Training in Public Health (TiPH‪)‬ Training in Public Health

Episode 2 of our special series in partnership with the Faculty of Public Health where we explore one key question - What is Public Health?


It may seem like a simple question, but Public Health is no single thing. The aim of the series is to shine a light on the breadth of Public Health and the challenges ahead by talking to key figures in the field.


This episode we sat down with Professor Sir Jonathan Van-Tam. Sir Jonathan Van-Tam is a Professor of Health Protection at the University of Nottingham and the former Deputy Chief Medical Officer.

Jonathan completed his medical training at the University of Nottingham, where he became a senior lecturer. He joined SmithKline Beecham in 2000 as an associate director. He has over two decades experience in health protection and infectious diseases through his previous roles as the head of pandemic influenza at the health protection agency, chairing the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control expert advisory group on h5n1 vaccines and chair of the UK government’s new and emerging respiratory virus threats advisory group.

Professor Van Tam received an MBE in 1998 and was knighted in the 2022 New Years honours list. He was awarded the David Attenborough award by the Royal Society for outstanding public engagement with science. And was also awarded the Freedom of Boston award in 2022 by his local community.


CHAPTERS
(00:00) Teaser and Introduction
(02:40) Inspiration to go into a public health
(06:52) Jonathan's mentor in public health
(08:53) What is Public Health?
(10:50) Collecting public health lenses across sectors
(18:28) Translating public health across sectors
(20:25) Dealing with public attention
(25:00) Communication and analogies in public health
(33:42) Politics and public health
(35:50) Public health challenges ahead

(37:55) Jonathan's career regret

(39:50) One career tips for those training in public health

We launch a special series in partnership with the Faculty of Public Health where we explore one key question - What is Public Health?
It may seem like a simple question, but Public Health is no single thing. The aim of the series is to shine a light on the breadth of Public Health and the challenges ahead by talking to key figures in the field.
This episode we sat down with Dame Jennifer Dixon, Chief Executive of The Health Foundation, an independent charity in the UK that works to improve health in the UK. Jennifer is a former paediatrician and a leading expert in health policy and research. She has been awarded a CBE and a DBE for her services to the NHS and public health.
Before joining the Health Foundation in 2013, Dame Jennifer was director of policy at the Nuffield Trust, an independent health think tank. She also held senior policy positions at the Department of Health, the King’s Fund and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. She has published widely on health system performance, quality improvement, regulation and governance. She has held visiting professorships at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, the London School of Economics, and Imperial College Business School.
CHAPTERS
(00:00) Teaser and Introduction
(02:20) Day in the life of Jennifer Dixon
(04:16) The Art of Public Health Policy
(06:33) What is Public Health?
(07:57) What attracted Jennifer to Public Health?
(11:32) Reflecting on Public Health Training
(15:54) Health Foundation Harkness Fellowships
(20:19) What Public Health challenges are we not talking about enough
(24:00) Major conditions work at the Health Foundation
(29:28) Experience that changed Jennifer's career
(32:00) Career tip for those training in Public Health

A very special live episode we recorded at the Faculty of Public Health conference in London in September 2023.

We welcomed a guest host - Fatai Ogunlayi, a consultant in public health and former chair of the FPH Specialty Registrar Committee.

In this episode we explored:


How to navigate public health careers
The transition from registrar to consultant
Developing into a public health leader
Dealing with imposter syndrome
Networking skills



Dr. Amina Aitsi-Selmi

Amina’s first career was in Academic Public Health and she was a Consultant in International Public Health at the then Public Health Engand. Since 2016, Amina has worked independently as an Executive and Career Coach to doctors and global leaders. She holds a MRCP, MSc in Public Health from LSHTM, and a PhD that was supervised by Professor Sir Michael Marmot. Amina is also  an Honorary Lecturer at UCL teaching on the Social Determinants of Global Health and wrote an award winning book called The Success Trap: Why Good People Stay in Jobs They Don't Like and How to Break Free.

Dr Amina.com

The Success Trap: Why Good People Stay in Jobs They Don’t Like and How to Break Free eBook : Aitsi-Selmi, Amina: Amazon.co.uk: Books



Dr. Ahmed Razavi

Ahmed is a consultant in global health and the regional lead for South East Asia for the UK Health Security Agency on the International Health Regulations Strengthening project. Ahmed is a medical doctor by background and has previously worked across Africa, Europe, South East Asia and the Caribbean - working on global health issues ranging from mental health to infectious disease, with organisations such as the WHO, Chatham House, University of Cambridge, Public Health England, UK Faculty of Public Health, and Imperial College London

Dr. Naveed Syed

Naveed is a consultant in communicable disease control at the UKHSA with over 25 years experience in public health, medical education and health protection.  He has worked as a training programme director in the West Midlands and is CPD director for the Faculty of Public Health.

Naveed has worked as the first secretary for health at the British High commission in Islamabad, supporting the development of integrated disease surveillance and response systems. He is also an accredited healthcare mentor and honorary senior lecturer at Birmingham University.

This episode we sat down with Patrick Keating, an epidemiologist at MSF with over ten years experience in global health. He honed his skills across a number of experiences and roles including with the UK Public Health Rapid Support Team, research roles at LSHTM and a range of NGOs.

We talked about the life of a field epidemiologist at MSF, his thoughts on the skills needed in emergency outbreak settings and his thoughts on global health careers.

If you enjoyed the episode please leave us a review and follow us on Twitter @TiPH_Podcast for news and updates on future episodes.

This episode we take a deep dive into a lesser known area of public health. Field Epidemiology. We are joined by Dr. Obaghe Edeghere, deputy director at the UK Health Security Agency and head of the UK Field service. He explains what field epidemiology is and why it's so important in the bigger picture of improving public health.

We are also joined by Dr. Louise Coole, the head of the UK Field Epidemiology Training Programme. She explains what the key skills of a field epidemiologist are and the core components of the FETP and it's role in the public health workforce.

If you enjoyed this episode, please leave us a review and follow us on Twitter @TiPH_Podcast for news and update on future episodes.

CHAPTERS

(00:00) Introduction

(01:50) Obaghe Edeghere - What is Field Epidemiology

(04:10) Leadership attributes for Field Epidemiology

(06:52) What is the UKHSA Field Service

(11:31) The global field epidemiology workforce in pandemic preparedness

(14:40) Reflection on Field Epidemiology

(15:13) Louise Coole - Director of UK FETP

(15:40) What is the UK Field Epidemiology Training Programme

(17:57) FETP networks and outbreak response

(20:35) FETP deployments overseas

(22:13) The role of FETP programmes in pandemic preparedness

(25:57) The attributes of an FETP fellow

(27:28) Where FETP fellows go after graduating

(29:01) One career tip for aspiring Field Epidemiologists

This episode we are joined by Professor Martin McKee CBE, current President of the British Medical Association and Professor of European Public Health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
Martin is an active advocate for the health of the public and we cover wide ranging topics including Europe, upcoming industrial action of junior doctors in England, and personal and professional resilience.
Biography of Martin McKee with the BMJ https://www.bmj.com/content/350/bmj.h421n
Martin’s recent publications on the BMJ https://www.bmj.com/search/advanced/author1%3Amartin%2Bmckee%20limit_from%3A1840-01-01%20limit_to%3A2023-03-04%20numresults%3A10%20sort%3Arelevance-rank%20format_result%3Astandard
The textbook ‘Mastering Public Health’ for which Martin wrote the foreword https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Mastering_Public_Health_A_postgraduate_g.html?id=e7AYPJTJhC8C&redir_esc=y