Past
Fellows of CHCS Program
2006-2007 Fellows
Tyralynn Frazier
As a doctoral student in Anthropology, I am interested in understanding how cumulative life stress impacts reproductive health outcomes among immigrant and minority populations in both the US and Europe. I applied for the CHCS fellowship because I wanted to be able to have a greater breadth of understanding of the multiple dimensions that influence reproductive health. Before this fellowship experience, much of my time was split between engaging in the works of critical theorists and studying ethnographic accounts of various field experiences. Honing my critical thinking skills was a large part of my training, but coupling this with my experiences as a CHCS fellow has enabled me to not only observe and critique, but to construct explanatory statistical models that I hope to use to strengthen these observations. Pairing a qualitative foundation with a quantitative epidemiological skill set has proven to be invaluable and has broadened both the type of literature that I have access to and the reservoir of methods that I will be able to pull from as I begin preparing for my proposal defense in Anthropology.
This experience has also exposed me to the public health students and faculty at Rollins. Through engaging study sessions, between class conversations, and challenging group projects I have come to realize that the applied mentality that shapes the public health world has both challenged my own intellectual beliefs and strengthened my respect for this field and its impact on everyday lives. This arena of application has propelled me to think beyond simply what is interesting to me to what is both interesting and beneficial for the improvement of health outcomes among populations who are most vulnerable and disadvantaged within the United States and abroad.
For this opportunity I would like to say thank you. Thank you to the Center for Health Culture and Society and thank you to my fellow students. The time that I spent with you will enable me to become not just a better scholar but also a more conscientious and socially engaged person.
Jakub Kaktietek
When I entered the Ph.D. program in Political Science at Emory I was interested in "contentious politics", that is, how social protest and participation shape political outcomes. I was also interested in the issues of social policy and development understood in terms broader than just economic growth. I decided to apply for the CHCS fellowship to integrate those two interests and focus my doctoral work on the issues of health policy. In particular, my research seeks to examine how social conflict, political participation, and democratic political institutions shape policy responses to HIV/AIDS in the developing world.
Applying for the fellowship I had two goals in mind. The first one was to receive training in topics in HIV/AIDS biology, epidemiology, research, and surveillance. The few political scientists who have published works on HIV/AIDS lack such background which, unfortunately, has affected the quality of their work. Classes such as Epidemiology of HIV/STD Transmission, Methods in HIV/AIDS Epidemiology, HIV/AIDS: Global Health Implications, as well as a sequence of classes in epidemiologic research methods were very helpful in achieving this goal. Also, I have received training in other important areas, such as monitoring and evaluation, which helped me tremendously in working with policy documents.
My second goal was to gain exposure to applied health policy work. The discipline of political science puts a great emphasis on theory development and testing. In its attempt to formulate broad generalizations about political phenomena it, paradoxically, often removes itself from real-life politics. For example, political scientists make theoretical arguments about behavior and preferences of bureaucrats without much exposure to bureaucratic institutions and cultures, not to mention personal professional experience of working in such institutions. Virtually all of the Rollins faculty with whom I have worked have extensive expertise in applied work. Moreover, several classes I have taken included guest lectures by professionals form different areas of public health. Lectures and conversation with guest speakers provided me with very interesting insights into real-life policymaking. One of the most memorable of these conversations was with Sandra Thurman, an adjunct faculty at Rollins and the Director of the Office of National AIDS Policy under President Clinton. I remember her story of how US federal needle exchange policy was made (or rather not made) during one flight to Central America. The contacts I have established at Rollins helped me tremendously while I was conducting my preliminary fieldwork in Nigeria this summer.
CHCS puts a great emphasis on bridging gaps. The first gap (or a set of gaps) the Center seeks to bridge is the one between academic disciplines. I appreciate the way the fellowship has encouraged me to think about interdisciplinarity. The first of the series of CHCS seminars was explicitly devoted to the issues of methodology, epistemology, and integrating qualitative ethnographic research into epidemiology and public health. Implicitly, this discussion continued throughout the year, when different speakers from different academic disciplines presented their work during CHCS lectures and breakfast seminars. Even though, and perhaps precisely because some of the lectures were not connected to my work I was challenged to think about what insights my disciplinary perspective and training as a political scientist could provide to the study of subjects such as post traumatic stress disorder in US soldiers returning from Iraq, bioethics, or the impact of malaria on economic development and poverty.
Another gap is between "academic" and "applied" work. As I mentioned above part of the reason why I decided to apply for the fellowship was my dissatisfaction with how political science, in its theorizing, was removed from the reality of policy making.
Another implication of my discipline's focus on theory development is that it limits its own practical applicability. In the introductory class to political science methods, which every graduate student needs to take in my department, we are taught that the primary goal of political science is to contribute to the production of generalizable knowledge. On the other hand, there is little emphasis on any practical application of academic research. My experience at Rollins has sensitized me to the importance of bridging the gap between "academic" and "applied" dimension of research. Presently, I am in the process of developing my dissertation prospectus. The fellowship has compelled me to continuously ask myself whom my dissertation research will serve and what applicability it will have.
Alyssa Lederer
When I began my studies in the Department of Behavioral Sciences and Health Education at the Rollins School of Public Health, I was offered the opportunity to join the teaching staff of PE 101, a required personal health course for all Emory University undergraduate students. PE 101 encourages students to engage in healthy behaviors by providing information, resources, and a forum for discussion about issues such as sexual health, substance abuse, and body image. My role as a PE 101 instructor solidified my love for teaching and helped me to determine my predominant areas of interest: the determinants of health decision-making, the impact of the college experience on young people's lives, and evidence-based pedagogical techniques for health education content. My experience with PE 101 also served as the impetus for my thesis, a comprehensive needs assessment for and development of an academic wellness curriculum for college students. Yet as time passed, I soon realized that the structure of my academic program would make it challenging for me to investigate these issues to the degree necessary to truly impact the effectiveness of my teaching, inform my thesis, and best prepare me for a future career as both a health educator and college professor.
The Center for Health, Culture and Society (CHCS) fellowship provided the unique opportunity for me to explore my areas of interest through intensive coursework and mentorship that were not previously available to me. In my year as a CHCS fellow, I took courses in the departments of Education, Psychology, and Sociology. I was able to interact with wonderful professors who not only provided me with knowledge of their fields but also readily supported my fellowship goals, particularly by encouraging me to apply their disciplines to health education. I also had the opportunity to complete two directed studies. In one, I conducted research on best practices in college health education; in the second, I did extensive reading in the field of educational psychology in an effort to apply educational psychology principles to health education. By the end of my fellowship year, I completed projects such as: "The Use of Scare Tactics in Health Education: A Literature Review and Proposal for an Alternative Approach," "It's the Context of Their Lives: A Qualitative Analysis of Pedagogical Techniques Used in a Large Lecture-Based Undergraduate Health Education Course," "The Impact of Active Learning on Long-Term Memory," "Applying Educational Psychology Principles to Health Education Practice," and "Best Practices in Academic College Health Education: A Comprehensive Assessment." I also attended multiple workshops sponsored by Emory's Center for Teaching and Curriculum, which dealt with diverse educational issues relevant to college professors of all disciplines.
During the course of my fellowship, I discovered the compelling work of a contemporary educational theorist and the university-based organization he directs, which investigates the psychology of abilities, competencies, and expertise. I was offered the opportunity to join the organization's staff for the summer after my fellowship, during which I did theory-based curriculum development for school children, learning more about how young people learn most successfully while simultaneously honing my ability to translate theory into practice, a vital skill for any public health professional.
It is because of my CHCS fellowship that I will enter my final year at the Rollins School of Public Health with greater knowledge, breadth, and insight, as well as a renewed commitment to and transformed understanding of my coursework, thesis, future education, and career. Moreover, I now have further appreciation for multi-disciplinary approaches to teaching and learning. Yet I also realize that I have only scratched the surface of my original inquiries. It was perhaps naïve to endeavor to learn in only one year what researchers spend a lifetime studying. Indeed, I think I now have more questions than answers. However, my fellowship has facilitated an enhanced awareness of the steps I need to take to move forward. Consequently, I am most appreciative of my CHCS fellowship because it has allowed me to develop my passions and cultivate a transformed path, bringing me a substantial step closer to becoming the public health professional I strive to be.
Gargi Parikh
As a Health, Culture and Society Fellow, I have spent the last year taking classes in the department of Anthropology and Nutrition. My areas of focus included gender studies, ecology, religion, and economics.
My interest in gender studies and nutrition anthropology began early in my career, well before I matriculated to graduate school. As a registered dietitian for the Gardner Health Corporation, I provided nutrition counseling and education to Hispanic women and children of low socio-economic status. The impact of economics, ecology, and cultural factors on behaviors that affect health quickly became apparent, and I realized that a deep understanding of these contextual factors was essential to facilitating behavior change. This realization was strengthened during my summer practicum in India between the first and second year of my MPH program. During this time, I conducted field research in rural India on food taboos and beliefs during pregnancy. The experience was rich and further cemented my desire to work with women to improve health and nutrition. While I was confident in my research skills and my knowledge of nutrition, I lacked a full understanding of gender relations, religion, culture, ecological and social factors affecting nutrition choices.
This year of academic pursuits has provided the solid theoretical foundation and the broader academic perspective I hoped to gain. Through rigorous coursework and fellowship seminars, I was able to better understand gender equalities, the role of religion and traditions in shaping eating behavior, power dynamics shaping food distribution, and political-economic issues affecting world food systems and the obesity epidemic. This knowledge will serve as the basis for future nutrition counseling, research and program planning in my public health career.