Johnston Samuel

Samuel Johnston

Sam is a 2022 graduate from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health with an MPH in Health Management. Before this, Sam worked as a medical practitioner in Melbourne, Australia, and has an interest in critical care medicine. He currently works at The Royal Melbourne Hospital. He graduated from the University of Melbourne with a Doctor of Medicine (MD) in 2019 and was the recipient of the EH Embley Memorial Medal in Anesthesia. In his final year of studying medicine, he was selected into a team to compete in the International Emory Global Health Case Competition. The team was awarded first place and was the first Australian team to be awarded this in the competition’s history. Sam has also published research into modeling the financial implications of deviations from standard postoperative surgical care. After graduating from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Sam hopes to continue his medical training to work to improve healthcare systems so that they can provide the highest possible quality of healthcare while also being sustainable.

Dr. Johnston is a recipient of the 2022 Gareth M. Green Award for Public Health Practice.

Detailed Project Description: The project’s purpose was to undertake a strategic review of how to provide impactful and sustainable healthcare within the Cham community in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The Cham community are a Muslim minority group within Cambodian society who tend to have worse healthcare outcomes as compared to the broader Cambodian society. This includes accessing medical care and receiving culturally specific maternal services. The review was undertaken for an organization called Hospitals Beyond Boundaries (HBB), who are committed to improving the health of vulnerable communities through sustainable healthcare initiatives. They aim to provide medical services to those that cannot afford healthcare by using the revenue generated from those that can afford healthcare, thereby creating a self-sustaining model. This project involved engaging with local community groups, international organizations, and key experts, that together would help inform the creation of a strategic plan for HBB for the next five years.