Dear Students, Staff and Faculty,

For those of you who are new, Welcome to Boston! I hope everyone had good summers. Two months into the position of Interim Associate Dean for Policy and Practice, I am honored to share a brief overview of the newly envisioned Office of Policy and Practice (OPP) at BUSPH, the units within OPP, and plans for the coming year.

The OPP serves as the main coordinating unit of SPH policy and practice activities, to ensure that BUSPH continues its long tradition of being a “school of DO.”

Some have asked me, What is Practice? Practice is what we do to protect and promote the health of all people in all communities, applying our knowledge to advance health equity. It may look different depending on who you are, your skills and your comfort, but public health practice promotes policies, systems, and services that enable health, while removing obstacles and systemic social and structural barriers. (https://www.cdc.gov/infrastructure/public-health-systems-emerging-practices/10-essential-public-health-services.html)

The Associate Dean for Policy and Practice is responsible for the School’s practice programs, promoting public health practice activities throughout the School. The AD is also responsible for relationships with external organizations, promoting the School’s engagement with the local, national and global public health practice community, and strengthening connections with public health agencies.

There are many wonderful examples of public health practice at BUSPH within the school, and in long-term partnerships with public health organizations outside the school which I look forward to learning more about and highlighting over the year in future notes. Within the OPP I will work to support and establish four units to support students, staff and faculty practice.

The Careers and Practicum Office (CPO) is well-known at BUSPH and central to the experience and future of MPH students. The CPO places MPH students in practicums, maintains relationships with host and employer partners, evaluates the practicum experience, organizes and hosts employer and alumni events and info sessions, surveys SPH graduates post-graduation, and partners with SPH and University offices (Admissions, Academic Affairs, BEDAC, Marketing and Communications, Graduate Student Life, the Office of Development & Alumni Relations, the Registrar, ISSO,) to support recruitment, engagement, and promotion of student and alumni success. CPO staff also teach the Career PREP course required of on-campus MPH students. CPO shares the second floor of Talbot 2E with Graduate Student Life.

The other three units of OPP are at various stages of development and highly influenced by my predecessors, by my conversations with the Dean and Dean’s Cabinet, faculty, staff and students and in the immediate future by the new report of the Dean’s Task Force on Practice. Further, I am looking forward to working with the members of the Practice Advisory Committee who represent all academic departments at the School.

In addition to the practice experience students gain through their practicum, practice-based teaching courses also give students the opportunity to work with non-profit, government, grassroots and industry partners on real-world challenges (e.g., conducting a health assessment, collecting and interpreting data, designing or evaluating a program,). Over the coming year I look forward to working with the faculty, staff and students who created Collaborate.Health to support practice-based teaching. Students gain practical experience for their real-life work with external partners, enhancing their skill set and employment potential; faculty expand their network of practice and research collaborations; and partner organizations gain access to timely, high-quality, innovative deliverables. Additionally, beyond what can be accomplished in the classroom, establishing the systems and structure for BUSPH to respond to requests for public health expertise from external partners is a priority.

The Activist Lab will continue to serve as a hub of public health activism and advocacy at SPH, to support and elevate existing efforts at the school, and support students, staff and faculty engaging in activism and advocacy. This includes engaging in public policy education, providing technical assistance to government bodies and committees at the state and federal level, coordinating testimonies before legislative bodies, letter writing, public comments, and working with the Office of Federal Relations on research translation.

Finally, the fourth unit of OPP will focus on the delivery of trainings, workshops, and non-traditional course offerings for alumni, employers, public health professionals, community partners, industry executives, and BUSPH students, etc. (e.g., summer institutes, bootcamps, weekend/week-long intensive courses). There are many details to consider regarding costs of such courses, distribution of revenue, credits/certificates, and a process for determining who teaches, what, where, when, how, etc. Again, I look forward to working with colleagues across the school, including in Academic Affairs, to establish a process that is equitable and easily navigable, enabling new opportunities for innovative instruction, community engagement, education and action.

We have our work cut out for us in public health, and at BUSPH in particular. I am grateful for this community and excited for the year ahead.

Warmly,

Madeleine Scammell
Associate Dean for Policy and Practice

 

 

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