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Preventive Medicine Physicians

Apply knowledge of general preventive medicine and public health issues to promote health care to groups or individuals, and aid in the prevention or reduction of risk of disease, injury, disability, or death. May practice population-based medicine or diagnose and treat patients in the context of clinical health promotion and disease prevention.

What you’d do

  • Direct or manage prevention programs in specialty areas such as aerospace, occupational, infectious disease, and environmental medicine.
  • Document or review comprehensive patients' histories with an emphasis on occupation or environmental risks.
  • Identify groups at risk for specific preventable diseases or injuries.
  • Perform epidemiological investigations of acute and chronic diseases.
  • Supervise or coordinate the work of physicians, nurses, statisticians, or other professional staff members.
  • Design or use surveillance tools, such as screening, lab reports, and vital records, to identify health risks.
  • Direct public health education programs dealing with topics such as preventable diseases, injuries, nutrition, food service sanitation, water supply safety, sewage and waste disposal, insect control, and immunizations.
  • Evaluate the effectiveness of prescribed risk reduction measures or other interventions.

Skills that matter

  • Reading Comprehension
  • Active Listening
  • Complex Problem Solving
  • Critical Thinking
  • Judgment and Decision Making
  • Speaking

How to get there

Extensive preparation: most need graduate school, such as a master's degree or higher

Also called

  • Occupational Medicine Physician
  • Physician
  • Public Health Officer
  • Public Health Physician
  • Occupational Physician
  • Preventive Medicine Physician

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