Behind the Data: The Unseen Struggles of Public Health Researchers

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A System Caving in on itself

 Community health, whether it be mental or physical, is a topic that recently gained attention and importance. While it has always been an important aspect of healthcare, generational changes have resulted in a heightened sense of purpose for the subject. Public health research is the very endeavor that aims to observe and address the shortcomings in terms of health in specific communities. Professionally, public health research is epidemiology, and researchers are called epidemiologists. This research consists of collecting data on what certain health insecurities populations face, analyzing them, and proposing an active solution to improve upon them. Public health research is the backbone of community health improvement, but it’s slowly diminishing, leaving our communities troubled and unrepresented. It works on addressing the gaps in healthcare to improve further, no doubt, a flawed system.

The pursuit of epidemiology is diminishing in more ways than one, and we hope to address specific topics that seem to be the root problem of this diminishing wave of public health researchers: Low compensation and healthcare workers being glorified over researcher along with exploring how diminishing public health research can and has started to impact community health and well-being. Research, specifically public health research, is crucial for the advancement of the goals of the discipline, but is in decline due to external factors and could have a detrimental effect on our communities and even globally. Why aren’t we investing in a system that invests back into us?

Money Controls all Factors of Life: How low funding and pay have become a plague to Public Health Research.

With the cost of living on the rise, income plays a big factor in what we invest our education into. Research, not just Public Health research but all kinds, is notorious for having low compensation for the long hours of work done. Researchers aren’t paid for what they do which is a discouraging factor for going into the field.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median annual income for an epidemiologist in California is around $81,390. While the amount seems sustainable, it’s worth taking into account the cost of living in California. As per SoFi’s statistics ( a financial technology company), the average cost of living in California is $64, 835. These costs include basic payments such as rent/mortgages, utilities, insurance, etc. leaving around $17,000 for personal or family expenditures. This gap in fair compensation for epidemiologists compared to their cost of living isn’t the only financial factor that drives many away from the field.

Another factor is the extensive time spent working in labs or work settings, carving a big part of their personal life away from their professions. It’s first important to address that epidemiologists work the standard 9-5 days, but this doesn’t take into account public health emergencies such as epidemics. A study done by SHEA Research Network is a representation of how epidemiologists responded to Covid-19. The research network asked 64 epidemiologists 9 questions regarding their work and lifestyle during the epidemic. For specific statements such as “My sense of Burnout has increased as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic”, 55 professionals responded with “Agree”. This set of data showed that, while many tend to be satisfied with their jobs, like any medical professional, they often experience burnout even in the office setting. A correlation can be made, in which we claim that the annual pay vs. the waves of burnout and long hours worked are not in harmony.

Along with compensation, the high cost of education to attain this profession is a discouraging factor to pursue in the first place.  People struggle to pay for their tuition in grad school and post-grad, and that cost for many years is unrealistic for many lifestyles. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, entry-level education starts with a master's, which may need to get a Ph.D. as well. To highlight just how much investment in education that is financial can be represented by the average cost of attaining an epidemiology master's and PhD. As per the example of Georgetown University, a typical master’s costs upwards of  $100,000, while a PhD costs upwards of $200,000. The high cost of the basic education needed, not including undergraduate studies, is something not many can realistically invest in or many end up needing to take loans to make ends meet. These piling costs drive many to find different facets that have lower costs in educational investment.

The endeavor of public health research is one that requires a lot of investment, financially and personally. All professions require sacrificing in the early years, but epidemiology is regularly compensated for the work being done and for the required education. It’s safe to say that in this day and age, the lively hood simply isn’t worth the compensation.

Epidemiologists ARE Healthcare Workers

Another problem that persists in all settings of healthcare is that medical endeavors, which are a vital aspect of healthcare, are glorified over research. There should be no “better” career in this case due to the fact that both are important in their own sense. Research in the public health settings is focused on community struggles and provides medical professionals such as pharmacists, doctors, etc. with the tools to improve on the issue.

In essence, the first step to any improvement in healthcare starts from the surveys, samples, and interviews epidemiologists conduct and later analyze. It’s from this point on, that their research is considered for specific matters such as community health and persistent health issues, in which humanitarian endeavors along with clinical care take place. In "Annals of Epidemiology" the author Rogawski leads a discussion on “An argument renewed focus on epidemiology for public health”, which addresses the tendency for our communities to give importance to individual care and clinical care rather than community-based evaluations. A striking argument made in the paper which resonated with the topic at hand is, “To maximize our effectiveness as epidemiologists with public health goals, we must understand the differences and our unique skills that set us apart from individualized medicine”. This captures the purpose of this paper in the sense that, we aspire to make that distinction proving that public health research is different and for good reasons. Rather than tying research and healthcare under the same umbrella (except medicinal research and research surrounding disease), we need to emphasize that public health research is what starts the improvement. Through data analysis, interviews, community samples, etc. a problem in a community is emphasized which leads medical care to base their practices and focus on. It; 's important to recognize epidemiology as its profession and not a supporting “job”, for us to see the true value of it and to inspire future healthcare workers to view it as an equal and give them something to be passionate about.

So, What if There was No Public Health Research?

As we’ve mentioned time and time again, public health research is the backbone of community health and systematic change in our healthcare system, along with identifying possible solutions for large-scale issues (such as pandemics). So what would happen if Epidemiology were to die out?

Well first, there would be no “bigger picture” moments in regards to any epidemic, disease, or medical interventions. Research in Public health is about pinpointing community-level health issues and proposing viable solutions for them. Just as Rogawski mentions in the Annals of Epidemiology, “...overemphasis on medical interventions may result in missed opportunities for greater impact through population-level improvements in public health”. Outlining that if we have a narrowed focus on patient-to-patient care, the root cause or trends that we would get with community research would be lost. Individuals have varied reactions to conditions/health issues, but public health research grants the opportunity to explore if there are any trends and if so, what they are. From this point on, medical professionals and researchers would gather and propose possible treatments. This “big picture” mentality is crucial to the healthcare system, and letting Epidemiology die out would eradicate this advantage along with it.

A better way to put it is to recognize what Epidemiology is important for, and then think about a work where we had no access to the information produced by the research. Public health researchers play a big role in outlining environmental health, community health, health policy analysis, statistical analysis, laboratory research, etc. When it comes to trust in our healthcare system, we hope to live in a time where our professionals are well-informed about the listed topics above. Without epidemiology, there would be no trust or even the information for our system to function. This is what we would lose out on.

Conclusion

All in all, as a community interested in the betterment of not only others but an entire system, we need to invest in an endeavor that invests back into us. We have outlined just the tip of the iceberg with the immense impact public health research has in the world of healthcare and how there is a sense of injustice in the field. Low financial compensation, common burnouts, and lack of acknowledgment, along with underlining the dangers of no Public Health research prove that we need to work on encouraging people to go into the field along with advocating for higher pay and educating students about the profession. It’s time to invest back into our community by investing into the system which will do so.

Sources

Elizabeth T. Rogawski PhD, et al. “An Argument for Renewed Focus on Epidemiology for Public Health.” Annals of Epidemiology, Elsevier, 31 Aug. 2016, www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1047279716302502?via%3Dihub .

“Cost of Living in California (2024).” SoFi, SoFi, 30 Aug. 2022, www.sofi.com/cost-of-living-in-california/ .

Epidemiologist/Medical Scientist - Career Rankings, Salary, Reviews and Advice | US News Best Jobs, money.usnews.com/careers/best-jobs/epidemiologist . Accessed 9 Mar. 2025.

“Epidemiologists.” U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 3 Apr. 2024, www.bls.gov/oes/2023/may/oes191041.htm .

“Epidemiologists.” U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 4 Dec. 2024, www.bls.gov/ooh/life-physical-and-social-science/epidemiologists.htm.

Reyell, Brendon. “What Does a Public Health Researcher Do?” Northeastern University Graduate Programs, 2 Dec. 2024, graduate.northeastern.edu/knowledge-hub/public-health-research/ .

Smith TJG et al. “Characterizing Burnout among Healthcare Epidemiologists in the Early Phases of the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Study of the Shea Research Network.” Antimicrobial Stewardship & Healthcare Epidemiology : ASHE, U.S. National Library of Medicine, pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36970429/ . Accessed 8 Mar. 2025.