Personal Statement:Public Health

TSR Wiki > University > Applying to University > Personal Statement Library > Public Health

Public Health Personal Statement

Since my second year of university, I have been steering my modules as well as work experience towards the field of public health. In my second year I was required to write about a topic of my choosing on HIV and I chose to discuss how Uganda and Swaziland tackled their HIV epidemics. Alongside this project I undertook an internship over a period of 7 months in a GUM Clinic where I learnt about various sexual health issues ranging from NICE guidelines on prescribing and rationing medication to learning about the ethical issues related to medicine. I saw the way in which health professionals, charities and other groups work together to improve patient care. I saw the importance of education in ensuring patients can make informed decisions about their sexual behaviour and bring about behavioural change. Then in my third year, I volunteered with Sexpression where I organised workshops, prepared presentations and networked to help educate young people about their sexual activity. Upon leaving university I initially was employed in various temporary admin roles. From these roles I grew familiar with time management, prioritising my duties and learning about the NHS, its politics and some of the problems facing its staff and the institution ranging from seeing how staff reacted and dealt with waiting list targets to seeing how policy decisions may effects them. In the evenings and weekends I would also work for various market research companies. One of these companies was Insight Medical Research. Working for Insight I recruited Key opinion leader of various medical specialties, asked people about their opinions on various public health issues ranging from fluoridation in water, their awareness of various health campaigns, to their opinions on NHS services in their area and as a whole. Working at Insight, I grew familiar with the role market research companies can have in collating information for health promotion and potential policy decisions.

I was fortunate to observe the PCT staff discuss policy decisions and engage in health promotion schemes and I was especially fortunate that it was during the peak period of the Swine Flu epidemic. I saw the staff study and track the spread of H1N1 in the borough of Haringey and ensure the dissemination of Tamiflu. Also, the database I created was used for disease monitoring and I saw how raw data was collated and studied and saw it progress to graphs and eventually policy decisions. I also was able to observe the PCT staff discuss policy decisions and engage in health promotion schemes.

From my internship I moved back into sexual health. I briefly volunteered with the Terrence Higgins Trust (THT) and then moved to Widows and Orphans as a community HIV mobiliser. I help to educate as well as mobilise people to make informed decisions regarding their sexual health and engage various and diverse communities. This role has been extremely rewarding since it has allowed me to not only engage with members of the public but also work within charities and learn about policy decisions. I also volunteered one day a week in a needle exchange. During my time with the needle exchange I saw firsthand the clinical, political, social and even environmental aspects of drug use and their effect in Hackney. I worked with a wide variety of clients and I gained further appreciation of outreach and keyworking with clients.

I know that the course at KCL would allow me to build upon what I learnt during my biomedical science degree. I believe that a MPH would allow me to learn the theory behind what I plan to put into practice. I think that this degree could not only potentially help me to progress further into the field of sexual health but may open new doors into industries like medical writing, health economics and the pharmaceutical industry. All of these are fields I have an interest in and I hope this course will equip me with more tools as well as guide me through whichever field I choose to follow

Universities Applied to:

• Unknown

Grades Achieved:

• Unknown

Comments

General Comments:

Comments on the statement: