Public Health Informatics: The Intersection of Data and Health

Key takeaways

Public health informatics is the systematic application of data, technology, and information systems to public health practice and research.

• Public health informatics is typically implemented by health agencies at the national, state, or local level to collect data on specific health issues.

• Common job roles within public health informatics include health informatics specialist, clinical data manager, informatics nurse, and chief medical information officer.

• You can prepare for a career in public health informatics by pursuing a degree in data analytics or public health.

Discover more about public health informatics, including the possible career paths in this field. Afterward, enroll in Foundations of Public Health Practice Specialization to learn how to use data and health intelligence to better analyze public health challenges. 

What is public health informatics?

Public health informatics is the systematic application of data, technology, and information systems to public health practice and research. Focusing on community and population health, it tackles disease treatment and prevention and examines the role of government agencies in public health.

Public health informatics can help improve the efficiency, accuracy, and distribution of health care; ensure communities have equal access to basic human needs like food, shelter, transportation, and employment; and prevent major diseases.

How has informatics impacted public health?

Public health benefits from data-driven decisions based on data that is collected systematically and accurately. Since the adoption of electronic health records (EHR), data has increasingly been at the forefront of health care technology. During the COVID-19 pandemic, EHR-based rapid screening processes, documentation templates for emergency room testing, and reporting tools helped track and monitor the virus in hospitals [1].

5 steps to creating a public health information system

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there are five steps that public health informatics professionals can use to create a public health information system [2].

1. Vision and system planning: What types of information technology (IT) systems will you use? Do you need hardware, software, or communication technology? 

2. Health data standards and integration: How will you ensure health data standards and integration are followed? 

3. Data privacy and security: What systems can help ensure data privacy and security throughout the data lifecycle?

4. Systems design and implementation: What methods and information technology can be implemented to optimize data, data flow, and outputs for public health functions?

5. Visualization, analysis, and reporting of health data: Using a combination of analytics software, business intelligence, and public health practice, what types of reporting and analysis will make the most meaningful use of the data collected? How can we report health statistics and information to the public in an accessible manner?

Read more: What Is Statistical Analysis? Definition, Types, and Jobs

Examples of public health informatics

Public health informatics tends to be implemented at the national, state, or local level by health agencies that collect data for specific health issues. Here are some real-world examples to help you understand it better.

• Decrease the spread of infectious diseases: Government entities collect and analyze birth records to provide reliable statistics to health departments and policymakers while also using this information to improve birth outcomes, identify mortality trends, and decrease the spread of infectious diseases.

• Improving public health reporting: EHRs help organizations collect standardized and systematic data, thereby improving reporting and surveillance. Electronic laboratory reporting helps transmit data to public health officials, so they can better monitor and prevent disease. For example, New York City public health officials designed a program that uses EHRs to alert clinicians of potential diagnoses to increase diagnostic testing that aids public health investigation and management [3].

• Geographic analysis: Data can be used to combat environmental disasters and bioterrorism threats. Using a geographic information system (GIS), data can be collected and analyzed to reveal trends and patterns in specific locations.

Public health informatics salary and career paths

There are many jobs that exist within public health informatics. Here are some of the more common ones that you’ll encounter as you explore this field.

• Health informatics specialist: A public health informatics specialist (or consultant) is an interdisciplinary role that blends IT with health and communication. They might interact with doctors, nurses, and other IT professionals to gather and analyze data, design workflows, measure impact, manage IT systems, and more.

  • Salary: $96,000 [4]

• Clinical data manager: Clinical data managers collect data from medical research projects and manage the information so it is reported securely and accurately. They might work for pharmaceutical companies, hospitals, governmental organizations, or research universities to prepare reports, data charts, and other materials.

  • Salary: $114,000 [5]

• Informatics nurse: An informatics nurse is typically a registered nurse who helps manage complex health information in hospitals, nursing homes, and public health organizations. They guide data workflows and implement new technology to optimize care.

  • Salary: $143,000 [6]

• Chief medical information officer: This leadership role bridges the medical and IT departments within a health care organization. They may be physicians themselves taking on the role of technology implementation, or health informatics specialists who have moved up in the organization by creating efficient data processes and systems.

  • Salary: $311,000 [7]

All salary information represents the median total pay from Glassdoor as of October 2025. These figures include base salary and additional pay, which may represent profit-sharing, commissions, bonuses, or other compensation.

What is the difference between clinical informatics and public health informatics?

Clinical informatics often deals with patient data, such as determining the best way to structure clinician notes and patient reports to retrieve and analyze information easily. Public health informatics, on the other hand, deals with population-level information as it applies to public health practices (e.g., disease surveillance).

How to get started with a public health informatics degree or course

Due to the range of possible careers within public health informatics, your approach to getting started depends on where you fall on the spectrum of public health versus data analytics.

If your interests and skills are more analytical, as in, you excel at solving problems on data analytics software and building information systems, then you might consider building your credentials in informatics with a bachelor’s degree, associate degree, or professional certificate in data analytics or computer science.

If you’re more interested in the public health side of things and are passionate about envisioning scalable, equitable solutions to disease prevention, then a master’s in public health with an informatics focus could be a good fit. This credential offers you high-level knowledge for working alongside IT professionals to create innovative data solutions.

Explore our free public health informatics career resources

Subscribe to Career ChatLinkedIn to get weekly updates on popular skills, tools, and certifications. Check out our other free resources to learn how artificial intelligence (AI) can support and personalize your learning journey in the health care field:

• Discover health care trends: AI in Health Care: Uses, Benefits, and Concerns

• Get expert tips: Reimagining Work and Learning with AI: Expert Insights from Dr. Jules White

• Watch on YouTube: How to Prepare for AI in Your Career | Expert Tips from Tech Leaders

Accelerate your career growth with a Coursera Plus subscription. When you enroll in either the monthly or annual option, you’ll get access to over 10,000 courses.

Build job-ready skills with Coursera Plus

Start 7-day free trial

• 
• 
• 
• 

Start 7-day free trial