Public Health Studies Major
Back to Majors, Minors & Academic Programs
About the Major
The public health studies major prepares students with the knowledge and skills to address the public health challenges of the 21st century. Students examine health and illness as complex biological, behavioral, social, political and economic phenomena and learn how to use population health data to inform interventions.
Jobs in Public Health Studies
- Community health worker
- Health policy analyst
- Epidemiologist
- Health statistician
- Clinical health professional
Past Elon Public Health Studies Internships
- Sustainable Economic Enterprises of Los Angeles
- Wake Forest School of Medicine
- Alamance County Health Department
- National Disability Rights Network
- Open Door Clinic Alamance County
Related Majors
Public health field helps grad spread the love and empathy her brothers needed
For Kiara Hunter, public health is the perfect vehicle to accomplish her mission of infusing society with love and focusing on solutions and empathy while tearing down hate and exclusion.
“In high school, I would not stop talking to my mom about politics and social justice,” she said. “Coming to college, I wanted a major that allows me to focus on all the things I care about and how it affects the social, physical and mental health of individuals.”
Hunter found that in Elon University’s public health studies department. The 2023 Elon grad also majored in statistics with minors in poverty and social justice and leadership studies and in 2021 earned the Lumen Prize, Elon’s premier undergraduate research award.
“Everything I do, all the things I try to involve myself in are driven by health equity,” she said in 2023, shortly before graduating. “It’s what my research centers on; it’s what I care about most.”
For her Lumen project, Hunter used community-based participatory research approaches to study the experiences and needs of Black teen fathers. As part of her research, she established a community advisory board that included professors, researchers, nonprofit leaders and adolescent fathers, and she facilitated the board’s meetings.
Coming to college, I wanted a major that allows me to focus on all the things I care about and how it affects the social, physical and mental health of individuals.
Her passion for racial justice and equity also led her to be an active participant in the Health Equity and Racism (H.E.R.) Lab, an Elon initiative launched in 2021 that seeks to analyze the roles of race and racism in contributing to health inequities.
Hunter’s personal experience was a major catalyst for this passion. Her parents separated when she was young, and her living situation instantly changed. “Suddenly I was in government housing and using food stamps,” she said. Her brothers had encounters with the criminal justice system and faced even greater challenges.
For her own sake and that of her brothers, Hunter decided to become a change agent. She approaches public health through an anti-racist lens and cares about varied societal issues such as mass incarceration, food insecurity, water sanitation, physical health and immigration. She studies why these things happen so frequently in her communities. She also hopes to enact change by adding love to the equation.
“How do I instill love into public health and show that love and compassion are missing from people’s lives?” she said. “I’m driven by the possibility to show love that I wish my brothers were shown growing up.”
Hunter believes this love is not limited to family relationships but extends to the entire community. She wonders if her older brother’s choices would have been affected had he received love while in school or walking in the neighborhood.
“Love is caring about the people in your community enough that you want better for them,” she said. “Maybe if the community loved my brother more, maybe some of the barriers he had to overcome wouldn’t have existed.”
At Elon, Hunter worked to spread the love she wanted her brothers to receive. She was involved in student government before focusing on her undergraduate research, and later worked in the offices of Disability Resources and Residence Life. As a resident assistant and apartment manager, Hunter supported students, particularly students of color who may have felt excluded.
After graduation, Hunter continued with health equity research, pursuing a master’s degree in population health at University College London. Her long-term career goal is to work as a senior public health analyst, bringing together evidence and action to address racism as a risk factor for negative health outcomes.
“I want to make the world more equitable for other people’s brothers and sisters,” she said.
Did You Know?
- Students receive a strong grounding in the discipline of public health with core courses, plus the choice between two interdisciplinary focal areas: socio-cultural context of health or mathematical and biological aspects of health and illness. The inclusion of interdisciplinary coursework gives many students enough flexibility to double major in a complementary discipline.
- Students have multiple opportunities to get real-world public health experience, including through the practicum, which gives students three weeks of full-time experience in a public health organization during winter or summer term.
- Public Health Scholars is a selective merit-based program for academically strong students who have a passion and demonstrated interest in addressing health equity and becoming leaders in their future public health-related disciplines. Selected students spend four years working closely with faculty mentors and partnering with community collaborators to promote the health of the surrounding area.