March SGA Newsletter Letter from the SGA Dear faculty, staff, and students, Spring is in the air and that means festivals, lots of crawfish and snowballs! There are going to be many events happening in the city and at our school, so we hope you enjoy this last full month of school before we re out for summer. This week is National Public Health Week with various talks and activities. Refer to page 5 for all the other events that will be happening throughout the week. With warm regards, SGA Officers Bowl to Feed the Hungry Event Upcoming Events April 3 SGA presents #WhyIChosePublicHealth April 7 Boy Scouts of America, Human Development Center 9:00 AM 2:00 PM April 23 SGA Meeting 12:00 PM 1:00 PM May 10 SGA End of the Year Social, Blaze Pizza 4:00 PM 6:00 PM Page 1 of 5
Reminders End of the Year Social: Please come join us at Blaze Pizza on May 10 th for some end of the year fun! Service Opportunity: First and foremost, we would like to thank all the family and friends, students, faculty, and staff that attended our fundraiser event. With the money raised from our Bowl to Feed the Hungry fundraiser, we will be putting together lunch bags for the homeless at Ozanam Inn. Please join us in the student lounge on April 3 rd during National Public Health Week to help put together the lunch bags. Also, you will be able to get hours for your volunteer service cord, so come lend some helping hands! Remember to keep your volunteer hours accounted for by filling out this form: Service Hours NOLA CORNER What s happening in NOLA this month? Crescent City Classic, March 31 st French Quarter Fest: April 12 th 15 th Rent, Saenger Theater: April 17 th 22 nd Zurich Classic: April 23 rd 29 th Page 2 of 5
SAINT-sational Spotlight The spotlight section aims to introduce and connect current and prospective students to faculty members, staff, students, and alumni who are out making a difference in the field of public health. Our March spotlight features Dr. Yu-Wen Chiu, DrPH, a professor in the Department of Health Policy and Systems Management. 1. Tell us a bit about yourself. I m originally from Taiwan. After I graduated with my undergraduate degree, I worked for two years in a cancer screening program there. I realized that if you want to work in research and academia, you need to have some advanced skills and knowledge. That s why I came to the United States with my husband in 1994. We first went to New York because I had gotten accepted to [graduate] programs there, but we ended up coming to New Orleans, to Tulane University. The weather is very similar to Taiwan! The city of New Orleans was brand new to us, so it was a culture shock! I got my bachelor s degree in public health and my specialty is in health economics and healthcare quality improvement, so I have been in public health for more than two decades. 2. What led you to the field of public health? Before I decided what my major would be, my parents have a good idea of what I would do - to be pharmacist. Being a nurse or medical doctor was out of the picture for me, and as for pharmacy, I don t like chemistry. I am good at math. When I was searching for a major, it took me one hour to decide it was going to be public health. I found a brochure about public health and what it is, and it said something like A doctor treats a patient one at a time, but in public health, you work on disease prevention and health promotion you improve health of the entire community. The policy impact can have a huge impact on an entire group of people. That is what attracted me to public health. During my third year of undergraduate studies, we had to do an internship and worked with the Department of Health in rural area. I saw [firsthand] the impact of public health in the community. 3. What, to you, are some of the biggest challenges in public health? In some sense, [public health] don t have to licensure exams like nurse, physical therapist, or pharmacist. Other professionals can come work in our field. One of the things I always encourage my students to do is to be certified in something or obtain a license in something. For example, if you are in epidemiology program, you may want to be familiar in SAS program. You have to have something unique to market yourself. Also, in public health, you work in teams. You need to be open-minded and have good communication skills. You need to learn to speak in the people s language. Page 3 of 5
4. What are you working on now? I am working on several projects. I am working with Dr. Donna Williams on a young breast cancer survivorship program that provides survivorship support via social media to help support cancer survivors. Another program I am working on involves my specialty - cost-evaluation/cost-benefit analysis. We are working with physicians using long-distance telemedicine, so people in the area don t have to come to specialty clinics for care. We are looking at whether we improve access to care or not through this. The other project is qualitative study with physicians. We interview physicians to see barriers and facilitators to increase immunization rate in their clinics and how to help physicians to implement good strategies to increase immunization rates especially for minority patients. 5. Any advice to MPH students starting out and entering the field? In regards to pursuing a career, you need to find something unique to position yourself in the market. You need to stay open-minded. We are in a global community. We are members of a global niche; openmindedness and acceptance and respect of other cultures is important. If you are young, my advice is travel and see the world. Get out of your comfort zone! Page 4 of 5
NATIONAL PUBLIC HEALTH WEEK Page 5 of 5