Alumni profile: Anna Gibbs

A passion for opening doors to new opportunities in health.

How Anna shifted from a career in fashion to epidemiology.

Anna Gibbs always had an interest in health, but her love of opening new doors of opportunity lead her from her undergraduate degree in nutrition into a five year career in international fashion with the brand Zimmerman, working in stores from New York, to St Tropez, and more. But when her desire to be back in Australia landed her in Sydney during the pandemic lockdowns, her interest in health resurfaced.  At the suggestion of her mum, Anna looked into a public health master’s degree. 

And it seemed like a perfect match.

She explored several universities, but UNSW School of Population Health’s Master of Public Health (MPH) stood out.

“UNSW were really responsive, they had a great website layout, which I really liked, and other universities seemed a bit detached. UNSW also had an earlier start date, which was big for me, as it meant I could get started straight away.”

The real appeal of the UNSW MPH was its broad scope, offering a wide variety of future career opportunities, all with a health focus. 

Anna was accepted into the MPH and began taking courses. Very quickly, she discovered epidemiology and realised this was exactly what she was looking for – and she’d never known the name for it. 

Studying fully online, she most appreciated UNSW SPH’s teaching staff. In particular, Anna credits Associate Professor Kathleen Falster as a superstar educator, leader and supervisor.

“Kathleen broke things down. She was so thorough – that’s not everyone’s teaching style, but it worked really well for me. She showed me the sort of leader I want to be and gave answers to all my questions…she answered everyone’s questions, thoroughly, you were never left unsure about the answer.”

It was A/Prof. Falster who first suggested Anna undertake research as part of her degree, as it was a core part of epidemiology. Encouraged further by a friend undertaking a PhD, and with a view to potentially doing one herself, Anna decided the MPH research extension would be a great idea.

A friend of her father opened another door of opportunity for Anna, by connecting her to researchers in Brisbane, undertaking paediatric infectious disease epidemiology. Although ambitious for a beginner researcher, Anna’s passion and determination to take advantage of this great opportunity won out. Anna’s project was approved, with A/Prof. Falster as her supervisor.

Her research project looked at trends in childhood infections involving bacteria like E.coli and Salmonella, between 2000 and 2019. The research identified an almost doubled infection rate over that time. 

Further, the bacteria’s resistance to the antimicrobial drugs used to treat these infections, observed in this research, suggests future clinical trials in this field should include children, as these infections represent a significant burden of disease for this age group.

On completion of her MPH, Anna’s research supervisor in Brisbane, Associate Professor Adam Irwin, took her on as a Research Assistant at the University of Queensland Centre for Clinical Research, to complete the project. Within the year, they published their findings in the journal Pediatrics, and Anna continues to work on several other projects at the Centre. 

Having secured her research position as a direct consequence of her MPH, Anna began to speak with more people in the field, who repeatedly encouraged her to do a PhD. However, she also noticed that many epidemiologists had medical degrees, and felt this was the path that offered the opportunities she found most interesting. 

So, a year after graduating with excellence and a good GPA, Anna was accepted into medical school. Her MPH and research experience were the keys to her successful application - without her MPH, she suspects her acceptance would have been unlikely. 

And now, a year into her medical degree, Anna still hopes to work in public health research. Combined with the clinical understanding that a medical degree and work experience in medicine will provide, she is confident that she will enjoy a wide range of opportunities throughout her career.

“If I think back to my years at Zimmerman, I never knew I would do an MPH, never knew I would do medicine. UNSW’s MPH with research has just opened so many doors. Once those doors open, if you follow your interests, the world’s your oyster.”