Practicum Profiles
Paige Franklin
Certificate: Health Promotion Research & Practice
Practicum: Active Living by Design Intern
Practicum Position: New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene
WHAT IS YOUR PRACTICUM POSITION? WHAT TYPE OF WORK ARE YOU DOING THERE?
I am participating in the implementation of multiple projects related to increasing play in early childhood centers and schools as well as increasing physical activity in low-income housing and neighborhoods. Beautification of the built environment and structural changes that make it more conducive for play and physical activity.
Through policy research and analysis I will contribute to the development of a report of national policies on active design. The report will include best practices for ways to promote play and physical activity as well as physically active learning opportunities for youth. There will also be a road map health code amendment policy plan included in this report.
I am also contributing to an Active Design project in open spaces throughout the city whose goal is to install artwork on step streets in the Bronx. Step streets are steps that were built in sections of the Bronx where it is too steep to pave roads. Local community-based organizations and artists have been recruited in order to create artwork on these steps to encourage physical activity, play, recreation, reflection and socialization among community members. I have conducted two observation surveys of the activity that takes place on these steps before the installation of artwork. I will conduct the same survey after the installation of art, tracking changes in the nature of activity that happens on these steps.
WHAT ARE SOME UNEXPECTED THINGS YOU’VE LEARNED?
Some of the unexpected things I have learned as an intern are the inner workings of public health programming and funding and how it is allocated to community organizations in a governmental setting. I have learned the importance of precise grant writing and the process of request for proposal and request for qualification in distributing the funding to be used in to carry out Active Living Design Projects. The overarching goal of Active Design Projects is to use grant funds to transform the built environment in order to make dwellings more conducive to physical activity in low-income or disinvested neighborhoods.
HOW DO YOU APPLY WHAT YOU HAVE LEARNED IN SMS TO THE WORK YOU ARE DOING?
The overwhelming importance of deploying the theory of community engagement is pervasive in my work at the New York City Department of Health. Incorporation of community stakeholders in the planning and implementation of grant-funded Active Living by Design projects is key to their success and sustainability.
HOW HAS YOUR PRACTICUM INFLUENCED OR CONTRIBUTED TO YOUR CAREER GOALS?
I hope to continue to contribute to innovative and interdisciplinary projects that are taking place at the New York City Department of Health as a public health practitioner in my future career.
Suzanne Kirkendall
Certificate: Health Promotion Research & Practice
Practicum: Social Sciences Intern
Practicum Position: McCann Health
What is your practicum position? What type of work are you doing there?
I am a Social Sciences Intern at McCann Health, an agency that’s part of the global McCann advertising network. I work at the regional strategy level, so this job involves a lot of responsibility, flexibility and the ability to work quickly. Some of the work I have done includes developing and implementing behavioral sciences trainings, and conducting literature reviews on current technologies and industry happenings and developing a point of view for the practice to move forward with in our projects. We have also analyzed existing maps of patient journeys to try to identify ways of communicating and intervening at “pain points” to facilitate a smoother patient experience and improved health outcomes.
What are some unexpected things you’ve learned?
How creative this job can be! It can be easy to forget that part when you’re still in school learning the most rigorous academic approaches, but some of my favorite workdays have been when we allow ourselves to really dream big and just brainstorm together. Our rigorous tools are always there in our back pockets, of course, but it’s great fun to apply them creatively to real-life problems.
That said, I’ve also experienced a bit of reverse culture shock in terms of communicating my health promotion and public health knowledge with people who haven’t studied it at grad school. It’s easy to forget how specialized our knowledge is, and so I’ve had to learn to “translate” to make sure my colleagues can understand the valuable knowledge we’ve gained from our program.
The amount of information about new and existing medications and all the regulations around drug development and advertising that I’ve learned this summer has been mind-blowing. There’s a lot of really cool technology out there! I’ve also learned how much we rely on PowerPoint – we spend a LOT of time working on decks!
How do you apply what you have learned in SMS to the work you are doing?
My work relies heavily on systems thinking, health literacy, and behavior change principles from a variety of health promotion theories. The extra talks sponsored by SMS that I’ve attended have also turned out to be very applicable to my work, especially since they’re very current examples of SMS work being done in real life, and they have both inspired and supported our solutions.
How has your practicum influenced or contributed to your career goals?
The work at this practicum is exactly the type of work I came to grad school to do, so I’m thrilled to have had this fantastic opportunity. The knowledge and experienced I’ve gained, as well as the wonderful people I have met and worked with, have been outstanding. It’s been very exciting to apply my academic public health knowledge in a non-traditional setting, and it has absolutely encouraged me to continue down this career path.
Dalena Nguyen
Certificate: Health Promotion Research & Practice
Practicum: Cancer Research Training Award Fellow
Practicum Position: National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Cancer Institute (NCI)
WHAT IS YOUR PRACTICUM POSITION? WHAT TYPE OF WORK ARE YOU DOING THERE?
At my practicum with the NIH/NCI, I am a Cancer Research Training Award Fellow in working in the Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences, specifically with the Health Systems Interventions Research Branch. Besides getting acquainted with the sometimes confusing and complex organizational structure of the NIH, I am working on 2 main projects under the mentorship of Dr. Sallie Weaver and Veronica Chollette.
First, a Portfolio Analysis where I review all NIH& other DHHS grants revolving around team-based processes or team-based care models across the cancer care spectrum. The purpose of conducting and summarizing the grant portfolio’s literature of discoveries, emerging trends, etc. is to ultimately inform and influence the research agenda and funding opportunities both internally and amongst the research community. I’m really enjoying this PA because I feel like it connects to the culture shift of public health, where people (and institutions) are starting to recognize that molecular/cellular science and systematic sciences should be growing in parallel, not where only one is emphasized and outpaces the other. Also, getting to read through some pretty cool things currently being done really gets the creative cogwheels turning in my head, and that’s such a dope feeling to have.
The second project is the Healthcare Teams Learning Community, where I am helping to develop and pilot an online learning community populated by clinicians, researchers, and health care professionals across the country dedicated to developing team-based processes or team-based care models within the cancer care spectrum. I contribute recent research publications, discussion topics, and related activities to populate the site and work with the Research to Reality Staff to recruit and sustain memberships.
WHAT ARE SOME UNEXPECTED THINGS YOU’VE LEARNED?
I guess it’s not so much something unexpected that I learned, but more so unexpectedly connected. It was unexpectedly pleasant to find how relevant our studies and training can be. As a student, I feel like I sometimes grapple with the question, “Okay, but how is this applied in the real world?” I feel like I’m observing, reading, and hearing about systems sciences (e.g. dissemination and implementation, health behavior interventions, population based-disparities research, etc) as though it is a relatively new arena the NIH is stepping foot in. I don’t know if it’s the research influencing the practice, or the other way around, but it’s exciting to see how our interests and the training we’re receiving will make us well situated for the future.
How do you apply what you have learned in SMS to the work you are doing?
Hard skills-wise, a lot of what I learned about logic models, health behavior theories, and what actually makes health intervention research rigorous has been extremely helpful while I am conducting the PA. Soft-skills wise, I feel like the plethora of group projects we had to do has been of value because although public health practitioners have fundamental shared knowledge, being able to work with colleagues with different working styles and learning how to draw out the creativity and ideas in one another in the classroom has really helped me in this team-based work setting.
How has your practicum influenced or contributed to your career goals?
I think it has exposed me to how exciting knowledge production can be, especially when it’s about subjects you’ve learned, mastered, found deep interests in, continued to be intrigued by. Although I initially saw myself as a health promotion practitioner in the future, I think pairing my practice with research to advance my practice in health promotion is something I’m looking forward to in the future.