Public Health Conference Showcases Student Research, Community Efforts

Falling appropriately on both Earth Day and the final day of Research Week, on Friday, April 22, 2016, the Department of Environmental Health at the UC College of Medicine hosted its annual Mini Public Health Conference, showcasing student research and capstone experiences from the Master of Public Health program, in addition to presentations from community partners. 

More than 30 students presented their projects and research in the morning, followed by a poster session, lunch and community partner presentations in the afternoon. 

The conference was designed "to have students present and share their research projects and practice experience with peers and faculty in a conference setting,” says Jun Ying, PhD, associate professor and director of the Master of Public Health (MPH) program. "This year, we added a new component by inviting the community partners to introduce their institutions and activities in the Greater Cincinnati area.”

Ying says one of the primary goals of the conference is to build the network between the students and the community partners working in public health. "We really want to provide stronger connections for our students, researchers and community partners. We also want to to increase opportunities for our students to find a place to practice their knowledge and skills and to bridge the public health practice and research between health practitioners in the field and educators and researchers at the university.”

Community partner presenters included local governmental non-profit and for-profit entities, all of whom employ MPH graduates or hire interns for research projects and public health initiatives. Among them:

• Hamilton County Public Health

• Northern Kentucky Health Department

• Crossroad Health Center

• Center for Closing for Health Gap

• Interact for Health

• Toxicology Excellence for Risk Assessment (TERA) Center

• MEDPACE

• Christ Hospital

The conference events also included a representative from UC International programs "to address the growing interest in studying abroad for practicum in public health,” says Ying.  

Renee-Mahaffey Harris, chief operating officer of the Center for Closing the Health Gap, was one of the afternoon’s community presenters. Mahaffey-Harris described the many ways they use students from the MPH program for research projects and internships and acknowledged the work of three UC MPH students in the audience: Larissa Fomum Mugri, Sehrish Khan and Mamadou Niang.

"We are a pretty small staff, so we do rely on our interns and the students who partner on capstones with us,” says Mahaffey-Harris. "At Closing the Health Gap, you not only have the opportunity to be a part of creating the curriculum but also to analyze the data and really take what you’re learning in your textbooks and put it to life on a daily basis.”

Christy O’Dea, MD, assistant professor of family and community medicine at the UC College of Medicine, who is also a provider for the Crossroad Health Center, gave an overview of the role and mission of the health center, along with Caroline Hensley, a soon-to-be MPH graduate who coordinates the Crossroad volunteer program (known as VIP) for students. Hensley also talked about her practicum experience to assess social determinants of health in Cincinnati. (The collected data and information is available on letschangeourcity.org.) 

Initiated by Shuk-mei Ho, PhD, Jacob G. Schmidlapp Professor and Chair of Environmental Health and director of the Cincinnati Cancer Center, the Mini Public Health Conference is in its second year with the support of all faculty members including Mary Beth Genter, PhD, professor and director of the graduate programs for the department.