Do you enjoy helping people feel better?
Are you interested in medicine or dentistry?
Do you enjoy school, especially science classes?
Would you enjoy teaching people how to live a healthy lifestyle?
Do you pay attention to small details?
Do you have an excellent memory?
Would you like working in a hospital or other medical facility?

If your answer to two or more of these questions was yes, you might enjoy a career in health science. There are a variety of jobs and careers available in health science, including:

• Audiologist
• Optometrist
• Chiropractor
• Pharmacist
• Sonographer
• Medical records administrator
• Biostatistician
• Industrial hygienist
• EMT/paramedic
• Health educator

Cluster Definition

Jobs in the health science career cluster involve planning, managing, and providing diagnostic, therapeutic, supportive, and information and research services in health care.

Career Pathways in Health Science

A career pathway is an area of concentration within a career cluster. Each pathway contains a group of careers requiring similar academic and technical skills as well as similar industry certifications or postsecondary education. The health science career cluster has five pathways: supportive services, information and communication services, diagnostic services, therapeutic services, and biotechnology and pharmaceutical services.

Supportive Services
Workers in this pathway are responsible for administration, building and equipment maintenance, and environmental quality monitoring—all services that are vital to the provision of health care. Jobs include biomedical equipment technician, supply technician, industrial hygienist, maintenance worker, housekeeper, and environmental health specialist.

Information and Communication Services
Workers in this pathway are responsible for managing and organizing health information, and for making that information available to the appropriate people. Jobs include admitting clerk, medical records administrator, hospital administrator, medical transcriptionist, medical coder, medical biller, and health educator.

Diagnostic Services
Jobs in this pathway focus on the diagnosis of illness and disease. Occupations include radiographer, cytotechnologist, histotechnologist, sonographer, blood bank technologist, medical technician, phlebotomist, and dosimetrist.

Therapeutic Services
Workers in this pathway provide treatment and therapy for diseases and disorders. Jobs include EMT/paramedic, physician, physician assistant, nurse, dentist, pharmacist, physical therapist, chiropractor, optometrist, audiologist, respiratory therapist, and speech pathologist.

Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical Services
Jobs in this pathway focus on research and development of pharmaceuticals and biotechnology. Occupations in this pathway include pharmaceutical technician, cytobiologist, biostatistician, microbiologist, and research lab technician.

Click here for a visual representation of the health science career cluster.

Print and Internet Resources

These Print and Internet Resources offer references for career cluster exploration, including trade, professional, and business associations, government departments and agencies, labor unions, and cluster-specific career Web sites.

Health Science Print and Internet Resources

Back to Top