Recap: How did we get here? What’s going on in the public health workforce?
Because recapitulating (summarising) has nothing to do with capitulating (surrendering)
Welcome!
Welcome to all our new readers now joining us through Substack!
✅ If you are looking for honest talk about what it’s like to work in public health, then you have come to the right place.
❌ If you want sugar-coating and ego massage, then you have come to the wrong place. I am committed to telling it like it is, without any of the BS.
Introduction
Since we have so many new subscribers, perhaps I ought to start off by introducing myself:
I am Katie Schenk, a PhD public health scientist and epidemiologist who is passionate about building the public health workforce. My academic training was at the University of Oxford and London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. My frontline fieldwork as an infectious disease epidemiologist and public health scientist has been focussed at rural and peri-urban sites in Eastern and Southern Africa, and at State and local public health departments in the United States of America. I am currently based in Washington DC, where I run my public health consulting business. My work has been featured on CNN, NPR, BBC World Service, STAT, Scientific American, and major academic journals of peer-reviewed scientific research.
I am an experienced and versatile epidemiologist and public health informatics specialist with a proven track record of implementing and evaluating community-based interventions for infectious disease epidemics globally. I have extensive experience in the field, including working on the frontlines of the COVID-19 emergency response for government health departments in the US. My expertise includes surveillance, case investigation, outbreak response, data analysis, and public health informatics. Prior to this, I conducted rigorous mixed-methods social and behavioural research on HIV among marginalized communities in rural and peri-urban areas across Southern and Eastern Africa. These days, I’m usually located in 🇺🇸, although my spelling is mostly 🇬🇧. I’m variously identified with 🇬🇧 🇦🇹 🇮🇱 and my work experience has historically been focussed in 🇿🇲 🇿🇼 🇰🇪 🇿🇦 🇺🇬.
I believe that #publichealthmatters, that #covidisnotover, that #weshouldallbefeminists, and that #publichealth IS #globalhealth. I am passionate about using real world #data to work towards #healthequity and #datamodernization, in order to prioritise the most vulnerable and marginalised among us. I build community and conversation among public health professionals.
If you want to know more about my experience as a public health scientist and my motivations in starting this column, you can also follow me on LinkedIn. I’m always learning, so please let me know if you have any advice for how I should be doing this all better. I’m going to start off by putting all of this information into the About section!
Photo of Dr Katie D Schenk, courtesy of Secta.AI
I’ll leave it to you to judge whether I really look like this or whether this is just how I want my readers to think I look. Also why do I appear to be in a cage? Is there some subtle symbolism at play here?
Why “The Public Health Workforce is Not OK”?
“Insufficient funding for public health programs has been a long-standing problem. The COVID-19 crisis illuminated weaknesses in the nation’s public health infrastructure, including antiquated data systems, insufficient public health laboratory capacity, an under-resourced public health workforce, and the need for improved public health communications. These foundational public health capacities require increased, flexible, and sustained funding.” Trust for America’s Health
BUT I believe that better is possible! That is why I am here to work towards nurturing and reimagining what the public health workforce will become next. Please join me here and on LinkedIn if you think we could be doing better too.
For a year since Summer 2022, I was a contributing columnist at JPHMP Direct, where I published a series about the Public Health Workforce. I shared what it has been like to work on the public health frontline during the COVID-19 pandemic, and how these experiences have changed me forever. I continued to share lessons about the changing public health workforce and the developments in our sector, with the goal of generating constructive dialogue towards the nurturing and reinvention of the public health workforce. I particularly focussed on the experiences of public health professionals in the employment market as we search for new #publichealthjobs. The column generated some illuminated and energetic conversations within our private discussion group on LinkedIn at the Public Health Connections Lounge.
One year later, it’s time to grow and venture out on my own, in order to share my opinions from an independent platform. So here on Substack, I will continue the series of The Public Health Workforce is Not OK with some new instalments of original material on the public health workforce, which you can expect me to tackle with my hallmark combination of straight talk, constructive ideas, and radical transparency.
Expectations
In this column, I am committed to sharing information about the public health workforce and realistic, data-driven advice for building a career as a public health professional. I’m aiming to be useful and practical both for job seekers looking for #publichealthjobs and also for researchers exploring the public health workforce. My focus is on the public health employment market in the United States, but you’ll find that I also have experience and opinions about other locations too. I’m also open to hosting guest posts and collaborations with authors who have expertise on complementary topics.
Recap
Let’s start off with a recap of previous content that I have published in this column over the last year, in order to make it easier to find and to understand how we got here. I will list and link all the previous episodes below - please have a look and see what interests you. They are all designed to be read either in sequence or individually.
Moving forward
Earlier episodes of this column were originally published at JPHMP Direct. New original content will be coming out soon here at our new location on Substack. Subscribe to make sure that you don’t miss a thing! And if you find what I say to be valuable, please share it with another public health professional trying to build their career.
The Public Health Workforce is Not OK
Season 1
THE PUBLIC HEALTH WORKFORCE IS NOT OKAY: LESSONS FROM THE PUBLIC HEALTH FRONTLINE (originally published August 16, 2022)
In which I share my background and motivation for speaking out
PUBLIC HEALTH WORKSPACES: What it's really like in the places where we work (originally published August 24, 2022)
In which I offer a commentary about the daily circumstances of working in public health based on my experiences, including:
Data modernization
Workplace management and culture (dealing with toxicity and dysfunction)
Diversity, equity, and inclusion
Remote work
MENTAL HEALTH AND WELLBEING AMONG PUBLIC HEALTH PROFESSIONALS (originally published August 31, 2022)
In which I examine the mental health impacts of working in public health during a pandemic, including:
Exploring trauma and family impacts
Suggestions for interventions
ADVICE FOR BUILDING A CAREER IN PUBLIC HEALTH: DOES ANY OF IT REALLY WORK ANYMORE? (originally published September 7, 2022)
In which I break down the career advice often given to public health professionals and examine whether it is still relevant or useful (SPOILER ALERT: Not much!)
ATROPHY AND ADJUNCTIFICATION: CHANGES IN PUBLIC HEALTH EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES (originally published September 14, 2022)
In which I examine recent changes to the job market for public health professionals, including:
Entry level and early-career public health professionals
Mid-senior level public health professionals
The rise of contractual employment mechanisms
IT’S A JUNGLE OUT THERE: POWER BALANCE AND JOB APPLICATIONS IN PUBLIC HEALTH (originally published September 21, 2022)
In which I explore the ways in which power distorts fair recruitment practices for public health professionals, including:
Job applications
Job interviews
Communications
USING LINKEDIN TO YOUR ADVANTAGE: CAREERS ADVICE IN PUBLIC HEALTH IN 2022, PART 1 (originally published September 30, 2022)
In which I offer advice for building a career in public health, starting with how to use LinkedIn, and suggest some useful contacts and resources in our field
WHAT ACTUALLY WORKS?: CAREERS ADVICE IN PUBLIC HEALTH, PART 2 (originally published October 5, 2022)
In which I offer practical advice and suggestions for building a career in public health, including addressing academic choices
UNITY, COMMUNITY, IMMUNITY, OPPORTUNITY: LESSONS LEARNED FROM WRITING ABOUT PUBLIC HEALTH (originally published October 12, 2022)
In which I reflect on what I have learned about public health through writing this column, including the needs for:
Advocacy
Career development paths
Evidence-based action
Coping strategies
REBUILDING THE PUBLIC HEALTH WORKFORCE: A SUMMARY THAT WANTS TO BE A MANIFESTO (originally published October 19, 2022)
In which I offer a manifesto for public health summarising the practical recommendations I have made throughout this series, with separate sections aimed at public health professionals who are early career professionals, managers, and leaders
Season 2:
IT’S NOT YOU, IT’S PUBLIC HEALTH: Welcome to Season 2 of the Public Health Workforce is Not OK (originally published February 23, 2023)
In which I offer lessons for the public health workforce about community, mentorship, and advocacy
WHAT DOES JOB SECURITY MEAN IN PUBLIC HEALTH? (originally published March 8, 2023)
In which I reflect on my hopes and expectations for security, benefits, and stability within the public health employment market
JOB APPLICATIONS: HOW MUCH WILL YOU GET OUT OF BED FOR? (originally published March 22, 2023)
In which I reflect on how to decide which jobs are worth applying to and how much effort it’s worth putting into the process. Also some musings on academic job applications and how to push back on inappropriate requests for references.
DÉJÀ-VU AND DATA VIZ: THE JOB APPLICATION PROCESS (originally published April 5, 2023)
In which I lay it all bare to reveal data from my own applications process, documenting my job search through numbers and diagrams, and deriving data-driven lessons about ghosting and response time
HAUNTED HOUSE: THE UNACCEPTABLE PRACTICE OF GHOSTING (originally published April 19, 2023)
In which I examine how prevalent the practice of ghosting job applicants really is and how to react when it happens to you
JUMPING THROUGH HOOPS: SOME QUALITATIVE REFLECTIONS ON THE JOB SEARCH (originally published May 3, 2023)
In which I continue to draw back the curtain on my own job search by offering some examples from my experiences searching for #publichealthjobs
SUNRISE, SUNSET: A REFLECTION ON THE END OF THE COVID-19 PUBLIC HEALTH EMERGENCY (originally published May 17, 2023)
In which I reflect on the announcement of the ending of the US COVID-19 Public Health Emergency Declaration as someone who has lived and breathed it for the last 3+ years
Growing the Grassroots Power of Public Health: Guest post from the National Alliance for Public Health Students & Alums (NAPHSA) (originally published May 31, 2023)
In which Eric Coles, Heather Krasna, and Tameir Holder describe the work they're doing at NAPHSA to increase awareness and funding for public health activities.