Written by Ember Hilvers, Information Analyst in Communicable Disease Surveillance at Public Health Wales
When I came into the masters I knew that I eventually wanted to end up in infectious disease surveillance (and/or research), and at the time, the absolute best thing I could do for myself was to work toward a masters degree in public health that had a strong background in statistics and epidemiology. This was a key reason I chose to study at the University of Birmingham.
Something I did routinely while studying on the MPH was research what kind of jobs actually existed for recent MPH graduates, and what they wanted in an applicant. If there was something they were all asking for, which I had the opportunity to learn during my masters, then I wanted to make sure I was doing that. In late March, during one of these regular searches, I came across an open position with Public Health Wales Communicable Disease Surveillance Centre that in many ways was exactly what I was hoping I would find as the start to a career in infectious disease epidemiology. It was an ideal starting position, and I felt it would have been foolish to let an opportunity like that pass. Not only that, but I was confident in my ability to say I was qualified and had the understanding and knowledge they were asking for. So, I applied.
The job I applied for is in Health Protection, so it should be no surprise that information we learned during the Health Protection module was highly valuable during the interview process (the first course of the two offered, especially), and in the job itself. The MPH also gave me a good working knowledge of health information, health informatics, and Stata, which I was able to speak confidently about during my interview. Additionally, the core knowledge and understanding developed in the epidemiology and statistics module is something I use daily in this job.
Overall I would encourage MPH students to take advantage of opportunities to attend lectures which include or address different types of technology used in Public Health, as this is often utilised on a daily basis in professional roles. Finally, I think it is important to say that I am always using the skills to find, critically evaluate, and confidently use information whenever approaching something new to me in work. More than anything else, that is perhaps the most relevant aspect of how the MPH prepared me for working in Public Health.
