A diverse career in public health

 

Besides the well known medical professions such as physician, medical specialist or researcher, there are a lot more interesting career possibilities in (global) health care. With these short interviews we would like to introduce other interesting, sometimes unknown, professions.

Let’s introduce

Ferko Öry lives in the Netherlands and is a medical doctor specialized in pediatrics but also in public health. His special interests brought him all over the world, where he worked at different levels of health care systems. Currently he is working at TNO in Leiden. His large contribution to the initiative PaceMaker, an organization that fights for the rights on health care of ethnic minorities, deserves special attention.

How would you describe your career path?

Currently, I am working as a pediatrician in the Netherlands. However, I spent twenty years in low-income countries. In Indonesia I worked in the field of public health and was responsible for a project to strengthen the local health services in Sulawesi. Living in a small fishery village taught me more than many textbooks. We always tried to strengthen the local economy. For example, we started a credit union, a cooperative shop and fishery cooperation. During a famine, we planted mango trees and supported the population with maize and rice if they took care for their trees. I think this collaboration between public health and the local economy is crucial.

I worked in several conflict areas for Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF); Cambodia, Rumania, Bosnia, Macedonia and Sudan (Darfur). There I realized that support of logisticians is the key for success. For the following six years I was a public health consultant for the Royal Tropical Institute in Amsterdam. Another three years I lived in Harare, Zimbabwe, where I was an advisor of the Dutch Embassy in the field of health, nutrition and population. Fortunately, I was able to collaborate with David Wilson, a professor in psychology who developed an effective prevention model for HIV/AIDS. I learned from him how to combine epidemiology, journalism and prevention sciences in one programme. The last ten years I have been working at TNO, developing programmes for children and parents to prevent antisocial behavior and psychological problems. Another chapter is the establishment of PaceMaker , a foundation working to improve the health of ethnic minorities.

What did you do to get to this point?

I have studied medicine at the University of Amsterdam and specialized in pediatrics at the Erasmus University in Rotterdam and the Hospital for Sick Children in Liverpool. I was a member of the Board of MSF for eight years and finally I was invited by TNO.

What would you tell a student who wants to head in this direction?

With respect to public health, I learned the most in small villages abroad. The everyday life of inhabitants taught me more than many textbooks, as health is a composition of economic, social, cultural and biological issues. I am grateful that I worked at village level, district level, provincial level, and at the national and international level. Public health needs stamina, a long time of working to learn the essence of epidemiology, coaching, collaboration, but especially how to work together. In public health, you need to study hard as the field of public health is so large. Even after many post-graduate courses, you never stop studying.

Furthermore, students should expose themselves to different situations. Dutch students could read the book Afrika is contagious from Steven van de Vijver (see the bookreview in Global Medicine 5) and should read about anthropology. Visit places, the only way is to discover yourself during these trips and experiences. It is rewarding and absolutely essential to learn about other cultures as this leads to mutual acceptance, respect and immense amounts of joy.