Specialist Certificate in Public Health

• Gain essential skills for public health practice, enhancing your professional abilities.
• Strengthen your career path and help address Australia's urgent need for public health professionals.
• Receive full credit towards the Graduate Certificate in Public Health and/or the Master of Public Health.

The Specialist Certificate in Public Health is designed to give you valuable skills that will prepare you for impactful public health practice. It will also significantly boost your existing professional skills in healthcare practice, policy, and management.

It provides current health sector professionals a valuable skills-based qualification that strengthens their career journey. It enables you to effectively respond to public health challenges across various health and social policy contexts.

This program directly addresses a pressing, Australia-wide need for health professionals with strong public health training.

Specialist Certificate in Public Health careers

Public health professionals are vital, as the COVID-19 pandemic clearly showed, in keeping communities safe and healthy. Many of our students and alumni, for example, worked as 'disease detectives' to help the Victorian Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), while our academic experts even helped shape public policy during the pandemic.

You could find a rewarding role in:

• Non-Government Organisations (NGOs): This includes international health agencies (both in Australia and overseas) and local disease-specific agencies, no matter their size.
• Government-affiliated organisations: Such as hospitals, primary healthcare organisations, and large international health organisations.
• Government: At Local, State, and Federal levels.
• Universities and Research Institutions
• Private companies: Often Australian-based, like larger consulting firms, smaller health-focused consulting firms, health communication companies, or even the pharmaceutical industry.

Within these sectors, public health professionals take on a variety of meaningful roles, including:

• Community Health and Wellbeing Officer
• Data Analyst
• Awareness Officer
• Epidemiologist
• Health Promotion, Planning and Evaluation Officer
• Public Health Associate
• Public Health Consultant
• Health Coordinator
• Health Economist
• Project Officer
• Policy Officer
• Ethics Officer
• Monitoring and Evaluation Coordinator
• Capacity Building Officer
• Quality Advisor
• Senior Research Assistant
• And many more, contributing to a healthier society!

Further study

The Specialist Certificate in Public Health provides a clear and seamless pathway to further your education at the University of Melbourne. Upon completion, you will receive full credit into:

The Graduate Certificate in Public Health

The Master of Public Health (MPH) program