Page 36 - Eclipse - Autumn 2015

Class notes & news from you
Daniel Karugu (2014)
Daniel is Assistant Director of the Department of Veterinary Services in Kenya. He received a Commonwealth Scholarship to study for the MSc Veterinary Epidemiology and Public Health by distance learning.
Tell us a bit about your work as Assistant Director of the Department of Veterinary Services, in the Government of Kenya:
Our work includes detecting and managing disease outbreaks. Speci cally, my of ce deals with developing programmes and strategies and contingency plans for diseases. I also do day-to-day work in risk analysis for imports and exports.
How did your degree relate to your job?
This course has helped me gain the expertise in perfecting risk analysis and management of disease outbreaks. Right now, we are working on a contingency plan for mad cow disease and I have been using the knowledge gained.
Did you have a favourite module?
I had two favourite modules. The rst was Management of Infectious Disease Outbreaks in Animal Populations, which was tailor made for what I do on a day-to-day basis, so whatever I was learning I was applying. The other was called Economics for Livestock Development and Policy, which was very interesting, because you could see how decisions are made that affect the livestock industry.
You balanced your study with a full-time job. How did you manage it?
The distance learning method is quite a challenge for people who are working. I found it very dif cult, especially when you are going home and you are tired. You always have a feeling that you want to postpone learning to the next day. I would advise anyone doing distance learning to plan ahead – if you’re going to do it in four years, how are you going to do it? And stick to those schedules. If you lag behind, you lag behind for good.
So now that you’ve nished the course, what are your plans?
I feel very con dent that I’ll be able to do a better job
in my workplace. I also have a dream that I will go into consultancy work to advise East African governments on decisions using risk analysis.
Commonwealth Scholarships
Daniel’s studies were funded by the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission in the UK. Ten scholarships have recently been awarded for 2016 and candidates are selected on the basis of merit and their potential to contribute to the needs of their home countries. Studies in Veterinary Epidemiology and Public Health are aimed at animal health specialists, scientists, epidemiologists and public health specialists.
For further information about postgraduate studies in Veterinary Epidemiology and Public Health by distance learning, please visit our website rvc.ac.uk/study/postgraduate/veterinary-epidemiology-and-public-health.