Each year the USF College of Public Health’s (COPH) Center of Excellence in Maternal and Child Health chooses six graduate students to become MCH Student Leadership Scholars.

Despite the pandemic, the scholars pressed on, taking part in a specialized curriculum and individualized, professional-development activities, albeit all remotely.

But that virtual format had its perks, say both program organizers and student scholars.

“The remote delivery of the leadership meetings and seminars allowed all COPH students, faculty, staff and community partners to take part, increasing the reach to over 50 attendees for many sessions,” said Dr. Cheryl Vamos, a COPH associate professor and director of the Center. “And the pandemic was a real-life case study like no other, underscoring the unique health and development needs of those most vulnerable—including women, children and families.”

First-year MPH student and MCH Scholar Isabela Solis agrees that the remote format had its advantages.

“For me, having this experience remote was a wonderful thing,” she said. “I took all that I learned and looked at how I can apply it in the city where I am from and from where I did the program. That was a unique advantage.”

The goal of the MCH Student Leadership Scholars program, according to its grant proposal, is “to develop an emerging group of highly skilled and diverse MCH leaders to achieve optimal MCH outcomes and to advance MCH education, science and practice.”

Each year in the early summer, says Dr. Abraham Salinas-Miranda, associate director of the Center, the college puts out a call for scholars, who begin the program in the fall. The benefits, both he and Vamos say, are severalfold and include:

• Individualized leadership plans
• Mentoring
• Research internships
• Leadership meetings with MCH and other public health leaders at local, state and national levels
• Seminars across several topics (e.g., health literacy, conflict management, cultural competency, etc.)
• Professional development opportunities
• Networking
• Tuition waiver and stipend

“The goal of the progam is to grow students into leaders dedicated to improving health among women, children, families and communities,” said Vamos, who is also an alumna of the COPH. “There is also a special emphasis on decreasing health disparities and improving health equity.”

Haley Maxwell, a graduating MPH student, found the hands-on experience and close mentoring of particular value.

“One of the major highlights of this experience was being able to engage with community organization leaders through the help of my faculty mentor, Dr. [Ronee] Wilson,” Maxwell said. “It was insightful to learn how quality improvement, grants, IRB [Institutional Review Board] proposals and program evaluations are carried out in a real-life setting. The advantage of the program is being able to work with a faculty mentor whom I look up to. I was always amazed at the work Dr. Wilson had done, so I felt incredibly fortunate when we were matched for this program.”

Medinah Nabadduka, a second-year MPH student, appreciates the leadership experience the program has given her.

“Through the MCH Scholar program, I have learned different leadership skills from successful leaders in the MCH field,” Nabadduka said. “My biggest takeaway from the leaders is that it is always important to make people the top priority, then everything else will take care of itself. Another key takeaway is to be humble and to learn from others. Before participating in the MCH Scholar program I was uncomfortable with the thought of being a leader because I like to work behind the scenes. But now I view a leader as someone who serves as a guide and who [considers] everyone’s best interest.”

You can learn more about this year’s cohort of MCH Scholars here. The COPH community is also invited to the scholars’ final presentation celebration, accessible via Microsoft Teams, on Friday, May 14, from 2-4 p.m.S

Story by Donna Campisano, USF College of Publc Health