Environmental and Occupational Health (EOH) faculty, including Dean Lynn R. Goldman, Professors George Gray and David Michaels, and Professorial Lecturer John Howard, told Milken Institute School of Public Health students about their experiences working in the public sector at a recent panel discussion. The event was organized and facilitated by EOH MPH Students Joanna Podrasky and Amanda Quintana. A video of the discussion, which includes career advice and reminiscences about first jobs as well as time spent in public service, is available on the department's YouTube channel.
All of the panelists have MD and/or PhD degrees, but they agreed that advanced degrees aren’t necessary for meaningful public health service. Having an MPH can open many doors in both federal and state government, they said.
Dean Goldman, who served at both the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and California’s Department of Public Health, said she knew of many practitioners with MPHs who were “moving up in the federal government through the leadership ranks to the highest levels.” Her work brought her into contact with MPHs engaged in everything from investigations, risk assessments, policy, legislative analyses, to managing and leading, she said. Goldman was the Assistant Administrator for Toxic Substances for the EPA’s Office of Prevention, Pesticides and Toxic Substances (OPPTS) during the Clinton Administration. She also held several positions at the California Department of Public Health, where she served in her last position as head of the Division of Environmental and Occupational Disease Control.
MPH and Management Skills
At the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), “people without doctorates are leading the most important projects in almost every case,” said Michaels, the United States Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health. “The way you advance within the federal government is that you have to be able to manage people,” said Michaels, who has been officially on leave from GW since President Obama appointed him to lead OSHA in 2009. “In government, people who can see the bigger picture are valued,” Dean Goldman added in agreement. Which, she pointed out, makes it very different than academia, which rewards those who focus in great depth on a very specific area.
Management skills are important when you work in government, agreed Gray, who served as the Assistant Administrator for the U.S. EPA’s Office of Research and Development and as the agency’s science advisor. “Getting an MPH gives you experiences with leadership and management… things you’ll need when working with people or when people are working for you,” he said.
At National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), “we refer to ourselves as a university without students,” joked Howard, who directs the institute, which is part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Many of the people at NIOSH have MDs and PhDs, but the agency also has a program to pay for those who don’t have these degrees to get them, he said. “We also have a lot of people with MPHs who have a lot of functionality within the organization,” he added.
Learn much more, including why panelists think that having an MPH is valuable and why they recommend that new graduates consider applying to become Presidential Management Fellows, or to work for the Epidemic Intelligence Service, AmeriCorps, or the Peace Corps., by watching the recording of the panel discussion.