For Melanie Heath, staying healthy is all about prevention. Watching her best friend’s dad suffer a nearly fatal heart attack when she was a senior undergraduate student reinforced her desire to work in public health and prevent these incidences from happening to others.

But that desire didn’t truly ignite until she began attending the University of Iowa.

“It wasn’t until I started taking classes and learning about the different health programs at Iowa that I discovered I was much more interested in preventing illness and disease in others instead of trying to help them get better after they’re already sick,” she says.

Heath, a recent Master of Public Health (MPH) graduate in community and behavioral health, knew she wanted to continue her education after completing her undergraduate degree in health and human physiology (health promotion) at the UI in 2013. She found that public health was the best fit.

“It was broad enough to further complement my education and skills, but also allowed me to gain further knowledge, experience, and skills that would make me a better professional,” she says.

Valuable Work Experience

Aside from taking classes, Heath has already gained valuable work experience.

For the last three years, Heath held a student position with UI Wellness, the employee health promotion program for the University of Iowa. She promoted UI Wellness programs and services to employees, scheduled health coach appointments, provided office support, and worked on assigned projects as needed.

She also has teaching experience. Last year she was a teaching assistant for two classes in her undergraduate department—Physical Activity & Health and Community and Worksite Health Promotion.

During the summer of 2014, she worked as a research assistant for Natoshia Askelson in the Department of Community and Behavioral Health, where she assisted on various evaluation projects.

She also held a graduate assistantship with the MPH Program. She worked with another MPH student to help promote the program to prospective students by answering questions and planning professional development seminars for current students.

The College of Public Health has prepared Heath for her career endeavors by providing opportunities for professional development along with opportunities to enhance communication, writing, and public speaking skills.

“I’ve gained practical experience in public health through in-class service learning projects and completing my practicum at Linn County Public Health. Being able to apply what I have learned in class to real community health issues has been an extremely valuable experience,” she says.

Helping Improve Quality of Life

Following graduation, Health’s ideal job would be to hold a position where she is involved in the design, implementation, and evaluation of health promotion programs related to physical activity, nutrition, and other healthy behaviors. She could see herself performing this role in a variety of settings such as the community, work sites, or in clinical settings.

“I just think that every person deserves the best quality of life possible, and that means living a long and healthy life without disease,” she says. “There are so many influences in this world that are outside of the individual. There’s still so much work to be done in the field of public health on community and population levels.”