2013: Going global, expanding horizons

164 NEW STUDENTS

67 STUDENTS FROM OVERSEAS

STUDENTS REPRESENTING 23 COUNTRIES 2013 was an extremely busy year with significant changes including consolidation of teaching and research with the School moving from 12 centres, units, groups and institutes into 4 centres, one institute and two partnership groups.

It was during these changes that the Nossal Institute for Global Health became part of the School with the renaming of the new organisation as the Melbourne School of Population and Global Health (MSPGH). 2013 was a significant time in population health globally with the approved resolution for Universal Health Coverage (UHC) at the end of the preceding year urging governments to move towards providing all people with access to affordable, quality healthcare services.

It was also in this year that two new student programs were started:

• the international student exchanges and • the intercalated Medical Degree and Master of Public Health (MD/MPH).

The intercalated MD/MPH degree was introduced to provide medical students an opportunity to take the MPH in a compressed time frame and represents the shortest educational pathway to membership of the Australasian Faculty of Public Health Medicine, a chapter of the Royal Australian College of Physicians. The first year saw seven students enrolled. The first cohort were an impressive group who dived into the unknown, took a year out of their medical studies and are now emerging as leaders in their chosen fields, paediatrics, general practice, cardiology and public health physician training. Those that have done the MD/MPH are at a real advantage whether they go into clinical medicine or public health. Not only do they have greatly refined skills in research methodologies, but they are enfranchised by new skills in planning, project management and leadership, and by their broad and deep understanding of the local and global health systems they operate in.

“A strong motivation for me entering the MPH was the prospect of cancer epidemiology and how I could get involved in resource distribution in the health system. I was mainly thinking in Australia at that time, especially Indigenous populations, but when I got into the MPH and learnt so much about global health and met so many people, I realised the knowledge available is much broader than I previously experienced. It was a real eye-opener. I was immediately drawn to the course in Jamkhed especially and without a doubt it was life changing. I took that overseas opportunity to do an internship in epidemiology in India also and ever since then I have worked in global health. I look back on my time with the MSPGH as a time of great change and expansion which someday I would like to return to. But for now, I’m working on cancer control across all the Pacific islands, contributing to the NCD aspect of SDG 3, which is a huge burden of disease in the islands. The great thing about working across a large area with a multinational organisation is the networks that I have built to help reduce cancer incidence, SDG 17, and I have a role coordinating these agencies to work towards a shared multinational goal. I’m learning a lot more about gender equity and engaging with women’s groups in order to eliminate cervical cancer, a key WHO strategy and SDG 5. Lastly, maintaining a connection with the MSPGH has been really valuable to be able to call on the expertise available and catch up with old friends who also work in the Pacific.” Chris Bates, Fiji

“Having wanted to work in global health many years before starting my MPH, to me, it would allow me to combine what I had learnt and loved during my Arts and Science degrees, bringing together politics, sociology, cultural studies and languages with human health. It was the determinants of health, rather than health service delivery itself that interested me most and the MPH allowed me to explore that interest in a multitude of ways. I dived straight into all the global health courses offered by the Nossal Institute that my electives would allow. Not only did I get to delve into sex workers’ rights in Papua New Guinea, to understanding how health services were provided to all in Chile, to reducing harm related to drug use in prisons in Uganda, I got to study alongside fellow students from all over the world. It was this richness of learning from the University as well as my peers that built the networks and foundations for my future work. The determinants of health have continued to be my focus, especially environmental determinants of health. After my degree, I went on to work for WaterAid, leading their health policy, research, advocacy and programs across the Asia Pacific region, and spent three years seconded to WHO in Geneva to work on water, sanitation and hygiene in health care facilities. My work has focussed on how to best foster effective coordination and action across SDG 6, focussed on water and sanitation services, and SDG 3, focussed on human health. My fondest memories so far have been running into colleagues and working with them, especially at global events such as the World Health Assembly in Geneva. I never would have thought, only a few years after my MPH that I would be working with countries such as Zambia, Tanzania and Australia to pose a Resolution at the World Health Assembly in 2019 on water and sanitation services in health care facilities. Thinking back to drafting the Resolution with these countries, I had to lean on what I had learnt about health systems, how to strengthen them, accountability, and the global health architecture, all of which I had studied during my degree. The Resolution was successfully passed, and I also got to celebrate briefly with Tedros, the Director General of WHO! Recently, I have returned to my Alma Mater and am working in applied research at the Nossal Institute and have the privilege of teaching on some of the courses that I adored during my degree. It is an absolute pleasure to reconnect with former MPH friends, students and academics to inspire my next years of global health work ahead.” Alison Macintyre, Australia