Careers in Medicine: Specialty Information

Preventive Medicine

Nature of the work

A preventive medicine specialist focuses on the health of individuals and defined populations in order to protect, promote, and maintain health and well-being, and to prevent disease, disability, and premature death. A preventive medicine physician may be a specialist in general preventive medicine, public health, occupational medicine or aerospace medicine.¹

Aerospace Medicine: focuses on the health of a population group consisting of the operating crews and passengers of air and space vehicles.
Occupational Medicine: focuses on the relationships among the health of workers; the arrangements of work; and the physical, chemical, and social environments of the workplace.
Public Health and General Preventive Medicine: deals with the health promotion and disease prevention in communities and in defined populations.

Physicians in preventive medicine can receive training in the following subspecialty:

• Medical Toxicology - uses special knowledge to evaluate and manage patients with accidental or purposeful poisoning through drugs or toxins.
• Undersea and Hyperbaric Medicine - expertise in the treatment of decompression illness and dicing accident cases.

Training/residency information

The residency training program for preventive medicine is three years. Additional training from 1-2 years is required to be certified in the subspecialty areas.

Salary information

The annual salary for preventive medicine specialists ranges from $110,000 to $222,000 for full-time medical school faculty.²

For more information

• Aerospace Medical Association
• American Board of Preventive Medicine
• American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine
• American College of Preventive Medicine
• American Public Health Association

References
1 The American Board of Medical Specialties. Guide to Physician Specialties. Evanston, IL: American Board of Medical Specialties; February 2008.
2 Association of American Medical Colleges. Report on Medical School Faculty Salaries 2007-2008. Washington, DC: AAMC; January 2009.

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