Health Care Sciences
"The primary mission for Environmental Health is the protection of human health through the prevention of disease. Some of the areas...are food service sanitation, drinking water surveillance and disease outbreak investigations. Most recently we've been involved in the effort against bioterrorism."
Environmental Health
Key Details:
Pay:
Whether cruising one thousand feet beneath the ocean’s surface or berthing on a floating city with thousands of personnel, Sailors and Marines live and work in spaces far from typical. Environmental health specialists address the spread of disease in these isolated environments.
Job Description
Navy Environmental Health Officers (EHOs) focus on prevention and control of diseases in Navy and Marine Corps populations. Here, determine effective methods of health-threat assessment. Conduct ongoing disease and environmental surveillance. Ultimately, identify potential dangers and develop countermeasures for actual and potential threats.
You could also:
- Provide guidance to Commanding Officers, Operational/Joint/Coalition Force Commanders and Installation Commanders on food safety, water and wastewater safety, communicable disease control, risk communication, and epidemiological/biostatistic methods of assessing threats
- Gain a nationally recognized credential as a Registered Environmental Health Specialist (REHS) from the National Environmental Health Association
- Champion programs such as food sanitation and safety, public health sanitation, thermal stress control, swimming pool/recreational sanitation, ashore-and-afloat water-and-wastewater sanitation, vector control, preventative medicine for ground forces, and disease surveillance and prevention
Educational/Financial Benefits
Wherever you are in your professional career, the Navy can help ease your financial burdens and advance your career with generous financial assistance and continuing education programs.
Practicing Professionals
Get Help Repaying Educational Loans
There's an alternative to spending years paying down the cost of your graduate education. If you're currently a practicing professional:
Navy Health Professions Loan Repayment Program — Receive up to $38,300 to help repay your graduate school loans.
To be eligible, you must serve as an Active Duty Medical Service Corps Officer for each year you receive the loan payment. A minimum three-year service obligation is required.
Offers have many variables. To learn details, request that a Navy Officer Recruiter contact you.
Other Benefits
A career here offers comprehensive benefits, including a competitive salary, full medical and dental coverage, a generous retirement income and much more. Explore comprehensive benefits for the Navy Medical Service Corps.
Qualifications
Besides requirements for Active Duty employment consideration in the Navy Medical Service Corps, there are additional requirements for Navy Environmental Health that apply.
Specific Requirements
- Bachelor’s or master’s degree in environmental health from a program accredited by the National Environmental Health Science and Accreditation Council (EHAC) or a Master’s of Public Health degree with a concentration in environmental health from a college of public health accredited by the Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH)
- Degree should include courses in environmental health, epidemiology, food safety, water quality, air quality, solid waste and wastewater management, communicable diseases, public health sanitation, vector control, toxicology, risk assessment, risk communication, biostatistics and microbiology
Preferred Requirements
- Certification as a Registered Environmental Health Specialist (REHS) or Registered Sanitarian (RS) through the National Environmental Health Association or a state agency
- Master’s applicants should have an undergraduate degree in environmental health or biological life sciences. Physical science degrees, such as chemistry and physics, may be acceptable with additional course work in the life sciences, such as microbiology, zoology or human physiology
- Field experience in an environmental health- or public health-related occupation
- Completed graduate-level course work with GPA of 3.0 or higher on a 4.0 scale
- Interview by an Active Duty Environmental Health Officer (Lieutenant or above)
Career Outlook
Want to explore further? Check out the Health Care Opportunities area to learn more about the overall mission of Navy Health Care. Or get a specific picture of the unrivaled experiences and real people representing today’s Navy Medical Service Corps.
Questions? Get more information now. Provide brief information so that a Navy Medical Recruiter can contact you. Answer your questions. And help make the application process as seamless as possible if you choose to move forward.