Faculty of Medicine

Engaging students in the bigger public health picture

25 September 2017

What you can expect when you study UQ’s Master of Public Health? For starters, our program – the number one in the Asia pacific Region - offers a global focus and a big-picture view of health in a changing world.

But don’t take our word for it – just ask esteemed Associate Professor Peter Hill.

Associate Professor Hill describes the MPH program as a dialogue between academics, industry and students, requiring constant exchange, questioning and reshaping of content and concepts to be real.

“Students in the MPH find the breadth of their engagement with health systems really engaging—the way it links to their lived experience and draws on unexpected areas of learning that suddenly make sense. We don’t just compare health systems from different countries or simply focus on selected disease priorities,” he says.

The physician and academic in global and Indigenous health has been with UQ for 25 years and maintains strong links with Africa, South East Asia, the Pacific and Aboriginal Australia, as well as with United Nations agencies – making him well schooled in public health at an international level.

Peter’s goal for the program is for students to experience some of the “aha” moments that have made his academic life so rewarding.

“It is that sense that you are making an astonishing and innovative discovery, and you can relish that excitement and share it. Then you suddenly become aware that there has been a very structured set of readings, discussions, interactions and insights that have brought you to that point, and realise the discovery is part of a much bigger conversation,” he says.

With his current focus on the development and implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals, now referred to as the Global Goals, Peter is exploring the need to engage the whole spectrum of development to make a difference in health. From water and sanitation, food and energy, gender equity and employment, sustainable environments and safe cities – this all-encompassing approach is the way forward for public health – and the perfect opportunity to get students thinking about health solutions on a global scale. 

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