On March 27, 2023, in the afternoon, an international lecture was held on Career Path in International Organizations. About 10 students of Kyoto University attended on-site, and about 10 participants attended via ZOOM, in this international lecture. Two officers from WHO Western Pacific Regional Office (WHO/WPRO), Ms. April Siwon Lee and Dr. Mikiko Kanda presented their career paths working in the international organization in the field of public health. The objective of this lecture was for students at Kyoto University to enhance understanding of what it is like to work as an officer at international organization in the field of public health, and what type of skills and abilities are expected if anyone wants to work at the international organization.

The first presenter, Dr. Mikiko Kanda, started her career as a clinical nurse, continued her doctoral education in public health, and had a chance to do an internship at WHO headquarters as well as the International Council of Nurses in Geneva, Switzerland. These experiences allowed her to broaden her views and got first-hand experience with what it is like to work in an international organization. After that, she continued her career as Junior Professional Officer (JPO) in the Asia Pacific Observatory on Health Systems and Policies, which is a collaborative partnership of interested governments, international agencies, foundations, and researchers that promotes evidence-informed health system policy regionally and in all countries in the Asia Pacific region. Furthermore, she worked as a technical officer of Nursing and Midwifery in WHO India office, as well as Myanmar country office of UN AIDS. And since March 2023, she is newly assigned to the WHO/WPRO. Dr. Kanda explained the values, opportunities, and challenges of working in the UN Organizations.

The second presenter, Ms. April Siwon Lee, is originally from South Korea, and grew up living in different countries in Asia and the Middle East. She studied in the university in Canada, and started her career working at social enterprise in Canada. She spent some time in Malawi, Nairobi and Shanghai to further broaden her perspectives working in the field of public health. She then moved to Manila to work for a research project in the Philippines, and finally lead to work at WHO/WPRO. Ms. Lee explained to the participating student that it is important to find opportunities to be able to work and receive salary working in the field of public health. By accumulating the work experience, it will become the strength and build skills such as how to communicate effectively and build capacity to work in a team consisting of experts from different nationality, cultural background, talents and specialties.

During the latter half of the international lecture, the two guest speakers (Ms. April Siwon Lee, and Dr. Mikiko Kanda) and Prof. Naoki Kondo, a professor of Department of Social Epidemiology in Kyoto University School of Public Health, discussed in a panel discussion style what are the important abilities and skills that are expected to someone who want to work at international organization. There were many questions from the participating students, on various issues such as how to apply for an internship at WHO and other UN organization, whether PhD degree is necessary if one want to work at WHO, and what kind of skills and abilities are expected if one wants to work at international organizations.

As a concluding remark, Ms. April Siwon Lee, and Dr. Mikiko Kanda gave participating students warm-hearted messages that it is good to start by taking small steps such as doing an internship or going to field research abroad, to gain experience working or doing research in the field of global health. Such experiences will grow and lead one to another opportunity to develop skills and abilities that are required to work at WHO and other international organizations.