What is your occupation (title)?
I am a Public Health Physician / Medical Epidemiologist.
What does a day in your job look like?
My days are quite varied, the world of public health involves many things. Each day is unique, and can involve outbreak investigations, treatment of disease, contact tracing. It also involves creating health policy, advising leaders on actions to take to prevent disease outbreaks, analyzing data to determine if there is a problem and how to address it
How does math pertain to your career? Do you use math daily? If so, how? Did you have to take math courses as a prerequisite for your job?
Math is a big part of medicine. You need to know chemistry and physics which have a math component as well as calculating dosages. In my specialty, math is the main component. We use epidemiology and biostatistics almost daily. We use them to calculate disease rates, attack rates, case fatality rates. We use math to track progression of select diseases to see if we are making a difference with our interventions. It is used to determine probabilities of becoming ill, or what was the likely cause of the disease.
To become a public health physician, you need to earn a Master of Public Health degree in addition to your M.D. This requires extensive training in epidemiology and statistics.
What are the requirements for your occupation?
To become a Doctor of Medicine, you need to have gone to college and taken biology, chemistry, physics, and math at a minimum. Then after completing four years of medical school, you select a specialty and go for an additional 3 to 5+ years of training.
What is your favorite thing about your job?
My favorite thing about my career is that I get to take care of people. In my specialty, there is also a variety of things to do and every day is different. I get to engage in the community and help make life better for people through community-based interventions that lead to improved health. It is extremely rewarding.