Thinking Outside of the Box – Introduction

Inspiring the next generation of public health professionals

Today, the public health profession is becoming more and more popular. We are seeing many more public health programs being introduced in many more Canadian universities and colleges, and around the world. With the increasing number of highly trained professionals in the world more than ever, we believe that we can come together to inspire each other to collectively solve some of the world’s biggest public health problems!

As a celebration of one year since launching, we are releasing a blog series titled “Thinking outside of the box: inspiring the next generation of public health professionals”.

Public Health is “the art and science of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts of society” (Acheson, 1988; WHO). Public health is so diverse encompassing a number of disciplines including, but not limited to, biology, anthropology, public policy, mathematics, medicine, and even engineering, business and computer science. As public health professionals, we have been trained in one or more of these areas to “prevent disease and injury…work[ing] with communities and populations…identify[ing] the causes of disease and disability, and…implement[ing] largescale solutions” (John Hopkins). With today’s technological advancements, we have such a great opportunity to think about innovative solutions to solve public health problems.

Let’s inspire each other to think big, to question the way things have always been done, and use the opportunities and innovations in biology, medicine, business, and engineering, to solve big issues.

Throughout this month and the next, we will be featuring a number of inspiring individuals who have indeed thought outside of the box, including Brett Belchetz, the founder of Maple, WHO Director General Dr. Tedros Ghebreyesus, Dalla Lana School of Public Health’s inaugural Dean, Dr. Howard Hu, and a few others, whose interviews we are still working through! These great public health professionals will talk about their career path into public health and how you too can begin to think outside of the box with their advice and tips for emerging and established professionals – stay tuned!

As we roll out these exciting blogs, we want to leave you with this great quote on Dalla Lana School of Public Health’s website: “No field touches the human experience more than public health“.

You will find the blogs under this series here: THINKING OUTSIDE OF THE BOX SERIES.

If you think there are others we should feature on this blog, email us at hello@phspot.ca or comment below and we will be sure to get in touch with these superstars!

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