Study Public Health at Otago

Brooke Craik:

Kia ora, my name is Brooke, and I am a Public Health student at the Department of Preventive and Social Medicine. I have loved studying Public Health at Otago.

I love the Dunedin campus and how everything in Dunedin is sort of structured and focused on students. I think, for me, Public Health has changed the way I view the world. It has really opened my eyes to the fact that factors in our society and our environments really impact our health.

It has made me realise that we need to take action to address these bigger issues—like employment, poverty, and housing—to have an impact on people’s and the population’s health.

I also think that studying Public Health is awesome because it opens up so many different career opportunities. You can go into epidemiology, health promotion, community development—the opportunities are endless. I think that studying Public Health is like studying for the future.

Fran Kewene:

Kia ora kotou katoa, ko Frances Kewene toku ignoa. Hi everyone, my name is Fran Kewene, and I work in Preventive and Social Medicine.

Yeah, I’m using a script today, just in case I forget my lines! So, I’m an academic in the Department of Preventive and Social Medicine, where you can come and study Public Health.

Public Health is all about people. It’s about communities, iwi, hapu, whanau. Te ao, he tāngata, he tāngata, he tāngata. Public Health is about changing the world collectively, one population at a time. We try to change the world for the better.

In our department, we offer a variety of ways for you to understand what Public Health is and how you might change the world. You can study subjects like epidemiology—yes, epidemiology! Well, guess what? Our epidemiologists from Otago helped the government make decisions on preventing and stopping the spread of COVID-19.

There are a host of other subjects you can study as well, such as public policy, Māori health (that’s me!), environmental health, health economics, international health, and health promotion.

Whatever paper you choose, you can major in Public Health in the Bachelor of Health Sciences degree, minor in Public Health as part of another degree, or take one or two Public Health papers of interest—your choice!

The people in our department work in health areas such as HIV, the recent COVID pandemic, climate change, and community development. Our people collaborate with various communities both within and across Aotearoa, as well as internationally.

We are strong Public Health advocates and fight for equity, social justice, and human rights. We value working together, and we have structures and systems that will support you if you come and study with us. Ultimately, we want you to be the best human being you can be.

By the way, I love Ōtepoti! The surf is good, and we have easy access to the maunga and the awa, the moana.

Anyway, I found my place here in the world—in the Department of Preventive and Social Medicine.