This week, I had the pleasure to be interviewed on The Public Health Millennial podcast. I spoke with podcast host Omari Richins, MPH, about my path to public health and pharma. In the episode, I reflected on how receiving public health services as a child motivated me to pursue a career in public health. And then how the skills I gained in epidemiology led to my first job after training. We also talked about my current work in the pharmaceutical/ biotechnology industry.
Listen to the podcast episode here or watch it on YouTube here.
About The Public Health Millennial
Last month, Michelle and I were preparing for our panel discussion for biomedical graduate students in the E.E. Just Biomedical Society at Penn. I was looking for resources for students or professionals in public health. Oftentimes, there lacks relevant information for those interested in pivoting to the pharmaceutical or biotechnology industry. In my search, I came across The Public Health Millennial website.
The Public Health Millennial aims to provide a platform for undergraduates and graduate students as well as working professionals to improve throughout their public health career. In addition, the website shares resources for getting into graduate school, tips for success in a Master of Public Health program, and advice for career success.
The owner of the website is Omari Richins, MPH, who calls himself "The Public Health Millennial." He is currently a Community Health Fellow at the Mat-Su Health Foundation in Wasilla, Alaska. As part of his fellowship, he has worked on some of the foundation's activities in combating COVID-19.
The Public Health Millennial Podcast
Omari hosts The Public Health Millennial podcast to share resources for students and professionals to help them better navigate their public health careers. I was particularly impressed with how candid he was in the first episode about his own path to public health. He described how he considered a career in public health after attempting to get into medical school. In fact, I think that few students have exposure to public health prior to undergrad or even during college. They may only gain that exposure after exploring careers in medicine or other scientific fields.
On his podcast, Omari has featured an impressive list of public health students and professionals from around the world. They include a health policy analyst, the owner of a non-governmental organization (NGO), a nutritionist in the US military, and the creators of the Instagram platform @Doughnuts_and_Data, among many others.
A Meandering Path to Public Health and Pharma
In the podcast episode, Omari and I chatted about my personal background and what public health means to me. In addition, he wanted to explore my meandering path to public health from biochemistry as my undergraduate major. Perhaps, what struck him was the uncommon order I took in pursuing my graduate degrees. I pursued my MPH after I had already gotten my PhD in molecular biology. Of course, having expertise in a different field can be an asset for someone working in public health.
I shared with Omari how my current work, though in the pharmaceutical industry, has a public health focus. I am working in the area of personalized healthcare, and the goal is for the right patient to get the right drug at the right time. In particular, I shared how an epidemiologist can work in the pharmaceutical or biotechnology industry. In addition, I talked about the specific roles and responsibilities of the Data Scientist job.
Final notes
Lastly, Omari and I talked about topics similar to the career advice that Michelle and I share on this blog. He pointed out the section of my LinkedIn profile where I list the common misspellings of my name - just making it easy for the internet to find me! We also chatted about my favorite career development podcasts.
I want to give a big Thank You to Omari for featuring me on his podcast. He's doing a great job featuring and reaching other public health millennials. Actually, I'm on the older side of being a millennial; maybe calling me a Xennial is more appropriate (between Generation X and the millennial).
Anyway, doing the podcast was a really fun experience! And I hope you'll give it a listen!