The Division of Health Services and Management Research held an event for its Masters students to receive advice from experts in the field and network.

By Mr Shamim Quadir (Senior Communications Officer), Published

The Department of Health Services and Management Research (HSRM) recently hosted a careers event for its students on its MSc in Health Management, MSc in Health Policy, MSc in Food Policy and its Public Health MPH to help maximise the benefits of their postgraduate study.

Organised by Dr Raheelah Ahmad, Director for Global Engagement at the School of Health & Psychological Sciences and, the  event was highly welcomed as it offered a much needed in person (socially distanced) networking opportunity with peers and staff. The afternoon included talks from the Careers Service at City, current students and alumni of the MSc in Health Management programme, and academic staff.

In the first session of the afternoon, Dr Ahmad welcomed everyone to the event, and promoted the WC2 Network of which she is theme lead for Global Health, and opportunities for students to submit to an ‘elevator pitch’ competition for their dissertation topics.  

Estanis Bouza, Careers Consultant at City, shared the myriad ways support can be accessed from the Careers Centre by both students and alumni, emphasising the years of experience the Careers team have in guiding students toward their goals.

Dr Christian Reynolds, Centre for Food Policy, followed with his talk providing tips on obtaining positions in Policy roles, he stressed:

[Policy] ‘..can be going and working in municipal council governments, it can be going into the devolved governments or health systems, it can be going into international organisations.  Policy doesn’t mean just writing stuff, it means implementing and informing, and I take that much more broader view.’

Dr Charitini Stavropoulou, Reader in Health Services Research and Director of the Centre for Healthcare Innovation Research at City, provided a realistic view of doctoral study (doing a PhD) and discussed why masters students may want to transition to a PhD now or in the future. She said:

‘A PhD is effectively a passport to do research. It teaches you the kinds of methods you need to answer research questions, but most broadly it gives you the tools you need to do research in either an academic environment, in policy or in practice.’

However, she also stressed that a PhD is not for everyone, reminding her audience that recipients may not necessarily earn more once they have the qualification, and said:

‘What brought me into research was really curiosity, and that’s I think the main driver of someone who would like to do a PhD, but it does require resilience and it does require commitment’.

Greg Layther - Programme Director MSc Health Management, chaired the second session of the afternoon, starting with the ‘Successes and Bumpy rides’ segment in which current MSc in Health Management students who have secured key management roles since starting the programme shared their backgrounds and learnings.

Rachel Kearney with a Business and Economics background, explained how her work for the Health Innovations and Systems Change module of the MSc in Health Management led to the offer of her current job as Business Development Executive at MediShout.

Anna Somuyiwa discussed her management consultancy background, studying part time on the MSc in Health Management, negotiating a work-life balance and the valued support from her course tutors to help her secure a new role in regulatory research at the Centre for Innovation in Regulatory Science.

Alex Haines and Michele Massaro also talked about the Health Management Association, the first student-led academic association at the School that aims to create and establish an accessible resource platform for all current and former MSc in Health Management students of City, University of London.

After announcing the prize draw winner (Cynthiha Kiran Kumar) to co-host alongside with Raheelah at the WC2 network symposium, Professor Debra Salmon, Dean of the School of Health and Psychological Sciences said in part:

“I’m glad you’ve got a lot out of it, it was a really important event for us. Charitini, Greg and Raheelah have put so much effort into it so I’m really glad it’s been a fantastic success and we look forward to seeing you all again soon.”


Greg Layther (second from left) with Health Management MSc students enjoying a well-deserved pizza after the talks.

Find out more

Visit the Department of Health Services Research and Management

Visit the Careers Centre at City, University of London

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