First published on October 7, 2019 in observance of the COPH’s 35^th anniversary celebration.

Advocacy is as important in public health as data analyses and needs’ assessments.

But students have traditionally lacked advocacy experience.

In 2018, Dr. Karen Liller, a USF College of Public Health (COPH) professor specializing in injury prevention and health education, decided to remedy that situation by starting the Activist Lab at the COPH.

The group, which is run with the help of two research assistants and a six-student advisory board made up of graduate and undergraduate students, provides interdisciplinary advocacy, education, research and service opportunities for students to develop the skills that will promote their success as effective public health advocates and leaders.

The Activist Lab, directed by Liller, is the second such lab in the country, with the first being at Boston University’s School of Public Health.

Liller says she had been wanting to start a program like the Activist Lab at the COPH for a while, to compliment the Doctoral Student Leadership Institute she began as dean of the USF Graduate School, now known as the Office of Graduate Studies.

“I strongly believed students needed much more preparation in leadership and advocacy skills before they graduated,” Liller commented.

In just one year of its existence, hundreds of students have taken part in the Activist Lab’s educational and service opportunities, which include activism boot camps, seminars, guest speakers, journal clubs, writing groups, research efforts and public health in a minute videos. These videos—only 60 seconds long—have featured faculty and community leaders discussing pertinent public health issues, everything from the importance of voting to refugee health.

According to Liller, some of the Activist Lab’s first-year highlights include:

• work with Dr. Mark Roberts and other University of Pittsburgh researchers on a measles simulator for Florida (called FRED Florida Measles Simulator), which shows how cases of the viral infection can grow in an area with just a 10 percent drop in immunizations
• a gun violence prevention and advocacy seminar, held in partnership with USF Health and led by Parkland shooting survivors David Hogg and Emma González

Things won’t slow down for the Activist Lab anytime soon. In addition to the continuation of seminars, speakers and learning opportunities, the organization has the following things planned for the future:

• a boot camp on the prevention of firearm violence, scheduled for January
• a new program called “More Opportunities to Use Learned Advocacy” (MOULA), where students work with particular agencies, such as Moms Demand Action and the Guardian ad Litem program, on advocacy issues
• the launch of a new podcast series called “Advocation—Change It Up!” The first podcast features Dr. Jill Roberts, a COPH alumna and assistant professor of global health, discussing the importance of immunizations.
• an oral presentation on activism, to be delivered at the 2019 American Public Health Association (APHA) meeting in November

The Activist Lab serves as an exciting hub of learning and action for students to become directly involved in practicing leadership and advocacy skills, says Liller, who sees the lab’s numbers growing and its reach expanding beyond the college and university to the state, nation and world. 

“For example, with our podcast new persons will be reached and advocacy skills can be expanded and practiced,” remarked Liller. “Students can become part of our advisory board and really help shape the direction of the lab. They can participate in all of our events, and as we grow more and more opportunities will become available.”

Story by Donna Campisano, USF College of Public Health

The post Teaching advocacy via the Activist Lab appeared first on College of Public Health News.

The USF College of Public Health (COPH) Activist Lab held its fifth annual boot camp virtually on Jan. 27. Over 200 students, faculty and interested parties took part in the event, which focused on teaching advocacy strategies to promote global health and health equity.

The Activist Lab provides interdisciplinary advocacy, education, research and service opportunities for students to develop the skills that will promote their success as effective public health advocates and leaders. The boot camp is a one-day advocacy education and practice program highlighting successful public health advocacy, policymaking and communication strategies.

“This is technically my last year in the MPH program and I knew I could not let myself graduate without attending an activist lab boot camp,” said Delaenam Akahoho, who’s concentrating in epidemiology and maternal and child health. “The focus of health equity is what caught my eye with this year’s theme. An equity-centered approach to health is important because it ensures that those who have been historically overlooked are no longer cheated out of a safe and quality health experience across the life course.” 

After a welcome from Dr. Karen Liller, a Distinguished University Health Professor and director of the Activist Lab, Dr. Donna Petersen, dean of the COPH, gave the opening remarks, noting that it’s the duty of all public health professionals to work together to encourage and promote health for all.

“We do it because we want to see change in the world so everyone can be healthy, happy and thriving,” Petersen said. “And we know that being able to effectively communicate, build coalitions and work in the policy arena to make these changes is so important.”

U.S. Rep. Cathy Castor echoed those sentiments. While acknowledging that the U.S. has played an important role in tackling worldwide problems like HIV, malaria, Ebola and COVID, she called on students to not ignore the issues facing our own country.

“We have a lot of work to do when it comes to protecting reproductive rights and ensuring that people from disadvantaged communities have access to contraceptives, reproductive care and needed medical services,” Castor said.

Attendees listened to presentations about advocacy 101, policy development and communication from COPH faculty, including Liller and Drs. Zachary Pruitt and Claudia Parvanta.

Dr. Jill Roberts, COPH associate professor, gave the keynote address that focused on vaccine-preventable diseases and global health equity. She used the disease mpox (monkeypox) to highlight the health inequities between high- and low-income countries.

“Despite the fact that there was widespread knowledge of an mpox outbreak going on [in  Nigeria] in 2017, there was no surveillance, no epidemiological investigation and no use of the vaccine that we had sitting in the States, getting stockpiled and going nowhere. There were vaccine dosages that went in the trash because they expired. We never sent them to Nigeria. Had we been at the forefront of this when it was starting, we could have saved. I’m sorry to tell you that the very first vaccines that went to Nigeria to combat this [virus] went out last month. So clearly, we have an equity problem going on here.”

After a Q&A session with a diverse group of COPH faculty and a former Activist Lab Student Advisory Board member, attendees took part in breakout sessions, each one focusing on a different global health topic, including nutrition, violence-related issues, maternal child health and vaccine-preventable diseases. Each breakout session produced a position paper that was later presented and reviewed.

Akahoho said the breakout sessions were her favorite part of the event.

“As a team, we were tasked with advocating for a global maternal and child health issue,” she said. “We all had our own level of expertise and bringing all that to the table allowed for us to create a strong ask. Passion takes us far, yes, but the facts are just as important in getting people on your side. I walked away a lot more confident with the new advocacy skillsets I gained through the boot camp.”

“The biggest takeaway for me was the critical importance of teamwork and the composition of the team itself,” added Catherine Oakes, an MPH student concentrating in public health practice. “There must be diversity in experience and perspectives and disciplines as well as diversity in backgrounds, cultures, lived experiences and education. Without having the ability to see from all angles, it is not possible to properly frame the issue or problem. I loved the learning and engagement opportunity that attending this boot camp gave me, and I would highly recommend it to my fellow students and colleagues.”

Liller expressed thanks for all those who contributed to the success of the boot camp, including the students, faculty, staff, speakers, Dr. Ann Joyce and Silvia Moreno from the Lifelong Learning Academy and Carlos Montoya, who provided technical support. She also thanked the Florida Public Health Association, who paid for members’ boot camp registrations. 

The Activist Lab looks forward to planning boot camp number six, to be held in 2024.

Story by Donna Campisano, USF College of Public Health

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Dr. Karen Liller, a USF College of Public Health(COPH) professor and director of the college’s Activist Lab (which provides advocacy training, research and opportunities), teamed with Ellen Kent, coordinator of the USF Health Service Corps, and Activist Lab Student Advisory Board members to develop the Adopt-a-School Program for student advocacy.

Never Too Young to Advocate

The Adopt-a-School Program, which is ongoing, invites students from Tampa’s Liberty Middle School and Freedom High School to participate in lab meetings and activities with Liller and her student team. The aim of the program is to introduce students to advocacy and foster within them interest and engagement in topics they would like to become involved with. Students hone writing and speech skills while learning how to implement change at all levels. 

“Young individuals need to find their voice early to become strong advocates and have an outlet for their passion for change. However, advocacy takes skill, and these skills need to be not only learned but practiced so that one is effective in leading change efforts,” Liller said. “I believe you can’t start too young when it comes to learning advocacy.”

Liller and the board brainstormed and came up with the idea of soliciting topics from the students that they were passionate about and having them deliver their advocacy messages via TikTok. 

A total of 21 Freedom High School and three Liberty Middle School students participated in making the TikTok videos. Five COPH Activist Lab members took part in the program.

Teaching Advocacy

“At first, you could tell the students were a little shy to the idea of advocacy and being an advocate,” Michaela McMahon, an Activist Lab board member and second-year MPH student concentrating in global communicable diseases, said. “However, once we got them talking about issues they were passionate about—school dress code, school lunch, increased access to feminine products in schools and gun violence (to see student-made TikTok videos, click on links)—and then validated that one can advocate for those issues, you saw them light up. Our main goal for the students was for them to gain a foundation of what advocacy is and what being an advocate looks like, which I really think they developed. I learned that a lot of the issues presented by the students were identical to those I faced when I was in middle and high school. Granted, I only graduated high school in 2016, but I felt that I could empathize with the students and show that these issues need to be addressed.”

The TikTok video focusing on the need for free feminine hygiene products in school bathrooms. pictured a female student frantically rifling through her school backpack for a hygiene product and coming up empty-handed. To the theme of “Mission Impossible,” she ran through the school hallways and into a bathroom, again finding nothing. The voice-over to the video ended with a call to action that said, “Schools should consider adding free, accessible [feminine hygiene product] dispensers in the women’s restrooms. This would lessen the embarrassment of having to ask for products when in need.”

Erin Millsapps, another Activist Lab board member and second-year MPH student concentrating in epidemiology and global health, said she got involved because she believes “advocacy plays an important role in the health of our communities. The students were extremely creative and passionate about advocacy. They were appreciative of the knowledge we shared and will take the skills with them as they move through their future endeavors.” 

The COPH students who participated in the program also noted that while they were there to teach, they also learned. 

“The students asked me and other board members about life after high school, the university and other job-related questions,” Madison Sanders, an MPH student concentrating in health policy and programs, said. “The opportunity to connect with the community allowed me to immerse myself in the Tampa Bay Area—and it reinforced my belief in the importance of public health.” 

Story by Donna Campisano, USF College of Public Health

The post A is for advocacy: COPH students train middle/high schoolers in advocacy appeared first on College of Public Health News.

When USF College of Public Health (COPH) professor Dr. Karen Liller was approached by the American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine to write an article on injury prevention, she switched gears and decided what was really needed was an article on the importance of physicians advocating for injury prevention measures. 

In October, the journal published “The Important Role for Physicians as Advocates for Firearm and Road Traffic Injury Prevention.” Liller wrote the piece along with Dr. Amber Mehmood, a trained surgeon and COPH associate professor.

“Physicians are typically trained to treat sick patients and focus on their health problems,” Mehmood explained. “The notion that gun control and traffic safety are not health problems has some role to play in physicians’ willingness to partake in gun safety and road injury prevention. Fortunately, this attitude is changing, and physicians are more open to looking beyond the traditional spectrum of ‘diseases.’ Our goal is to seize this opportunity and give them necessary tools that help them speak about public health, injury prevention, gun safety and other issues connected with individual and public health.”

Part of the problem, Liller said, is the lack of advocacy training students embarking on medical careers get.

“I believe that pre-med, medical school and internship/residency training needs to include coursework on how to be an advocate and participate in policy change,” commented Liller, who also directs the COPH’s Activist Lab. “Physicians are among our most trusted health professionals and their involvement would do much to enhance advocacy efforts. Recently I and the Activist lab led an interprofessional experience with medical and other health students on how to advocate for various environmental issues. This type of training needs to increase and be expanded. Physicians need to be comfortable asking questions of patients about injuries and injury prevention.”

What are some steps physicians can take to address public health issues like firearms safety and traffic injuries? Liller and Mehmood suggest that physicians:

• Take time to advise patients about preventing injuries, including counseling them about firearm safety and risks associated with firearm usage during in-office exams.
• Advocate for legislation and policies that—among other things—can improve access to mental health services and reduce access to high-capacity magazines and firearms.
• Intervene with education and counseling when treating patients in trauma centers.
• Promote safe roads practice and research.
• Form interprofessional alliances that tell the stories of injury survivors and highlight the dangers involved.
• Promote multidisciplinary research into injury prevention.
• Use evidence to inform public policy.

“Advocacy seeks to change upstream factors like laws, regulations, policies and institutional practices. These factors are the drivers of market availability, prices, and product standards that influence personal health choices. Bringing physicians with commitment and skills into the helm of health advocacy would be a huge win for clinical medicine as well as public health,” Mehmood said.

Liller said “Working with colleges of public health on developing academic coursework and practice experiences for physicians will allow their comfort level to increase in being advocates for change.  Our work together then will have much stronger results.”

Story by Donna Campisano, USF College of Public Health

The post Public health advocacy: Physicians need to take a bigger role appeared first on College of Public Health News.

June is Pride Month

Going down the path of hate

USF College of Public Health (COPH) alumnus Scott Ernest’s involvement with the white nationalist movement was “one of trying to do the right thing the wrong way, and then following that path into darkness.”

That dark path opened to him in 2004 when he said he came across a posting online showing two young white nationalist children being attacked. Ernest contacted the authorities who then recommended he contact their parents.

“I did that and ended up becoming a friend of the family. That family was well-connected in the white nationalist movement, and their influence, along with joining sites like Stormfront [a neo-Nazi online forum] led me down that dark path,” he said.

From there Ernest went on to become a recruiter for a hate group in Montana and was a member of a few other white nationalist organizations, including some connected to the insurrection at the White House.

He said in an interview with PBS that being involved with the movement became an “addiction” for him.

“I was a specialist in normalizing white nationalism. “

“I was a specialist in normalizing white nationalism. I tended to be moderate in my speech…no slurs or outright hate. I was successful as a recruiter because I was great at marketing and gaslighting those that opposed us. I could make people think, ‘He’s not so bad,’ while also helping others push some of the most dangerous positions and ideas. Politically, I seemed no worse than the average conservative, while associating with the worst of the worst,” he said. “I’d argue, however, that my ability to normalize hate, which helps lead to things like Unite the Right in Charlottesville and the Jan.6^t Insurrection, made me even worse than what I just called the worst of the worst.”

Born in Flint, Mich., Ernest said his family did a lot of “roaming” during his early childhood years, living in various cities in Michigan, Tennessee, California and Ohio. He moved to Tampa, Fla., with his family during his last year of high school, after his father left the U.S. Air Force.

“As an adult, I pretty much kept wandering; Tampa, Orlando, Lakeland, Winter Haven, and Cocoa in Florida, New Orleans, and eventually I joined a white nationalist hate group in the Flathead Valley in Montana,” he said.

He lived in Montana for five years, actively recruiting for the Kalispell Pioneer Little Europe, a white nationalist group tracked by the Southern Poverty Law Center.  But in 2011, Ernest said he started to feel the hate taking a toll on him.

A new point of view

His turning point started when he discovered that Anders Breivik, a member of the movement, terrorized and murdered children in Norway. Stormfront told Ernest to hide posts in support of the person accused.

“I was a Stormfront [moderator] at the time, and staff was told to delete posts in support of him. They wanted to hide the fact that he was a member and hide the ongoing support for his murders,” Ernest said.

Ernest said this experience pushed him toward a new path of disengagement.

“I’m a gun owner, and self-defense is one thing, but I could not abide murder.”

“That was the first time I ever wondered what I was really involved in. I took a hardline no-violence stance. I’m a gun owner, and self-defense is one thing, but I could not abide murder,” he said. “Over the next few years, there was mass murder after mass shooting. Every single time, supporters would come out of the woodwork to support it. I would get threatened for not supporting them.”

He said his transformation happened slowly at first.  

“I didn’t change right away. But I started interacting with people I had once opposed. I reached out to Christian Picciolini of Free Radicals Project, who at the time was with Life After Hate. I also reached out to local anti-hate groups like Love Lives Here in the Flathead and the Montana Human Rights Network.”

In 2015, he had enough.

“I stopped recruiting and vetting. The next thing I know a man came to be part of the Kalispell. Not long after he showed up, he went on Twitter to threaten to shoot children in a local playground. That was my last straw. I informed every white nationalist I knew, including those I lived with, that I was leaving the movement. However, I still had to live with them,” he said.

Finding his way out

Ernest needed an excuse to leave and in 2016 he said he told the group he was leaving to transfer to Montana State University to study nutrition and dietetics.

“I realized I wanted to do more for more people. So, I changed over to public health. I liked Montana State University, but [their program] was not exactly what I wanted. I knew that USF had one of the best colleges of public health around, so it was a no-brainer. It also helps that my permanent domicile is in the Tampa area, in Lakeland,” he said as to what brought him to pursue his degree from USF.

Ernest changed course and focused on infection control while earning his BSPH degree.

“When you get down to it extremism, such as white nationalism, is a mixture of cult + infection + addiction. It spreads just like infections do.”

“I am fascinated by microbes, but also because it helps my anti-extremism work. When you get down to it extremism, such as white nationalism, is a mixture of cult + infection + addiction. It spreads just like infections do,” he said. “I was also an anti-vaxxer, and there are links between being anti-vax and a right-wing extremist, so it helps there as well.”

He graduated in Dec. 2019.

“What I had been missing in my life was community. I wanted to do for society. I do one-on-one work with my volunteer work, so I wanted to make my career about helping the public as a whole,” Ernest said. “I think one of the best things about it for me is that I can help people not become like me. I’m an obese former far-right extremist who smoked for 25 years. All of those are public health issues.”

Standing up for the LGBTQ+ community

During his time in the white nationalist movement, Ernest said that he was closeted.

“I came out as polyamorous on Stormfront just before I got myself banned from the site,” he said. “Needless to say, they were not happy. But aside from that, in October 2016 after leaving the PLE, I came out as polysexual. I joined the Queer Straight Alliance at MSU and everyone was so welcoming. I took the Safe Zone course so that I could learn the things I didn’t know due to my own ignorance.”

“My pronouns are he/they.”

When he transferred to USF, Ernest said he become more and more involved with connecting to all types of people he has once dismissed. He came out as nonbinary the year he graduated.

“I’m still masculine in look and do not identify as trans, but I really don’t consider myself a man. My pronouns are he/they,” he said.

A year ago he co-founded an exit organized called Hands of Eir, a group that focuses on getting LGBTG+ extremists out of white nationalist movements.

“My co-founder, like me, was a white nationalist. And one thing we realized when we got into the anti-extremism field was that there were few places where LGBTQ+ former extremists could be comfortable. No place that totally understood what it was like to be LGBTQ+ and extremist.”

Hate is a public health issue

“Ideas spread in darkness. The vector leaves the reservoir with the ideas and goes to infect others,” he said as to why he wants others to know about his story.

Ernest said he wants others to know there is a path to escape extremism.

“It is possible for extremists to change.”

“It is OK to get out. It is OK to learn. It is OK to improve yourself. It is OK to change. It is possible for extremists to change. Right now, extremists face a lot of anger. Anger they earned. But sometimes when people are angry with you, it may make it harder for you to reach out for help,” he said.

He hopes that his story will stop people from getting involved with extremist movements in the first place.

“I got involved because it was never talked about when I was growing up among white people, so I was susceptible to influence,” he said.

Looking forward

Ernest is currently focusing his efforts on anti-extremism volunteer work and is currently working as an exit counselor, helping extremists to leave whatever movement they are in—QAnon, white nationalism, Incel, and more.

” In my volunteer work, I like helping others get out of the life of an extremist. “

He also is a consultant giving talks at universities, churches and for trainings to highlight his story and show how others can also get out.

“I love meeting and helping people. In my volunteer work, I like helping others get out of the life of an extremist. I like meeting and talking to journalists, students, professors and anti-extremism experts,” he said.

The Tampa Bay Times also profiled him after the Jan. 6^th insurrection.

Aside from his non-profit NGO Hands of Eir, he owns a small beard oil company called Montana Sasquatch.

Ernest’s future plans include obtaining his MPH and to find a paid position in public health with a focus on vaccines, public health education or infection control.

“I’m looking at eventually trying to get grants for Hands of Eir so that we can afford to do far more to help former extremists than we even do now,” he said.

“My public health practice is educating about extremism, and my public health passion is helping others to improve themselves. The USF COPH rocks because it gave me the tools I needed to be somewhat good at this!” he said.

USF COPH Alumni Fast Five:
What did you dream of becoming when you were young?
A sasquatch… and I succeeded. I didn’t really have any dreams, I tended to go with the flow.

Where would we find you on the weekend?
Swimming in an alpine lake.

What is the last book you read?
“Breaking Hate,” by Christian Picciolini.

What superpower would you like to have?
Control fungi. Because they are awesome.

What’s your all-time favorite movie?
Clue.

Related media:

Former White Nationalist Talks About Countering Its Rise After Charlottesville

White supremacist groups recruiting, organizing across US

Former white nationalist explains how he escaped from world of hate

White nationalism doesn’t have to be your final destination

‘What we’re trying to teach is empathy’: The grassroots strategies to de-radicalize the far-right

How Radicalization Online Can (And Can’t) Be Stopped

White nationalist spread hate, harassment from parents’ Brandon home

How One Major Internet Company Helps Serve Up Hate on the Web

Story by Anna Mayor, USF College of Public Health

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The USF College of Public Health (COPH) Activist Lab received an Advocacy on Campuses that Impacts Our Nation (A.C.T.I.O.N.) grant from the American Public Health Association Student Assembly on March 8.

The Activist Lab serves as the hub of excellence in providing interdisciplinary advocacy, education, research and service opportunities for students to develop the skills that will promote their success as effective public health advocates and leaders.

The $500 grant gave the Activist Lab the opportunity to design a grassroots advocacy project.

Activist Lab students Rolando Trejos, Carla Salazar, Rashmi Mathur and Kayla Wilson designed an educational campaign to advocate for awareness regarding sexual assault for USF students. The campaign was implemented in the spring of 2021, during National Public Health Week. 

For the campaign, the students hosted a series of events through the spring semester. On March 26, they conducted a Sexual Assault Awareness Lunch ‘N Learn with Jennifer Kovacs, victim advocate/interim assistant director for the USF Center for Victim Advocacy and Violence Prevention. Kovacs spoke about sexual violence, especially on college campuses, and the support services available at USF.

Next, the Activist Lab completed a “How to Support a Survivor Training.” Offered by the USF Center for Victim Advocacy and Violence Prevention, the students completed this training to learn how to better advocate for survivors and to prepare for their final event, a sexual assault awareness panel presentation titled “A Trauma-Informed Care Perspective” for National Public Health Week.

The panel included Jessica Pinto, advocate manager at Crisis Center of Tampa Bay; Dr. Abraham Salinas-Miranda, COPH assistant professor and director of the USF Harrell Center; Jessica Dutil, staff clinician at the USF Counseling Center; and Kovacs.

“It means a lot to have won this grant, especially since it was open to submissions from public health students across the United States,” Kayla Wilson, an Activist Lab member who worked on the campaign, said. “Millions of people are affected by sexual violence in the U.S., and it is a major public health issue, so I am glad we were given this opportunity to host an educational campaign at USF during National Public Health Week and during the month dedicated to sexual assault awareness.”

Wilson said that earning this grant allows for her and the Activist Lab to continue to practice advocacy surrounding major public health issues, such as sexual assault, and that the skills learned will be useful for any future public health careers that they pursue.

Story by Caitlin Keough, USF College of Public Health

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The USF College of Public Health’s (COPH) Activist Lab held its third annual boot camp Friday, January 29. The 2021 event, held virtually, focused on advocacy and pandemics, particularly COVID-19. 

“These exciting boot camps allow participants to not only learn about advocacy and policy changes, but to focus on particular public health issues and change,” said Dr. Karen Liller, director of the Activist Lab and a COPH professor. “The boot camps are true hands-on experiences. Participants work in groups to create issue papers for the legislators and/or policymakers that will help improve the public’s health.”

The COPH’s Activist Lab provides seminars, webinars and other educational opportunities for faculty and students—both undergraduate and graduate—to learn public health advocacy skills and competencies.

The recent boot camp, “It Is a Whole New World: Advocacy and Pandemics,” was attended by about 120 students, participants and speakers.

 “The fact that the event was virtual allowed us to exceed our attendance expectations and bring various stakeholders to the table,” explained Rolando Trejos Saucedo, an Activist Lab student advisory board member. “This provided a unique platform to reflect on our roles as community members and public health professionals. Attending this event was an excellent opportunity to gain an interdisciplinary perspective on the COVID-19 pandemic and analyze how to advocate as individuals, and as a community, for change.”

Highlights included a question-and-answer session about COVID-19 with medical, public health, mental health and domestic violence experts and a presentation by U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor on the importance of advocacy. Castor also spoke about her experiences at the Capitol during the recent rioting.

“All the speakers in all the sessions did an excellent job and I could not be more pleased,” said Liller. “Although this year we were in a virtual format for the first time, the technology worked very well, thanks to Carlos Montoya and my student advisory board, and the breakout sessions continued to be very helpful in allowing participants to practice writing advocacy issue briefs that were critiqued by a legislative/advocacy panel of experts.”

2021 Activist Lab resources and a video are available to access.

Story by Donna Campisano, USF College of Public Health

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The USF College of Public Health’s (COPH) Maternal and Child Health Student Organization (MCHSO) held its annual symposium on March 6.

The MCHSO is a forum for students interested in maternal and child health to interact and engage in service and learning opportunities related to the well-being of women and children. It is open to all USF students, regardless of major or graduate/undergraduate status.

The annual event aims to bring students, faculty, staff and community members together to discuss issues that impact women, children and families.

The theme of this year’s event—its 11^th—was “Improving Systems of Care for Children and Youth with Special Needs.”

“Each session was designed to explore opportunities of interprofessional collaboration between disciplines, including public health, medicine, education, and social work,” said Sharonda Lovett, one of the research and education chairs for MCHSO and an MPH student pursuing combined concentrations in epidemiology and maternal and child health.

The symposium began with opening remarks from MCHSO research and education chairs, Lovett and Mariya Qaderi, and Dr. Russell Kirby, MCHSO faculty advisor and USF Distinguished Professor and Marrell Endowed Chair.

“In the last 10 years, we emphasized focusing on equity in maternal and child health informed by a deeper understanding of the social determinants of health, but we have a lot of work yet to do,” Kirby said. “That work needing to be done will be the focus of our program, specifically looking at special needs and the systems of care for children with special needs.”

Dr. Donna Petersen, dean of the College of Public Health, opened the symposium setting the stage contextually: where does the work sit, the history of the transitions of care for children and youth with special health care needs (CYSHCN), and where she thinks we need to go to advocate for these systems.

Petersen said that throughout the history of healthcare in this country, circumstances have changed, the nature of the conditions change, children change as they grow, resources wax and wane, and policies have been supportive and then not, but with all these changes public health professionals have to be flexible and creative because “as good as our systems may be for children, they are terrible for adults with childhood-onset disorders.”

“We need to continue to develop data systems, treat this work like the applied research it is, present and publish and understand that addressing issues facing all children also benefits those with special needs and that making systems work for the CYSHCN population benefits all children,” she said.

“To do this, we must advocate within agencies and programs and with related programs to promote seamless access and coordination, advocate at the policy level to remove unnecessary barriers and advocate with community partners to work in collaboration,” Petersen said. “Finally, we must advocate on behalf of single families, classes of families, and communities to fulfill the promises we make to all children born in this country –that they will have an opportunity to succeed.”

Petersen ended her presentation calling for audience members to listen closely to the upcoming speakers and topics.

“Listen for the opportunities to make a difference, listen for where changes are taking place and remember transitions, and listen for the needs for strong advocacy and let your voice be heard!” she said.

The keynote speaker was Dr. Jeffrey P. Brosco, director of Title V, Children with Special Health Care Needs for the Florida Department of Health and professor of clinical pediatrics from the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine.

Brosco addressed the crowd, made up of mostly undergraduate and graduate students along with some faculty, about the current health care system and if value-based care will sink or save us.

He started his presentation explaining how the CYSHCN populations is more vulnerable to the social determinants of health and how important hospital and health care systems are to this population.

“For example, a child with asthma is going to suffer a lot more if there’s air pollution than a child who doesn’t have asthma, it’s simply because, by definition, you need more health care, more physical therapy or mental health care,” he said. “If you have any kind of social determinants of health, like transportation, poverty, no health insurance, you’re going have limited access to the things you need. So, for the CYSHCN, they’re a relatively small number of children but they require more resources and have a high impact on health outcomes.”

Brosco explained that the current health care system spends more time on treatment, which can result in more visits for the CYSHCN population, and spends less time on prevention and the social determinants of health that can greatly affect this population.

The value-based health care mode, on the other hand, offers financial incentives to physicians, hospitals, medical groups, and other healthcare providers for meeting certain performance measures. Clinical outcomes are difficult to measure, so pay for performance systems evaluate process quality and efficiency. This model also penalizes health care providers for poor outcomes, medical errors, or increased costs. This model can help the CYSHCN population with the social determinants of health, by increasing preventative measures and in turn improving healthcare performance measures.

“So, to sum up, twentieth century health care system: episodic acute care with very little prevention or upstream kind of work, CYSHCN need more care so therefore are doubly sensitive to the social determinants of health, and will that value-based care sink or save us? Yes.” Brosco said.

Brosco ended his presentation with a quote from Fred Rogers, “No child is perfectly whole in mind, body, spirit, ability, nor can any child meet all of a parent’s hopes and expectations. Yet there is a wholeness of each and every child, a wholeness that is unique and brings with it a unique set of possibilities and limitations, a unique set of opportunities for fulfillment.”

View all the presentations here.

Story by Caitlin Keough, USF College of Public Health

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USF College of Public Health graduate student Sharonda Lovett was awarded the Society for Public Health Education’s (SOPHE) 21^st Century Student Scholarship. Through SOPHE’s Campaign for the 21st Century: Building SOPHE’s Future, the scholarship supports full-time undergraduate and graduate students interested in attending SOPHE’s fall summit or annual spring conference.

To receive the scholarship, students must be a member in good standing within the national chapter of SOPHE and sponsored by a faculty member. To date, the campaign has funded more than 120 scholarships and provides up to 21 scholarships each year for national/chapter members.

“I was excited and surprised when I received the scholarship. The purpose of the scholarship is to build a strong pipeline of public health scholars across the country and further develop their skillset to address public health challenges,” she said. “It meant a lot to be recognized for the work I have done.”

As part of the scholarship’s award, recipients are able to attend SOPHE’s three-day Annual Advocacy Summit in Washington, DC, that allows public health professionals and students to engage in effective advocacy for a common agenda at the national, state, or local level. Following the summit, attendees are encouraged to build upon some of the advocacy skills discussed during the summit and apply them to projects in their own community.

This year’s summit was titled, “Championing Health for Vulnerable Populations.”

As an MPH student pursing concentrations in epidemiology and maternal and child health with interests in family violence and reproductive health, Lovett said being able to attend the summit gave her insight into how she could make an impact with her research. Attending the summit also allowed her to network with public health leaders in her field of study and gain a deeper understanding about how law, health policies and public health go hand in hand.

“One of the most important concepts I learned (or was reminded of) during the advocacy summit is that the law serves as a framework to understand population health,” she said. “The law, in it of itself, is a social determinant of health and should be treated as a mechanism for the distribution of health and well-being.”

As a research and education officer for USF’s Maternal and Child Health Student Organization (MCHSO), Lovett was able to connect with COPH alumna, Dr. Linsey Grove, at the advocacy summit and invite her to speak at an advocacy seminar MCHSO is hosting in mid-April.

This seminar will reflect several concepts discussed in Grove’s presentation at the advocacy summit, which provided attendees the opportunity to identify differences between advocacy and lobby initiatives as well as explain advocacy collaboration through a case study about comprehensive sex education.

Lovett said that it was because of COPH’s Dr. Anna Armstrong, assistant professor, encouragement to get more involved in SOPHE that she applied for the scholarship opportunity.

“I had been looking to become a more active member of SOPHE for quite some time. It was because of Dr. Armstrong’s encouragement that I became more involved and applied for the scholarship,” she said. “I kept her in the loop and she was very excited to see and hear more about what I learned.”

Armstrong herself said she is proud of what Lovett has accomplished.

“Sharonda is well deserving of this scholarship and I remember when she approached me to ask for more information I was thrilled to support her application,” Armstrong said. “The opportunity to attend SOPHE’s Annual Advocacy Summit fits perfectly with Sharonda’s goal-oriented approach to ensuring she has the skills and acumen to truly be a 21st Century Scholar in the field of public health.”  

Lovett is set to graduate in Fall 2020 and hopes to pursue a doctoral degree, specifically focused on reproductive health and epidemiology. Her ultimate goal is to continue her research and work as a maternal and child health epidemiologist at either a nonprofit organization or research institution.

She said that receiving this scholarship and being able to attend the advocacy summit has helped her move closer to her goals and learn more about diversity in the public health workforce.

“It opened my eyes to learning more about career paths I could pursue in the future” Lovett said. “There are many opportunities in public health, so hearing about how some of the attendees’ careers have evolved over time has been a very rewarding experience.”

Story by Caitlin Keough, USF College of Public Health

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Students this semester have two new opportunities to immerse themselves in health advocacy.

Dr. Anna Armstrong, a USF College of Public Health alumna and assistant professor of community and family health, is teaching the undergraduate course Introduction to Health Advocacy.

Although this is the second time the course is being offered, it is the first time students will team up with M-Power, a program at Moffitt Cancer Center that raises awareness about cancer prevention and early detection. Students will also be working with Moffitt’s Adolescent and Young Adult program. All in all, students will devote 15 hours to service learning.

“Students, especially undergraduates, do well and understand the material better when they can apply it to something real,” Armstrong  said.

As part of their coursework, students will tour Moffitt, take part in mock workshops and develop a “journey map” for patients newly diagnosed with cancer, highlighting things like where to go for the highest-quality care, social support or financial help. They’ll also help young cancer patients advocate for things like insurance coverage for fertility preservation.

“This is a class where I learn, students learn, patients learn and we all grow,” Armstrong commented. “In public health, quality of life is one of our goals, and, as such, we have a responsibility to be involved in advocacy efforts to support that goal.”

Students in Introduction to Health Advocacy take notes during workshop presented by Moffitt Cancer Center. (Photo by Anna Mayor)

Another great way for students—both graduates and undergraduates—to get involved with advocacy is with the new COPH Activist Lab, the brainchild of Dr. Karen Liller, a professor of health education and community and family health.

The overall mission of the lab is to serve as the hub of excellence in providing interdisciplinary advocacy, education, research and service opportunities for students to develop skills that will promote their success as effective public health advocates and leaders.

“The Activist Lab is not about carrying signs at rallies,” Liller noted. “It is an educational lab where students will learn how to do advocacy right. We will focus on two major public health projects a year, and while those are still in development, it seems as though the students are leaning toward gun safety and human trafficking. This will be a great opportunity for students to not only learn about advocacy, but to be a part of it.”

As of now, about 20-30 students have shown interest in the Activist Lab. But emails come in every day. And Liller hopes the numbers will grow once the organization starts sponsoring events.

In the upcoming weeks the Activist Lab will host guest-speaker seminars (the first will focus on Tampa’s guardian ad litem program), a journal club and boot camps on advocacy and leadership. “There will also be podcasts, a legislative watch website and a publication that we have tentatively titled The Voice,” Liller said.

“What I hope with the Lab is that we create leaders who receive the hands-on training opportunities they need to become effective advocates for all kinds of issues,” Liller explained. “I hope the skills they learn here will be with them for a lifetime.”

Story by Donna Campisano, USF College of Public Health

The post Putting passion into practice: Students live and learn health advocacy appeared first on College of Public Health News.