MMI Undergraduate Club Meeting Minutes, Wednesday, December 7, 2005

Speaker: Peter Schulz  - Director of the State Lab of Hygiene

Important Websites:

• http://www.apha.org/career/
• http://www.pfizercareerguides.com/publichealth.html
• http://www.aphl.org/
• http://oser.state.wi.us/index.asp
• http://dhfs.wisconsin.gov/localhealth/index.htm
• http://www.pophealth.wisc.edu/MPH/

Background Info: Dr. Peter Schulz did his undergrad at UW-Madison. He is now the Division Director of the State Lab of Hygiene.

Public Health is the health of the populations, including many different disciplines including environmental health and how this area affects humans such as air quality. It is essential to have a community effort.

As MMI majors he laid out for possible career paths.

1. Academics (Ph.D.) Requires a commitment to research and teaching. In this area he talked about the pressure for funding and gaining tenure.

2. Industry (B.S., M.S., Ph.D.) In this area you can work on products, tests, sales, or etc.

3. Clinical Laboratory (B.S. plus a clinical degree) He discussed how MMI focuses more on research than the clinical side. In this discussion he suggested a masters program at UW – Lacrosse which can be found at: www.uwlax.edu/clinmicro.

4. Public Health (B.S. MPH, Ph.D.) He discussed the huge need for Ph.D’s in this field.

He also suggested programs through the CDC for post-doc and traineeships for hands-on experience.

Question and Answer session

1. Are there opportunities for undergrads in the State Lab of Hygiene?

Not really because of security.

2. Is there a need for Dual degrees (MPH/MD, JD/MPH, etc.)?

An MPH with a micro background is very helpful, especially in the Health dept. Also there is a huge need for epidemiologists.

3. Once the fear of a bioterrorism attack decreases with the demand for people in the public health decrease?

It will be a long while before the need for people in Public Health decreases, but there will always be a constant struggle for funding.