Visale Thangadurai
Visale Thangadurai
International student graduate, Master of Public Health
It’s important to me to learn from true leaders, to make the most of my study opportunity. I was impressed with how strongly Monash ranked across numerous medical fields in research and education, and now I’ve graduated, I take pride in being a Monash alumna.
Nobody could have known in January 2020 what havoc the pandemic would wreak, and what a tumultuous time it was to relocate to Melbourne from overseas. That’s exactly what international student Visale Thangadurai did, and thanks to her own determination, and support from colleagues, she completed her Master of Public Health on schedule in late 2021.
Visale is a trained dentist from Tamil Nadu in India, although she had long been equally interested in public health. Having spent time considering whether to pursue this second passion in either Australia or the United Kingdom, she opted for Australia due to our strong reputation in both fields. The choice of University was the next consideration.
She says, “It’s important to me to learn from true leaders, to make the most of my study opportunity. I was impressed with how strongly Monash ranked across numerous medical fields in research and education, and now I’ve graduated, I take pride in being a Monash alumna.”
The pandemic brought an unexpected element of isolation and disconnection to her studies.
“I knew just one person in Melbourne, and the first six months were very difficult as we entered prolonged lockdown. However, I slowly made friends with my colleagues online, and a couple of us have become very close after this shared experience.
Fortunately, the School’s international student support team were very focused on our well-being, and there were plenty of organised social and education activities online, and in-person where possible.”
The academic flexibility offered through the program came as a pleasant surprise to Visale.
“I was expecting my course pathway to be very structured, but apart from some core units, I was able to tailor my electives to my needs. I was very focused on employability, so I chose many of my units after discussions with course coordinators, and scouring the job ads to find what was in demand.”
She opted to specialise in Global Health, and took units covering health promotion, health economics, clinical leadership and data management. Her degree has already provided the next opportunity – Visale is currently enrolled in a graduate program at La Trobe Community Health, where she’s applying her new knowledge to numerous facets of the service provider. She’s also continuing to engage in research, with a part-time role at the Victorian Lung Cancer Registry.