Public Health Microbiologist

Although wars are often fought with guns and ammo, the front lines aren’t always populated by foxholes, tanks, and troops. Sometimes — when the enemy is a disease — they’re littered instead with microscopes, slides, and blood samples. In that case, the battlefield isn’t a desert or jungle in some faraway nation; it’s a public health laboratory in your own backyard.

As a Public Health Microbiologist, you’re a Soldier in the battle for public health, as it’s your job to help detect and prevent outbreaks of illness and disease in local communities. Employed in a public health laboratory — a government laboratory that provides states and municipalities with clinical diagnostic testing, disease surveillance, environmental and radiological testing, emergency response support, research, and other health laboratory services — the Public Health Microbiologist is an expert in pathogens, including bacteria, viruses, and other disease-causing microorganisms. Rather than a Doctor who treats diseases, however, the Public Health Microbiologist is a Scientist who detects them.

Basically, Public Health Microbiologists are paid to play hide-and-seek with microbes for the purpose of stopping contagia and preventing contagion. In terms of daily duties, that means: performing biological and chemical tests on bodily fluids, as well as environmental substances such as food, air, water, and waste; keeping records and reports on examinations; interpreting and communicating lab test results; advising Physicians, Nurses, and others on specimen collection, transport, and containment; and training other laboratory personnel.

Like a Detective, your job is basically finding microbiological suspects and proving that they’ve committed crimes so they can be locked up to the benefit of would-be victims and the communities they live in.