Sociomedical Sciences

Practicum Profiles

This Spring, we get the privilege of featuring our SMS students who chose their practicums within New York State. From the New York State Department of Health, to the CUNY Urban Food Policy Institute, to right here at our very own Lerner Center for Public Health Promotion, take a chance to learn about how our students put their SMS classroom theories into practice at their practicum positions.
 

Bryce Wong

Certificate: Applied Biostatistics
Practicum: Health Communications and Social Media Intern
Practicum Position: New York State Department of Health, AIDS Institute

WHAT IS YOUR PRACTICUM POSITION? WHAT TYPE OF WORK ARE YOU DOING THERE?

My practicum is at the AIDS Institute under the New York State Department of Health. I’m in the Digital Health and Clinical Education Initiatives Department where we have two projects I work on – one is the Y Get It? (YGI) project, which is composed of both an app that is being tested at Northwell Health and a social media health comic about young people affected by HIV. The other project is the Clinical Education Initiative (CEI), which develops digital tele-mentoring tools, in-person trainings, and other educational resources for New York clinicians managing HIV, HCV, STDs, drug user health, and primary care.

For both CEI and YGI, I help create and evaluate a social media strategy. Other responsibilities I have for CEI specifically include assisting with organizing meetings and project logistics, writing grant descriptions, and facilitating information between Centers of Excellence (which are grantees that lead different project components under CEI). YGI duties, in particular, have included attending kiki balls to talk about the project, giving internal staff presentations on the latest in digital health, and running focus groups with community organizations about our graphic serial.

HOW DO YOU APPLY WHAT YOU HAVE LEARNED IN SMS TO THE WORK YOU ARE DOING?

It’s easy to see how some classes I have taken are directly applicable to my practicum position. Although I am not in the health communication certificate, the courses that the certificate offers are what initially drew me to Mailman’s program. This past semester I was able to seek out coursework like “New Media and Health” and “Seminars in Health Communication.” Classes like these gave me the language, tools, and perspective I need to understand and discuss health apps, social media for public health, and technology for medical education.

It’s also encouraging to note that more generalizable SMS classes actively influence my work at my practicum. Taking “Health Promotion: Theory, Research, and Practice,” as well as “Quantitative Research Design for the Social Sciences,” has given me skills that I find applicable to many project duties. The Health Promotion class has allowed me to understand the theoretical basis of our projects and has informed our social media strategies with evidence-based messaging concepts. Similarly, the research methods course gave me valuable and actionable steps to writing research proposals, which I’m currently doing as part of my practicum deliverable. Right now, I’m describing how to expand our regular process evaluation focus groups into a research project collecting data on behavior or knowledge change due to the YGI graphic serial. We’ll also explore perceptions about health comics, especially in social media settings. With the practice I had in Quant Research Design conducting literature reviews and conceptualizing research aims, I have been able to identify key goals for our focus groups that will fill gaps in the literature of HIV, social media, and health comics.

WHAT ARE SOME UNEXPECTED THINGS YOU’VE LEARNED DURING YOUR PRACTICUM AND/OR YOUR TIME AT MAILMAN THUS FAR?

My practicum work has given me an exceptionally balanced view of what it’s like to work as part of a grant. With CEI, I gained a lot of valuable insight into the backend of running a grant. We are currently writing request for applications for a grant we are funding, and I have spent many hours coordinating and planning a two-day meeting for our own project sites statewide. I also spend time with my supervisor, the project director, brainstorming project improvements and liaising with our grantees on a regular basis. Through YGI, I’ve gotten a lot of hands-on experience with being on the receiving end of grant funding. I was able to attend and present at a site visit and at a meeting between fellow project sites across the nation. My experience at the nationwide meeting was also eye-opening, as I was able to get a firsthand look at how community organizations, medical institutions, and academic bodies are all collaborating to test innovative digital health interventions. Seeing the effort that all these different groups put into designing health apps and campaigns, as well as the creativity in overcoming unexpected obstacles, is incredibly encouraging and exciting.

 

Harmony Arcilla

Certificate: Health Promotion Research & Practice
Practicum: Health Communications and Community Engagement Fellow
Practicum Position: Get Healthy Websites Program at the Lerner Center for Public Health Promotion

WHAT IS YOUR PRACTICUM POSITION? WHAT TYPE OF WORK ARE YOU DOING?

This summer, I am working closely with Professor Carly Hutchinson in developing a Health Communications and Community Engagement Fellowship program for graduate students and community partners in Harlem and Washington Heights. During the program, they will collaborate in developing a baseline of geographically-focused and health-literate content for an online portal that can be community groups and members in Upper Manhattan. My work involves finalizing the curricula, recruiting and booking speakers developing a process and outcome evaluation plan, and launching a pre-pilot run of the program.
 
I've also been working for the New York State (NYS) Department of Health's Office, where I am helping them update the Prevention Agenda 2019-2024, New York's state health improvement plan. The past six months, I've been helping the team collect, analyze, and report on feedback for the proposed Prevention Agenda from local health departments, government agencies, health care organizations, community-based organizations and advocacy groups.

HOW DO YOU APPLY WHAT YOU HAVE LEARNED IN SMS TO THE WORK YOU ARE DOING?

In terms of hard skills, I’ve used a lot of project management and program planning knowledge from Professor Marita Murman’s Advanced Intervention Design course. 

More generally, both projects I am working on truly employ the SMS department’s mission of empowering communities and understanding health in social and political contexts. With the development of the Fellowship program at the Lerner Center, we hope to facilitate sustainable and capacity-building partnerships between students and community partners. Similarly, at the NYS, a specific task in updating the Prevention Agenda has been ensuring that its new goals thoughtfully address social determinants of health. 

WHAT ARE SOME UNEXPECTED THINGS YOU'VE LEARNED AT YOUR TIME AT MAILMAN THUS FAR?

I have been impressed by the active engagement of students and faculty throughout the year. A lot of learning for me has happened during these outside-of-the-classroom events, which occur on a daily basis. In response to pressing issues and emerging public health crises covered that are in current events, students and faculty are quick to mobilize to host presentations and discussions, conduct research, and take action. Last month, Columbia hosted an all-day symposium on the opioid epidemic that brought in leaders and experts throughout the city. Additionally, there have been community panels and forums on the issue of gun violence, as well as a petition to develop a Mailman course on it. Through student groups such as Women4Women (W4W) and Sexual and Reproductive Health Action Group (SHAG), students and faculty were able to make posters and march together at the Women’s March. These events have really enriched my experience at Mailman and make me proud to be a Mailman student.