Healthcare Fields

Allied Health Professions

From Speech Pathologist to Registered Dietitian, there are literally hundreds of different careers in Allied Health. 

Arts & Humanities in Health

Surprisingly enough, a background in the arts and humanities can prepare you well for the field of health; in addition, a number of health professions are specifically tied to the arts. 

Chiropractic Medicine

Complementary & Alternative Medicine

Heath careers in the CAM field take a wholistic approach to care, place a high value on the body's ability to heal itself, and often use "hands on" techniques that are rooted in age-old traditions. 

Dentistry

Advances in research, the discovery of links between oral and systemic diseases, and the development of new materials and techniques make dentistry an exciting and rewarding profession.

Environmental Health

The air we breathe, the water we drink, and the food we eat, the places we work, and the homes we live in – all aspects of our natural and man-made environment – have an impact on our health. Environmental health professionals work to improve public health by identifying, tracking and addressing environmental risk factors.

Forensic Science

Advances in technology and greater reliance by courts on forensic expertise make this an exciting and ever-changing field.

Gerontology

Health Administration/Management

Healthcare is a business and, like every other business, it needs good management to keep it running smoothly. An estimated 100,000 people work in health administration or management today.

Informatics

People in this rapidly growing field understand how to acquire, analyze, store, manage, retrieve and use a wide range of information about health and medicine.

Medicine

Physicians (M.D.s/D.O.s) diagnose illness and injury, prescribe and administer treatment, and advise patients about how to prevent and manage disease.

Mental Health

Mental health a broad field with a wide range of careers, all of which involve advising patients or clients to promote their optimum mental health, with an emphasis upon prevention. 

Nursing

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Registered Nursing is the occupation with the largest job growth through 2018.

Nutrition/Dietetics

Dietetics is the health field that focuses on the interaction between nutrition and health. Dietitians and dietetic technicians design “nutrition therapies” that help the body use the natural nutrients and properties in food to protect against disease and promote health.

Occupational Therapy

Occupational therapy helps people who are physically challenged to develop the skills they need to live independent and satisfying lives.

Optometry

Optometry involves virtually everything that has to do with eyes and vision, including examination, diagnosis, and treatment of the eyes and surrounding structures.

Pharmacy

As "medication experts," pharmacists play a vital role in improving patient care through the medicine and information they provide.

Physical Therapy

Physical therapy professionals work closely with patients of all ages, to help them recover from and/or manage a wide variety of physical challenges.

Podiatric Medicine

For more information on careers in this field, click on the appropriate profession(s) in the Career Explorer section of this site.

Podiatry is a field of medicine that strives to improve the overall health and well-being of patients by focusing on preventing, diagnosing, and treating conditions associated with the foot and ankle.  A doctor of podiatric medicine is to the foot what a dentist is to the mouth or an ophthalmologist to the eye.

You can download, save and print a PDF of this overview:

Podiatric Medicine Overview 14 May 2008 [pdf, 164 KB]

Public Health

From air pollution engineer, bacteriologist, and biochemist, to epidemiologist and vital statistics director, careers in the field of Public Health are as intriguing as they are varied.

Speech-Language-Hearing

Professionals in the field help individuals deal with a broad range of disabilities and conditions related speech and language delays or difficulties and hearing loss or limitations.

Sports Medicine

Veterinary Medicine

Veterinarians are best known for healing ill and injured animals, but helping all kinds of creatures live longer, better lives is not all veterinarians do.