What is a Public Health Analyst?

Public health analysts (also known as knowledge and intelligence professionals) gather, analyse and interpret essential public health information. This is used to plan for and identify issues which negatively affect people’s health. Roles can be divided into two main types:
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- Knowledge professionals: Who maintain and manage evidence and knowledge resources in public health
- Intelligence/Analyst professionals: Who analyse, interpret and present data about public health

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What job roles are there in public health knowledge and intelligence?

Actual job titles and roles within public health knowledge and intelligence are likely to vary between different organisations and depending on how senior the position is.

Public health knowledge and intelligence professionals support the three main areas of public health (health protection, health improvement and healthcare services). The role varies depending on which area of public health you work in:

Health protection: If you support health protection, you might work on infectious diseases requiring a rapid response. For example, providing information that influences the advice given to the public about a disease or pandemic such as COVID-19.

Health improvement and health services: If you work in health improvement or healthcare services, you may interpret longer-term data about chronic diseases, such as heart disease or lung cancer.