July 21, 2023 – Growing up, Shana Grant knew she wanted to pursue a health-related career, so she turned to the path she was most familiar with: becoming a doctor. But once she got to college, she discovered that the idea of practicing medicine didn’t sit well with her.
“I just didn’t know how to express my interest in health and improving health equity without being a doctor,” Grant said. Then one day, during a casual conversation, someone suggested that public health might do the trick. She remembers thinking at the time, “I’ve literally never heard that before.” »
To learn more about the field, Grant, an aspiring Spelman College student, applied to the Fostering Advancement and Careers Through Science Enrichment Training (FACETS) summer program held at the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health. Managed by the Office of Diversity and Inclusion Since 2014, the six-week program has provided junior and senior undergraduate students from underrepresented groups across the country with a blend of interdisciplinary coursework, hands-on research, and professional development in the field of public health.
Erica Knight, director of FACETS, noted that historically, Black colleges and universities, Hispanic-serving institutions, and tribal colleges and universities often do not offer public health majors — and that’s where comes in FACETS. “The primary goal of the program as a whole is to diversify the pipeline of public health professionals and practitioners,” she said.
Do research, prepare for higher education
FACETS courses highlight the interdisciplinary nature of public health, covering topics ranging from Environmental health has social and behavioral sciences has global health has biostatistics.
In addition to taking classes, students conduct research under the mentorship of Harvard Chan faculty and researchers and present their projects at a symposium at the end of the program. The research projects undertaken by the nine students in this year’s cohort focused on health disparitiesaddressing topics such as the prevalence of toxic metals in personal care products for black women, obstacles faced by undocumented immigrants immigrants by accessing health careand the impact of meditation on stress And heart disease among black women.
The professional development of FACETS students is geared toward preparation for higher education. Students learn skills in writing personal statements, networking, and building relationships with research mentors. Current Harvard Chan students serve as mentors to FACETS participants, helping them get a feel for graduate school culture and what to look for in a graduate program.
“We want students to leave the program with a strategy for how to continue their higher education and ultimately pursue their careers,” Knight said. “We want them to leave with an arsenal of tools to help them negotiate and defend their interests. »
During one of the professional development workshops organized this summer, Amarildo “Lilu” Barbosa, head of diversity, inclusion and belonging at the Harvard Chan School, spoke about the importance of minority representation in public health. Students discussed the challenges that underrepresented minorities face in the professional setting, both by sharing their personal experiences and analyzing a case study.
Overall, the workshop highlighted that students should consider these issues of representation as future public health leaders, regardless of their role. “This is a perspective you should apply to your work in the future,” Barbosa said. “If people do that, it makes whatever that job is better.”
Career inspiration
Grant is currently completing a degree in Chemistry with a minor in Theater and Performing Arts. She said her experience at FACETS piqued her interest in becoming a public health researcher.
Framed by Tamarra James Todd, Mark and Catherine Winkler, associate professor of environmental reproductive epidemiology, Grant worked on a research project on hair products aimed at black women, which may contain chemicals that disrupt hormones. Grant studied potential correlations between use of the product and a particularly severe form of alopecia, a condition that causes hair loss, leading to permanent scarring. During the project, she was able to develop and deepen her own research questions on the subject.
Grant also appreciated the opportunity to talk with researchers in the field, in some cases, those who wrote the papers she was reading. “A lot of them said, ‘Let’s keep in touch,’ which makes me feel like I’m supposed to be here, that my ideas are valid,” she said.
Looking ahead, she plans to apply to doctoral programs that will allow her to research the social determinants of health, with the goal of eventually working in the nonprofit sector to advance Black maternal health.
FACETS student Gene Pozas – a senior at the University of Florida majoring in microbiology and cell sciences – began college as a pre-med student, but then realized he wanted to change orientation. “I realized I could have a greater impact through public health. This could affect more people,” he said.
He conducted research under the mentorship of Brittney Francishealth and human rights researcher at FXB Center for Health and Human Rights which studies racial inequalities maternal health. Her research project examined how environmental stressors, such as living in noise-polluted places or food deserts, may affect the risk of preeclampsia in pregnant Black and Hispanic people.
Pozas also had the chance to meet Harvard Chan professors with expertise in environmental health, which inspired him to consider studying in that field. “A lot of great professors have taught what environmental health is and what it’s about,” he said. “And it showed me how broad it is and how we can apply it to everyday life.”
– Jay Lau
Photos from the FACETS Research Symposium: Anna Webster
Photo of the FACETS cohort: Osa Igiede
