A/Prof Lynn Gillan with AMS students at the Centre for Health and Society (CHS)
Advanced Medical Science (AMS)
Why study AMS at the Melbourne School of Population Health?
When deciding on the most suitable AMS unit, you need to determine where your interests lie. If spending the year being a 'lab rat' lacks appeal, then the Melbourne School of Population Health has a lot to offer.
The research programs of the School are centred around the following five principal streams in the School's Centres and Units:
- Public health and genetics
- Equity and health in disadvantaged populations
- Communicable disease control
- Health systems, programs and policy
- Social and ethical aspects of health and health care
At the Melbourne School of Population Health you have the opportunity to step out of the laboratory and investigate, among other things, the factors affecting the health system/programs/policy or evaluate the spread of disease. After studying AMS in the SPH, past students have discovered that " the field of medicine is not a neat little box as some people think".
Support and resources at the SPH
The various AMS units in the Melbourne School of Population Health offer a wide range of options for research topics, and different mixes of research and coursework. Doing an AMS unit in the Melbourne School of Population Health offers you a lot of support and access to facilities. It is worthwhile thinking about these things, because they can make a big difference to your experience in AMS.
At the Melbourne School of Population Health there is a dedicated SPH AMS Administrator (Anita Lucas) and an SPH AMS Academic Co-ordinator (A/Prof Lynn Gillam) to help you navigate through the year. They have specific responsibility for AMS students ensuring that you do not get lost in the system. Units in other areas do not have the same level of support.
The SPH AMS Administrator will keep you up to date on academic support activities and SPH AMS social events, as well as reminding you of program deadlines. The administrator is your first port of call for concerns about any organisational aspects of your AMS year.
The types of skills you will draw on to complete the AMS year will be different to those you have relied upon in the medical course so far. The administrator will be able to put you in touch with additional support programs across the University, to ensure you have a successful year.
The Academic Coordinator is available to discuss course content and suitability prior to selection, as well as deal with any problems you have with supervisory aspects of the course and its delivery during the year.
All AMS students within the SPH will have individual supervision meetings with experienced supervisors, who are familiar with the AMS program. If problems arise, there is a large support network for you to access. You will never feel isolated.
The SPH organises a program of academic support and social events, including work-in-progress presentations, lunches, pub get togethers and a final AMS conference in May. AMS students have access to facilities in the unit or dept where they are located (all within the Parkville/Carlton university precinct). In any year, there are 20 to 40 AMS students in different units across the school. In SPH, you can work independently on an interesting project, and be socially connected as well.
To find out more about the AMS Units on offer at SPH in 2008/09, visit the individual Unit Home Page.