Learning the Many Languages of Global Public Health

Though I am a scientist by training—with a passion for discovery, analysis and understanding—I realize that the things that make us human are often not tangible or quantifiable.

Human health is more than what we can define using studies and metrics but rather is a reflection of our interactions with others as we seek better lives for ourselves and our loved ones.

It is this recognition that has steered me in the direction of public health. Knowing that human health is about more than data helps me approach my work with a certain humility, one that recognizes a key truth in life—all the people I work with, in many ways, seek the same things I do.

Epidemiologists, like many researchers in public health, speak several languages.

I was born in Kenya of mixed parentage. My mother is Russian, while my father is Kenyan. I was afforded the luxury of growing up in an atmosphere that enabled me to define myself not by cultural norms but as the sum of all the cultures I straddle. Russian was my first language, Swahili my second, and English I only learned in school.

In as much as language defines our perspectives, I continue to see the world through my mixed heritage as well as these commonalities that are inherent in all of us.

In my late teens I moved to Winnipeg, Canada, to a world much removed from my childhood contexts. But with the common threads and common languages that bind all humans together, I found making friends to be relatively easy. Soon enough, I felt comfortable defining myself as Canadian.

After completing a masters degree in cardiac physiology, I worked as an outreach coordinator in underprivileged communities in Canada. I then took a job in the Netherlands and, while there, volunteered as a language coach. In these roles, my own privilege became clear to me, as did the bidirectional nature of outreach and volunteer work.

I have encountered many people during this journey and recognize that the difference between many of them and myself is tiny—yet I was afforded privileges that many do not have. Kenya, however, remains my defining experience. Being Kenyan grounds how I see myself and the world—despite all the distance I have traveled from my childhood.

As I look to a career in global health, I continue to reach back to and draw upon these experiences. They give me a sense of perspective. Research, too, is inherently bidirectional, and embracing research as such can only enhance our mission of advancing the health of people in communities around the world.

Because I know that research can only partly describe the human experience, I am glad to be an epidemiologist. Epidemiologists, like many researchers in public health, speak several languages. I’ve learned the languages of infectious disease, public policy, economics, medicine, and ecology. And these help me converse as a bidirectional researcher—trying to help communities understand disease and prevent it, while at the same time learning from the communities to become a better epidemiologist.

It is this versatility in public health that attracts me most—all the languages I get to speak and all the perspectives those languages offer.

Above. Espira with his father, Abraham Espira, in Kakamega, Kenya