Healthcare Practitioners
Preventive Medicine Physicians
Also called: Occupational Medicine Physician, Occupational Physician, Physician, Preventive Medicine Physician
US median pay
$265,930
per year, 2025
Job growth 2025–35
+3.4%
about average or slower
Openings a year (US)
9,400
367,400 employed
Typical entry education
Doctoral or professional degree
Preparation 5/5 · Extensive preparation
What this job is
Apply knowledge of general preventive medicine and public health issues to promote health care to groups or individuals, and aid in the prevention or reduction of risk of disease, injury, disability, or death. May practice population-based medicine or diagnose and treat patients in the context of clinical health promotion and disease prevention.
What they do day to day
- Direct or manage prevention programs in specialty areas such as aerospace, occupational, infectious disease, and environmental medicine.
- Document or review comprehensive patients' histories with an emphasis on occupation or environmental risks.
- Identify groups at risk for specific preventable diseases or injuries.
- Perform epidemiological investigations of acute and chronic diseases.
- Supervise or coordinate the work of physicians, nurses, statisticians, or other professional staff members.
- Design or use surveillance tools, such as screening, lab reports, and vital records, to identify health risks.
- Direct public health education programs dealing with topics such as preventable diseases, injuries, nutrition, food service sanitation, water supply safety, sewage and waste disposal, insect control, and immunizations.
- Evaluate the effectiveness of prescribed risk reduction measures or other interventions.
- Provide information about potential health hazards and possible interventions to the media, the public, other health care professionals, or local, state, and federal health authorities.
- Teach or train medical staff regarding preventive medicine issues.
Skills and knowledge that matter most
Skills
- Judgment and Decision Making4.2/5
- Complex Problem Solving4.2/5
- Social Perceptiveness4.0/5
- Coordination4.0/5
- Systems Evaluation3.8/5
- Systems Analysis3.8/5
- Service Orientation3.8/5
- Management of Personnel Resources3.8/5
Knowledge
- Medicine and Dentistry4.7/5
- Biology4.4/5
- English Language4.3/5
- Education and Training4.0/5
- Public Safety and Security3.9/5
- Psychology3.8/5
Importance rated by people working in the job (1 = not important, 5 = extremely important).
Education and preparation
Preparation level 5 of 5 — Extensive preparation. Usually a graduate degree (master's, PhD, MD, JD) and extensive experience.
Typical entry education (BLS): Doctoral or professional degree.
Highest education of people in this job:
- Post-doctoral training74%
- Doctoral degree26%
Who this job suits
Mostly Investigative
Ideas, research and solving problems
Social
Helping, teaching and caring for people
Conventional
Organising data, details and procedures
Based on the Holland (RIASEC) interest profile for this occupation.