For as long as medical science has existed, there have been doctors, nurses, and other health care professionals who have educated the public about what they could do to live healthier lives, stay safe during infectious disease outbreaks, and otherwise avoid illness and early death. In the United States, the field became professionalized in 1872 with the founding of the American Public Health Association.
The influenza pandemic of 1918 (which is estimated to have killed at least 50 million worldwide, with about 675,000 deaths occurring in the United States), serious polio outbreaks of the late 1940s and early 1950s (which disabled an average of more than 35,000 people each year), and other health crises fueled a need for specialized workers who could educate the public about diseases and their prevention and treatment, the ins and outs of the health care system, and other topics. In 1950, the Society for Public Health Education, was founded to represent the professional interests of health educators and students. The National Commission for Health Education Credentialing was founded in 1988 to establish quality standards in health education. In 1990, the first certified health education specialist exam was administered, and in 2011, the commission launched the master certified health education specialist credentialing exam.
Health educators played an important role in public education during the COVID-19 pandemic, which began in late 2019. Educators were given with the daunting task of teaching the public about the highly infectious coronavirus, steps that could be taken to reduce its spread, treatments for the infection, and the value of receiving a vaccine to reduce the chances of contracting and spreading the potentially deadly illness. Despite misinformation and outright lies about COVID-19 on social media and other sources, the work of health educators helped provide the public with trusted, actionable information that gradually reduced the spread of the virus.
- Adapted Physical Education Specialists
- Addiction Therapists
- Adult and Vocational Education Teachers
- Advanced Practice Nurses
- Aerospace Medicine Physicians
- Allergists/Immunologists
- Anesthesiologist Assistants
- Anesthesiologists
- Art Teachers
- Athletic Directors
- Behavioral Health Technicians
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- Biophysicists
- Book Editors
- Cancer Exercise Specialists
- Cardiologists
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- Career and Employment Counselors
- Career and Employment Technicians
- Child Life Specialists
- Chiropractors
- Clinical Applications Specialists
- Clinical Nurse Specialists
- Clinical Pharmacist Practitioners
- College Administrators
- College Professors
- Community Health Nurses
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- Community Nutrition Educators
- Computer Trainers
- Contact Tracers
- Cooking Instructors
- Cosmetic Surgeons
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- Critical Care Nurses
- Curriculum Coordinators
- Cytogenetic Technologists
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- Dance School Owners and Managers
- Dental Assistants
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- Dentists
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- Directors of Telehealth
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- Driving School Owners and Instructors
- Ear, Nose, and Throat Specialists
- Education Directors and Museum Teachers
- Edupreneurs
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- Elementary School Teachers
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- English as a Second Language (ESL) Teachers
- Environmental Education Program Directors
- Epidemiologists
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- Flight Instructors
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- Genetic Counselors
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- Health Advocates
- Health Informaticists
- Hematologists
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- Home Health Care Aides
- Home Health Care and Hospice Nurses
- Hospice Workers
- Hospitalists
- Industrial-Organizational Psychologists
- Informatics Nurse Specialists
- Instructional Coordinators
- Instructional Designers
- Journalism Teachers
- Kinesiologists
- Learning Innovations Designers
- Library and Information Science Instructors
- Licensed Practical Nurses
- Mathematics Teachers
- Medical Assistants
- Medical Laboratory Technicians
- Medical Screeners
- Medical Scribes
- Medical Technologists
- Microbiologists
- Music Teachers
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- Neonatal Nurses
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- Neuroscientists
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- Nurse Assistants
- Nurse Managers
- Nurse Practitioners
- Nurse-Midwives
- Nursing Instructors
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- Orthotists and Prosthetists
- Osteopathic Physicians
- Pathologists
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- Perfusionists
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- Pharmacologists
- Pharmacy Technicians
- Phlebotomy Technicians
- Physiatrists
- Physical Education Teachers
- Physical Therapists
- Physical Therapy Assistants
- Physician Assistants
- Physicians
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- Preschool Teachers
- Preventive Medicine Physicians
- Prosthodontists
- Psychiatric Nurses
- Psychiatric Technicians
- Psychiatrists
- Psychologists
- Radiologic Technologists
- Radiologists
- Recreational Therapists
- Registered Nurses
- Remote Health Care Engineers
- Respiratory Technicians
- Respiratory Therapists
- School Administrators
- School Nurses
- Secondary School Teachers
- Senior Care Pharmacists
- Social Workers
- Special Education Teachers
- Special Procedures Technologists
- Speech-Language Pathologists and Audiologists
- Speech-Language Pathology Assistants
- Sports Physicians
- Sports Psychologists
- Surgeons
- Surgical Technologists
- Teacher Aides
- Toxicologists
- Transplant Coordinators
- Tutors and Trainers
- Urologists