The Public Health Educators in Medical Schools and Academic Public Health SIGs are coming together to host a joint online workshop focused on strengthening the academic public health pipeline, from undergraduate education through specialty training and into early consultant roles.
Academic public health is central to advancing population health, reducing inequalities, and strengthening health systems. However, recruitment into academic pathways remains fragile and uneven.
Across undergraduate medicine, MSc Public Health programmes, and public health specialty training, there is substantial variation in:
- Access to academic placements
- Visibility of academic role models
- Integration of research within curriculum competencies
- Support from Educational Supervisors
- Understanding and facilitation of Out of Programme for Research (OOPR)
- Local infrastructure supporting research within service placements
These differences likely influence whether talented individuals view academic public health as accessible, viable and attractive.
This workshop aims to:
- Identify and amplify enabling factors that support interest, access, retention and progression in academic public health careers.
- Generate practical, implementable actions at institutional and programme level to strengthen academic pathways.
- Produce a set of recommendations for wider dissemination and potential advocacy.
- Diagnose key attrition points and structural or cultural barriers across the academic public health pathway, from undergraduate education through specialty training and early consultant stage.
This workshop will explore the academic public health pipeline as a system, identifying where interest is fostered, where it falters, and what practical steps educators, supervisors and trainees can take to strengthen academic career development.
Guest speaker biographies:
Dr Iona Lyell
Dr Iona Lyell is a public health registrar currently out of programme for research at the University of Edinburgh. After completing Foundation Training, she was awarded an NIHR Academic Clinical Fellowship in Public Health in NW England. She subsequently went on to obtain a British Heart Foundation Clinical Research Training Fellowship to undertake a PhD. Her research is currently focused on using routine healthcare data to interrogate inequalities in cardiovascular disease prevention in healthcare, with a particular interest in variation between the four nations of the UK and using research to influence policy.
Dr Catherine John
Dr Catherine John is a public health academic whose research interests are in observational and genetic epidemiology, particularly in relation to respiratory disease and multiple long-term conditions. During public health specialty training, she obtained an MRC Clinical Research Training Fellowship to study the determinants of asthma and COPD, using genetic data alongside electronic health records (EHR) in longitudinal cohorts and biobanks. Since completing her public health training in 2024, she has been working as an Associate Professor at the University of Leicester where she continues to lead genetic association studies, with current interests in the use of whole genome sequencing data, risk prediction, and equity in genomic studies and datasets that will inform future personalised healthcare.
Professor Maggie Rae
Professor Maggie Rae CBE is Training Programme Director and Head of School for Public Health Specialty Training in the South West of England, and also the interim Deputy Regional Director of the South West Regional Public Health Team. A former President of the Faculty of Public Health, she brings extensive national and regional leadership experience, with a strong focus on training, workforce development, and public health careers.
