Careers

Interview

Wing Cheuk Chan

Having worked in the Auckland region for many years, Wing Cheuk Chan has recently chosen a career pathway in Public Health. Read about his experience.....

An interest in prevention of diseases is what motivated Wing Cheuk Chan to choose a career pathway in Public Health. Having worked across the Auckland region since 2000 and as a Public Health Medicine Registrar from 2006, he feels he has found his career niche.

To become a Public Health Registrar you need to have completed a minimum of 2 years as a House Officer. Ideally they like their trainees to have had several years of other clinical experience before applying to the training programme.

The trainee post offers a lot of variety as we can rotate around the region and gain experience in hospital as well as non-hospital settings, such as University of Auckland, and Ministry of Health.

There is a real strong preventive component to the post, with an opportunity to influence policies and improve population health and reduce health disparities. The role is primarily office based with little patient contact. However, there are opportunities for out of office work. For example, being involved in an investigation of an outbreak of gastroenteritis affecting more than 120 people. To some extent the projects you are involved in can be driven by your own interest and the NZPHCT allows some negotiation on what projects and research you can be involved in.

There is a good sense of camaraderie amongst the PH registrars, possibly more than any of the other specialties. They all get to attend regional and national training days where they share outcomes of projects and learn from guest speakers.

Wing Cheuk's current colleagues come from General Medicine, General Practice, Paediatrics and Psychiatry. There is no "specific" pathway into public health medicine; it is mostly dependant on interest and personal experience.

The bonus for NZ trainees is they get some of their training expenses paid and they are eligible for a tax-free study grant whilst studying for the Master of Public Health.