Foto: Håkan Soold

Initially, when it was time for her to study at a university, Mikaela Sörman did find it hard to choose a programme. Public health sciences was not something she had had in mind. But then she saw an advertisement in a newspaper in Lund, where she was looking at different university programmes. The advert was for a programme in public health science at Lund University.

“It sounded like a good balance between my different interests. In addition to medicine, I have always been interested in policy issues, and here I could get a bit of both. So that's how it was”, says Mikaela Sörman.

A bachelor´s degree at KI and a master´s degree at CHESS

However, she did not choose to study in Lund, but the Bachelor's programme at Karolinska Institutet (KI). After that she continued her studies at the Master's programme in public health science at the Centre for Health Inequality, CHESS, at Stockholm University. An interdisciplinary research centre that is part of the Department of Public Health Sciences since 2018.

To be able to read and understand research, epidemiology in all its forms, and actually understand how the health system works. These are the three most important skills I got from my public health studies.

It was when Sörman was a student at KI and did an internship at EuroHealthNet in Brussels – an organisation that works to reduce health inequalities within and between European countries, through partnerships between public health institutes, authorities and research centres – that she decided to specialise in health inequality issues.

“I thought it would be fun to go and take part public health work in an international setting, and Brussels is kind of the capital of Europe. The internship was about health inequalities and it was there that I realised I wanted to continue on that path and apply to CHESS at Master's level”, Sörman says.

Recruited by Boston Consulting Group

After taking her master's degree, Mikaela worked for a while as a research assistant at another research centre at Stockholm University: the Centre for Social Science Research on Alcohol and Drugs, SoRAD – which also is part of the Department of Public Health Sciences since 2018. However, when she was recruited by the Boston Consulting Group, a management consulting firm, for a job as a Knowledge Analyst in the Health Care field, she felt that that was her dream job.

“Thanks to my studies in public health sciences, I was able to translate epidemiological trends into what impact those have on possible market trends in the medical technology and pharmaceutical industry, and what improvements are needed. That was exactly what was needed in my role – an understanding of the healthcare industry but also to able to read and absorb data and translate it into business.”

Sörman stayed at Boston Consulting Group for six years before moving on to her current position as part of the investment team at Karolinska Development, a publicly listed company and one of the oldest venture capital companies in the Nordic region specialising specifically in life sciences.

Is mentoring a Master's student

In this job too, Mikaela feels that she benefits greatly from her public health education. Especially the understanding of the healthcare industry, the priorities within healthcare, as well as a knowledge of different policies and regulations governing healthcare.

“To be able to read and understand research, epidemiology in all its forms, and actually understand how the health system works. These are the three most important skills I got from my public health studies.”

These insights and much more, she is now sharing in her role as a mentor in the Stockholm University Alumni Mentorship Programme.

“I have just started having sessions with my second mentee, who studying the same master's programme as I did, which is great fun. I hope that I can be a bit of a sounding board and discuss the challenges you face both in the programme and also when it's time to think about what your future career might look like.”

Read more about the public health programmes at Stockholm University.

Håkan Soold