I’m just over a month into my role as Interim Operations and Event Coordinator at Voluntary Health Scotland, and I couldn’t have asked for a more supportive, proactive, and motivating environment to start my career in Scotland’s health and wellbeing third sector.
My background is in public health. For over six years, I worked as a Spanish Medical Interpreter in public, safety-net hospitals along the West Coast of the US, primarily serving Latin American immigrant and refugee populations. My role was to help patients navigate the complex and often unforgiving American healthcare system – work that became even more challenging during the COVID-19 pandemic, with a dizzying amount of daily operational changes, unclear national leadership, and widespread uncertainty.
The pandemic really unearthed a lot of fatal flaws in health systems worldwide, thrust health inequalities into the limelight, and brought these systems face to face with those who were being left behind. In my frustration, I left interpreting and decided to go back to school so that I could pivot my career into one that fights health inequalities at a systematic level.
Grad school brought me to Scotland, and I graduated from the University of Glasgow with a Master’s in Public Health in December 2024. The course deepened my understanding of the complex, interconnected nature of public health, both globally and here in Scotland. It also strengthened my commitment to tackling health inequalities, ensuring follow-through from policy to implementation, and promoting decision making informed by those with lived experience.
VHS shares those commitments. I first learned about the organisation in June at the Rethinking Health Inequalities Conference, put on by the Centre of Public Policy and the University of Glasgow. I was really drawn to how rooted they are in real systemic change and ensuring that the community’s voice helps shape the policies that will affect them. It inspired me to reach out and ask about getting involved with their work, which is ultimately what got me here today. At VHS, cross-sector collaboration is at the forefront of everything. It’s been so inspiring to see how my colleagues take the time to listen closely to members’ experiences and priorities to help build a strong, collective voice that can influence policies shaping their work and the communities they serve.
My main task is putting on our Annual Conference this 28 October in Glasgow. Joining the organisation from the outside and being tasked with leading such a key event, it’s important to me that the conference genuinely reflects the identity and values of VHS, capturing not only what we and our members do, but how we see ourselves as a community. This year’s theme, Collaboration for Change, feels especially relevant, and we’ve lined up inspiring speakers and panels designed to spark fresh ideas and partnerships across our network. We’ve launched our poster competition – so if you have an inspiring story of collaboration within your organisation, I encourage you to apply. I hope to meet many of you over the next coming months and see you at the conference!
Cecily May is Interim Operations & Event Coordinator at VHS.