- A medical scholars track for students in the Medical Scholars Program
- Honors courses for students in SLU's Honors Program