Master of Public Health

• Hone highly sought-after skills applicable in various settings, including government universities, research institutions, and private companies
• Explore diverse career paths, with past graduates securing over 50 different types of roles
• Be empowered to land a job in Australia or overseas.

The Master of Public Health is an internationally recognised degree and the most common pathway for people pursuing a career in public health.  At the University of Melbourne, the course focuses on developing the highly sought-after skills needed in the public health field.

Career outcomes of Master of Public Health (MPH) graduates

The Master of Public Health produces industry-ready graduates who go on to a range of career options. We often find that students come to the degree and discover career options that they had never considered. Local and international students can find work in Australia and overseas, depending on their area of focus. Through our alumni survey, we found that the most common types of organisations our graduates are employed with include:

• Government– local, state and federal (e.g. Department of Health)
• Universities and research institutions (e.g. Murdoch Children's Research Institute)
• Government-affiliated organisations (e.g., hospitals, primary health care organisations such as Melbourne Sexual Health Centre, and large international health organisations like the World Health Organisation)
• Non-government organisations (e.g., international health agencies either based in Australia or overseas and large and small local disease-specific agencies such as the Cancer Council and Diabetes Australia)
• Private companies, usually based in Australia (e.g., large consulting firms like PwC Australia or Deloitte Access Economics, small health-focused consulting firms, health communication companies and companies in the pharmaceutical industry.).

The roles our graduates secure post-graduation are varied. In the same alumni survey, we found that 70 graduates secured over 50 different job titles after graduation.  Learn more about the diverse career paths our alumni have pursued.

Some of the job titles identified by the survey as their post-graduation job include:

• Health promotion, planning and evaluation officer
• Epidemiologist
• Awareness officer
• (Senior) Research assistant
• Project officer/manager/coordinator
• Monitoring and evaluation coordinator
• Health economist
• Evaluation officer
• Community health and wellbeing officer
• Data analyst
• Public health associate
• Health coordinator
• Communications and policy officer
• Capacity building officer
• Ethics officer
• Public health consultant
• Policy officer
• Quality advisor
• Program officer/manager/coordinator.

Hear from Master of Public Health (MPH) alumni

The Master of Public Health has empowered many graduates to pursue careers in various sectors. Below is a quote from Andrew Likaka, who pursued a career at the Malawi Ministry of Health, and a story from Shantanu Sheshgir, who secured a role at Larter Consulting.

Quote from Andrew

I am a health systems strengthening expert. My studies in public health, especially health program evaluation, global health program design, implementation and evaluation, health policy and health systems gave me skills to address the immediate task I was given when I returned to Malawi.

Andrew Likaka, a graduate of the Master of Public Health

Story from Shantanu

Read about how the Master of Public Health has empowered him to advance his career in public health.