Public Health SPOTlight Podcast

Tell us what you thought of this episode - send us a text! On this week’s episode, Sujani speaks with Brandon Kober, a community health nurse, who is currently pursuing his MBA. Brandon explains the role of a harm reduction nurse and discusses his own personal journey of discovering his career interests and how he got to where he is today.  You’ll Learn What working in the area of harm reduction m...

Tell us what you thought of this episode - send us a text! In this episode of Quick career tips, Sujani discusses job satisfaction.  Depending on which study or survey result you review we know that not 100% of the population is satisfied with their job. This number ranges anywhere between 50% to 75% for job satisfaction in North America. We know that many things contribute to job satisfaction. Wh...

Tell us what you thought of this episode - send us a text! In this episode, Sujani sits down with Alison McAlear to talk all things CVs and resumes. These documents are tools we all need in our careers, whether it's related to the public health field or not. Alison explains the differences and similarities between CVs and resumes and gives us some helpful tips on how to create successful documents...

Tell us what you thought of this episode - send us a text! On this episode, Sujani sits down with Jeremy Schifeling, a former LinkedIn employee in the Higher Education Team. Jeremy has devoted his career to helping students succeed in theirs. From recruiting top students at Teach For America to leading student marketing for LinkedIn, he’s touched the lives of millions of people just starting their...

Tell us what you thought of this episode - send us a text!  On today’s episode Sujani speaks with Shanna Shulman about informational interviews. Informational interviews are very important and key to a successful career, whether it’s in public health or not. Shanna gives us the rundown of what informational interviews are, how to do them, share her experience, and a whole lot more insight into the...

Tell us what you thought of this episode - send us a text!  This year, January 14th to be exact, PH SPOT celebrates 5 years. It’s unbelievable that 5 years have gone by already. Sujani created PH SPOT in 2017 after seeing a gap online for a career development resource dedicated specifically for public health professionals. Since graduating from her public health degree, Sujani spent countless hour...

Tell us what you thought of this episode - send us a text! Show Notes In this episode the whole team sits down to discuss the past year at PH Spot. Join Sujani, Kajanth, Lis, Janu and Kelsey as they talk about all their favourite from 2021 and what they’re most excited about the year to come at PH Spot.  You’ll Learn More about the team as they introduce themselves and talk about their role with P...

Tell us what you thought of this episode - send us a text! Today’s career tip spotlight is on setting public health career goals. As we prepare for the new year, Sujani shares her annual goal-setting practice, one she picked up when she entered the public health workforce. She talks about the importance of goal setting for your public health career (why she picked it up), how it has helped her, an...

Tell us what you thought of this episode - send us a text! Show Notes In this episode, Sujani sits down with Christine Plepys to talk about the variety of career paths that she’s had and how this has informed her work as senior director of data analytics. In a follow up from episode 34 with Heather Krasna, Christine describes the changing landscape of public health and the research that she’s cond...

Tell us what you thought of this episode - send us a text! Show Notes One of the top career advice you will receive, regardless of whether you are in public health or not, is to find yourself a mentor. A mentor is "someone who gives...help and advice over a period of time, especially help and advice related to [one's] job" ( Collins Dictionary ).   A mentor is someone who is typically more experie...

Tell us what you thought of this episode - send us a text! Show Notes In this episode, Sujani sits down with Elizabeth Loftus to discuss Elizabeth's options for her potential career in public health.  Elizabeth holds a BA in Health Studies and through this conversation, Sujani answers Elizabeth's questions about the field of public health.  You’ll Learn What drew Sujani to pursuing a Master's in P...

Tell us what you thought of this episode - send us a text! Show Notes In this episode, Sujani sits down with Julia Roitenberg who took on the role of Chief Nursing Officer at York Region Public Health during the COVID-19 pandemic. Julia talks about her journey from bedside nurse to having a doctorate in public health and much more. You’ll Learn Ways that York Region Public Health has integrated th...

Tell us what you thought of this episode - send us a text! This three-part career tips series is inspired by a blog post written and published in 2019 by Sujani titled: 3 strategies to build up your public health work experience, tested and proven by me . Today’s career tip spotlight is the third of these three strategies: tap into your network! Prior to starting PH SPOT, a common question that Su...

Tell us what you thought of this episode - send us a text! Show Notes In this episode, Sujani sits down with authors of the paper “Adapting to Teaching during a Pandemic” Siobahn Hickling and Gina Arena. Together, they talk about different models of teaching public health and what they have found to be most effective ways to relay information to students. You’ll Learn About the changing visibility...

Tell us what you thought of this episode - send us a text! This three-part career tips series is inspired by a blog post written and published in 2019 by Sujani titled: 3 strategies to build up your public health work experience, tested and proven by me . Today’s career tip spotlight is the second of these three strategies: offer up your skills! Prior to starting PH SPOT, a common question that Su...

Tell us what you thought of this episode - send us a text! Show Notes In this episode, Sujani speaks with assistant professor at the University of Texas Health Science Center and the author of Your Local Epidemiologist blog, Dr. Katelyn Jetelina. They discuss Dr. Jetelina’s career in public health as well as her motivations to share public health information in an accessible way on her blog your l...

Tell us what you thought of this episode - send us a text! Show Notes This three-part career tips series is inspired by a blog post written and published in 2019 by Sujani titled: 3 strategies to build up your public health work experience, tested and proven by me . Today’s career tip spotlight is the first of these three strategies: DO NOT take yourself out of the game! Prior to starting PH SPOT...

Tell us what you thought of this episode - send us a text! Show Notes In this episode, Sujani speaks with Assistant Dean and Director of Career Services at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health Heather Krasna about the public health workforce. They discuss the 3rd edition of 101+ Careers in Public Health, Heather’s co-authored publication that is set to be released in the fall. Heath...

Tell us what you thought of this episode - send us a text! Today’s career tip spotlight is on investing in your professional relationships, because, like in life, relationships take you far in your career. Sujani provides a few examples of how relationships have taken her far in her career, and follows up by answering the following two questions: Who do I build relationships with? How do I build s...

Tell us what you thought of this episode - send us a text! Show Notes In this episode, Sujani sits down with managing director of the Student Network and author of The Burnout Gamble , Hamza Khan to talk about the subject of burnout. They explore the ways that the pandemic has affected everyone during the pandemic, as well as the ways that healthcare workers and students have been impacted specifi...

Tell us what you thought of this episode - send us a text! Today’s career tip spotlight is on practicing being a good communicator of technical content. Communicating public health content to non-public health professionals such as decision-makers/management, communication team members, the public or statisticians and data scientists requires you to take the technical content that you are an exper...

Tell us what you thought of this episode - send us a text! Show Notes In this episode, Sujani sits down with Peel Region of Ontario's medical officer of health, Lawrence Loh to talk about what leadership looks like in times of crisis. You’ll Learn About Lawrence's work that he's been doing as a public health figure in the Peel region of Ontario during the COVID-19 crisis The difference between res...

Tell us what you thought of this episode - send us a text! Today’s career tip spotlight is on developing a non-technical skill: mastering the skill of writing concise emails. Writing concise emails that are short and to the point has been one of the greatest pieces of advice Sujani has received, and one that she tries to practice as much as possible.  Concise emails are very beneficial, not only b...

Tell us what you thought of this episode - send us a text! Show Notes In this episode, Sujani sits down with Meghan Haffey to talk about her journey from discovering public health to the present day, where she is a Doctor of Public Health (DrPH) student in the Health Promotion & Health Education program at the University of Texas, School of Public Health. You’ll Learn Meghan’s journey prior to...

Tell us what you thought of this episode - send us a text! Sujani sits down with Daniel Faber to talk about his public health journey. Dr. Daniel Faber started his professional career as a dentist where he developed as a clinician and entrepreneur. He started his dental practice from scratch, where he learned skills in business, marketing, branding and a focus on effective patient communication wh...