Data Analytics - Public Health

A growing world population and an increase in the average lifespan is putting today’s health systems under strain. Big data analytics in health has the potential to predict outbreaks of epidemics, revolutionise our understanding of disease, reduce health inequalities, and ultimately improve the quality of people’s lives.

The Public Health major within the Bachelor of Applied Data Analytics highlights how data analytics can be applied to measure, explain, and plan responses to population health issues. You will:

• build a broad knowledge base in core public health disciplines like epidemiology, biostatistics, global public health, and health system service and management
• learn directly from world-class researchers
• use data to quantify the number of people who experience health conditions, understand the causes of disease, plan and evaluate strategies and interventions to prevent illness and promote health
• develop the skills needed to become a ‘disease detective’ and examine the health of communities and populations to determine the best ways to treat or prevent poor health.

Students who understand public health and have data analytic skills are highly sought after in health and related fields. You could become a research analyst, data analyst or project officer at government and non-government organisations such as Australian Bureau of Statistics, Cancer Council SA, Department of Premier and Cabinet, Disability SA, Housing SA, Primary Health Networks, Royal Australasian College of Surgeons, and SA Health.