Program: PhD, School of Population and Public Health
After completing my undergraduate degree in Psychology, I held a few different research assistant positions for studies that were focused on populations experiencing mental health and substance use disorders. While carrying out this field work, I was immensely humbled by participants’ shared stories of the structural and relational challenges they faced while accessing health services.
This quickly transpired in a commitment to research that could improve the quality of services for such special populations. UBC’s Faculty of Medicine, and the School of Population and Public Health specifically, was the most fitting program. It offered an opportunity to gain additional competencies in public health, epidemiology, and health services research, while being able to continue working with my supervisor, Dr. Eugenia Oviedo-Joekes, and other leading researchers in this field.
There are more than a few favourite moments, but in reflecting back on my more than 6 years at UBC, I think fondly of my experiences as a Teaching Assistant to the ‘Public Health Approaches to Addictions’ course. This class provided numerous opportunities to discuss challenging and sensitive topics in a supportive space, to engage in a critical self-reflection, and to develop new ways of seeing a problem. I won’t forget this class or the students who made for such an incredible teaching and learning experience.
Your research field is important, but it does not need to define your whole academic experience. Where possible, consider exploring courses outside of your specialization to broaden your scope of inquiry, skills, and network.
One of the key learnings of COVID-19 is that our public health care system is capable of rapidly implementing innovative public health safety measures, education tools, pathways to care, and outbreak monitoring systems. I hope that these pivotal public health strategies will be mobilized to address other emergencies, such as the ongoing opioid overdose crisis that has been increasing dramatically since COVID-19 began.
As I make the first steps in my path towards independent research, I am working to gain more expertise in research activities that engage multiple stakeholders and that build further evidence on person-centered innovations to health services for special populations. The first opportunity I have undertaken in this effort is a Post-Doctoral Research Fellowship with Foundry, a provincial organization that is transforming the delivery of services for young people’s health and wellness.