By: Melissa MacKay, Posted: February 8, 2024
MPH student, Lili Van Camp, completed her practicum with Public Health Ontario during summer 2023. Her work centers on the concept of salutogenesis, which focuses on factors that support human health and wellbeing. Instead of asking “what makes people sick?” salutogenesis poses the question, “what keeps one healthy?”. Simply, the concept explores the origins of health rather than the cause of disease. Key concepts in salutogensis include:
January 3rd 2020, marked my return to work after the winter holidays. Up until this point, I had been working for five months as an epidemiologist at the Public Health Agency of Canada, within the Influenza and Emerging Respiratory Infectious Surveillance team. I had been responsible for monitoring emerging respiratory pathogens along with my work colleague and supervisor; a small team of three. 
A smorgasbord of national enteric outbreak investigations, video chats with accomplished epidemiologists, data visualization activities, statistical analyses, a COVID-19 surveillance rotation… What could this delightful array of experiences be? You guessed it – my virtual summer practicum with the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC)!
Congratulations to Steven Lam, one of three receipts of this year’s National Collaborating Centres for Public Health (NCCPH) NCCPH Knowledge Translation Awards. This award recognizes the efforts of graduate students in Canada for their outstanding work in knowledge translation.