MPH: A Career in Healthcare?

Tomorrow afternoon, I have a Zoom meeting scheduled with the Associate Director of Recruitment and Admissions at the University of Minnesota's School of Public Health. I'm excited to meet and talk with him about enrolling in the Master of Public Health (MPH) program, but I'm also nervous.

Pursuing a career in healthcare

For a long time, I have been contemplating going back to school to pursue a master's degree, but I kept putting it off for various reasons. Mainly, I was indecisive about what I wanted to study, and the cost was also a concern. It's a big decision and a lot of work.

Can I handle it? Even though it feels like a million years since I last attended college and used my brain in any academic manner, I think I can. Can I handle living the rest of my life without having a career or doing something I'm passionate about and want to do? I don't think so. Finally, I have come to the realization that now is the time to take action and pursue my goals. However, when I think about going back to school, indecision still swirls around in my mind.

Finding a focus

I want to speak with the admissions director tomorrow to get some help figuring out what my MPH degree program should look like. The School of Public Health offers several MPH programs to choose from, such as Community Health Promotion, Environmental Health, Epidemiology, Maternal and Child Health, Public Health Data Science, Public Health Nutrition, and a few other executive and online programs. What should I choose? And is pursuing an MPH degree what I truly want to go back to school for?

RA led me to this decision

The reason I’ve been procrastinating about returning to school has been that I have been interested in too many things, and I have had trouble finding and narrowing down a focused subject. However, in the past several years, while doing patient advocacy work related to RA, chronic pain, and chronic illness, I have become passionate and excited about participating and working in the healthcare field. I feel like I have a true, deep calling to help other patients, and I would love to do that on a regular basis and as a career.

I have always enjoyed the patient advocacy work I have done, such as blogging, consulting for pharmaceutical companies, participating in patient research, participating in various patient healthcare summits and on patient-focused panels, legislative advocacy, and other things. It has been exciting, enlightening, and meaningful doing this type of work, yet the opportunities have mostly been sporadic—especially during Covid-19.

Hopeful for my future

Managing my RA for 25 years has been my top priority in life, and a full-time job itself, unfortunately unpaid. Would pursuing an MPH degree be a good fit for me? In undergraduate college, I had a terrible time deciding on a major and finally settled on a B.A. in International Relations with minors in English and Studio Art. Healthcare was not on my mind or radar at all.

When I think about pursuing an MPH degree, I wonder if there would be a way to combine or include my passions for international relations, human rights, and public health. Maybe I could focus on global health or environmental health. I'm not sure. I just really hope my Zoom conversation tomorrow goes well and helps me gain a better idea if this is the right fit for me and my future.