Epidemiology Career Goal

The field of epidemiology has recently caught my attention. One of the main things about the field that really peaks my interest is that it's so interdisciplinary. Epidemiology, like most other science fields, is very broad and lends itself to many different kinds of careers should my interests change as I get older. All of my life I have always been interested in science and health. When I was younger I knew I wanted a career that I believed would help people in someway. I grew up watching medical shows and was intrigued by the work experiences I was watching health professionals have and the people that were assisted on the shows. Throughout my childhood I assumed I would be a doctor, but as I got older, I knew that it simply wasn’t something that I wanted to pursue. As I got older it also became very apparent to me that I really wasn't interested in going to medical school, but still wanted to make a contribution to the world by helping larger numbers of people if possible. My interest in public health grew because the goal of public health is to help populations of people rather than just focusing on individuals. Epidemiology would allow me to help people while not having to be as hands on as a physician or other careers in the medical field.

My main career goal that I would like to achieve would be to be in the Epidemiological field in some capacity. There are a multitude of epidemiology fields that I would have the option of choosing from. My short-term, two-year career goals include finishing my undergraduate degree, and finding a graduate public health program with an emphasis in infectious disease. My long-term, ten-year career goals are focused on positively impacting people's lives hopefully through efforts of combating food-borne and water sanitation infections (possibly in other countries as