Jon Servello

Meet Jon

Jon’s academic journey began with a master’s degree in History, focusing on the history of medicine and Renaissance history. Even if he would later abandon this path, it equipped him with valuable skills in critical thinking and contextualization, which he found surprisingly applicable to the field of public health. In 2017, driven by a desire for further education and influenced by the uncertainty of Brexit, Jon decided to move to Sweden where he pursued another master’s degree. This time in public health and health economics in Gothenburg.

Interactions with EA 

In 2020, Jon attended EA Global in London and enrolled in a J-PAL course, which deepened his understanding and provided new perspectives of global health challenges. This, along with his aptitude for research, led him to a research fellowship on tuberculosis (TB) at University of Milan, and a deep engagement with the global TB organization UNITE4TB. In 2022, Jon’s involvement in the EA community inspired him to found tb.care – a charity that aims to provide essential information about TB to people in rural areas in India.

Jon’s advice for people considering a career in research or Global Health 

1. Read as much literature as possible, criticizing global health practice. I've found that the most incisive criticism often comes from researchers in other fields. History and sociology can be especially helpful, since they draw on contextual events and statistics. Doing so helped me prioritize what I wanted to work on and gave me a more solid foundation to act.
2. Identify potential mentors who have worked in your niche for many years, ideally in positions of decision-making power, and show them how you've worked on this research interest. These people often have a sense of where to allocate talent and, in my experience, are more likely to engage with your efforts.
3. Develop valuable skill sets, for example by making connections between your work and your research interests as you go. In my case, I worked in healthcare, pharmaceuticals, and medical devices, and made a continuous effort to relate that back to global health research.