Global Health Matters
A podcast on innovative & inspiring actions to achieve health for all
Global Health Matters
Encore - Global health career paths: learn, mentor, practice, repeat
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Global Health Matters is the monthly podcast from TDR, please subscribe. GHMs brings you topical subjects and insightful discussions with health experts from across the globe, including a focus on low-to middle-income countries.
Are you a professional looking to progress further or perhaps a global health student at the early stage of your career? There are so many routes to get into a career in global health, so this podcast episode discussion is with two career professionals sharing their knowledge of how they chose their path and giving clear guidance on ways to get the support needed to increase opportunities to make a difference in the ever pressing global health challenges.
Global Health Matters host Garry Aslanyan speaks with the following guests:
- Stephanie Topp: Associate Professor, Global Health and Development, College of Public Health, James Cook University
- Renzo Guinto: Chief Planetary Health Scientist, Sunway Centre for Planetary Health and Director, Planetary and Global Health, St. Luke's Medical Center
Stephanie Topp looks at how global health can support the next generation of thinkers and leaders, and suggests that networked capacity building and an emerging voices model is a critical example. Renzo Guinto wants to listen to different voices and challenge power structures to address the inequities that global health is trying to address.
Related episode documents, transcripts and other information can be found on our website.
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Disclaimer: The views, information, or opinions expressed during the Global Health Matters podcast series are solely those of the individuals involved and do not necessarily represent those of TDR or the World Health Organization.
All content © 2025 Global Health Matters.
Hi, it's Gary Slion, your host. We're now in our fifth season, with more than sixty episodes and counting. The conversations I've had with extraordinary leaders, public health practitioners, and academics remain as timely and relevant as ever. That's why we are bringing you Ancore releases of earlier episodes. Whether you're revisiting them or hearing them for the first time, I'm confident these stories will continue to shape the way you think about global health today. Be sure to subscribe so you don't miss any of the latest episodes. At a time when global health is experiencing turbulence transition and transformation, this episode serves as a powerful reminder of the passion and purpose that inspire a career in this field. Stephanie Topp reflects on how global health is a spacious, multidisciplinary space, and though trained as a historian, her years living in Zambia sparked a deep commitment to health systems and highlighted how her social science background is advantageous to understanding their complexities. Rezo Gintu shares the importance of mentorship in global health, expressing gratitude to those who have guided and supported him throughout his career as a planetary health researcher. This remains one of our most popular episodes. Please enjoy this Encore release. I'm your host, Gary Aslanyan. Thank you for joining me again. Before we dive into today's discussion topic, as you know, we are always excited to hear feedback from our listeners. Let's hear one latest message. Thank you, Peter. The conversation on decolonizing global health is ongoing, and I trust that this episode will further contribute to this important discussion. As many of our listeners are enjoying their summer break, we wanted to bring you an episode that would inspire and stimulate you to reflect on your own global health career path. There is a great diversity of professionals engaged in global health. From 21 to 91, they bring richness to this field. For this episode, I spoke to two emerging global health leaders, Stephanie Topp and Renzo Ginto, who shared how their views and approach to career in global health evolved over time. Steph and Renzo are both reflective thinkers, not merely accepting the status quo, but deeply questioning their own role in and their contribution to global health. Stephanie or Steph, as she's better known, is an associate professor in global health and development at James Cook University in Northern Queensland, Australia. Steph has been advancing in her global health career for the past 15 years, focusing on health systems both in low and middle-income countries as well as more locally in Australia. She has been recognized for her research contributions to health systems and policy. Steph started her career in a non-health disciplinary field, but quickly saw the value it could bring to deepening her understanding of global health challenges.
SPEAKER_03One of the reasons I was I sort of have been attracted to global health as an area of work because I think one of its distinguishing features is a concern for inequity. And I am not clinically trained. I am not a health professional by background. I'm a historian by background. And it is it is the inequity in health outcomes and specifically then access to health care that is why I feel motivated to work in this area.
SPEAKER_00Renzo Ginto is chief planetary health scientist at the Sunway Center for Planetary Health in Malaysia. He's also the director of the Planetary and Global Health Program at the St. Luke's Medical Center at the College of Medicine in the Philippines. In 2020, Renzo was recognized by the Tatler magazine's Gentilist as one of 400 leaders of tomorrow who are shaping Asia's future. Renzo's career focus has been on determinants of health and in particular environmental challenges facing island nations like the Philippines.
SPEAKER_02I'm from the Philippines, which is at the heart of the climate crisis, one of the most climate vulnerable countries in the world. The disproportionate impacts of climate change, especially on the health of the poor, the vulnerable, the children of today and in the future. This I think is a global health injustice that keeps me awake at night, that really animates my work even until today.
SPEAKER_00Steph's formative exposure to global health policy and practice occurred in Zambia, where she worked for eight years. She began her career as an intern and progressed to a project management role. During this time, Steph became acutely aware of the danger associated with positions of decision making without local accountability. This awareness was the catalyst for a career iteration. She became impassioned to contribute to global health, not as a decision maker, but rather to inform local decisions by generating trustworthy evidence.
SPEAKER_03And that experience resulted in a much more deliberate set of decisions later in my career about the sort of work that I wanted to engage in. Work where I was accountable not just to those who were funding or managing my work, but also to those for whom there were consequences of the work. And so that was one of the reasons that I decided to pursue a PhD, because I could see opportunities again, sort of drawing on those big picture skills, on my skills for abstraction, to think about ways to produce knowledge or curate existing knowledge in ways that were useful for those in a position of responsibility to be able to make informed decisions or more rapid decisions given the options.
SPEAKER_00The term global health has come under significant scrutiny lately for carrying a connotation of, and I quote, public health somewhere else. However, Renzo and Steph had to confront the tension between the global versus local and make a decision as to when is the right time to contribute to each sphere. They have been able to reframe their global health careers in a more inclusive manner by focusing on national issues with international relevance and applicability.
SPEAKER_02One important um crossroad that I've encountered is tension on whether I stay in the Philippines and, for example, receive my education here, uh gain more exposure uh in domestic public health versus gain experiences from abroad, for instance, pursue advanced education overseas, and really trying to strike a balance between the two. And I guess that's a major challenge for us, emerging global health practitioners, scholars, and leaders from the quote unquote global south. Because yes, we have um pressing global health challenges that we certainly can contribute in in terms of solving them, but also we still have the baggage of the local health problems. You know, tuberculosis is still a major challenge in the Philippines. Uh, universal healthcare is still not yet a reality for many Filipinos. And so, you know, I guess that's always a tension and a dilemma that I always encounter in my young career so far. Do I focus more my energies on international work versus domestic priorities?
SPEAKER_00I personally found a lot of parallels with my own choices between national or global careers. I found that global experiences gained at TDR enriched how I approached national issues in Canada. Following a rewarding career chapter in Zambia, Steph made the decision to return with her family to Australia. This was a critical career juncture for her.
SPEAKER_03Another came right on the cusp of having my first child, my first daughter, when I saw a job, I was at that stage still based in Zambia, and I saw a job advertisement for my current role, which is at James Cook University in North Queensland in Australia. And there the role was sort of very attractive in the sense that it was sort of at a level that I felt I was competent, but it would have meant, it did mean, a huge move for me and my partner from Zambia to Northern Australia, from an NGO work arrangement to an academic university appointment. And there were lots of factors that contributed to that decision. But a really important one was this desire to re-engage with the Australian health system and the inequities that I knew were manifest in the Australian setting and to be accountable as a citizen in my country for contributing to knowledge and research production that helped to address that.
SPEAKER_00The experiences Steph gained in Zambia gave her a new outlook on the health inequity present in the Australian health system. It further made her aware that self-reflexivity is a critical competency required by all working in global health. Decolonizing global health thinking is as much an individual as a systemic necessity.
SPEAKER_03I think in global health there is still a lot of us and them thinking and a lot of bipolar positioning of global north experts and global south recipients of expertise. It stems from many, many things, but uh a lack of reflexivity on the behalf of global north institutions and individuals about the way their own society and their own health systems also producing profound inequities is a contributing factor to that. I think one of the reasons they are not so reflexive is because global health, if you trace it, I mean the antecedents of global health are a colonial setup that had colonial powers sending medical doctors to colonized states to deliver expertise for various reasons in order to prop up extractive trade regimes. It's an uncomfortable history to reckon with in an industry that fashions itself as benevolent in its modern-day iteration.
SPEAKER_00Is there an aspect of the indigenous groups and how they feel about this?
SPEAKER_03I shouldn't speak on their behalf. I know that historically First Nations groups have not been particularly engaged in global health work. That may stem from a recognition on their part, positionality on their part, that they do not wish to engage in what is potentially perceived as neocolonial practices. But I think another potential factor is that they are so engaged with what is for them a day-to-day fight with the institutions of power in their own nations that that's enough. There's nothing left after they've been after they've done that.
SPEAKER_00In this response Steve gave me, it was evident that she practices the values and principles that she has written about in her research outputs. Each global health conversation is an opportunity to reshape power dynamics such that marginalized communities can have an opportunity to speak for themselves. As we strive for equity in global health, it is as important for global health education to become equitable. In my conversation with Renzo, he highlighted the opportunities he gained from pursuing his doctorate at Harvard. He is very cautious that this is not a privilege afforded to all. Acquiring an education from a leading institution plays an influencing role in future career positioning, networks, and opportunities.
SPEAKER_02And I guess the COVID-19 pandemic is now giving us some windows of opportunity, for instance, for online learning and bilateral exchanges. So those are some of my thoughts when it comes to global health education. There's still definitely a lot of inequalities, but certainly uh also emerging opportunities moving forward.
SPEAKER_00Steph reflected on the influence of one's primary education experience and how different disciplinary fields shape global health practice. Global health education, underpinned by biomedical approaches and sidelining social sciences, was a contributing factor to health inequity for steph.
SPEAKER_03Biomedical knowledge is the foundation of addressing health inequities, which I would challenge. I think probably if you look at the root causes of health inequities, they are not going to be solved with biomedical knowledge. Biomedical knowledge delivers more sophisticated and better health care. It does not solve the root causes of health inequity, which lie often outside of the health sector itself. And so an education that is more equitable in its spread of disciplinary capabilities that produces global health experts who can operate in urban planning, in environmental planning, in social service spaces, and who can inform decisions and work with decision makers in those different sectors in ways that have profound influences on those health outcomes are just as important as those in the global health domain who are operating in the formal health system to try to improve the quality of care for those who do become sick in the end. I think that global health education lacks sufficient investment in competencies that derive from the social sciences. My foundational training was in history, and in between my public health and my masters of public health and my global public health PhD, I did a master's in development studies. And the competencies that I derived from those two social sciences degrees are what I bring into play in my work on a daily basis. You know, competencies relating to thinking about management structures, systems thinking, political analysis, critical studies. I think if global health as a field even partially is interested in improving equity, then understanding the social and the political and the cultural landscapes in which those inequities thrive is absolutely fundamental.
SPEAKER_00In season one of the podcast, we explored the topic of science communication. My discussion with guests Natalia Pasternak, Imagine Fox, and Sonia Lohmann highlighted the need for global health professionals to be strong communicators. You may want to check that episode. As two excellent communicators, I wanted to gain Steph's and Renzo's views on whether communication should be a standard competency in global health education.
SPEAKER_03Communication is absolutely key, but is slightly different to the communication that goes into thinking about what this podcast is producing, for example. The kinds of competencies that enable people to be good communicators in different domains would be another capability, another area of global health education that I would advocate for. I think it's essential, and I think it is often a side thought or a belated career add-on when if it were embedded from the get-go, it could be hugely productive and serve both those involved in the health care delivery as well as the sort of more upstream components of global health that I was talking about would benefit from.
SPEAKER_00Renzo has been drawing on a range of communication tools to raise awareness of climate change and its impact on local populations. Renzo's research reached both professional and lay audiences as he believes only through collective awareness and action can the health of the planet and people be safeguarded.
SPEAKER_02In this era of not just misinformation, but a lot of noise and chaos and dissonance, I think the best communicators in global health are the ones that will, you know, triumph uh because uh communication is what will influence policymakers, will raise awareness among you know the public, and hopefully will affect lasting change in policy and practice in our field. There are a lot of new tools and platforms for uh global health communication, but there are also different styles of communicating. So, for instance, I love uh the power of storytelling in in public health, in medicine. We've been trained to discuss uh public health matters, medical matters in a very jargon-filled way. Uh and I think now we need to take advantage of new ways of communicating like storytelling, because stories do not just educate the brain, they also touch on the hearts of audiences, of listeners. So, storytelling films that do not just paint a gloom and doom picture, but really convey a message of optimism and hope. That, you know, these challenges, whether it's the climate emergency or the COVID-19 pandemic, they can be addressed. They're not totally insurmountable, you know. And we just need to work together and to really harness the innovativeness of the human spirit. Those are the kinds of stories that I want to tell more and more moving forward. Either through film or song. As you know, Gary, I'm Filipino. We love karaoke singing, and I think we should have more music. In short, you know, the sky's the limit in terms of the creative uh ways of communicating about global health, not just about the problems, but also the solutions.
SPEAKER_00For most of us working in global health, mentors have played an important role in our careers. I myself am not an exception. I had various mentors throughout my career and actually continue to draw on wisdom of mentors while now often find myself playing a mentor's role. I came to public health originally being trained as a dentist. One of my early mentors, who was in a senior leadership position at the municipal public health unit, helped me build on my training and recognize the policy and political dimensions of health. I doubt I would have realized so early on the importance of the political in public health without that kind of timely guidance I received. Supporting global health careers, especially those of researchers in low and middle-income countries, is a main focus of work we do at TDR. I've heard so many times from researchers who have been supported by us the impact mentorship has had in advancing their global health career in addition to their formal education. Significant investments that are being made each year in new mentorship programs for global health professionals, but their impact is not always clear. Renzo and Steph shared with me the difficulties in quantifying the value of mentorship relationships, which often extend far beyond pure professional gain.
SPEAKER_02I think mentorship can go in all directions. I remember I have a colleague from the Philippine Department of Health, uh, and he's more than a decade older than me, but he always tells me, Renzo, you are actually my mentor. I've learned a lot from you. And and so, you know, mentorship definitely transcends the boundaries of age. Another thing that I've had the pleasure of uh having is what I call an informal council of advisors, you know, because mentorship is time-intensive, right? And it requires long-term uh and sustained relationship building between the mentor and the mentee. But I think it's also important to know and to have a pool of people, colleagues, you know, senior leaders, etc., who you can easily send the WhatsApp to or you know, ring their phones if you have a question that perhaps is of particular interest and expertise to that person. And so I think over time, uh through through the years, I've created that quote-unquote circle of advisors. That's my encouragement. Find your mentors, but also create an informal circle of advisors that is diverse, you know, from different fields and disciplines, international, coming from your country, but also elsewhere, and from all ages, from the young to the young at heart.
SPEAKER_03It's played a huge role, both in on both sides of the coin, if you will, both as a mentor and as a mentee. And it's come from expected and unexpected places, the friendship with my Zambian colleague, and I would consider her one of my most important mentors, uh, primarily as a cultural mentor, but also as a professional mentor, operating, uh, especially in those early days in Zambia, in clinical spaces with which I didn't have a great deal of familiarity. And so watching her, emulating her, seeking advice from her in terms of understanding how to communicate, when not to communicate, and so forth, was really important. I'd also say though that being a mentor has been really important in my career, especially for helping me think through where my strengths are and what it is that I'm trying to achieve with my work. So when you're in this position of providing advice to people, whether it be academic or professional or otherwise, it's an exercise in reflexivity in the sense you're trying to abstract your own experience and explain what was useful about that for someone else and why it was important for you. And I've certainly come to know myself and my own decisions better, I think, through conversations that were catalyzed in a mentorship role to others. On a very basic level, too. I think taking on mentor roles has helped me grow into my career and just be more confident in myself and feel less like an imposter, which is something I fight on a daily basis.
SPEAKER_00Steph highlighted a very important structure for mentorship, that of network capacity building. Her experience of being part of mentoring network, such as the emerging voices for global health program, gave her the courage to challenge the prevailing power dynamics and rhetoric in global health. This program went beyond building the capacity of young global professionals within their institutional setting, to rather build their capacity for system-level change.
SPEAKER_03Global health is it's not a thing, it is a series of challenges that sort of revolve around these ideas of health inequities and health service or health system inequities. An age-old strategy in support of addressing those types of inequities that are always related to power is collective action. And from the perspective of how we can support a next generation of thinkers and leaders, then I think that networked capacity building that emerging voices models is an absolutely critical example. I continue to be so grateful for having an opportunity to participate in Emerging Voices originally as a fellow and then in subsequent editions as a facilitator or sort of in a planning role. We can't just support individuals in isolation. We need networks of emerging leaders. We need to provide them with proving grounds for discussion and debate that are, and I think this is really important, that are not trapped or tamed by the logic and the vested interests of universities or even like single institutions, which is where you typically get individual leaders emerging, right? So if you're only supporting the individual within a single institution, then the vested interest of that institution tends to shape the opportunities for that leader. In a networked capacity-building opportunity, those individuals are taken outside of their institutional home, their organizational home, and given opportunities to think and act outside of that in ways that create collective strengths, but which, like a university cohort, you know, and there are strengths of a university cohort, can establish lifelong relationships that inform each other's decisions and give each other strength in enabling them to draw on each other at different points in their career. So it replicates the cohort model, but it takes them outside of the vested interests of existing institutions that often have very specific priorities themselves. And I think without a strong network of leaders whose thinking has had an opportunity to develop beyond the priorities of their individual institutions, it's very difficult to achieve change, whether incrementally or more radically. Because we need that change to happen concurrently, in different places, in different ways that require people to be able to draw on these networks in flexible ways.
SPEAKER_00Steph and Renzo's journeys have a common tread. They are each highly motivated to address a key global health challenge and committed to gaining the breadth and depth of education required to alleviate these challenges. Their careers have consisted of multiple iterations and decisions made at critical junctures. With each their approach to global health practice has been refined and defined. The final question I posed to Renzo and Steph was to inquire about their vision for global health. These two emerging leaders mentioned humility, diversity, and justice as three core guiding values by which global health can be reimagined. If we as a broader global health community can embrace these, the possibility of an equitable global health system becomes an achievable reality in our lifetime. I will let Renzo and Steph explain it in their own words.
SPEAKER_03I don't have a vision for global health. So I want global health to be more reflective of the way it is ensnared with so many broader power structures that shape the way things are done in the field, both in terms of global health practice as well as global health research. And I want for global health to become a field where people are emboldened to challenge those power structures that because those power structures are equally the cause of the inequities that global health claims to be trying to address. So I want it to be a place where people are bold and a place where people go to challenge the root causes of inequities rather than a place where they become entrapped by those same structures that are causing the inequities.
SPEAKER_02Systems are creating disease and widening inequalities that if we do not address them and even transform them, we are facing a very high risk of just perpetuating them rather than reaching this quote-unquote new normal that we want. In terms of global health, uh, of course, we want it to be more inclusive and diverse in terms not not only of the people that work in it, but also the ideas and the solutions that are uh being um you know advocated and spread and implemented. Um, you know, especially now in this pandemic, uh, we're seeing lots of innovations from different corners of the world. We've always thought that quote unquote the north or the west are the only places for you know new ideas, new knowledge. And now you see countries in Asia, communities in Africa that are able to address local problems uh without perhaps external help, uh, but also taking advantage of local knowledge, uh, even indigenous uh knowledge as well. And so I think global health has to become humbler as well in the process, uh, listening to different voices, bringing in a lot of different perspectives and you know, people, especially young people. So these are just some of my you know initial ideas on when it comes to not just decolonizing, but reimagining global health. Humbler, more diverse, more inclusive, more just.
SPEAKER_00To learn more about the topic discussed in this episode, visit the episode's webpage where you will find additional readings, show notes, and translations. Don't forget to get in touch with us via social media, email, or by sharing a voice message. And be sure to subscribe or follow us wherever you get your podcasts. Global Health Matters is produced by TDR, a United Nations co sponsored research program based at the World Health Organization. Thank you for listening.
