Alistair Briscombe

Upon graduating from UNSW with a Social Work degree I began working in the area of HIV/AIDS. My first job was with a with the NSW Users and AIDS Association, a community based organisation working with injecting drug users. This was my introduction to population health approaches and through this work I developed a keen interest in community development, health promotion and policy writing. I later moved to the North Coast where I continued in a public health role as Coordinator of the Needle and Syringe Program, and later as the Team Leader of a Primary Health Care Service.

Keen to develop skills in my new found areas of interest, I began to explore opportunities for postgraduate study, finally settling on the Master of Public Health Program at UNSW. I was particularly drawn by the diversity of the Program offered there. Its Centre for Public Health incorporates three schools - Medical Education, Community Medicine and Health Services Management, and offers a comprehensive range of courses. UNSW had the further advantage of offering the MPH through a distance education program. As an external student in a small town I have been impressed with both the quality of the distance learning materials and the support I have received from the staff at the Centre.

As an MPH student I have been offered more than just the opportunity to receive a high quality postgraduate education. I am currently on a five month placement in Vietnam, organised by the School of Medical Education at UNSW and supported by AusAID's Australian Youth Ambassadors for Development Program. My assignment, with an Australian non-government organisation implementing a dengue control program, has provided me with an exciting opportunity to work on a public health intervention in a developing country.