Dr Donald Christian

Griffith Health's 2022 Outstanding International Alumnus

Graduate Certificate in Health Services Management

As Professor of Community Medicine at Ahmedabad’s GCS Medical College, Hospital and Research Centre, Dr Donald Christian's research has focussed on areas including reproductive health in rural communities, telehealth and child nutrition; and subsequently published in reputable international health journals.

When COVID-19 emerged in India in early 2020, Dr Christian immediately switched his research focus and in less than a year rapidly published three papers on India’s response to the decade’s defining public health emergency.

“COVID is of course a tragedy with an enormous human toll, but it also gave us a chance to see a community health response managed in real-time, an event to learn from with eyes wide open,” he said.

“The pandemic certainly promoted awareness of public health; the lessons learned are going to have lasting impact in people’s mind as far as behavioural change is concerned.

“From wearing a mask, to social distancing and lockdown, these were all preventative measures applied to the whole community throughout the pandemic.”

Donald contributed to the critical task of tracking and recording COVID patient data and promoted the benefits of vaccination to vaccine-hesitant communities.

“One of the key challenges to public health in India is behaviour—the community, cultural and languages barriers stopping people from accepting changes or initiatives that are there to help them.

“That’s an attitude we see across social and economic lines, even among the wealthy and educated, for example, there’s a preference for male babies to carry the family forward.”

Donald practiced hands-on medicine after his 2004 graduation from Bhavnagar’s Government Medical College, but even as an undergraduate he felt the pull of community health and a career in teaching.

"As a medical student I’d go into the villages and see the difficulty people had reaching health services, as well as their awareness of basic health measures.

“I see people not even understanding how to control their weight to avoid obesity or diabetes, or seeing young people smoking without knowing the risks.

“That made me realise I could do the most good pursuing a career educating people and working for the prevention of health conditions.”

At Griffith University, Donald completed a 2006 Graduate Certificate in Health Services Management, paving the way for his postgraduate Doctor of Medicine in Community Medicine from Pramukhswami Medical College in his home state of Gujarat.

“I was amazed at the facilities provided on campus at Griffith even back then,” he laughs.

“Griffith transformed my way of life, not only with academics but also with time management, finance management and dealing with people around me.”

Donald has now specialised in community medicine for almost 15 years, including collaboration with government and major health NGOs on public programs throughout Gujarat and its neighbouring states in North-western India.

Last year he served as Area Supervisor on a World Health Organisation disability survey conducted with the All India Institute of Medical Sciences and was a National Assessor of a recent UNICEF-backed survey of India’s vaccination logistics and supply chain.

Donald also served on the editorial boards of journals including the World Journal of Public Health, Clinical Medical Research and the Indian Journal of Forensic and Community Medicine.

With his community health work, teaching and research keeping him busy, Donald admits it’s been some time since he formally treated a patient one-on-one.

“I would say I do not miss practicing medicine directly, as I get a far better chance of improving people’s health when I interact with the whole community as a community physician,” he says.

“To me, ‘practicing health’ is more important and fruitful than ‘practicing medicine’, as the prevention of disease is of prime importance.”