Advancing Healthcare: Student Practicum Experiences in Data Utilization, Equity Empowerment, and Enhanced Patient Care
We are thrilled to celebrate the achievements of our graduating Master of Public Health (MPH) students! This year, the second-year cohort in our innovative 22-month hybrid program truly impressed us with their dedication and the impact of their practicum projects. As they prepare for graduation in the coming months, we want to recognize three students who used their personal experiences to drive their practicum projects. Their stories exemplify the commitment and innovation we see throughout the graduating class.
We are incredibly proud of ALL our hybrid MPH students! They exceeded expectations during their practicum, demonstrating exceptional skills and knowledge. Congratulations to the Class of 2024! We are excited to see how you leverage your learning experiences to impact public health positively.
Keep scrolling to learn more about the outstanding achievements of our graduating MPH students!
Making Data Work: Review of Mobile Asthma Clinic Use of a Health Atlas to Support Resource Allocation Decisions and Outcomes Measurement
Jonathan Weatherly MPH'24
As a senior executive working at the intersection of corporate risk and sustainability, long-time Chicago resident Jonathan Weatherly D’90 had three decades of experience in the field and an MBA in finance. To enhance his expertise and delve deeper into the nexus of climate, public health, and equity, he enrolled in Dartmouth’s hybrid master’s of public health. “I didn’t appreciate the full scope of what public health is and the impact it has across the board,” says Weatherly, who has lived in Chicago since he earned his bachelor’s in economics. “My MPH cohort was a very broad and diverse group—including MDs, PhDs, and of course public health–track professionals—so it made conversations and live interactions way better than I would have dreamed.”
For his practicum, Weatherly approached the executive director of Mobile Care Chicago (MCC), which provides free, comprehensive medical care at school sites to underserved Chicagoland children with asthma. Helping families better control a child’s asthma by bringing mobile health clinics directly to school sites, MCC reduces emergency department visits and improves education attendance and academic performance, interventions that can lead to a lifetime of socioeconomic improvements in a child’s trajectory. “I’m very aware of a number of MCC’s problems and opportunities, and there’s been a lot of growth,” says Weatherly, a founding board member who has served the nonprofit for two decades. “I said, what’s on your list of items that you’ve wanted to tackle?”
The MCC staff asked Weatherly to apply his data analytics capabilities on their behalf. His practicum documented how the nonprofit uses the Chicago Health Atlas to optimally focus their services on schools with high asthma prevalence and to measure outcomes over time to assess program impact. He also identified data gaps and helped MCC make the case for specific improvements to the Atlas that would enhance MCC’s resource allocation decisions and outcomes analyses.
Weatherly expects to continue applying his enhanced analytical skills on MCC’s behalf even after he completes his degree, investigating climate-change impacts at the zip-code level in Chicago to uncover how climate change affects disparities in asthma rates. “I knew I could do something useful for this organization I love,” he says, “but it was really cool to actually apply things I learned in courses—like biostatistics insights and epidemiology approaches—to do geography-based and race and ethnicity-based comparisons.”
Empowering Healthcare Equity: A Mixed Methods Study on lntersex Data Collection
Sara Rodriguez MPH'24
Sara Rodriguez had worked in healthcare research and delivery in the Boston area for more than a decade when she enrolled in Dartmouth's 22-month online/hybrid master’s of public health program, intent on building the skills she would need for a leadership role in health equity promotion. As a data quality and program evaluation specialist at Fenway Institute and the Fenway Health Department of Public Health since 2018, Rodriguez designs and monitors evaluation plans and data collection for a healthcare system and research institute that centers and promotes health and well-being for sexual and gender minorities (SGM) and those affected by HIV.
For her MPH practicum, Rodriguez zeroed in on the needs and values of intersex people, individuals who experience a range of chromosomal, hormonal, or anatomical differences from the male-female binary. “Healthcare data fails to capture intersex individuals due to inadequate sexual orientation and gender identity data collection methods, leading to a lack of representation,” says Rodriguez. “The literature is very poor.” As a result, healthcare centers struggle to learn more about the population they serve, measure access to care, and evaluate the quality of care they provide to all gender identities, even as evidence mounts that intersex people experience a higher incidence of anxiety, depression, and psychological distress related to stigma and discrimination, as well as the health inequities common to people throughout the LGBTQIA population, including HIV, chronic illnesses, mental health issues, and substance use.
Rodriguez and her preceptor designed a two-phase, mixed methods study to collect community input and guidance on how and where to collect sexual orientation and gender identity data from intersex people in medical settings. In Phase I, Rodriguez designed an IRB-approved protocol and recruited focus group participants to provide guidance on how to phrase effective intersex-related questions for medical settings. For Phase II of the project, she incorporated that feedback into a quantitative survey to guide the inclusion of intersex-related questions in the Fenway Health patient registration process. To disseminate her findings beyond Fenway, Rodriguez and her preceptor plan to publish their findings and make conference presentations that help other healthcare systems provide more inclusive and culturally competent care for their intersex patients. “The cultural competency needed in practical, real-world situations turned out to be quite different from what I had anticipated, despite my previous experience working with diverse communities like the LGBTQIA+,” says Rodriguez. “Balancing respectful and inclusive interactions posed a challenge, but it was ultimately fulfilling.”
Enhancing Care for Lactation after a Second Trimester Abortion or Fetal Loss
Eri Shindo, MPH '24
As an undergraduate at Keio University in Fujisawa, Japan, Eri Shindo wrote her senior thesis on the challenges faced by people with eczema navigating the world of medical therapies and alternative treatments. As an early-career professional, she worked in customer development for Proctor & Gamble in Kobe and later as a senior researcher in marketing for a Tokyo-based healthcare marketing research company. She made her way to Dartmouth’s Master of Public Health program through a decidedly more personal experience—a medically difficult pregnancy and second-trimester loss. “I received very good care, but I knew that was a privilege, and not many people receive that level of care,” she says. “Public health is focused on accessibility, quality, and holistic care.”
For her practicum, Shindo delved deeper into the unique needs of people who experience second-trimester loss. “My personal experience was my way in,” she says, “but researching more about the second-trimester population, I found that they’re often understudied.” In particular, she notes, the population is highly variable, including people who experience elective abortions or emergency termination due to fetal anomalies or maternal complications, as well as spontaneous fetal loss. “There’s often a sense of shame or failure,” says Shindo, “and there can be a lot of stigma around termination, even if it was a heartbreaking decision in a very desired pregnancy.”
Adding to the emotional and physical challenges of second-trimester pregnancy loss, milk production begins at gestational week 16, and lactation commences with delivery of the placenta, regardless of pregnancy outcome. Yet, in her literature search and interviews with providers, Shindo found that discussion about lactation with second-trimester patients is minimal. To facilitate conversation, she developed a rigorously researched patient brochure that introduces the support options available—from medications that suppress lactation to expressing and donating to a milk bank. In anticipation of a second phase of the study, Shindo completed the Institutional Review Board approval process that allows her to recruit and interview people who have experienced second-trimester abortion and fetal loss to explore their needs and preferences for enhanced lactation support. “This project really immersed me in the clinical environment, talking to different professionals in the hospital and getting a feel for how departments interact,” says Shindo, who plans a career in maternal and child health research. “That was a very powerful experience.”
Stories written by Sharon Tregaskis