13 Ways to Be a Global Public Health Major

Why Choose Global Public Health?

Public health intersects with nearly every industry and issue shaping our world. Because it is deeply interdisciplinary, pursuing GPH equips you with a versatile set of skills that opens up diverse career pathways—whether your goals lie in clinical care, health-care consulting, tech, or advocacy. It’s also an ideal launchpad for advanced studies in medicine, law, or public policy.

For Godlove Nana Asantewaa, a GPH/Nursing co-major, the program provided the missing piece to her clinical studies. “While I understood the physiology of asthma from my premed coursework, examining the environmental and socioeconomic conditions of the Bronx via GPH made me realize why asthma rates remained so high despite constant medical interventions,” Godlove explains. “This joint major allows me to deliver direct patient care grounded in a deep understanding of both the biological and external factors that influence the health of individuals and communities.”

Ike Nwadiogbu, a GPH/Chemistry co-major, found a similar synergy. “I wanted to not only learn the foundational science behind medicine and drugs, but also the application of them at scale,” Ike shares. “My classes have helped to expand my understanding of how drugs impact patient outcomes and how their relationship with different demographics impact communities around the world.”

Gain Practical Experience

Above all, GPH connects your education directly to current events. From heat waves and wildfire smoke to food safety outbreaks like the one recently caused by cyclospora, public health gives you the tools to tackle the urgent issues making headlines every day. Here, you’ll translate classroom theory into real-world discovery through research, study away, and internships.

For Ike, practical learning meant studying abroad in the United Kingdom. “My favorite part of my NYU journey was getting to live and study abroad. Not only were the GPH class curricula tailored to London as a whole, but being taught by internationally recognized professors really helped expand my opinions about the world.”

That experiential focus carries into internships as well. “For my senior year, I will begin at NYU Washington, DC, where I have an internship with Senator Chris Van Hollen,” shares Talyon Lee, a GPH/Sociology co-major. “There, I will focus on hands-on legislation surrounding health-care policy. Internships are the most rewarding. I’ve been able to network across fields that interest me and understand the different levels public servants work on.”

Omesh Persaud, a GPH/Biology co-major and candidate in NYU’s BA/MA in Bioethics 4+1 Program, turned his everyday experience in New York City into active research. “My favorite hands-on experience has been conducting research in a lab focused on understanding stress in young adults across the city. It allowed me to see public health in people’s actual lives and led me to develop my own research interests around commuting stress as a commuter myself.”

Fast-Track Your Impact: The 4+1 Program

For students aiming to advance their education even further, NYU offers the GPH 4+1 Degree Program. This accelerated path allows high-achieving undergraduates to begin taking graduate-level courses during their junior year, earning both a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in just five years. As a result, students save time and tuition while gaining a competitive edge.

“I want my future career to exist at the intersection of medicine, public health, research, and ethics,” Omesh shares regarding his 4+1 pathway. “From an early age, I wanted to become a physician who recognizes the larger systems that shape a patient’s health before they ever enter a doctor’s office. GPH made me interested in the ethical questions that accompany medicine and public health: who receives care, how resources are distributed, whose voices are represented in research, and how we can make decisions that are both scientifically sound and socially responsible.”