To Do or Not to Do a PhD? - Insight and Guidance from a Public Health PhD Graduate

This book prepares and guides individuals who are about to embark (or already have embarked) on a health/medical PhD journey, with a specific focus on Public Health. Based on the author's experience as a recently graduated Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) student, readers benefit from the knowledge imparted and lessons learned, including an analysis of the different aspects of a Public Health doctoral degree, and practical tips and guidance on how to go about this journey from the initial phase of choosing a research niche up until the oral examination (also called defence). All throughout the book, the author shares examples from her own journey to show that in spite of sacrifices and hurdles along the way, hard work, perseverance, and supportive resources can help see you through, eventually, to a hopefully positive outcome at the end.

Using an informal style, the author provides a step-wise guide, from chapter to chapter, on the various essential aspects that need to be considered, including:

• The initial steps towards a PhD
• Proposal, permissions and funding
• The fieldwork
• The art of data analysis
• The hurdles along the way - a personal experience
• What comes after the completion of a PhD?

Intended to be a compact go-to guide for students throughout their PhD journey, both from an academic and personal perspective, To Do or Not to Do a PhD? engages readers who are about to enroll in or who already have started a PhD, especially in public health, epidemiology, and health/medical fields of study. The brief also would appeal to postgraduate and undergraduate students who are interested in learning about how to write a research proposal, draft a scientific paper for publication in a journal, or prepare a thesis.

Sarah Cuschieri, MD, PhD, MSc, qualified as a medical doctor in 2011. She studied for a Master of Science degree and Postgraduate Diploma in Diabetes Mellitus Type 2 at Cardiff University in Wales, obtaining a Distinction in both between 2012 and 2015. In addition to her Master's degree, she was awarded the silver award of excellence by Cardiff University. After completing her medical training, Dr. Cuschieri took up a full-time academic and research career at the University of Malta in 2013. In 2019, she completed her PhD studies focusing on the 'Burden of Diabetes Mellitus Type 2, dysglycaemia and their co-determinants in the adult population of Malta'. During the same year, she also obtained a certificate in Public Health Epidemiology at the University of Utrecht in The Netherlands. Dr. Cuschieri has published a number of papers focusing on diabetes mellitus type 2, obesity, and medical scientific writing in international peer-reviewed journals. She has been invited as a guest author and speaker for book chapters and conferences. Her primary research interests are diabetes mellitus type 2, obesity, and their impact on population health. Dr. Cuschieri is actively involved in a number of collaborative research projects, particularly in the area of the burden of disease.