2019: Accelerating the future of public health

254 NEW STUDENTS

95 STUDENTS FROM OVERSEAS

STUDENTS REPRESENTING 23 COUNTRIES 2019 was one of the highest intake years of the Melbourne MPH with 254 new students starting the program. For many students starting the MPH, the welcome meeting holds many memories and a first introduction to the (then) Melbourne Population and Global Health Student Association (formerly known as MPHSA).

Leadership is a core component of the MPH and has become more of a focus with colleagues managing large teams and country collaborations. In 2019 the teaching staff were awarded a number of accolades for their leadeship and it was a wonderful year for recognition of teaching staff, Associate Professor Helen Jordan was awarded the 2019 Dean’s Fellowship for Learning and Teaching Excellence, Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences and is pictured below with Enes Makalic, Barbara McPake, Katherine Gilbert, Peter Annear.

At the end of 2019, MSPGH celebrated 20 years of making a difference in public health. The first school of its kind in Australia, the vision was to make a difference in the population and public health sphere, to advance public health in communities nationally and internationally, with a strong focus on Indigenous peoples. Articulating the success of the many programs and partnerships made over the tenure the timing also marked Professor Terry Nolan stepping down as the Head of School and the search for a of a new Head of School announced.

“The best thing about my MPH was meeting new people with an enthusiasm in tackling key social, economic and cultural challenges to public health. I specialised in Health Economics and Economic Evaluation. I also undertook subjects in health policy and biostatistics. I am now doing a PhD in health economics and genomics. I am interested in developing advanced simulation models to analyse individual patient care pathways and to evaluate the economic impact of new interventions for the healthcare system. I provide insight into the many activities that the School are engaged in working with partners across the precision health ecosystem and the future implications for health moving towards a model of more preventive health versus the current biomedical model.” Martin Vu, Australia

“I was desperately looking for a public health course after I led the Public Health Programs as a director of Child Health Division of Nepal Ministry of Health and Population, and I was undoubtedly looking for courses that can help sharpen my leadership role and definitely expand my horizon outside of clinical medicine. This dream of mine was fulfilled with the University of Melbourne’s MPH program, with courses like Foundations of Public Health, Global Challenges of Adolescent Health, Public Health Leadership Management and later Practice of Public Health Leadership. The last and the best one I did was Practice of Public Health Leadership which gave me confidence to lead Public Health in my country as the COVID-19 pandemic began, and motivated me to lead the efforts to save more lives with all the skills and knowledge I gained to practice with appropriate local level innovations and modifications shaping my career as a Public Health Paediatrician/Physician.” Dr Krishna Paudel, Nepal

“My role in the MPH teaching program is driven by my commitment to supporting and building our MPH students to be the next generation of evaluation change agents- inspiring, motivating and supporting evaluation thinking to inform decisions in practice. I have always used research-and industry-informed examples of evaluation in practice to expose our MPH students to real-world evaluations. My proudest moments are when previous MPH students inform me that the health program evaluation teaching or their research capstone project helped them secure leading real-world evaluation positions (e.g., Global Fund HIV Evaluation). I am also most proud of when I received the 2019 MSPGH Teaching Excellence Award in recognition of my innovation in teaching and learning in the field of health services evaluation. To be seen as leader in our MPH teaching program is a humbling experience, as teaching evaluation for me is part of a journey - where I too am learning about evaluation in practice - from our MPH students, guest lecturers and teaching associates.” Associate Professor Lucio Naccarella

“The public health workforce is vital to achieving SDG5. I love bringing our research to teaching in subjects like Gender and Health, Women and Global Health, and Preventing Violence Against Women – and our students are passionate about making a difference, bringing their diverse experiences to class discussions about what we can all do to empower women and girls and achieve gender equality” Associate Professor Cathy Vaughan

DEVELOPING EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS TO REDUCE SALT INTAKE IN CHINA

“I began my Master of Public Health in 2018 and graduated from the University of Melbourne in 2019. As an international student at the University of Melbourne, the biggest change for me was the language barrier, but it was still a great experience for me to study in Australia. I completed my undergraduate degree in China and decided to take a Master’s degree in Australia. At the beginning, especially the first semester, it was not easy for me to study in a different country, with the language barrier, different teaching style, and strange environment, as most international students encounter, but the University and School gave many supports. Public health was also a new area for me as I majored in Sports Science during my undergraduate study, but the MPH is an interesting and meaningful area. I chose many courses from different areas to gain insight into public health. The structure of the curriculum is also flexible and practical, which now helps me a lot in my current work. Compared to the students with work experience, I had difficulty understanding some points during my study, but I now apply the theories that I learnt in the classroom to my work. Outside of study, I travelled around Australia with my friends, I met so many people locally and internationally, so this is an incredible memory for me! I really encourage Chinese students to take an MPH in Australia, especially in Melbourne, such a cosy city! Currently, I am a research assistant at The George Institute for Global Health at Peking University Health Science Centre, one of the major centres of the George Institute. The George Institute is a leading independent global medical research institute with the mission to improve the health of millions of people worldwide, particularly those living in disadvantaged circumstances, by challenging the status quo and using innovative approaches to prevent and treat non-communicable diseases and injury. I am a member of the Nutrition & Lifestyle program in China, which mainly focuses on promoting a healthier lifestyle. Currently, we are responsible for salt reduction in China. There are two ongoing projects currently, one is called Action on Salt China, and another is called School-based education programme to reduce salt: Scaling-up in China (EduSaltS). I am mainly responsible for EduSaltS. Excessive dietary salt consumption is one of the risk factors for elevated blood pressure and other non-communicable diseases. And population salt reduction is considered as one of the best preventive strategies. After many years working in this field, our group has explored an innovation to reduce salt intake, which is to deliver a school-based educational programme among schoolchildren and their families. EduSaltS is built on our previous studies and aims to first deliver education on salt reduction via the existing school health education system in three cities in China. This research will involve at least 100 schools per city, covering a population of 3.2M (1.1M children and 2.1M adults) in rural and urban areas. Participating schools will be able to choose between the in-person educational package or the app developed as part of the ASC, depending on local context and preference. While the COVID-19 pandemic has led to delays, we have prepared the intervention materials and completed one of the study pilots as planned. We are planning to start the scale-up study at the end of November 2021. The final phase for 2023 will be rolled out nationwide in 2023.” Jingwen Sun, China