Christina Faulk was an MPH candidate at the Medical University of South Carolina when she served as a Region IV PHTC Pathways to Practice Scholar in the fall of 2020. As a research intern at the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC), Christina assessed childhood homelessness as a risk factor to opioid misuse and the role of effect modifiers as protective factors. Here is Christina’s reflection on her experience in her own words:

I chose this field placement because I knew that statistics was not one of my strengths and I wanted to build my skills in SAS and statistical analysis. My field placement gave me more experience in this subject matter and I was extremely fortunate to be able to work with the Director of Surveillance at DHEC, who is very knowledgeable in the field of Epidemiology, and Research and statistics.

I learned that with good public health research, a huge impact can be made for an entire population of people, which is quite profound. My mentor taught me patience, to believe in myself, and with dedication and effort anything can be accomplished. I have grown both personally and professionally during this field placement and feel more confident with large datasets and my ability to use statistical programing software to clean and analyze data.

This opportunity has confirmed my desire to work with data and research, specifically trauma and substance abuse research. I am extremely grateful and fortunate to have had this experience and encourage all public health graduate students to apply to the Pathways to Practice Scholars field placement.

Jenesha Nance is an MPH student at the University of South Carolina who served as a Region IV PHTC Pathways to Practice Scholar in the summer of 2019. She worked for SC Thrive, a nonprofit committed to leading South Carolinians to stability by providing innovative and efficient access to quality of life resources.

At SC Thrive, she facilitated benefits trainings, attended outreach events, and supported numerous nonprofits’ partnerships with SC Thrive. She also conducted a needs assessment to help organizations better utilize SC Thrive’s resources, including ThriveHub, a new tool that expedites the government benefit application process and helps connect SC Thrive partner organizations.

Jenesha had the opportunity to work with a wide range of clients, from seniors to schoolchildren. The population she worked with was primarily rural, and issues with transportation, high rent costs, and low income were common. Jenesha explains, “My time with SC Thrive was an eye-opening experience. I learned about real issues those in poverty have. Financial and physical health tie hand in hand. Once a person has all the basic needs such as food, water, shelter and healthcare, they can focus more on building a career, having healthy families, and increasing financial resources.”

“One of the most important skills I gained from my field placement was empathy,” she reflects. “I experienced how those who live in poverty scrape by each day and am grateful for all my privileges. I want to continue in nonprofit work and ensure every person has food, shelter, and healthcare. Then, I can begin to assist people in breaking the cycle of poverty.”

Jenesha is currently completing her last semester at the USC. When the COVID-19 pandemic first hit, she began volunteering with Mutual Aid Midlands to help people access food, housing assistance and utility assistance. She is currently working on a back to school electronics drive to help children access technology like computers and headphones.

Jamad Smith is pursuing an MPH at the University of Southern Mississippi to help him prepare for a career in health administration. In early 2020, he was placed at the Mississippi Rural Health Association as a Region IV PHTC Pathways to Practice Scholar.

Initially, Jamad was involved with researching rural hospital access in addition to a performance improvement project on diabetes awareness. Once the COVID-19 pandemic hit, his focus shifted towards the critical role of telemedicine. Jamad was responsible for researching new telehealth guidelines, including billing code updates. He explains, “The coverages basically waived costs of coinsurance and changed the reimbursement provisions based on government guidelines and policy. The goal is for individuals to know that their plan covers testing for COVID-19 and that telehealth is available under their plan.”

Jamad reflects, “This project allowed me to observe how legal and ethical principles played a role in public health decision making with stay at home orders. Telehealth proved its value during this pandemic.” This experience allowed Jamad to think deeply about issues any healthcare administrator must grapple with – access, quality of care, resource allocation.

In addition to growing his professional skill set, Jamad enjoyed the positive work culture at the Mississippi Rural Health Association. He explains, “I was surrounded by great mentors in a comfortable work environment. I was welcomed with open arms and was treated with respect and trustworthiness. I was able to perform meaningful work with every task and nothing I did was pointless or irrelevant.”

Jamad will graduate this summer and plans to work in an administrative position in his hometown of Mobile, Alabama or in the Atlanta, Georgia area.