This is the fifth in a series of posts where alumni tell us about their experiences studying at HCRI and their life and work following graduation.
This post was written by Mark P. Anderson, who graduated with an MSc in Humanitarian Practice in 2022. He describes how research and analysis skills gleaned at HCRI have helped him in his work the health consultancy organisation Santerre International, which he founded in 2023.
My time at HCRI was instrumental in shaping the arc of my career trajectory. Following my studies, I founded a planetary health company that focuses on improving public health outcomes worldwide through consulting and incubating commercial cases for sustainable development. Previously, I worked for Médecins Sans Frontières for a decade, as an engineer specialized in solutions for humanitarian health.
HCRI provided me the opportunity to research and develop solutions for real-life challenges that I encountered during the course of my work and communicate them to a wider audience. The data-driven, evidence-based approaches that I honed at HCRI enhanced my practical experience by integrating academic research into practice. I particularly appreciated coursework addressing contemporary issues in disaster management and conflict response as well as appraising the effectiveness of humanitarian action through a historical lens.
The foundation provided by HCRI laid the groundwork for identifying gaps in how critical challenges at the intersection of global health and the environment can be addressed. This compelled me to found my own company, with a mission to improve these outcomes by adopting novel approaches to effectively develop solutions that remain elusive for conventional methods.
- For more on Santerre International, visit: https://www.santerreinternational.com/
- For more on HCRI, visit: https://www.hcri.ac.uk/