“Moving Public Health Forward in Challenging Times”

Michelle

Hi there! I’m Michelle and I’m a second-year student in the Health Behavior Health Education (HBHE) program at the School of Public Health (SPH).  I was approached by the Office of Public Health Practice to become the newest addition to the student blogger team and I’m excited to share my experiences at SPH with you!

One of the best ways to get directly involved in the field of Public Health while you’re in your program at University of Michigan School of Public Health is to join the Public Health Action Support Team (PHAST). It’s on the Student “To Do” List for a very good reason! Because of my background in community service and in emergency preparedness through working at the American Red Cross, I was immediately drawn to this group. This last March, I went on spring break with PHAST to the Rio Grande Valley region of Texas, right along the US-Mexico border, and worked with the Cameron County Department of Health and Human Services to assess local practitioners’ perspectives about the risk of dengue fever and dengue hemorrhagic fever in the valley. The team finished 15 qualitative interviews in about one week and came to some interesting conclusions about obstacles in the health care system and the education of health practitioners and the community.

Though I’m SUPER busy this summer with two internships at the Center for Managing Chronic Disease and the Cancer Support Community, this past week, I traveled to Hartford, CT, for the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO) Annual Conference. The conference’s theme was “Moving Public Health Forward in Challenging Times.” Along with Dana Thomas from the Office of Public Health Practice, Roman Abeyta, the Epidemiologist at Cameron County Health Dept., and Brian Davis, a fellow student and Epidemiology Ph.D. candidate, I presented our results from the study of dengue fever in February at a poster session.

Brian Davis, Me!, Roman Abeyta

The conference was overall a great opportunity to learn and network with public health professionals. I met some UMSPH HBHE Alumni too!

Roman and I speaking about our project, "Assessing Healthcare Providers’ Knowledge and Concern of Dengue Fever and Binational Health in the Rio Grande Valley, TX"

It’s amazing what joining PHAST did for me this past year! I went to Texas for the first time, met so many wonderful friends and contacts, and attended and presented at my first conference! Thanks to all involved!

Feel free to email me with questions/comments in case you don’t feel comfortable sharing them below. Hope you check out my posts again soon!

IASA presents Samasti

Katie Sloter

I am obsessed with beauty. Not the glossed over, edited beauty that can be found in the fashion magazines (that I only read on airplanes or ‘days that don’t exist’ such as can be found when there is a snowstorm or storm of any sorts).

No. I am obsessed with beauty in cascades of words, the raw visceral beauty that exists in the minutia of our days. I love doorways, photography, people that smile crookedly. Micro-expressions. Water and fire and the kindness of strangers who let you turn in front of them on the road when they could have just kept driving.

One of the things I love about living in a university town is that the beauty of different cultures has a chance to be celebrated. My friend Lindsay Ward, a first year MPH student, chose to be a part of Samasti this year. She spent many hours practicing for the evening, along with nearly a hundred other University of Michigan students. Samasti was put on by the Indian American Student Association of the University of Michigan. This was a celebration of the various types of dances from different regions in India, and it was a smashing success. The dancing had everything I enjoy: slashes of color, fabric, culture, energy, humor, and vivaciousness. I thought it was an awesome way to integrate a little beauty, culture, and class into the experience of being a graduate student. Thank you IASA for a great evening!

Lindsay Ward, MPH 2012, in full garb for Samasti

Emotional Roller-coaster

 

Saurabh Vyas

 

Hi,

It has been a little more than a month since the second-year of school started, and it will be an understatement if I say… it has been hectic… very very hectic.

As I write my first blog post, I had a chance to reflect upon the most important things currently going on in my life. And if you are wondering where the title of this post comes from, then its from the sheer delight and happiness of being involved with the organizing of the biggest HMP alumni event – Reaching Excellence in HMP, and spearheading the Students Engaged in Global Health activities for the upcoming year; and the low-point of this roller-coaster has been a more personal experience which I would like to share.

University of Michigan is a place filled with people from different fields, interests, cultures… But, there is a common string as you find an infectious enthusiasm, passion to excel and achieve something worthwhile. I must say I have been impressed by many people whom I have met, but perhaps the person whose passion for global health really moved me was my late friend Sujal Parikh. An m4 medical school student, he was involved with Physicians for Human Rights, UAEM, UVP and the Center for Global Health, and was a natural leader in the field. With his immense passion, Suj was definitely going to be a leader in infectious diseases research and international health issues. Alas, the news of his unfortunate accident while on a Fogarty International research trip to Uganda, had us worrying for his well-being since past week. And finally the news all of us were dreading came in a couple of days back… The young and dynamic leader whom we all loved, met with an untimely and unfortunate demise. Memories, experiences and stories are all that remain… and over the next couple of weeks, we will be paying a tribute to him in the best way we can… I would like everyone who reads this post, to say a silent prayer blessing for the peace of his soul and well-being of his family.

More on Suj by Center for Global Health - http://www.globalhealth.umich.edu/sujalparikh.html

On the other hand, the HMP department is gearing up for the Reaching Excellence symposium. With more than 480 alumni already registered it is going to be an event to look forward to, not only for networking but for inspiration. The chief keynote speaker is Don Berwick (Presidential nominee as Chief of CMS).

I will share more about the symposium in my next post over the weekend. Till then, wishing you all good health…

-SV

 

 

World AIDS Day 2009

Carrie Rheingans

Today is World AIDS Day: a day where 5,500 people will die of AIDS and 8,200 more will become infected with HIV – 152 of them in the United States of America. The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS just released a report that says that AIDS is the leading cause of death globally in women of reproductive age. We know that HIV is a worldwide crisis, already devastating countries across the globe and poised to ravage others… unless we continue to work to stop AIDS. If you’re a regular blog reader, you know I’m not a person who just spews statistics; you know I like action (see previous posts about work with youth in the USA, youth in Peru, outreach in the USA and Peru, and advocacy). So for this World AIDS Day, I want to share with you some things you can do to help stop AIDS.

1. Volunteer in your local community. The HIV/AIDS Resource Center is Ann Arbor’s local AIDS service organization and is always accepting volunteers. You can also contact the Washtenaw Interfaith HIV/AIDS Network (WIHAN) to volunteer. You can find non-governmental organizations around the world in the Global South through the International AIDS Alliance.
2. Educate yourself and spread your knowledge. Correct myths and discriminatory and stigmatizing language when  you hear it. Good resources: UNAIDS - Kaiser Family Foundation – CDC - MDCH - Avert – AIDS.gov – google.org
3. Get yourself tested for HIV. Free testing is offered all week in the local community (see complete listing here), or you can text your zip code to “KNOWIT” (566948) to find a local testing site.
   

   KNOW YOUR STATUS!

4. Support organizations serving people living with HIV by donating directly to them rather than buying some product that only contributes a minuscule portion of its profits. Your donation goes further when it goes directly to the organization.
5. Write a letter to the editor of your local media source, call into radio stations, and send emails to friends, family and colleagues with things people can do. Describe the epidemic in your local community and challenge people to act. Call on elected officials to fund important services that keep people alive.
6. Attend World AIDS Day and World AIDS Week educational  and action events near you. The Ann Arbor area has many events going on this week – see a complete listing on the World AIDS Week website.
7. Be creative and use your skills to make a difference in your community!

 

Carrie in front of the AIDS memorial in Durban, South Africa

Center for Global Health Symposium

Carrie Rheingans

Friday, 13 November 2009 marked the first-ever Center for Global Health Symposium and Student Global Health Day. I had a great time and learned a lot – especially about things to consider when applying for jobs in global health in a couple years. It was great to meet global health leaders from around the world and hear about health systems in three countries – South Africa, Ghana and India. The speakers’ presentations should be up on the CGH website soon.

The morning symposium featured three members of the External Advisory Council speaking about health systems in each of their countries. Dr. Marian Jacobs discussed the public/private health systems and the relationship that South Africa has with other global partners, particularly how many South African doctors leave the country for other, richer countries, and many Cuban doctors go to South Africa to work in rural areas. Dr. Peter Donkor spoke about health systems in Ghana, specifically highlighting how traditional health practitioners have a trusted role in healthcare and how Ghanaians’ changing lifestyles are leading to more non-communicable disease burden. Dr. K. Srinath Reddy, the President of the Public Health Foundation of India, talked about how the Indian health systems are very decentralized, with much of the control in the hands of individual states and districts. He said this leads to two things: 1. more culturally-relevant care and 2. possibly higher care disparities between regions. All three speakers spoke about the human resources in their respective countries, and stated that they are facing a shortage of professionals born, raised and trained in their own countries.

The Student Global Health Day in the afternoon was also educational. Another External Advisory Council member, Joel Lamstein, kicked off the afternoon activities with a brief talk about a possible future of global health. Mr. Lamstein is the founder and President of John Snow, Inc. and the President of World Education. He gave a lot of great career advice for people interested in going into the field of global health. His big take-away message was that neither business students nor public health students had all the skills that are useful in such careers, but that business and public health students should learn across disciplines and be sure to gain analytical skills as well. The student posters were very high quality and the two student presenters explained their great work about blood cancers in Egypt and maternal health issues in Liberia. Global health-related student groups also had tables with info and ways to get involved during the Student Global Health Day.

CGH Student Associates Katie Bush and Carrie Rheingans

Student research poster by Julia Finkel, CGH Student Associate Alice Zheng, Eunice Yu, and CGH Student Associate Sujal Parikh

You can become a Student Associate or Faculty Associate by submitting an application at any time. For more coverage of the annual Symposium and Student Global Health Day, you can become a fan of the U-M CGH on facebook. I was also live-tweeting during the day, and you can see all tweets marked with hashtag #UMCGH here.

Bleeders and Best

Lauren Reid

There are several reasons why I love November. My birthday for one, but also Thanksgiving and the beginning of the holiday season. One thing that should be a cause for excitement in November is the Ohio State game. But in my three years at Michigan, there has yet to be a “W” behind Michigan’s name for that game of the biggest rivalry in college football.

So although the football team may not earn the win, there’s another battle between the schools that goes on every November that we have won in my time at Michigan. And it’s one I can participate in.

Every November, UM and Ohio State engage in a Blood Battle. This event runs from the beginning of November until the Michigan/Ohio State football game and is a competition to see which school can donate more pints of blood through Red Cross Blood Drives all across campus.

Because of Ohio State larger student body, you might think think they’d be the decisive winner every year, but the numbers tend to be extremely close.  In 2008, we lost by THREE pints.

Each year I’ve done my part by wearing my blood battle t-shirt (with slogans like “those who bleed will be champions” and “the bleeders and best”), helping out at the drives, and of course, donating blood.

Although we’ve all heard the convincing reasons why it’s important to donate regularly (e.g., a pint of blood saves three lives, and shortages are highest in the winter/holiday months), we often end up making excuses relating to time or discomfort.  However, in working at Mott Children’s Hospital, I’ve met several reasons why those blood donations are so important.

This is the 28th year of the blood battle, which will run from November 5 until November 20, and I’ll be faithfully doing my part to bring Michigan those much-needed victories over Ohio State.  There are blood drives going on all over campus.  It’s an incredible event with an incredible benefit.  Plus, it’s a way to show that I truly bleed maize and blue.

Dia de los Muertos

Valentina Stackl

The group I am in, La Salud, had another successful event yesterday. We celebrated Dia de los Muertos, a traditional Mexican holiday which celebrates the memory of those who have passed. To give it a public health twist, we educated the participants on Latino health disparities on top of doing traditional dia de los muertos activities like making an altar, decorating sugar skulls and sugar cookies. 

One of the things I found the most interesting in were the statistics about cancer and Latinos:

The incidence and mortality rates of stomach, liver, and cervical cancers, all of which are related to infectious agents, are higher among Hispanics than non-Hispanic whites, especially among first-generation immigrants to the US. For example, the rates of stomach cancer incidence are at least 70% higher in Hispanics than in non-Hispanic whites. Also, Hispanics experience a two-fold higher incidence and death rate from liver cancer compared to non-Hispanic whites. Hispanic women residing in the US have about twice the cervical cancer incidence rate of non-Hispanic whites. The death rate from cervical cancer is 50% higher among Hispanic women than among non-Hispanic white women. 

Here are also some pictured of the event:

Busiest Weekend-EVER!

 

Valentina Stackl

This weekend definitely takes the cake with how busy I was! Some wonderful events happened this weekend and I want to tell you all about them!

Friday was the field placement poster session for HBHE/Epid/EHS second years. Its basically a presentation of what we did and what we learned during our sumer internships. Here is my poster!

Then, on Saturday, it was perspective student day a the school of public health. This semester we reactivated the Latino Public Health Student group- La Salud- which has been inactive for the past few years. I’ve been incredibly busy organizing stuff for the group, trying to plan events and network. Here is a picture of the event:

And then finally, today was dia de la familia. This was a wonderful community event at Washtenaw Community College. A whole bunch of people from SPH and specifically La Salud came out to volunteer. There were free blood pressure screening stations, an eye doctor, face painting, delicious food and great music. Tons of organizations came out with spanish speaking employees and spanish materials for the community. Here is a picture of the mariachi band:

So now, its Sunday night and guess what? I have tons of homework. So I will leave you with this: I got to do so many great things related to my studies both with school and with the community- but because I chose to be involved. Last year I was nowhere near this busy because I didn’t feel the need to participate in student groups or community events. This year is different, and while its exhausting to be this busy- its also very fulfilling.

Relay for Life @ U-M

Carrie Rheingans

Nationally, Relay for Life is a 24-hour “relay” that raises money for the American Cancer Society. At the University of Michigan, over 2,000 students and community members participate by creating teams to raise money before the relay itself and to walk around the Palmer Field track for the 24 hours of the relay. U-M’s Relay for Life group is one of the 1000+ student groups at U-M. Naturally, the School of Public Health had a team for this weekend’s event! The School of Public Health team, organized through the Public Health Student Assembly’s Community Service Committee, raised nearly $3000 for the ACS.

Students in SPH have interests across a variety of health topics, from infectious diseases to chronic diseases to social factors that affect health outcomes to managing health systems and more. Relay for Life is one way for students to get involved in a campus-wide activity to promote one of the many health issues facing the state, country and world.

View from afar of the Relay for Life festivities

One of the many a capella groups at U-M providing entertainment for Relay for Life

American Cancer Society flags along the relay route

Student-Run Conference (Public Health Students of African Descent)

Carrie Rheingans

For the 23rd year, the Public Health Students of African Descent (PHSAD, pronounced ‘facade’) hosted their student-run conference on health disparities. This year’s topic was “Translating Research into Practice”.

Students from across campus joined community members and faculty to learn more about turning public health research into practice. Dr. Phillip Bwoman, Director of the National Center for Institutional Diversity, gave the opening keynote about the idea of cultural protection.  He described research that shows that after controlling for various risk factors, there are many areas in which African-Americans are not doing as poorly as people think. The researchers attributed this to the idea of cultural protection, the social support system that has a positive, protective effect on health outcomes.  He also cited the PBS movie series that described that third-generation Mexican-Americans have far worse health outcomes than first-generation Mexican-Americans.  The premise here is that as the second- and third-generation family members assimilate into mainstream US culture, they eat more poorly and work more hours, leaving little time for physical activity.  This contributes to many of the associated chronic conditions that disproportionately affect this community.

It is always impressive to see who presents at the PHSAD conference each year, considering the group hosting it is students and not faculty. My first session was with Zachary Rowe, of Friends of Parkside, a neighborhood group in the Eastside of Detroit. He gave us some simple advice: “make sure research is reality-based”.  Research is often done in a strict, controlled environment, where there’s enough funding, staffing, and skills to run the program effectively. Zachary was really supported of community-based participatory research (CBPR), where members of the community paarticipate in the research design, data collection, and evaluation of the research project. U-M happens to be a leader in CBPR, and Zachary has actually participated in many research projects through U-M.

Community Panel

The afternoon keynote was from Dr. Mary Lee of PolicyLInk.  Dr. Lee presented after an amazing lunch (that included many vegetarian options!) about how to use research findings to inform policy advocacy and changes. PolicyLink provided many of the materials that were used at the policy advocacy workshop I attended in February. Dr. Lee told us some stories about her work with policy advocacy in Oakland, CA around alcohol-selling stores and fresh produce-selling stores. She also found that involving the community was the way to go: “the most effective solutions come from the people living the problem” is something she mentioned more than once.

The community panel in the afternoon covered a great cross-section of topics, with many questions from students about the intersection of the work of medical and public health professionals. We had representatives from the Detroit Workers for Environmental Justice, Hope Clinic, PolicyLink, and Migrant Health Promotion. Some of the orgs do research in their everyday work, and some just used research to inform their programs. All were discussing the importance of research in their work. It’s good to hear that people use the research that people (including here at U-M) are doing, because it can get tedious reading all these new articles for classes!

Overall, the PHSAD conference was a great way to spend a Saturday. I look forward to going to next year’s conference!