2011: New beginnings

THE MELBOURNE MASTER OF PUBLIC HEALTH

128 NEW STUDENTS The newly developed Master of Public Health (MPH) started in 2011 with both trepidation and excitement! Imagine the delight when the School surpassed 100 enrolments, the highest number enrolled on the program to-date!

In our first year, 128 students joined the program in total. Forty-four were international students from 21 countries. With such a diversity of international students, for many it was the first time in Australia at an Australian University. The Melbourne School of Population and Global Health (MSPGH) has continued to develop a cohort of global MPH graduates who demonstrate and deliver social and health impact enshrining the Principles set out in the World Health Organisation (WHO) Constitution of 1948.

44 STUDENTS FROM OVERSEAS

STUDENTS REPRESENTING 21 COUNTRIES

“Melissa was in place as MPH coordinator when the program began and it was Melissa who from that first year did a fantastic job of selling our program, improving it to deliver more efficiency and better accountability as well as adherence to standards and much more”. Professor Dallas English

“2011 was a very exciting year. The MPH Working Group, chaired by Professor Dallas English, had worked tirelessly to put together the new MPH. The first student orientation in 2011 was a one hour evening event on the 4th floor Hub of 207 Bouverie Street with food and drinks afterwards. Meeting the students and hearing of about their goals in studying the MPH and what lead them to join us was a highlight. I recall meeting two students from Bhutan and was humbled they had travelled so far to study with us. I spent part of the evening trying to advise them on where they could find bulk chilli supplies to make Ema Datshi (translation: chilli cheese) the national dish of Bhutan in which the main ingredient is chilli. This inaugural orientation was a wonderful start to my role as MPH Coordinator setting the scene for the next ten years. Meeting each the new cohort of students has been a highlight of each semester.” Associate Professor Melissa Russell

“I was the last cohort going through the multi-university MPH. I enjoyed every subject, with two in particular standing out for me. They were the Sexual Reproductive Health subject taught by Henrietta Williams and Evaluation taught by Rosemary McKenzie. Both teachers were amazing! Rosemary became a mentor for me and was instrumental in assisting me to transition careers from science to evaluation. I have moved into my chosen field and have worked in a Medicare Local, Royal District Nursing Service, Burnet Institute (Public Health team), Alcohol and Drug Foundation and now I am a part of the Centre for Evaluation and Research Evidence which supports both the Department of Health and Department of Families, Fairness and Housing. It is a great position and I work with an amazing team of professionals with diverse skills and experiences. We have a privileged position to be able to conduct evaluations that support the departments to deliver programs that benefit Victorians and also build the evaluative culture within departments through advisory support and training”. Jane Howard, Australia

“In commencing my MPH at the University of Melbourne, I had to leave my country and family and move to Melbourne, a place I knew nothing about. I started learning with peers, met teachers and experts in Australia, whom I would have never thought of meeting even in my dreams. I came to learn that almost every faculty had their own students’ clubs or associations but the School of Public Health did not. The thought of having our own reverberated in my mind and as many of our fellow students would gather in the Graduate Students Association (GSA) rooms I shared my thoughts with them. Nine of us went forward with the idea and by the end of the second semester, we had significant interest! Following up with the University of Melbourne Student Union (UMSU), I prepared our application and in February 2012 arranged a gathering in the Gryphon Gallery of the GSA to sign a petition to form the club in the presence of a UMSU official. We required 40 signatories and >100 students turned up! Our application and the Melbourne Population Health Student Association (MPHSA) was born! We formed our constitution, held our first election and invited our beloved Public Health Leadership and Management teacher (Professor Rob Moodie) an patron of the club. This was my last semester in the School of Population Health and in enabling the President’s role to pass to the newer students, I acted as an Election Commissioner to help the MPHSA to form its first office. The day we could form our club was one of many fond memories during my time in the University of Melbourne”. On finishing my MPH, I returned to Bangladesh, joining a government-private platform in infectious diseases and outbreak investigation research and surveillance, the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDRC). MERS-CoV and the Ebola pandemic were on the rise and our activities soon turned into country wide preparations working with the WHO. I contributed to the Field Epidemiology Training Program, declared as a Global Disease Detection (GDD) site for the US-CDC during my tenure. I am a founder member of the One Health Initiatives, Bangladesh encompassing several ministries, institutes, organizations at national and international levels including human health, animal health, fisheries, livestock and forestry. In 2016, I joined the Nutrition and Clinical Services Division in the International Center of Diarrheal Disease Research, Bangladesh (icddr,b) as a study coordinator and co-investigator of a large multi country, trial investigating antibiotic use on severe diarrhea in children (ABCD trial) working with the WHO and funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF). The ABCD trial officially has ended in 2020 and the trial proceedings are being published in peer reviewed international journals”. Muhammad Waliur Rahman, Bangladesh