Adventures in Epidemiology • Lukyn Gedge
(Global Health Consultant || UK)
“I describe epidemiology as the who, what, why, when and how of disease. By its very nature, it takes into account huge swathes of people — a change in any country’s policy affects a lot of these people, hopefully positively. When I was 15, I did work experience with an HIV consultant at the Royal Free Hospital in London. After a few days I was majorly disheartened with being a doctor — mainly due to people’s neglect of the UK’s free National Health Service they had available to them — and by chance overheard a conversation about a group of patients responding well to a new medication. I Googled it, realized it wasn’t a licensed drug and questioned the consultant about it. Of course I’d heard about clinical trials but this was something really saving lives on a large scale and I was desperate to be a part of it.
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My interest in science grew from there, leading me to pursue a BSc in Biology followed by a Master’s in Global Health. During this time I became heavily involved in campaigning against the inequalities around the world surrounding access to medicines, and developed my specialties in science policy and epidemiology. I worked on the campaign for gender-neutral HPV vaccination in the UK where the government has finally agreed to vaccinate teenage boys, preventing around 1000 cases of related cancer each year. I’m currently working with the Indian government to develop a strategy for reducing Hospital Acquired Infections (HAIs), everywhere from local diagnostic clinics to state-of-the-art hospitals. Not only do we want to help save lives on the front line, we’re also putting in place the foundations to combat antibiotic resistance. I’m lucky in that I get to travel all over the world for work and meet really inspirational people. This year, I was on a Kenyan flower farm talking pesticide rotations, working in India on Dengue Fever prevention programs, and observing business culture in China. I always assumed science = doctor, but didn’t realize how much more there was to it than that!”
