Masters of public health revised

For more than twenty years, I have worked as a dental surgeon in the Armed Forces of Pakistan.  I have spent a great part of my professional life as a dental practitioner in some of the most challenging circumstances while working with extremely basic facilities at a community level.  I have also served a diversified group of people regardless of their socio-economic status.  Since HIV and hepatitis are highly communicable diseases that can be acquired through dental treatment and related procedures, I have created public awareness about its prevention through information dissemination by means of conducting lectures, video films and posters.

I have also provided information about the dental health status of the population and the inequities in health program.  In addition, I have shared my knowledge about the determinants of health and illness, strategies for health promotion, injury prevention, health protection and the factors that influence the delivery and use of health services.  I was also tasked to carry out a regular annual oral dental inspection at various community levels.  I assessed all the information that was gathered and prepared budgets, reports and recommendations for policy and program development.  These efforts led to the development of a school dental program in Pakistan.

I completed my dental studies in the prestigious, de’Montmorency College of Dentistry in Pakistan.  This is a high profiled and oldest dental college in my country.  My interest in the field of public health stems from the dental services that I have done for over two decades while serving the Armed Forces of Pakistan.  This job allowed me to focus on the treatment of dental ailments as well as on the prevention of dental diseases, related infectious and communicable diseases such as hepatitis and HIV.

The growing demand of my family did not enable me to perform tours of duty out side of my home city, Karachi.  Hence, I decided to take an early retirement from the Armed Forces of Pakistan.  Then, I worked in various medical centers and provided dental services to the Pakistan Telecommunication Corporation (P.T.C.L.) employees and their dependents.   P.T.C.L. at that time was a state run Telecommunication company employing over 60,000 employees.  Recently I also did volunteer work as a trainor for the Kitchner and Waterloo Sexual Assault Support Center.

Pursuing a Masters degree in Public Health is in line with my long term career goal of moving towards a managerial and strategic role in health care provision.  I believe that with the knowledge and exposure that I will learn in the University of Waterloo will enhance my skills as a dental surgeon and will provide me with a better grasp on the issues related to public health and disease prevention for a larger population.

Now that I have migrated in Canada, I would like to be an effective public health professional and achieve the health goals set forth by the Canadian health services.  I also intend to conduct a study that will lead to the improvement of health and development of the population-based prevention programs.

After successfully raising two intelligent and gifted children who are independently pursuing their college education and being a dedicated mother and a daughter and a happily married spouse for twenty years, I am now more focused and prepared to pursue a life long dream of earning a Masters degree in Public Health from a prestigious university.

I believe in the saying of C. Everett Koop that “health care matters to all of us some of the time, public health matters to all of us all of the time”.  With my passion, dedication and drive in achieving my goals, I will be able to complete my graduate program in the University of Waterloo and contribute to the disease control and prevention program of my community.