The Public Health SPOTlight Podcast: stories, inspiration, and guidance to build your dream public health career
174 episodes - English - Latest episode: 2 months ago -Sujani Sivanantharajah from PHSPOT.org sits down with public health heroes of our time to share career stories, inspiration, and guidance for building public health careers. From time to time, she also has conversations with friends of public health - individuals who are not public health professionals, but their advice and guidance are equally important. The emotions, energy, and passion that comes from these stories act as a reminder that this space we’ve created for the public health community is a space that you can lean on as you navigate your career. We believe that to build a successful career in public health does not mean that it has to live up to a certain level of standard set out by somebody else...or that we need to burn ourselves out in the process. We believe that you can craft a career perfect for you, and your unique life. The message we hope to get across through these conversations is that building a career is not only about climbing up the ranks, but about crafting a life that you want, around your unique needs, and one that gives importance to your mental health, wellbeing, and building relationships and friendships: you can only do good in the world if you take care of yourself. Through PH SPOTlight, you will connect with peers you have never met before, and build relationships in a deep and meaningful way. What you will hear the most, from every single person is also passion. Passion to do good. Passion to advance human health and the human race. And a passion to share back with the public health community.
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Episodes
For students and new grads – a conversation with Career Education Specialist, Ken Lee
February 03, 2021 10:00 - 54 minutes - 37.5 MBShow Notes In this first episode of 2021, Sujani sits down with Ken Lee who is a Career Education Specialist at Ryerson University. His role is to specifically support students in the area of health. I love this conversation because the episode offers practical tips for students and new graduates. We really wanted to provide guidance to help navigate their careers. You’ll Learn What a Career Education Specialist’s role (also known as a Career Centre or Coop Centre) within a university is,...
Reflecting on one year of PH SPOTlight, with Sujani, hosted by Lathika
December 24, 2020 10:00 - 41 minutes - 28.4 MBIn this final episode of 2020, the mic is turned on Sujani as she gets interviewed by her friend Lathika about the one year journey of producing the PH SPOTlight podcast. In this celebratory episode, they talk about the past, present, and future of PH SPOT. You’ll Learn How Sujani is feeling about one year of podcasting, especially having launched PHSpotlight a few months before the pandemic started Sujani’s full story of discovering public health and her journey; Lathika shares her sim...
Inspired by the blog series_ What I wish I knew before I started my Master of Public Health (MPH) degree, with Sujani Siva
December 03, 2020 10:00 - 9 minutes - 6.63 MBShow Notes In this episode, Sujani talks about MPH (Master of Public Health) program prep! Applications for this graduate program are often due at the end of the year or early the following year. As students gear up to apply for the MPH degree of their dreams, Sujani shares two tips for those prepping for the MPH program, inspired by a blog post that we published in early 2019. You’ll Learn About the “What I wish I knew before my MPH” blog series published in 2019 Why this question was e...
A day in the life of a public health research coordinator, with Ama Kyeremeh
November 05, 2020 09:00 - 34 minutes - 23.6 MBShow Notes In this episode, Sujani sits down with Ama Kyeremeh, to speak about a day in the life of a public health research coordinator. Ama has worked in this role with an organization in British Columbia, Canada that focuses on women’s health. She takes us through how she became interested in the field, what a day looks like, and more. You’ll Learn Ama’s journey into public health How Ama gained public health experience early on during her undergraduate degree What a day looks like f...
Public health leadership in action, with Anjum Sultana
September 23, 2020 01:00 - 54 minutes - 37.4 MBShow Notes Today on the show, Sujani speaks about leadership once again. We introduced the topic of leadership in public health on the PHSPOTlight podcast in episode 12 with Nadia Akseer. In that kick-off episode, we committed to bringing conversations with more of our peers around the topic of leadership. We want leadership in public health to be a skill that you are constantly thinking about building on, as much as (if not more) than building technical or software skills. The conversatio...
Welcoming the Doctor of Public Health (DrPH) degree to Canada at the University of Toronto & FAQ session, with Erica Di Ruggiero
September 08, 2020 09:00 - 1 hour - 42.6 MBShow Notes Today on the show, Sujani sits down with Erica Di Ruggiero to talk about some very exciting news for Canada! In May 2020, the University of Toronto’s Dalla Lana School of Public Health announced the much-anticipated Doctor of Public Health (DrPH) program – the first of its kind in Canada. The DrPH has been a topic of interest amongst our PH SPOT community members for some time now. Last year, we published a blog post written by Harman Sandhu titled “Doctor of Public Health – Is...
Why all public health professionals should know how to design an infographic, with Sujani Siva
August 25, 2020 12:00 - 13 minutes - 9.18 MBShow Notes After writing the Opinion piece on the PH SPOT blog, The rise of infographics, and why I believe all public health professionals should know how to design one, Sujani wanted to get behind the mic to explain why she believes this. In this solo episode, Sujani tells you what infographics are, how infographics have been used in public health, and why public health professionals need to have excellent communication skills, including visual communication. She also encourages listeners...
A day in the life of a public health program evaluator, with Sameena Vadivelu
August 13, 2020 06:00 - 36 minutes - 25.1 MBShow Notes In this episode, Sujani sits down with a friend from her MPH program, Sameena Vadivelu, to speak about a day in the life of a program evaluator. Sameena has worked as a program evaluator in a local health unit and takes us through how she became interested in the field, her job application journey, what a day looks like, and more. You’ll Learn What is program evaluation? And how it compared to what she had anticipated it to be. How Sameena became interested in program evaluati...
Three tips for public health professionals starting out their careers, with Sujani Siva
July 21, 2020 14:00 - 14 minutes - 9.93 MBShow Notes In this episode, Sujani shares a presentation she did last year to the ThriveHire audience. Having recently found this video, and listening to it again now almost a year later, we felt that the advice couldn’t be any more important right now. So we decided to put it up here on our podcast, as well as a little bit about our Infographics 101 course that ties in with tip #3. So, enjoy this episode, brought to you by Sujani, from the past 😉 You’ll Learn Sujani’s three tips for publ...
Where will your MPH degree take you? Two lessons to mentally prepare for your MPH degree in the time of COVID-19, with Sujani Siva
May 19, 2020 09:00 - 14 minutes - 10 MBShow Notes In this episode, we’re talking about preparing for your MPH degree in the time of COVID-19. Some of you may be feeling unsure about how things are going to be when classes start. Perhaps you’re feeling some anxiety, or have many questions around whether your experience is going to be valuable. We’re here to tell you that these feelings you are experiencing are valid. This episode is to give you a bit of comfort and to convince you that despite the changes we must face, you can st...
Behind the scenes at PH SPOT with Kajanth and Sujani
April 14, 2020 09:00 - 44 minutes - 30.6 MBShow Notes This is the second episode we are recording since the COVID-19 pandemic. As we all try to navigate this new way of life, we at PH SPOT wanted to switch things up and produce a few podcast episodes that are different from our original show. In today’s episode, Sujani sits down with someone special. You may have heard his name in our intro episode, or in some of our email communications. If you guessed Kajanth, you are absolutely right. Kajanth, as introduced in our intro episode...
Navigating a Virtual/Remote Workplace During COVID-19 with Erin and Julia from CanWaCH
March 31, 2020 12:00 - 57 minutes - 39.2 MBShow Notes This is the first episode Sujani sat down to record since COVID-19 became a pandemic. And we know that it is a tough time for every single one of us. We are new to physically distancing ourselves from families and friends, and holding game night and coffee chats over a video call are just not the same…and we now have to adjust to having children and the entire family at home 24/7, and for some, the transition to working from home has been tough. We will be the first to say that w...
Fuelling your leadership drive in public health with Nadia Akseer
March 24, 2020 09:00 - 44 minutes - 30.6 MBShow Notes Leadership is fascinating. From the way movements are formed by a single individual to how that single individual is able to inspire change amongst others. Undoubtedly, we can argue that leadership is very important in public health. In thinking about how we, as public health practitioners, can ensure that leadership is a skill that we constantly think about building on, we want to have conversations with our peers so that we can not only be reminded of our roles as leaders, but...
Pushing past your comfort zone in your public health career with James Flint
March 17, 2020 09:00 - 30 minutes - 21.2 MBShow Notes You’ve probably heard of the saying “growth and change lies outside of your comfort zone”, and this is true for our careers too. To advance in our careers, we need to do things that we are not comfortable with, whether that’s standing up and presenting at a large meeting, saying yes to a project that scares us, or perhaps even pushing a little bit more than usual, and relocating to a new city or even country for a public health experience you wouldn’t have otherwise gotten. On t...
Career advancement & family life: perspectives from a Medical Officer of Health with Lawrence Loh
March 10, 2020 09:00 - 43 minutes - 29.9 MBWe launched the Career Advancement and Family Life series in the last episode with our guest Lathika Laguwaran. We are big believers here at PH SPOT of learning from those who have done something before us and using their lessons and experiences to craft our own path. We want to share the stories of public health professionals at various phases of their lives and careers to get a glimpse into their way of life and thinking. We hope you will reach out to us and share your perspectives and exp...
Career advancement & family life: perspectives from a global health research manager, with Lathika Laguwaran
March 03, 2020 10:00 - 45 minutes - 31.3 MBFamily life and career advancement is a topic that deserves more than just one episode so we are committing to bringing you different perspectives on this podcast. We are big believers here at PH SPOT of learning from those who have done something before us, and using their lessons and experiences to craft our own path based on our unique situations. We want to share the stories of public health professionals at various phases of their lives and careers to get a glimpse into their way of lif...
Why I will not be applying to medical school, with Sophiya Garasia
February 26, 2020 10:00 - 28 minutes - 19.8 MBAt some point in time we have all been in a position where we ponder on what our next step is going to be in our career journey. Sophiya Garasia faced a similar inflection point where she was trying to identify her next step after her degree in public health. In her search through self reflection, she discovered that medical school was not for her. She shared this introspection via the post “Why I will not be applying for medical school” that she wrote for the PH SPOT blog a few years ago....
What it's like to be a public health consultant with Stephanie Hodges from Nourished Principles
February 18, 2020 10:00 - 51 minutes - 35.6 MBTo continue with our theme of public health consulting, we speak with Stephanie Hodges of Nourished Principles – a US-based consultative service that empowers individuals to make healthy, nutritious choices, and help communities, organizations, businesses, and schools to create healthier environments. Stephanie’s journey is different from that of Leah Roman’s (last episode guest) in that Stephanie decided to quit her full-time job to pursue consulting, while Leah took a different approach. ...
Contemplating consulting in public health, with Leah Roman
February 11, 2020 10:00 - 1 hour - 45.1 MBConsulting has gotten a lot of interest in the public health space recently. For many reasons, public health professionals have chosen to explore consulting and have built careers around it. We have even seen interest within our PH SPOT community, and have been asked for resources by you to help you take the first step. Until now, we were not able to provide you with any resources or support around this topic because we hadn’t found anything specific to public health. This changed last yea...
Public health job application tips from an HR Professional (resumes and interviews), with Kiriga Konalingam
February 04, 2020 10:00 - 1 hour - 41.6 MBToday’s episode is not with a public health professional, but rather a “friend of public health” – this is what we are calling the individuals who can support us with the services, advice/tips, and value they are able to share. Today’s friend of public health is Kiriga Konalingam, an HR recruiter who has worked in public health organizations hiring public health professionals. We wanted to bring someone like Kiriga on the show to talk about a topic we could always use some guidance on: job ...
Public Health Entrepreneurship Series with the team of ThriveHire, the career platform for global health
January 28, 2020 10:00 - 45 minutes - 31.2 MBI am so excited to introduce you to today’s episode because it marks the beginning of a mini series of episodes that will be a part of PH SPOTlight: The Entrepreneurship Series. It’s a topic that I am particularly passionate about so I am thrilled to have the opportunity to produce this series. The goal of the entrepreneurship series is to share stories of entrepreneurs in the public health space who are building great products. The hope is that their journeys will inspire you to think about...
Network like your public health career depended on it, with Sarah Martone
January 28, 2020 10:00 - 44 minutes - 30.5 MBNetworking is undoubtedly one of the most important things you can do to build your public health career, but it’s a topic that doesn’t get enough attention or training in public health. It is also an activity that most people don’t enjoy (at least the conventional idea of networking). You’ll be happy to know then that when we say “networking”, we are not only talking about attending large events to pitch yourself to strangers. To us, you are always networking, and it’s about more than meeti...
Field Epidemiology: what is it really like to be deployed across the world & tips for aspiring individuals, with Amalia Plotogea
January 28, 2020 10:00 - 38 minutes - 26.1 MBWe have Amalia Plotogea here on this episode; and Amalia’s name might sound familiar because you may have read about her experience being a surveillance officer in Bangladesh to support the World Health Organization’s response to the Rohingya refugee crisis on our Blog. I brought Amalia on the podcast to ask her more about her field epidemiology experience because you all wanted to hear more. She tells us about two different deployments she was on, which gave her two different experiences. ...
Welcome to PH SPOTlight with Sujani Siva
January 26, 2020 23:00 - 7 minutes - 5.51 MBIt’s January 28, 2020, and today we launch PH SPOT’s very own podcast show, PH SPOTlight. In this first episode, Sujani Siva (the host of the show) tells you about herself, PH SPOT, and PH SPOTlight, and what this podcast means to us. In future episodes, Sujani sits down with public health heroes of our time to share career stories, inspiration, and guidance for building public health careers. From time to time, she also has conversations with friends of public health – individuals who are...