Public Health Researchers Present at the 2019 American Public Health Association Annual Meeting
The American Public Health Association (APHA) leads an annual meeting and expo each year, where thousands of public health professionals convene to network, learn, and inspire. Various graduate students and faculty from the Miller School of Medicine’s Department of Public Health Sciences attended the annual meeting, which was held at the Pennsylvania Convention Center and at the Philadelphia Marriott Downtown from Saturday, Nov. 2, 2019 to Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2019.
As APHA is the largest gathering of public health professionals, various opportunities are available for attendees, such as high-quality education, priceless networking opportunities and cutting-edge resources that can help them make a difference in the community, as well as help them advocate for evidence-based programs. There were approximately 13,000 attendees at the four-day annual meeting this year.
Among them were graduate students from various public health programs at the Miller School of Medicine’s Department of Public Health Sciences, who presented abstracts and participated in oral, poster and roundtable sessions at the meeting.
Kevin Griffin, a second-year Master of Science in Public Health candidate, said that attending the meeting had a positive impact on his professional development.
“I was able to see first-hand how all the principles and concepts we learn in classes every week are put into practice out in the field. At the University, we can sometimes get caught up in an academic routine and forget about other things going on, but attending APHA 2019 introduced me to the latest research going on in public health, inspired me with new research ideas, and allowed me to hone my communication skills,” Griffin said.
Griffin presented a poster on how fire station decontamination strategies are associated with organizational-level characteristics in Florida fire departments. At a glance, there were 5,200 accepted abstracts, 835 oral sessions, 285 poster sessions, and 62 roundtable sessions.
Daniel Samano, M.D., a candidate in the Master of Public Health program, attended the annual meeting for his third consecutive year. Dr. Samano participated in the poster sessions on a project that focused on understanding how extreme weather events impact vulnerable populations, specifically people who are living with HIV.
“As part of my presentation and opportunity to network at the meeting, I’ve been invited to do an assessment at the International Health Section of APHA to organize and direct efforts for the APHA annual meeting and expo in 2020. Networking and collaboration options are always available,” Dr. Samano said.
Additionally, there were 661 continuing education accredited sessions. Attendees were also given the opportunity to conduct evaluations to receive continuing education credits, including for becoming Certified Health Education Specialists, Continuing Medical Education, Continuing Nursing Education, Certified in Public Health, as well as one in Veterinary.
Attendees also participated in innovative and dynamic activities and events. There was a social media lab where on-site experts provided suggestions on how to improve and get value out of social media presence. There was a global public health film festival that featured films that educated, inspired, and advocated for social change, as well as a wellness center, where participants gained a fresh perspective on physical and mental wellness. Attendees also attended a dance party held by the association.
APHA also announced its most distinguished awards at an awards ceremony and reception. This year, Jared Silberlust, an M.D./M.P.H. candidate at the Miller School of Medicine and Department of Public Health Sciences, was awarded the Jay M. Bernhardt Excellence in Student Leadership Award. The award is given to students who excel in communications, information technology and/or public health.
Silberlust worked with Alberto Caban-Martinez, Ph.D., D.O., M.P.H. assistant professor, and Maritza Suarez, M.D., an internist and chief medical informatics officer at UHealth, on a project that focused on clinical trials and predictors of patient consent. The project aimed to understand how electronic medical record data can be utilized to understand patterns in clinical research participation.
Each year, APHA welcomes various public health leaders to speak throughout the four-day meeting.
The opening general session, for example, which set the tone for this year’s meeting theme – “Creating the Healthiest Nation: For science. For action. For health.” – explored science as the basis of public health and as a tool to improve the public’s health.
Jacqueline Baikovitz, M.D., M.P.H., an alumna of the M.D./M.P.H. program, said that the meeting was inspirational as the conference brought together leaders in public health from all over the nation, each with a common goal of creating a healthy nation.
Speakers included Sandro Galea, M.D., M.P.H., Dr.Ph., dean of Boston University’s (BU) School of Public Health and professor of family medicine at BU’s School of Medicine, Robert R. Redfield, M.D., the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Pamela Aaltonen, Ph.D., R.N., president of APHA.
“The opening session started with Dr. Redfield and Dr. Galea, who spoke about the importance of disease prevention and health promotion. The conference sparked conversations on identifying problems and more importantly, how we can fix them,” Dr. Baikovitz said.
James Shultz, Ph.D., voluntary professor at the Department of Public Health Sciences, said, “It's thrilling for students to go to the meeting because they get to see people who are leaders in the profession. Dr. Galea talked about optimism in the field of public health. He also talked about some of the shortcomings, such as how the U.S. is not nearly as well off in terms of life expectancy and in terms of our patterns of disease and our infant and maternal mortality compared to most of the other countries that are high income.”
The next APHA annual meeting – “Creating the Healthiest Nation: Preventing Violence” – will be held from Oct. 24-28, 2020 in San Francisco. The call for abstracts opens Dec. 20, 2019 and closes Feb. 20, 2020. Exhibitors and sponsors for APHA 2020 are also being accepted.
To learn more, visit https://bit.ly/2YI1oLF.
Written by Amanda Torres
Published on December 11, 2019
