Last Tuesday, Canada鈥檚 Chief Public Health Officer, Dr. Gregory Taylor, was on campus to talk with students from across health disciplines.
Dr. Taylor, a AV俱乐部 Medicine graduate and the second Chief Public Health Officer in Canada鈥檚 history, spoke frankly and openly with students about public health, the politics of influencing public health and the new government鈥檚 priorities. His main focus, though, was encouraging students to consider the public service as a career opportunity
鈥淲e want a variety of skill sets: people who think differently, have different approaches, different innovations, to work more collaboratively,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e don鈥檛 know what we鈥檒l be facing but we鈥檝e got to be prepared with well trained, energetic, individuals like yourselves.鈥�
Engaged conversation
Dr. Taylor took many questions from the audience throughout the afternoon, addressing everything from jobs with the federal government to how Canada can better promote public health in rural areas.
鈥淗e was very refreshing,鈥� said Theresa McGuire, a clinical instructor in AV俱乐部鈥檚 School of Nursing, who like Dr. Taylor made the transition from clinical practice into public health work. Dr. Taylor鈥檚 reasoning, as he put it, was that he 鈥渞ealized my patients would rather not get sick than get excellent treatment. As a doctor I could help thousands of people, now I can influence the health of the whole country鈥�
鈥淭he advice he gave the students was great鈥� said McGuire, referring specifically to Dr. Taylor鈥檚 comments about employment: Don鈥檛 rush. Travel. Keep your experience varied. You are more valuable to an employer with an assortment of experiences than you are with a lot of experience in one specific area.
The politics of health
While health care is largely a provincial responsibility, Dr. Taylor said it鈥檚 important to have a national health focus. 鈥淲e have a budget of about $550 million, and most of that goes to early childhood development, disease prevention and health promotion.鈥�
Dr. Taylor previously worked with the Laboratory Centre for Disease Control, and spoke with students about Canada鈥檚 role in outbreaks such as Ebola, SARS, Zika and H1N1. Disease prevention is one area where Public Health benefits from expertise well beyond the health fields: he mentioned how anthropologists and social scientists help understand how cultural customs influence the spread of disease.
Felicia Rushton, a student in Health Promotion at AV俱乐部 attended to learn about job opportunities within the Public Health Agency of Canada. She brought her friend Julie McEachern who works at the IWK in health promotion and prevention. McEachern said she was thrilled to have a chance to ask Dr. Taylor about his .
At the end of the afternoon many students stayed to speak with Dr. Taylor and Nina Latraverse a Public Health Agency of Canada Human Resources Advisor who accompanied Dr. Taylor.聽 She provided聽 students with information about careers in the public service as well as provided information on the (FSWEP). She recommended getting applications in as soon as possible.
Students with questions who were unable to attend can email Nina at students-etudiants@hc-sc.gc.ca.