�鶹��madou

A Master of Global Health was the perfect mix for Benny’s unique interests, and the unique needs of his homeland, Indonesia.

Benny Wirawan always had a passion for social science. A career in international relations was appealing, early on. However, at his parents’ encouragement, he began his tertiary education at Udayana University in Bali, studying medicine. After graduating in 2019, the passion for socially focused work was still strong, and he took a position as a research assistant in public health at his university. The mix of medicine and social science that public health provides felt like the perfect fit and he hasn’t looked back since.

During that first year as a Research Assistant, Benny travelled with his mom to Sydney. He fell in love with the city and could imagine himself living here. Shortly after this trip, the researchers he was working for organised for Benny to meet with their collaborators from the , Professor Andrew Grulich and Associate Professor Ben Bavinton when they visited Bali. It was a serendipitous moment.

Through this initial meeting, Benny was introduced to �鶹��madou, and the seed for his future studies was planted. He began looking into the courses on offer at the �鶹��madou School of Population Health. He was impressed with the research undertakings and connections of the university and felt the collaboration already in place with the Kirby Institute meant studying with �鶹��madou suited his needs perfectly.

Benny always assumed he would return to Indonesia after studying. He was appreciative of being able to choose the Master of Global Health, which helped train him for work with a developing population that provided resource-limited settings and infectious disease priorities. But Benny also saw that understanding the landscape in developed countries would be useful for working Indonesia’s unique health environment.

“Indonesia is transitioning from having their burden of disease primarily from infectious diseases, common in developing nations, into non-communicable diseases, more common in developed nations…it’s about 50/50 right now. But parts of eastern Indonesia, which is a much less developed region, is still heavily burdened by infectious diseases.”

Benny was deeply engaged and challenged by the courses with a social science focus, like those of Associate Professor Niamh Stephenson, that explored the political structures of health care systems and delivery, and pushed him out of his medical training assumptions.

He also enjoyed courses in epidemiology and biostatistics, in which he was given great support.

The course delivery, and the teaching staff, were other stand-out features for Benny.

“The way courses were given, especially social sciences, interactively, encouraged me to ask questions, encouraged me to voice my opinions…. Associate Professor Tim Dobbins is probably the best biostats teacher I’ve ever had. Compared to my previous professors in that area, he is great.”

As part of his degree, Benny undertook a research project focused on pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for HIV in the Asia Pacific. This topic aligned with the work he was doing before beginning his degree, and he was supervised by A/Prof Bavinton, who had just finished a survey on PrEP among men who have sex with men in the Asia Pacific region. Benny had the opportunity to start analysing the data. This was the first non-Indonesian data set Benny had seen, and having access to it, and learning from the differences between the different populations included in this international collaboration, was incredibly powerful. 

“…it was a 15 country collaboration, as well as involvement from UNAIDS. Reading research feedback from someone in Thailand, and someone in Melbourne, and so on, was really great. It enhanced my exposure to the subject area and the wider research community in this field.” 

This research project identified the system-level barriers to accessing PrEP, often specific to each population. The study showed that even in countries with good access, like Thailand and Vietnam, the need to scale up activities was apparent. 

“[Public health professionals] need to work more with the community to identify what the barriers are to accessing PrEP, and to leverage that to advocate policy makers to do something about it, because the demand is there – people want PrEP, they just don’t know where to get it, or how to get it, or how to overcome the barriers to accessing it.”

After completing his MGH, Benny has continued his studies, beginning a PhD with �鶹��madou in January 2024, again with A/Prof Bavinton and Prof Andrew Grulich. The PhD project he’s undertaking is a continuation of his previous PrEP research, but focused specifically on Indonesia. Benny has reconnected with his old research unit at Udayana University in Bali, and is currently doing an evaluation of the Indonesian pilot PrEP program. This reconnection to Indonesia means a lot to Benny.

“I obviously still see myself as Indonesian and I want to contribute to public health in Indonesia. There are so many things I find challenging in the Indonesian public health system, and the politics of its public health, and the power relations within the system. I hope to implement my learnings into related national projects there.”

And Benny has advice for those considering postgraduate study at �鶹��madou.

“You have to really know what you want out of postgraduate studies, what you want it to do for your career. Look closely through the handbook and see what the courses are about. Know what you’re going to study and be sure it’s a good fit for you.

As a student, you have to get out of your shell to get the most out of your learning – reach out to the convenors, let them know you like the course, ask them for more opportunities or to discuss their area of expertise more. I haven’t had a negative experience with that approach.

And if you are interested in public health, �鶹��madou’s degrees are really strongly focused on the “public” part of public health, which was perfect for my interests and what I hope to do in the future. And it doesn’t hurt that �鶹��madou is a Top 20 ranked university!”