London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine

Educational/professional background

I am a registered nurse, public health physician and development worker from the Philippines. In the past few years, I have been involved in providing technical assistance to various national and local government agencies and civil society organizations in the fields of mental health, harm reduction for substance use, HIV/AIDs, and Disaster Risk Reduction Management in Health (DRRM-H). 

Research interests or career goals

After finishing my degree, I plan to continue my work in contributing to the movement to democratize health care and empower civil society as they engage the government in various health advocacies. In the long-term, I plan on working with the medical community by joining a university and influencing more health professionals to go into public health, or at least, adopt a public health perspective even if they choose to go to clinical practice. I also look forward to training a cohort of young public health advocates, local chief executives and school administrators who may not necessarily be from the health sector but have very strategic roles in terms of addressing health inequity in their community. My goal will be to maximize the things that I would learn from the program by mentoring multipliers who can help build the critical mass of advocates who have a deep appreciation on how health policy can be a tool to improve health outcomes.

Why I chose LSHTM/my programme

I chose to enroll in the Msc Health Policy, Planning & Financing to learn technical skills from two leading institutions in health policy: LSE and LSHTM. Having these skills and knowledge will allow me to substantiate my public positions and attempts to influence decisions through a technically-sound and evidence-based policy evaluation and analysis. The learnings from the courses/modules will allow me to engage effectively not only in the different stages of the policy process but also in ensuring that the laws are adequately funded and well-implemented.

Any extra information

I can specifically provide assistance to students coming from low-to-middle income countries.