If you're thinking of pursuing a career in public health
as a manager, as a leader, as an advocate, as an
influencer, rather than an academic researcher, then this is the programme for you.
The DrPH is a professional doctorate, which is intended for leaders or future leaders in public health.
So within the research degrees programme at the London School, we've been offering the DrPH
as an alternative to the PhD since 1996. Over the last 10 or 20 years or so, there's been a big expansion
of DrPH programmes around the world, and there are now quite a few institutions which offer
a DrPH programme. And so we're at a stage now where the DrPH is a widely
recognised degree, and as a doctorate, it is on a par with a PhD.
So I decided to come to the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine because it is
one of the most prestigious public health schools in the world.
This School has the biggest scope and the biggest remit
and looks at all countries. And it is of course a top-class institution, so I decided to go for the best.
The DrPH is an ambitious programme, it's in three basic parts. First part is the Taught Component,
it lasts approximately 10 weeks and is based in London.
At the moment, we feel that it provides really the best experience, so it's the one part of the programme
when students are required to be in London to do face-to-face work.
I'd say the School is a very inspiring place to be. The location of Bloomsbury is kind of the hub of
academia in London, so it's nice to be in the heart of that.
The students on the DrPH programme come from every part of the world. So in any particular year
we might have a dozen new students from a dozen countries.
So I think for students, one of the attractions of the face-to-face element, is being over a 10 week
period with a small group of people who like you, are passionate about making a difference in public health.
It's nice to be around people who have the same values and interests as you.
I've met a ton of new friends from around the world who share the same perspective of me and I've made
some lifelong friendships.
The great thing about the DrPH is that students who come to do the DrPH have extremely
diverse backgrounds, they come from all over the world. And they come from all sorts of different
backgrounds in terms of professional careers.
The second phase of the DrPH is the Organisational Policy Analysis (OPA).
And essentially what the student does in that second phase is they go and work in or with
a public health organisation of their choosing. We don't identify
the organisation for the student, but we help the student. When the student is there, they
maybe doing some work for the organisation, but they're also doing an analysis we hope of something
the organisation is concerned about of the way in which the organisation is structured and organised
and managed and/or the way that it is pursuing its mission to influence public health policy in practice.
It's a really great project in a sense that you use public health theories as well as organisational and business
management theories to really assess organisations. You gain experience in leadership, management and
it is quite an applicable way to become a public health leader.
In terms of my organisational policy analysis, I got allocated a position as a researcher at the
National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. It has been a great opportunity for me
because when I firstly arrive, I had previously a senior managing position and a preliminary interest in HDA.
And now, days after conducting the OPA and producing a paper for the ministry of health of my country
actually I got appointed as CEO of the Health Technology Assessment Institute in Spanish-speaking America
so it was like a whole thing meant to be.
After the OPA, the students move on to the third component of the DrPH
which is the largest component and that's the research thesis.
Now the research thesis can be on any topic covered by the School which is public health relevant.
If I were to give advice to prospective students, I would say "find an area in which you are interested
and use the School's website to find researchers who work in that area, do a bit of background work,
read their publications, see their topics of interest and then reach out to supervisors".
It's intimidating at first, but everyone is very friendly,
and if it's not them that will work with you, they can recommend somebody else quite easily.
In terms of applying for DrPH, the process is very similar to that of a PhD.
And essentially the key to success to those getting in the building is really to identify a suitable supervisor
who can backstop your research.
Normally the supervisor is chosen as the person who's most likely to be able to be the principle support during the thesis phase
but obviously that supervisor is also available throughout the rest of the programme.
And because it's a School-wide programme, there is a programme Director whose responsibility is to
ensure that all the students right throughout the programme have appropriate support.
I have a wonderful supervisor who I can't speak highly enough of. She's supportive and encouraging
and definitely some wonderful and brilliant people here at the School.
I think the School is so interesting because you have the naive romanticism of trying to save the world
and the other hand, the realistic constraints of the economic crisis, of budget constraints or capacity.
So it's all the time like trying to move between two worlds around the challenges on how to succeed and
producing incremental changes and improvements in public health, bearing in mind both those aspects.
I think that for young people looking to gain leadership experience, the programme is very helpful in that sense.
The ability to plan, the ability to analyse stakeholders, the ability to use strategies to move things forward,
the ability to become a policy entrepreneur, the ability to be a good leader, I would say
those are the ones I am taking back home.