Five graduate students in the USF College of Public Health have joined the Maternal and Child Health Leadership Training Program. The program, funded by the Health Resources and Services Administration, provides leadership training in maternal and child health with a focus on cultural competence, family-centered care and interdisciplinary practice.

The grant, led by Dr. Martha Coulter, principal investigator, was recently renewed for another five-year term with an added post-doctoral component, led by Dr. Karen Liller.

Awardees of the training grant program receive full-time in-state tuition waivers for three semesters, a stipend, travel support to attend conferences and mentoring.

Scholars will also take part in an enhanced curriculum with special training opportunities.

The program is pleased to welcome the following scholarship recipients from the Department of Community and Family Health:

Kimberly Hailey is an MPH student with a concentration in maternal and child health. She currently interns at Friends of Joshua House and serves as the secretary of the Maternal and Child Health Student Organization (MCHSO). Hailey is interested in prenatal, reproductive and sexual health of minority women. She hopes to build her public health skills to encourage the importance of program planning, prevention strategies, and applied research to better the reproductive and sexual health of minority women.

 

Maria My-Phuong Huynh is an MPH student with a dual concentration in epidemiology and maternal and child health. She is currently the president of the MCHSO and Eta Sigma Gamma, the Health Education Honorary. She is interested in intimate partner and family violence, and reproductive health issues encompassing sexual health education, family planning, contraceptive use and sexually transmitted infections. Huynh is also interested in using health literacy to inform evidence and theory-based interventions to reduce health disparities among high risk populations.

 

Grace Liggett is an MPH student with a concentration in maternal and child health. Liggett is interested in child welfare, disability, adolescence, substance abuse and women’s mental health. She is currently working on developing a cultural-competence training program for community health workers, improving social programs for mothers in Healthy Start and enhancing outreach for a local non-profit organization.

 

Estefania Rubio is an MPH student with a dual concentration in epidemiology and maternal and child health. Rubio is fascinated by risk-appropriate care of pregnant women and high-risk infants. She believes that by addressing health disparities and providing risk-appropriate care, pregnancy outcomes will improve and families will grow stronger and healthier.

 

Manuela Thomas is an MPH student with a concentration in health education. Thomas is currently the treasurer for the Delta Kappa chapter of Eta Sigma Gamma National Health Education Honorary. She is interested in reproductive health and women’s health, related to drug and alcohol use during pregnancy, as well as health inequities and health economics, related to monitoring and evaluation methods for population and health programs.

To learn more about applying to become a MCH scholar, visit the MCH scholar website.

Story by Esther Telusma and Anna Mayor, USF College of Public Health