MSc in Philosophy and Public Policy, 2010
Response Planning Manager, Public Health Seattle & King County
Before attending LSE, I worked in government relations for a private company. Prior to that, I took on multiple internships to learn more about public policy. After working for two years in the private sector, I moved to working for the City of New York, doing government relations and policy analysis for the Office of Emergency Management.
I undertook a Master's a LSE to learn more about health policy and to improve my ability to reason and make strong, logical arguments in favour of specific policies. Upon leaving, I spent a couple of months looking for work and was ultimately hired by Public Health Seattle & King County, albeit doing more emergency management and less policy work than before. That original position was a temporary one but I was kept on for three years and recently brought on as a permanent employee.
My day to day work is pretty interesting. I write emergency response plans, which help guide our actions in a disaster. I work a lot with city emergency managers within the County to ensure that our plans line up. I’m also responsible for managing one of the major grants we receive from the federal government that funds our work. When there are emergencies I tend to work long hours. I also serve as Duty Officer once every few months, which means I’m on-call 24/7 for a week.
The biggest qualities I need to be successful are patience, a sense of proportion, and the ability to collaborate with people from all different fields. Patience because everyone has other work they are doing and can’t always get what I need; a sense of proportion because emergencies happen all the time, but they can’t all be run-around-screaming emergencies; and the ability to collaborate because we don’t work in a vacuum. We also need to be able to reason and make good decisions, often based on limited initial information.
My path has not developed as I planned. I had hoped to leave LSE and jump directly into health policy. However, as an American, being gone during the debate around the Affordable Care Act was problematic. So many people were gaining solid health policy experience during that time, but I was late to the game. However, I know my time at LSE helped develop my skills so I can be successful in whatever work I actually do find myself doing and that’s a huge bonus.
I think that if you are interested in work in your home country it is crucial to spend the time while at LSE staying connected to that work. Whether it is finding a way to volunteer remotely, write articles for non-profit newsletters, or staying connected with leaders in the field, I think that is the best way to make sure that the skills you learn at LSE can translate into work in your home country.