Jennifer Drey was pursuing an Executive Master of Public Health at Emory University when she served as a Region IV PHTC Pathways to Practice Scholar in the fall of 2020. In her field placement, Jennifer was responsible for the development of DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) diet curriculum for implementation in the Georgia Department of Public Health Coastal Health District. Here is Jennifer’s reflection on her experience in her own words:
This field placement was appealing to me because it offered the opportunity to work on chronic disease prevention programming in my current hometown of Savannah, GA. This fully aligned with my future professional interests, as my career goal is to transition into a position that involves creating and implementing public health programming that improves nutritional outcomes in poverty-affected areas of Georgia. While my placement was rooted in chronic disease prevention and focused on the DASH diet curriculum, my mentor also introduced me to other aspects of the health district, as well as some emerging ideas in chronic disease prevention, including the Blue Zones Power 9 and Knorr 50 Foods for the Future.
This placement was gratifying because it allowed me to apply my skills and knowledge to a project that has the potential to impact the community in which I live. The development of a DASH diet curriculum directly correlated with many of the skills I have acquired through my coursework at Emory and allowed me to apply my knowledge in a real-world setting. As a result, my placement solidified my desire to work in chronic disease prevention programming and helped me gain a better understanding of the barriers to consider when working with a low-income community.
Admittedly, carrying out this placement during COVID-19 raised a few concerns for me with regard to the future of chronic disease prevention programming within public health departments. My primary concern is that there is a lack of resources and staff time to fully address both COVID-19 and chronic disease prevention, and this may exist well into the future. This is worrisome to me, given the relationship between chronic disease and poor COVID-19 outcomes. At the same time, that relationship between chronic disease and COVID-19, as well as the relationships between chronic disease and so many other negative outcomes and premature death, continues to inspire me to pursue work in this field.