Resume template · Updated October 2026
Public health resume template
Short answer
Meridian suits public health resumes: analytic and program tools such as R, SAS, ArcGIS and REDCap print in labelled rows above the jobs, on a colourless page that photocopies well for interview panels. The fictional sample is a county epidemiologist who runs reportable disease surveillance, led the data work on an outbreak, built a board-of-health dashboard and evaluated a vaccination outreach program. Health educators can reuse the layout.
Download the public health sample
Andre is a fictional epidemiologist II. Replace every detail with your own before you send it.
The files are made in your browser by Resumity's own exporters, from this sample. The builder opens it as your own resume: click any line to replace it. Free plan, no watermark.
Why Meridian suits a public health resume
Meridian puts labelled skill rows (Technical, Tools, Soft Skills) above work experience and uses no colour. Health department postings commonly name a statistical package and a data system, and the rows show yours before the job history; the plain page also prints and photocopies cleanly, which suits panels that score paper copies.
Second choice: Henrietta. Henrietta prints education straight after experience, a better fit when a new MPH is your main qualification.
What goes in each section, in Meridian's order
Meridian prints its sections in a fixed order, the same in the PDF and the Word file. Here is that order for this sample, and what to put in each section.
- Professional Summary. Name the public health function you work in (surveillance, epidemiology, health education, program management, environmental health), the population you serve and the setting: local or state health department, hospital, nonprofit or university. Add what your data or programs changed.
- Skills. Technical holds methods: descriptive and analytic epidemiology, outbreak investigation, regression, program evaluation, GIS mapping. Tools holds software such as SAS, R, ArcGIS, REDCap and the state reportable disease system. Health educators put curriculum design, community outreach and survey design here instead.
- Work Experience. Show the population and the action: cases investigated, a dashboard officials used, a program evaluated and changed. Grant work counts, so name the funding type and the deliverables you reported. Keep one bullet about explaining data to the public, the media or elected officials.
- Education. An MPH, MSPH or related master's with its concentration; add the practicum or capstone in one line if it relates to the job. A bachelor's goes underneath.
- Certifications. Two national credentials show up on public health resumes: Certified in Public Health (CPH) from the National Board of Public Health Examiners, and Certified Health Education Specialist (CHES) from NCHEC for health educators. Meridian prints them last, so if a posting asks for one, add it to the headline as well.
The sample resume as text
The same content as the files above, so you can copy a line or compare it with your own.
Andre Whitfield
Epidemiologist II, Communicable Disease Surveillance
Columbus, OH | andre.whitfield@example.com | (614) 555-0163 | linkedin.com/in/sample-andre-whitfield
Epidemiologist with six years in hospital and local public health, covering reportable disease surveillance, outbreak response and program evaluation for a county of about 900,000 people. Turns case data into dashboards and briefings that the health commissioner and community partners act on.
Experience
Epidemiologist II, Scioto Valley Public Health, Columbus, OH (01/2022 to Present)
- Run weekly surveillance on about 40 reportable conditions in the state disease reporting system, flagging clusters for the communicable disease nurses.
- Led the data side of a hepatitis A outbreak response: line list, epidemic curve and daily briefings for 11 weeks until cases returned to baseline.
- Built an R Shiny dashboard of respiratory illness trends that the health commissioner presents to the board of health each month.
- Evaluated a grant-funded vaccination outreach program with a logic model and clinic data; two low-uptake neighbourhoods now have evening clinics as a result.
Infection Prevention Data Analyst, Great Lakes Regional Medical Center, Toledo, OH (06/2019 to 12/2021)
- Tracked hospital-acquired infection rates by unit in SAS and reported them to the infection prevention committee each month.
- Mapped community case addresses in ArcGIS to support contact tracing during the 2020 surge.
- Wrote plain-language data summaries for nursing unit managers.
Education
MPH, Epidemiology, Buckeye Lakes University (05/2019)
Certifications
- Certified in Public Health (CPH), National Board of Public Health Examiners (2021)
Skills
Descriptive and analytic epidemiology, Outbreak investigation, Program evaluation, Regression modelling, GIS mapping, R and R Shiny, SAS, ArcGIS Pro, REDCap, Excel, Briefing officials, Plain-language writing, Community partner meetings
How to make the sample yours
Describe evaluations in CDC's terms
CDC's Program Evaluation Framework, updated in 2024, names six steps, from assessing context and describing the program to gathering credible evidence and acting on findings. If you evaluated a program, describe your part in those terms: the logic model, the questions, the data and the change it led to.
Translate clinical or lab experience
Nurses bring case follow-up, screening and patient education; lab staff bring specimen tracking and test interpretation. Rewrite those bullets around populations rather than individual patients.
Name the funding behind your work
Much public health work runs on grants and cooperative agreements. Say which kind, what you were responsible for (writing, reporting, budget tracking) and the deliverables you met.
Make community work concrete
Name the partners, the neighbourhoods or groups and the barrier you addressed, such as language, transport or clinic hours. "Health equity" on its own tells a reader nothing about what you did.
Keep small numbers out
Case counts for small areas or rare conditions can identify people. Describe outbreaks by duration, response and result rather than detailed counts.
Keywords to keep where they are true
Terms this kind of resume is usually searched for. Use the posting's exact wording, and only for work you have done.
- public health
- epidemiology
- disease surveillance
- outbreak investigation
- program evaluation
- logic model
- SAS
- R
- ArcGIS
- REDCap
- health equity
- community health assessment
- grant reporting
- data visualisation
- health communication
Mistakes to avoid
- "Improved community health" with no population, measure or program named.
- Every course from your MPH; the degree line and one practicum are enough.
- Case details or small counts that could identify a person.
- Leaving out grant reporting and budget tracking, which much public health work depends on.
How the sample PDF reads in text extractors
We exported this sample with Resumity's PDF exporter in Chrome on 2026-10-29 and read the file back with three open-source text extractors. This shows whether software that turns a PDF into text can recover it; it is not a test of any commercial applicant tracking system. How we test templates.
| Extractor | Name, email, phone | Headings | Bullets intact |
|---|---|---|---|
| pdf.js 4.10.38 | All found | 5 of 5 | 7 of 7 |
| pdftotext (Xpdf) 4.00 | All found | 5 of 5 | 7 of 7 |
| pypdf 6.13.0 | All found | 5 of 5 | 7 of 7 |
Frequently asked questions
Do I need an MPH to work in public health?
Many epidemiology and program manager roles ask for a master's, but health education, community health work and data roles often hire with a bachelor's and experience. Read each posting's minimum qualifications and lead with the experience that meets them.
Is CPH or CHES worth adding?
CPH, from the National Board of Public Health Examiners, signals broad public health knowledge; CHES, from NCHEC, is specific to health education. Both are kept current through continuing education, so add the one that matches the role and keep its year visible.
How do I move from clinical nursing into public health?
Write your nursing work through a population lens: patient education, infection prevention, screening and case follow-up. Communicable disease, maternal and child health and school health programs all value clinical experience.
How should I describe pandemic response work now?
Like any other emergency response: your role, the scale, the systems you built and what lasted afterwards. A case investigation team you trained or a dashboard still in use says more than the crisis itself.
Should I list grants I helped manage?
Yes. Name the funding type, your part (writing, reporting, budget tracking) and the deliverables. Grant reporting is routine in health departments and community organisations, and evidence that you can do it is useful.
Will applicant tracking systems read this Meridian PDF?
The sample PDF read back with its contact details, all 5 section headings and all 7 bullets intact in three open-source text extractors (pdf.js, pdftotext and pypdf). Commercial systems such as Workday, Greenhouse or Taleo were not tested, and each employer configures its own.
Guides and templates for this resume
Sources, checked 29 October 2026
We opened every page below on that date. Pay, rules and requirements change, so check the source before you rely on a detail.
- National Board of Public Health Examiners: Certified in Public Health (CPH) (credential name and issuer; kept current through continuing education)
- National Commission for Health Education Credentialing (NCHEC): Certified Health Education Specialist (CHES) (credential name and issuer; requires academic preparation, passing the exam and continuing education to maintain)
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (MMWR): CDC Program Evaluation Framework, 2024 (published September 26, 2024; six steps: assess context, describe the program, focus the evaluation questions and design, gather credible evidence, generate and support conclusions, act on findings)
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