Vaidehi Persad, a USF College of Public Health undergraduate student recently took part in the prestigious University of Michigan Future Public Health Leaders Program (FPHLP).

The Michigan program is one of five public health summer programs under the CDC Undergraduate Public Health Scholars (CUPS) Program. It’s a 10-week residential program at the University of Michigan School of Public Health designed to encourage underrepresented college students to consider careers in public health. 

The 2021 internship was held virtually, due to the pandemic.

“I heard about the internship through a Health Professions Advising email/flyer,” said Persad, who’s majoring in chemistry but minoring in public health and women and gender studies. “The public health scholars I collaborated with included public health students from across the country; internship alumni; University of Michigan School of Public Health faculty; public health professors/admin from other universities including Columbia University and the University of Chicago; local Michigan public health leaders (hospital staff/HHS/NGO coordinators); Indigenous leaders promoting public health; and CDC members.”

During the internship, Persad worked on everything from community health needs assessments, a community youth reading program, a sustainable living and environmental literacy initiative and a program that provided early childhood education materials to underrepresented minorities in the Detroit area.

Persad said one of the most valuable things the internship provided was a culturally conscious understanding of health equity.

“To begin with,” Persad commented, “the students in my cohort were a very diverse group of students. The educational material we received and were taught was from a culturally conscious view. And we were introduced to the concept of intersectionality. We learned about public health disparities faced particularly by the Arab and Black communities who are large in Detroit/Ann Arbor. We met with Native American leaders/tribal chiefs who spoke about public health challenges their community faced, including state-sanctioned negligence and violence they experienced on their reserves. I met with an NGO leader advocating for Latin American youth in Michigan and learned about gang intervention. As a cohort, we also explored and discussed topics like police brutality impacting BIPOC folks, the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on Asian Americans and the immigration barriers created by groups like ICE.” 

To others contemplating applying for the internship, Persad, who hopes to pursue an MPH after graduation, says do it. “And I would especially encourage minority students, who don’t have equitable access to professional development opportunities, to apply. This internship did an excellent job of making my peers and I feel like our backgrounds/identities/experiences/cultures are valuable.”

Persad said the internship gave her a greater sense—and appreciation for—the interdisciplinary aspect of public health. 

“The field of public health is huge, but it’s nonetheless a field where professionals have the agency to advocate for systemic change. This internship helped me come to love the centrality of ‘community wellness’ in public health.”

For more information about the Michigan FPHLP, click here.

Story by Donna Campisano, USF College of Public Health