London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine

Hello, I am Natalie, a medical student from the University of Hong Kong (HKU), who intercalated MSc Public Health for Eye Care in LSHTM. This was the “Enrichment Year” for us, where we were given the opportunity to do whatever we wanted (ideally pursuing our passions). As I wanted to experience life in London as well as learn more about ophthalmology, I decided to pursue this master's degree, which would allow me to achieve both.

A truly diverse cohort

I remember doing many self-introductions at the start of each module and soon we were acquainted with everyone in the cohort. Our cohort had 17 students; 5 from HKU Med (including myself), and all others from diverse backgrounds and occupations. Many students were ophthalmologists and optometrists from all over the world, including Japan, Saudi Arabia, and India. There were also scientists and medical students from the United States. It was quite intimidating as most students already had a career in ophthalmology/ research, and I was worried that they wouldn’t want to engage with us. However, throughout the year, I found them all to be very friendly and helpful when I was confused about the module content. It was also fascinating when everyone shared about the healthcare system/ eye care in their local situations and what they wanted to achieve after the master's programme. As we got closer, we went for a picnic once where the girls gossiped over dating and relationships; it was such a nice bonding moment.

My modules

Term 1 had three public health modules and three back-to-back course specific modules. To me, the most challenging but eye-opening module was Basic Statistics as I got to learn and apply STATA, a coding software to do statistical analysis. It was my first exposure to coding; I remember dreading the assignment but the professors taught us step-by-step on how to do it. It was quite rewarding as I slowly understood and started to code the language.

In my opinion, the assignments and skills assessed in Terms 2 and 3 were more intense than in Term 1, as we were supposed to integrate and apply the skills acquired throughout the year. The module Applying Public Health Principles required us to use STATA to do a meta-analysis to evaluate certain policies; Implementing Eye Care - Skills and Resources required us to design a one-year eye care plan to improve the situation in our local context, and to include a financial and monitoring plan. It was quite stressful as I do not have much experience in public health, but the professors were very encouraging and helpful when I had any enquiries. Just remember to start early on the assignments and you would have ample time to figure things out.

Study at LSHTM: The best decision I made

I chose this course in particular because I was interested in ophthalmology. While the course did have certain modules which broadened my knowledge on certain ocular pathologies, such as diabetic retinopathy, trachoma and glaucoma, it was equally fun to learn about the public health aspect of eye care, which constitutes more of the course. There was a particular lesson where we simulated how to improve the cataract surgical rate in a low-resource context - we even had a competition sorting plant seeds during the activity, so we could understand the importance of monitoring and adapting as healthcare officials are implementing policies. 

I understood more about the challenges healthcare policy makers face and the decisions they have to make daily to serve their population in the most efficient and effective way.

My summer project

All and all, I think I made the best decision to go to LSHTM to pursue this master's degree. I am currently working on my thesis, which is on the Prevalence and Risk Factors of Epiretinal Membranes in a Hong Kong population. Remember to start brainstorming your topic early, or think about what kind of research you would like to do! Is it primary/secondary research or a review? Where would you want to carry out your research? You would need to start applying for local/ ethics approval during your spring break. Don’t worry, your programme director (shoutout to Dr John Buchan!)/ supervisor would lead you step by step on how to approach it. Also, remember to make the most out of this year!

• Contact Natalie via our contact student ambassador page.
• Read 5 steps to get yourself settled in London as an international student.
• Hannah from Canada unpacks her transformative journey studying MSc Epidemiology.
• Discover MSc Public Health for Eye Care.