Meet Sarah Kelly - Master of Public Health 2020

| 28 May 2020

How did you come to be in your program?

I was about midway through my final year of my undergraduate degree when I became interested in the Master of Public Health program at Queen’s. I was a major in Health Studies at Queen’s, so I was already familiar with studying population health. I was extremely passionate about the social determinants of health, and the broader power structures that enabled health inequalities to persist. Of course, one of the main ways we see power structures creating health inequalities in Canada is through Indigenous health, which also piqued my interest.

I began researching how I could devote my career to reducing health inequalities in Canada, which is when I was connected with a public health professional who had travelled internationally with the Peace Corps and who now worked with the CDC. She had done a Master of Public Health, but she recommended I get work experience before going back to school. She told me it couldn’t hurt to apply this year, just to get a feel for the type of experience that a Master of Public Health program was looking for.

I did some research on Master of Public Health programs in Ontario, which is when I came across this program. I was not expecting to be accepted, but as soon as I received my acceptance letter, I knew this was where I wanted to be and that I couldn’t wait a few more years to gain experience.

What challenges have you had with the pandemic, and how did you overcome them?

For my practicum, I was supposed to travel to Nunavut for 10 weeks from the beginning of April to the end of June. Unfortunately with the pandemic, this had to be cancelled and I had to move back home. Aside from feeling like I had lost a once in a lifetime opportunity, I have not lived at my family home for an extended period of time since I was about 18, so five years ago.

It has been quite a difficult adjustment moving back, especially since my sister and I don’t have our own rooms or workspaces anymore. We’ve had to move into rooms that were repurposed for other uses, and I’ve had to create a makeshift workspace. It was a difficult adjustment in the beginning, but with some transformations to the spaces we have made it work. It also helps that I really enjoy my remote work, which is a scoping review of Indigenous adolescent sexual and reproductive health in the Arctic.

What are your hopes and plans?

Upon degree completion I hope to enter into a career that fulfills my dreams of reducing inequalities in Canadian health. Unfortunately, health inequalities in Canada persist, so there is a large range of jobs that I would be interested in doing. I would ideally like to have a career improving the health and wellbeing of vulnerable groups and at-risk populations. I would like to advocate for how gender, race, socioeconomic status, and broader social, cultural, and environmental structures interact to affect health and wellbeing throughout my career. My overall goal is to make a meaningful contribution to community health, population health, and perhaps, eventually, global health.

Post-Secondary Awards

Dean’s Honours List, 2017-2020

Volunteer Work

Volunteer Swim Instructor, SWAM, Kingston, ON

Provided free, personalized swim instruction on a weekly basis to children with cognitive, motor, hearing, and visual disabilities
Community Activism, Women March On, Toronto, ON

Attended and protested for equality at the women’s march

Promoted and educated others on intersectional feminism and systemic social inequalities of different minorities in Canada

Engaged with social media followers to bring awareness to the goals of the march

Employment

Community Project, Female Participation in ARC Intramurals, Kingston, ON

Co-led a social marketing campaign directed at female-identifying undergraduate students at Queen’s
Planned events promoting physical activity geared towards female participation in intramurals

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Meet Sarah Kelly - Master of Public Health 2020

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