Postgraduate Diploma in Public Health
Amy Proudfoot
After completing a Bachelor of Physical Education and a Bachelor of Commerce in Dunedin, Amy commenced work with the Cancer Society of New Zealand Canterbury West Coast Division as a Health Promoter.
The Cancer Society encouraged her to undertake the Postgraduate Diploma of Public Health as previous staff members had completed the course and found it particularly beneficial to their work. Amy was fortunate to have such a supportive workplace as often it is hard to find the balance between work and study.
Amy completed the diploma part-time over two years and enjoyed studying one paper at a time as it allowed her to be more focused on one topic rather than spreading her thoughts between multiple papers.
“The change to 15 point papers meant the subjects were more intensive but the greater variety and shorter papers kept me motivated. I enjoyed the mix of papers and while not all the compulsory papers would have been my preferred options, I found them really beneficial.
They taught me how to critically appraise research papers and helped me to understand the complexity around issues such as screening, which have been relevant to my work.
All of my lecturers were very passionate about their chosen field.”
View further information on Public Health postgraduate programmes at University of Otago.