My career: based on a fluke*…
Dr Julie Balen
School of Health and Related Research
The University of Sheffield
*a surprising piece of luck
Schistosomiasis
adult worms
definitive
human hosts
human body
Life cycle
freshwater
cercariae
egg in faeces
intermediate
snail hosts
miracidium
Neglected Tropical Diseases
- diseases of poverty
• African trypanosomiasis
• Trachoma
• Kala-azar
• Leprosy
• Chagas disease
PROTOZOAN
INFECTIONS
• Buruli ulcer
BACTERIAL
INFECTIONS
17+ NTDs
HELMINTH
INFECTIONS
• Lymphatic filariasis
• Ascariasis
• Drancunculiasis
• Trichuriasis
• Onchocerchiasis
• Hookworm disease
• Schistosomiasis
Schistosomiasis
• Chronic and debilitating parasitic disease
– 1.7-4.5 million DALYs lost annually
• Prevalent across 76 countries & territories
– tropical and subtropical areas
• Approx. 207 million global cases
~ 779 million people at risk of infection
• 843,000 estimated cases in China
• No vaccine available/in use
Schistosomiasis in China
Yangtze River
Yueyang
Changde
Yiyang
Changsha
Zhuzhou
Hunan Province
China
Legend
Capital city
City
Dongting
Lake region
Dongting lake region
WUYI
Rural village
LAOGANG
Peri-urban village
Kato-Katz stool examination
SYSRA Framework
No formal interactions
Linkage
Coordination
Integration
Partial integration
Shigayeva et al., 2010
General Health system
Stewardship
and
governance
Financing
TB control Programme
Stewardship and governance
Financing
Planning
Service delivery
Monitoring and evaluation
Demand generation
Planning
Service
delivery
Monitoring and
evaluation
Demand
generation
HIV/AIDS control Programme
Stewardship and governance
Financing
Planning
Service delivery
Monitoring and evaluation
Demand generation
Mounier-Jack 2008
Coker et al., 2010
Lessons learnt along the way...
& tips for success
• Field work can be fun... but it is hard work!
You get to work in fun and unexpected environments...
... in people’s homes & back
gardens
... in fields, along lakes, in car
parks & school playgrounds
… and more
... resources are
limited, so use
them wisely
... provide free health
services, give results &
offer treatment for those
who test positive
If you can, introduce new much needed simple,
easy to use technology for capacity development...
But, team members may not do what you ask them to...
... and neither will animals
Lessons learnt along the way...
& tips for success
• Network network network
– not only through conferences, meetings, policy forums, there
are also “new media” blogs, twitter
– write e-mails to people who may never reply! Keep writing,
eventually someone will...
– teach, tutor, mentor, volunteer, get involved in any way
possible
– this creates chances and opportunities
• be flexible & grab them! As you get more advanced in
your career, the opportunities decrease & different things
are expected of you
Some simple, yet key pieces of
career advice
1. Apply! Contact! Push!
(doors don’t usually open by themselves)
2. If it’s working, don’t necessarily change it
(though change can also be great!)
3. Grab all the opportunities you can
(you never know where they may take you)
4. Update your CV regularly
(and please, NO typos in there…)
5. Think BIG!
(Ladies, this includes you!!)
Some simple, yet key pieces of
career advice
6. Have a plan
(but deviate from it as much as you want!)
7. Reference letters count more than you may think
(… therefore choose strategically whom you ask to write them)
8. The world really is your oyster
(and you are responsible for nourishing it)
9. Mistakes happen
(learn from them and then let them go)
10. Hard work goes a very long way
(… but the flukes can make all the difference)
Lessons learnt along the way...
& tips for success
• Team work & collaboration is the only way in
global health
– requires good communication skills & self-knowledge
– especially in multi-disciplinary teams
– find out what motivates you & why, it’s the best way
to nurture your creativity & your unique contribution
– when you find a great boss & a team, stick with
him/her/it
– I have been lucky but there are plenty of unlucky
stories… !
What I wish I had known:
top tip!
 there is huge value in building up your project
management skills as early as possible
planning, scheduling, budgeting, leading,
monitoring, evaluating & RECORD KEEPING
Remember PPPPPP:
prior proper preparation
prevents poor performance!
Start reading project management books & brush up your skills
• A story of how I got here
• Field work can be fun... But it is hard work
• Lessons learnt along the way... And tips for
success
• What I wish I’d know...
• Q&A
Thank you!
My career story (so far): it’s been a bit of a fluke
I will reveal the details of how a “fluke” took the 22 year old me from the biology
laboratories of Imperial College to the Three Gorges Dam area in China, via an Australian
research institute, to the meeting rooms of top ASEAN officials, hopping around Southeast Asia and West Africa, walking through the corridors of WHO, and back to the UK 8
years later and then on to a lectureship at The University of Sheffield... I will compare
working on disease specific projects to working on health systems organization and
management, and will give advice on surviving as the only scientist in a multidisciplinary team of policy analysts, journalists, security scholars, critical theorists and
more.
Possible audience would be anyone interested in the interconnections between science,
medicine and policy in global health, and anyone keen to hear about fieldwork
experiences from remote villages in West Africa to major cities in South-east Asia.