Maternal & Child Health Center of Excellence.

Please visit the MCH Center of Excellence website for additional information and applications.

Diverse workforce calls for diverse approaches to education.

The Diversity Scholars Leadership Program (DSLP) supports emerging health professionals from under-represented minority communities who seek to be leaders in the movement to eliminate health and other inequities and the achievement of social justice.

The Aim of DSLP is to create an environment in which underrepresented minority students can flourish, combine their life experience with public health knowledge, and be connected to the wisdom, experience, and guidance of a strong network of alumnae of color and allies who precede them as MCH leaders.

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DSLP Flyer

DSLP Program Co-Directors: Jasmine A. Abrams, PhD and Lois McCloskey, MPH, DrPH

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First generation students face unique challenges

Students from a first generation background bring great value to the classroom, but are often challenged by family obligations and limited finances. They may have difficulty communicating the realities of graduate school demands to family members and the realities of their own circumstances to students with more substantial resources. First generation status is a key criterion in the selection process for DSLP.

DSLP’s Three Pillars

Tuition & Professional Development Support

• Diversity Leadership Scholars in 2020 are awarded a scholarship from the MCH C.O.E. for up to 8 tuition credits over 2-year period*. Please note: Due to our funding source, we must limit eligibility to US citizens, nationals, and permanent residents.
• Diversity Leadership Scholars in 2020 are awarded professional development funds, for attendance at local or national conferences advancing health and equity.

Alumnae Mentoring

• Each scholar will be matched with a mentor—a woman or man of color or ally who holds an MCH-related leadership position in the Boston area. Many of our mentors are graduates of the MPH/MCH program at BUSPH. Mentors help scholars navigate the complex learning and professional development process inherent in combining academic training, lived experience as a member of a minority community, and a passion for racial and social justice.

Community Building at BUSPH

• The DSLP supports students to build relationships with mentors and other students of color at BUSPH. This can occur organically as well as through planned social gatherings, ‘racial justice talking circles’, and events such as ‘life course’ panel discussions with mentors.

Recent Diversity Leadership Scholars on community-building:

 

“Things like student-organized potlucks outside of school and the DSLP events, and the dinners we had at the beginning of the year to introduce us to each other, were kind of the threads that pull us together.”

“Meeting people who shared similar experience and interest—we just really bonded. That for me was the most valuable part of the program.”

“My mentor just gives really great advice. She has a really good bird’s eye view from her experience, like, ‘Okay, here’s where you are and here’s some great ideas on what you can do.’ She helped me focus my practicum. It was really great to have her there. It’s so helpful. It’s a good support.”

 

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Requirements

The DSLP requires the MCH Certificate and to be a member of an under-represented minority (URM) group. URM is defined as: American Indian or Alaska Native, Black or African American, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, Hispanic or Latino, South Asia and Southeast Asia. First-generation students are encouraged to apply.

*The DSLP program is supported by the federal HRSA/MCHB grant #2 T76MC000172500, and as such financial support is available only to U.S. citizens and permanent residents.

 

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How to Apply:

Completed DSLP applications and a CV or resume should be emailed to mchcoe@bu.edu by 11:59pm October 22, 2020.  —  2020 DSLP Application (downloads as a Word document)

Please contact the Co-Directors, Lois McCloskey (loism@bu.edu) and Jasmine Abrams (abramsja@bu.edu) with any questions.

Research Fellowship

Please visit the MCH Center of Excellence website for additional information, details of available opportunities, and applications for MCH Fellowships.

Director: Lois McCloskey, MPH, DrPH

If you have always wanted to work closely with faculty on a research team, the MCH Research Fellowship could be for you!

Matched to a faculty member and research project, Fellows participate as members of the research team, contributing to and learning about the research process—soup to nuts. Various aspects of the research process, from IRB applications to data collection and analysis to research management and writing. We typically offer 8-10 Research Fellowships each year.

MCH Research Fellows will:

• Receive a professional development stipend of $1500* paid in increments across the fellowship period
• Commit to 8-10 hours per week over a period of 11-12 months
• Attend regular research team meetings led by the faculty preceptor and colleagues
• Attend a “research fellow roundtable” once per semester (with all research fellows and a faculty member)
• Present their work at the annual MCH Forum at the conclusion of the fellowship period (early December)
• Submit an abstract and present at a national or regional professional conference (optional)

Research Fellowships may not be used as a practicum.

MCH Research Fellowship Flyer

Current Opportunities 2020-21 

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Practice Fellowship

Director: Trish Elliott, DrPH, MPH

We engage our community partners in the act of educating students, and students in the act of making a difference in community organizations through intensive, year long, supervised practice experiences. If this working with external organizations sounds appealing, the MCH Practice Fellowship may be a great opportunity for you!

Practice Fellows may choose to carve out a period of time and specific project/deliverable at the practice site and designate it as their MPH Practicum in collaboration with the Practice Office and field supervisor.

MCH Practice Fellows will:

• Receive a professional development stipend of $1500* paid in increments across the fellowship period
• Commit to 8-10 hours per week over a period of 11-12 months
• Have monthly professional development workshops with Trish Elliott
• Demonstrate major contribution to a professional work product related to the fellowship
• Present their work at our annual MCH Forum at the conclusion of the fellowship period (early December)
• Submit an abstract and present at a national or regional professional conference (optional)

MCH Practice Fellowship Flyer

Current Opportunities 2020-21

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Requirements

Any MPH student (no certificate requirement). Must take MC725: Women, Children & Adolescents: A Public Health Approach OR GH881: Global and Perinatal Health in the spring semester.

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How to Apply:

Completed Fellowship applications should be emailed to mchcoe@bu.edu by 11:59pm October 22, 2020.  —  2020 Fellowship Application (downloads as a Word document)

Please contact the mchcoe@bu.edu with any questions.

*The Fellowships are supported by the federal HRSA/MCHB grant #2 T76MC000172500, and as such financial support is available only to U.S. citizens and permanent residents. Foreign nationals may be selected as fellows if they choose to forgo the stipend.