The Uthealth Houston School of Public Health offers career development opportunities and provides students with tools to lead and change public health. In collaboration with Texas Health Resources, researchers at the Uthealth Houston School of Public Health in Dallas have announced that graduate research assistants will engage with the North Texas community to help the effectiveness of the Texas Health Community Impact Grant, where the Health System is awarded. I’ll rate it. Enhance the Project (Strengthening North Texas Health through Action, Innovation and Community Assessment) is the Uthealth Houston Assessment Team, which positions students at the forefront of community change.
Catherine Oliveros, DRPH at Texas Health, is Vice President of Community Health Improvement, and considers these students to be crucial to the success of the program. “Under this program, the Project Enhing team will be hoping to work with specific Texas health suspects in northern Texas to conduct interviews, gather information and data, and evaluate each program. Assign them. Their work will allow Texas Health to identify the effectiveness of each grant and whether additional support and resources are needed to improve the efficiency and outcome of the grant.” Oliveros said. “By having a reputable third-party evaluator like the Faculty of Public Health, we provide reliable and reliable data to help you make the most of your community investment.”
The Enhance program gives students the opportunity to apply what they learn in the classroom to their real-world impacts on the community, and acquire real-world applications from learning.
“Our students are involved in every step of the process, starting with developing a data collection plan. While it is valuable, what is valuable is the real-world application of what we learn in MPH and PhD programs. I think so. Our students are individuals that the grantee will contact if they have questions or issues,” said Rikki Ward, who has strengthened senior program manager. “They are very connected to the organizations they serve. They don’t just take datasets and analyze them. They do everything in between.”
Since 2019, Texas Health has invested more than $23 million in the Texas Health Community Impact Grant, with local organizations developing innovative solutions to ensure good health in underserved and underresourced communities and helps promote happiness. The Dallas School of Public Health is an assessment partner for three grant cycles and is currently collaborating for the fifth year with Texas Health on the initiative.
Graduate students include Dr. Marine Alicock, the school’s Enhanced Co-Investigator, MPH, Associate Professor in Health Promotion and Behavioral Sciences, and MBBS, PhD, PhD, Professor, Rockwell in Undergraduate Society and Health. He works under the leadership of Marlyn Allicock, PhD and MPH, associate professors on a well-known committee. of epidemiology.
“I think there will be a huge opportunity for leadership development,” Balasubramanian said. The link between the evaluation team and the organizations they support. ”
“We believe that Enhance offers the opportunity to see the complexities that affect health behaviors, and efforts to engage with the community for health change,” says Allicock of the benefits of students in the program. . “And the important thing is, dealing with real-world problems is not always simple, but problem solving is required on many levels.”
Crystal Costa, a graduate research assistant at the school’s doctoral degree, illustrates the perspective of the Balasbramanian. “Working on this project helped me gain new skills related to project management,” Costa said. “I learned how to effectively and appropriately delegate team tasks, improve stakeholder engagement by opening channels of communication, and how to integrate stakeholder feedback into the assessment process.”
Carolina Salmeron, MPH, is Enhance’s qualitative research assistant, and says her development through the program is attributed to the practical training she has received. “I was fortunate to work with Dr. Alicock and Dr. Balasbramanian. Our biweekly meeting focuses on the interview process, role-playing scenarios and reviews of debriefing. Support has made a huge difference in my confidence in developing and implementing. I couldn’t get this anywhere else.”
Dr. Lauren Malthaner, MPH, senior research scientist, began working on Enhance while pursuing a PhD in Public Health. “The experience was a great networking opportunity and I was able to meet many people who work in public health in the DFW area,” said Maltaner.
“Texas Health is proud that the investment we have made over the years is truly transforming our lives, our communities and our organization. “Marshiingle, senior director of community health improvement, said: It is stated in.