REPLAY: Fuelling your leadership drive in public health with Nadia Akseer
05/13/25 • 44 min
Tell us what you thought of this episode - send us a text!
Last week I talked about "Leadership Skills Every Public Health Professional Should Develop" and mentioned two episodes from 2020 where I sat down with two amazing guests to discuss leadership.
This week, I wanted to make sure you had a chance to listen to one of these episodes - with Dr. Nadia Akseet.
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In this episode, Sujani speaks Dr. Nadia Akseer, an Epidemiologist-Biostatistician who has spent over 10 years leading research and analyses of clinical and population health datasets in the areas of reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health, as well as nutrition in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Ethiopia and other low- and middle-income countries.
In 2018, Nadia was identified as a Canadian Women Leader in Global Health, and in March 2019, she was awarded the 2019 Emerging Public Health Leader Alumni Award from the Public Health Alumni Association of the University of Toronto.
We speak about the leadership drive Nadia possesses, when she decided she wanted to become a leader in her space, and whether you need to be in a management position to be a leader, amongst other topics. And of course, I couldn’t let her go without asking about her multiple meetings with Bill Gates, to present and collaborate on some of her work.
You’ll Learn
- The leadership drive, and what it is
- What leadership means to Nadia
- How and when Nadia decided that she wanted to become a leader in this space she was passionate about
- Whether one needs to be in a management position to be a leader (hint: absolutely not)
- Natural born leaders versus people given the right opportunities to become a leader
- How Nadia goes about seeking new opportunities (as she is someone who thrives on being challenged and stimulated)
- A glimpse into the career path she took: from Biostatician at SickKids, to Global Health Research at SickKids, then to Harvard, and now at Gates Ventures
- How her view of leadership has changed over time
- Verbal Communication and its importance in good leadership
- A leader Nadia looks up to: Dr. Zulfiqar Butta
- Reflections from her meetings with Bill Gates to present her research and work together on countries that have managed to reduce child stunting
Join The Public Health Career Club: A global membership community where public health professionals connect, learn, and support each other in building meaningful and impactful careers.
Go from feeling confused, alone and overwhelmed, to feeling confident and in control of your life and career!
Tell us what you thought of this episode - send us a text!
Last week I talked about "Leadership Skills Every Public Health Professional Should Develop" and mentioned two episodes from 2020 where I sat down with two amazing guests to discuss leadership.
This week, I wanted to make sure you had a chance to listen to one of these episodes - with Dr. Nadia Akseet.
--------
In this episode, Sujani speaks Dr. Nadia Akseer, an Epidemiologist-Biostatistician who has spent over 10 years leading research and analyses of clinical and population health datasets in the areas of reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health, as well as nutrition in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Ethiopia and other low- and middle-income countries.
In 2018, Nadia was identified as a Canadian Women Leader in Global Health, and in March 2019, she was awarded the 2019 Emerging Public Health Leader Alumni Award from the Public Health Alumni Association of the University of Toronto.
We speak about the leadership drive Nadia possesses, when she decided she wanted to become a leader in her space, and whether you need to be in a management position to be a leader, amongst other topics. And of course, I couldn’t let her go without asking about her multiple meetings with Bill Gates, to present and collaborate on some of her work.
You’ll Learn
- The leadership drive, and what it is
- What leadership means to Nadia
- How and when Nadia decided that she wanted to become a leader in this space she was passionate about
- Whether one needs to be in a management position to be a leader (hint: absolutely not)
- Natural born leaders versus people given the right opportunities to become a leader
- How Nadia goes about seeking new opportunities (as she is someone who thrives on being challenged and stimulated)
- A glimpse into the career path she took: from Biostatician at SickKids, to Global Health Research at SickKids, then to Harvard, and now at Gates Ventures
- How her view of leadership has changed over time
- Verbal Communication and its importance in good leadership
- A leader Nadia looks up to: Dr. Zulfiqar Butta
- Reflections from her meetings with Bill Gates to present her research and work together on countries that have managed to reduce child stunting
Join The Public Health Career Club: A global membership community where public health professionals connect, learn, and support each other in building meaningful and impactful careers.
Go from feeling confused, alone and overwhelmed, to feeling confident and in control of your life and career!
Previous Episode
Leadership Skills Every Public Health Professional Should Develop
Tell us what you thought of this episode - send us a text!
Leadership in public health transcends job titles—it's about how we inspire action, communicate vision, and guide others regardless of our position. This essential skillset helps navigate the complex, messy work of creating healthier communities through building trust and mobilizing stakeholders toward common goals.
Discussed in this episode:
- What leadership really means in public health
- Why it's absolutely necessary
- The specific leadership skills you need to develop
- How you can build leadership skills — even if you’re just starting out
Join the Public Health Career Club for leadership development resources, mentorship opportunities, and community support: phspot.org/club.
Join The Public Health Career Club: A global membership community where public health professionals connect, learn, and support each other in building meaningful and impactful careers.
Go from feeling confused, alone and overwhelmed, to feeling confident and in control of your life and career!
Next Episode
REPLAY: Public health leadership in action, with Anjum Sultana
Tell us what you thought of this episode - send us a text!
Last week I talked about "Leadership Skills Every Public Health Professional Should Develop" and mentioned two episodes from 2020 where I sat down with two amazing guests to discuss leadership.
This week, I wanted to make sure you had a chance to listen to the second one of these episodes - with Anjum Sultana.
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In this episode, Sujani sits down with Anjum Sultana. Anjum is someone Sujani has known for a number of years and has interacted with via phone calls and messaging/email, but this was the first time they both "saw" each other (virtually), so it was a special conversation. Anjum’s advocacy and leadership work is also something that Sujani has been inspired by over the years.
The conversation with Anjum is not only jam-packed with inspiration and motivation to be a leader in public health but also weaves tangible first steps for all of us to take.
Public health needs many strong leaders to push agendas forward, and we hope that by sharing stories like that of Anjum's, you walk away feeling like you too can be a leader in public health.
You’ll Learn
- How Anjum defines leadership
- Whether she intentionally chose to become a leader in her space, or it naturally occurred
- A bit about the young Anjum, her first memory of thinking that she could be a leader, and how her dad was an inspiration to her, which has resulted in the work she does in her community
- Attributes of a good leader (skills to build on for anyone wanting to be a leader in their space), and skills Anjum wished she had gained early on
- Things students can focus on specifically while in school to set themselves up to become a strong leader
- Step-by-step how we can go from feeling passionate about a topic/issue/cause to taking incremental action that leads to change.
- Whether leadership only comes from a management/senior-level role (hint: no it doesn’t)
- Whether leaders are born OR if leadership can be learned
- Challenges Anjum faces as a leader in her space
- A final example where Anjum showed that she is a leader in her space: she talks about her journey first authoring Canada’s First Feminist Recovery Plan.
- It is the first nationally-focused one in the country and possibly the world
- She encourages the PH SPOT community to read it, make it your own, and reach out to her should you be interested in taking action
Join The Public Health Career Club: A global membership community where public health professionals connect, learn, and support each other in building meaningful and impactful careers.
Go from feeling confused, alone and overwhelmed, to feeling confident and in control of your life and career!
Public Health SPOTlight Podcast - REPLAY: Fuelling your leadership drive in public health with Nadia Akseer
Transcript
I was super nervous . I wasn't sure . I mean , it's Bill Gates , so I wasn't sure . You know , was he going to be pleased with our work ? Was he going to think that it was garbage ? I wasn't sure what the tone was going to be , or just even what he would like as a person .
Speaker 2Welcome to PH Spotlight , a community for you to build
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