Department of Health Sciences

Inspire a healthier future

A degree from the Department of Health Sciences provides the building blocks you’ll need for a career in health. Whether you’re drawn to community health, nutrition, fitness and wellness, or you plan to pursue a graduate degree to become a clinician, you’ll learn how to support people and strengthen the systems that help communities thrive. Degrees from the Department of Health Sciences blend compassion and thoughtful practice with science, preparing you for careers in health promotion, community health, wellness coaching, exercise physiologist, clinical support roles, or future graduate study in fields like public health occupational therapy, physical therapy, athletic training, and more.

Why study Health Sciences at NAU

As a Health Sciences major, you’ll explore the science of wellness, behavior, nutrition, and community health through courses and applied learning opportunities designed to prepare you for today’s rapidly evolving health landscape. With small classes, individualized faculty mentorship, and experiential learning that takes you into test kitchens, clinics, and communities, you’ll gain the knowledge and skills for a purposeful career in health.

You can build your own path with through degrees like Nutrition and Foods, Public Health, and Fitness Wellness, or take your allied health career to the next level with our Allied Health Practice and Leadership degree completion program. At the graduate level, you might pursue a Master of Public Health in Health Promotion, MPH in Nutrition, or Indigenous Health, or get a Graduate Certificate in Public Health. Whether you’re entering the field or advancing your career, NAU programs adapt to your goals and support your growth as a lifelong learner.

Core professional skills

As a degree from the Department of Health Sciences at NAU, you will be able to:

Allied Health Practice and Leadership

• Exhibit professional disposition and presence, including effective communication, ethical conduct, and a commitment to lifelong learning, in allied healthcare settings.
• Apply systems thinking principles to analyze and improve allied healthcare processes and outcomes.

Fitness Wellness

• Provide exercise Prescription and Implementation:  Establish exercise progression guidelines for resistance, aerobic and flexibility activity to achieve the goals of apparently healthy participants.
• Develop fundamental Exercise Counseling and Behavioral Strategies to help clients optimize the adoption of and adherence to exercise programs and other healthy behaviors

Public Health

• Demonstrate the use of basic concepts, methods, and tools of public health data collection and analysis to critically assess the health status of populations and current public health-related issues
• Design, implement, and evaluate community-based projects or health promotion interventions by applying the fundamental concepts of project implementation and appropriate methods to evaluate public health programs.

Nutrition

• Integrate current food and nutrition research into practice to develop interventions that will affect change and enhance wellness in diverse populations.
• Gain fundamental counseling/coaching, culinary, and research skills for nutrition professionals.

AI in health certificate options

• Employ critical thinking and problem-solving skills using AI to design practical, analytics-based solutions for real-world healthcare challenges using systems and equity perspectives.
• Evaluate and apply artificial intelligence and machine learning approaches in healthcare settings, recognizing appropriate use cases, limitations, and potential impacts on patients and populations.

Meeting you where you are

NAU offers both residential and online options, giving you the flexibility whether you’re an on-campus student, a working professional, or someone living in a rural community. With adaptable programs centered on people and purpose, you’ll gain the knowledge and confidence to innovate and improve lives, wherever you are.

Experiential learning

At NAU, you won’t just learn about health, you’ll practice it. Depending on your focus, you might develop recipes in a testing kitchen, develop and implement exercise training programs for real clients, or design community-based projects that tackle pressing health challenges. NAU's partnerships with health agencies connect you with internships and capstone experiences, while research opportunities deepen your understanding. You’ll share your work through presentations, poster sessions, and professional conferences, building a network of mentors and collaborators.

Dedicated support

You’re never navigating your path alone at NAU. Here, faculty mentors and a focus on career readiness help you grow into the health professional you aspire to be.

Guided by experts

You’ll be mentored by faculty who genuinely care about your success. With small class sizes and a collaborative, inclusive environment, you’ll have space to ask questions, build confidence, and connect learning experiences to your goals, all while having access to experts in the health field.

From classroom to career

Your future career starts here, supported by coursework, applied learning, and certification prep designed to prepare you for every step of your NAU journey. Depending on your program, you may prepare for professional certifications such as the American College of Sports Medicine Exercise Physiologist (ACSM-EP) exam in Fitness Wellness or certifications in Nutrition and Public Health. Master of Public Health in Health Promotion and Indigenous Health prepare you for the Certified in Public Health (CPH) exam while MPH Nutrition students prepare for the Registered Dietitian (RD) exam.