London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine

Saurabh Mamtani

What is your name, degree you studied and year you graduated?

MSc Public Health (Health Economic Stream), Graduated in 2022

Why did you choose to study with LSHTM?

Before coming to LSHTM I was working as a clinical pharmacist at a tertiary care hospital in India, being at the frontline I had the opportunity to learn and implement the practices aimed at providing high-quality care, but certain systemic issues hampered the delivery of the best health outcomes for patients. These were a range of issues including the unavailability of certain categories of drugs, lack of financing, and low capacity in the existing health workforce for healthcare delivery. It became apparent to me that these were in part consequences of the upstream policy design and decision- making that needed to be improved to achieve a desired shift in the health outcomes at the population level. This was the start of my budding interest in public health policy, and how it plays a vital role in the selection, planning, and financing of different health interventions at global, national, and sub-national levels. I also realized that I needed further understanding of public health principles before I can pursue my career in this space and for this reason, I decided to join the Public Health program with a concentration in health economics at LHSTM.

Can you please tell us a bit about your current work/research? Current job title and organisation?

Currently, I am looking for the opportunities to work in the public/global health policy roles where I can comprehensively apply my pharmacy and public health skills to create the constellation of two overlapping fields, improving population health. Besides, I am working towards implementing our idea from the Geneva Challenge.

Can you tell us a bit about the Geneva Challenge. What made you want to take part?       

Geneva Challenge is an international contest organized by Graduate Institute, Geneva for master students to develop innovative and pragmatic solutions to a relevant international development problem. This year the focus was on solutions to reduce poverty.

I came across this contest through a fellow classmate from LSHTM Dr Amit Mehto as soon as he described the contest and introduced me to the topic of alleviating poverty I was hooked to participate and work on it. The topic of 2022 was intriguing to me as coming from a developing nation I had a first-hand experience with poverty. I had felt that emotion of being trapped in the state of being poor and miss out on various opportunities that I knew I could grab if I had the resources. It is an unexplainable feeling of powerlessness.  The Geneva Challenge presented me with the chance to act and make a positive impact on society by helping to alleviate poverty and prevent others from experiencing the struggles that I have faced.

How did it feel to win the Geneva Challenge?      

On a brief note, I would say winning the Geneva challenge gave validation to my thoughts. It’s one thing to come up with an idea and developing it but at times you ask yourself questions like- is it worth it? Will it work in the real setting? Am I doing this right? After working relentlessly on our idea of increasing the access to social welfare schemes as a first step out of poverty, for eight months, such questions popped in my mind. But, when we won the challenge and got the support from the pioneers of the development sector, I felt validated, it boosted my confidence to another level and motivated the team to go on to the next step of implementation.

What were your favourite memories from your studies with us? 

There are countless memorable moments from my time at LSHTM. One of them is to stay up studying at globe room so late that me and my friend were the ones to close the building doors. I guess this is what LSHTM does to you, it makes you immerse into your passion to a point where you lose track of time.

What would you like to achieve in future?            

In the near future I aim to immerse myself in the field of health policy by leveraging the knowledge I have gained through my studies at LSHTM. The ultimate goal would be to attain a position where I am able to make decisions that create maximum impact on the health of marginalised population in my country (India) and globally.

Do you have any advice for students/recent graduates? 

LSHTM is not just an education institute it’s an incubation centre of ideas and collaboration. STAY CURIOUS.

Do you have any social handles (Twitter/Facebook Usernames) you would like us to use?

Instagram - Saurabh_Mamtani

Linkedin-  https://www.linkedin.com/in/saurabhmamtani/

Did you have to overcome any challenges to study with us?         

When you are a part of such a positive community you hardly feel like you faced any challenges.

How has your LSHTM degree helped you in your career?

A public health degree from LSHTM has opened the door to many diverse career opportunities for me. It has provided me with a foundation in health economics, epidemiology, and qualitative/quantitative research methods that I now feel confident to apply in my future work. LSHTM has also sensitised me towards the social determinants of health which I feel are essential for working effectively in communities to improve population level outcomes.

Amit Mehto

What is your name, degree you studied and year you graduated?

MSc Health Policy, Planning and Financing; 2022

Why did you choose to study with LSHTM?

I choose LSHTM due to its extensive alumni network across the globe, reputation, and research expertise.

Can you please tell us a bit about your current work/research? Current job title and organisation?

Between finishing my MSc and now I have worked on two projects as a Consultant and Project Manager. Currently, I am open and looking for full-time jobs in the area of health policy aiming to find work which helps to improve health equity.

Can you tell us a bit about the Geneva Challenge. What made you want to take part?       

During my MSc, I heard about the Geneva Challenge which is a global competition that invites master’s students every year from all across the world across all disciplines to come up with a theoretically grounded and implementable project on a theme.

This year’s theme was ‘poverty reduction’, which caught my attention and was a natural extension of the work that motivates me. I am deeply motivated by the desire to reduce inequalities. Poor health, being an important precursor to poverty in LMICs is my focus and also the reason why I decided to pursue MSc in Health Policy, Planning and Financing while working as a medical doctor in India.

How did it feel to win the Geneva Challenge?      

It felt great because it was something that we worked on as a team since February this year and some of the deadlines overlapped with our assignment submissions and dissertation. But I have been fortunate to have amazing team members whose collective efforts pulled us through and led us to develop a solid project and win The Geneva Challenge.

We hope to not stop at winning but also implementing our project in the summer next year – that feeling will be even better I suppose.

What were your favourite memories from your studies with us?

Sitting in the globe room until late and guest lectures like the one by Gavin Yamey.

What would you like to achieve in future?

To have contributed towards the reduction of inequities in healthcare access.

Do you have any advice for students/recent graduates?

I would suggest students to focus on understanding a concept, topic or idea in the context in which it sits, rather than just pure learning.

Do you have any social handles (Twitter/Facebook Usernames) you would like us to use?

Twitter: @AmitMehto_

How has your LSHTM degree helped you in your career?

It does give a solid platform both in terms of skills and connections.