Definition of "public health" []

• The science and practice of protecting and improving the health of a community, as by preventive medicine, health education, control of communicable diseases, application of sanitary measures, and monitoring of environmental hazards. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "They don't have their act together, says Curt Furberg, a professor of public health sciences at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, N.C."
• "Some only see their health care provider when they're sick, and those with poor or no health insurance do not go at all, said Roshan Bastani, professor of public health and associate director of cancer prevention and control research at UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center."
• "In incidents over the past several years, the organization has barred journalists identified as unsympathetic, kicked out parents who were perceived as being impertinent, and asked security to remove a public health official."