Practicums Are ‘Powerful Part of MPH Program’.

Master of Public Health student Radhika Shah is determined to create equitable health care, and the practicum she completed last summer at health insurance company Bright Health put her one step closer to achieving that goal.

“My practicum with Bright Health was one of the best experiences I’ve had,” says Shah, a second-year student studying biostatistics and epidemiology at the School of Public Health. As an analytics intern at the Minneapolis-based company named one of the top 10-funded digital health startups, Shah conducted research to examine the impact of primary health care on emergency department use. “This experience not only strengthened my resolve to work in reducing health disparities, but was a big step in my personal and professional development,” she says.

Each year, the Career & Practicum Office (CPO) hosts an Internship & Practicum Expo, during which students are able to connect with employers representing a wide range of public health sectors and settings, including hospitals, community health centers, non-profits, government, and more. Due to the University-wide cancellation of in-person programming in light of the novel coronavirus pandemic, this year’s event was postponed. The office has started using Zoom for employers/practicum hosts and students to connect, says Lisa Toby, assistant dean of careers and practicum. Additionally, all advising appointments, resume and cover letter reviews, workshops, and drop-ins are being held virtually.

“We are trying our best to operate as we usually do, bringing everything we can to students, but just doing it remotely,” says Toby.

An essential component of the MPH program, the practicum is a field-based experience in which students can apply the skills they learn in the classroom to a real-world setting. It is also an opportunity to gain practical skills such as problem solving, critical thinking, communication, and teamwork. When SPH launched its redesign of the MPH program in Fall 2016 the minimum requirement for the practicum doubled to 240 hours. Students also have to produce deliverables that demonstrate five selected public health foundational and functional competencies.

Joseph Anzalone, senior global practicum manager, says the practicum is a great way for students to hone their skills and can highlight these on their resume in order to get a job they want after graduation.

“The deliverables that students produce demonstrate the work they are capable of,” says Anzalone. Since students must complete the core MPH courses before they can begin their practicum, he says the practicum can serve as a pivot point to dive deeper into their area of study, or help them discover additional interests that they can learn more about in an elective course.

“The practicum is a bridge to students launching their post-MPH career,” says Ryan Wisniewski, a practicum manager. “They take the knowledge they gain in the classroom and translate it into the real world.”

SPH alumni play an important role in hiring or supervising students for a practicum. Out of the 436 students who completed a practicum in 2019, 85 were supervised by alumni.

“Alumni are integral to many of the partnerships we have built with public health organizations around the globe,” says Gwenn Fairall, assistant director of advising & relationship management. “Alumni who introduce students to their employer’s recruiting teams, and who are open to hiring practicum students and recent graduates, has a bigger impact than many of them know.”

MPH student Kofi Boateng completed his practicum last year as a graduate intern with the Global Health Initiative (GHI) at Dana-Farber Center Institute—an opportunity he learned about from Irini Albanti (SPH’18), GHI director and an alum of SPH’s DrPH program, who sponsored a case study assignment that Boateng completed in his Operations Management in Health Care course. He worked directly with Albanti and production company Persistent Productions to develop an impact assessment strategy research manual for the documentary film, How I Live, which highlights the global gap in pediatric oncology in low- and middle-income countries.

“Our goal was to raise awareness about the inequities that families throughout the world experience, including in my home country of Ghana, and see how the film can inspire people to take action,” says Boateng, who plans to become an oncologist. He says he gained valuable knowledge and advice from Albanti, and Albanti praised Boateng’s “thoughtfulness and willingness to offer new ideas.”

“Irini also invited me to meetings with executives and introduced me to doctors and many other people at Dana-Farber,” says Boateng. “She values diversity and inclusion, and saw the value in exposing me to these different positions and experiences, to help me be in a good position when I graduate.”

Another significant benefit of the practicum requirement is that some practicums turn into full-time opportunities for students. Such was the case for alum Patrick Walker (SPH’18), who completed his practicum as a clinical intern at Boston Biomedical Associates (BBA) in summer 2017, and was hired as a full-time senior data analyst after he completed his MPH later that December. Similar to Boateng, he worked directly with an SPH alum, Elizabeth Kane (SPH’16), who has developed an ongoing partnership with the school that has resulted in the company hiring almost all SPH students who have completed practicums at BBA.

“The School of Public Health does a really good job of exposing students to SAS and getting them involved with doing real data analysis,” says Kane, who completed the PhD program at SPH and is now the senior manager of biostatistics at BBA. “They’re equipped to deal with all kinds of data and have outside-of-the-box thinking that you need to tackle real-world problems.”

There are also opportunities for students to complete their practicum abroad. Second-year MPH student Reshma Neupane worked on a research project examining pesticide use and pregnancy outcomes at the Nepal Public Health Foundation last summer.

“By the end of the practicum, I understood the logistics behind designing and conducting a research study in limited-resource settings,” says Neupane, who is fluent in Nepali. “Understanding the needs of the community we plan to serve is extremely crucial when it comes to designing projects.”

For new students, the practicum can seem daunting at first, says Anzalone, but it’s satisfying to see them find an opportunity that matches their interests.

“Stripped down, it’s a requirement that needs to be met, but our job is to inspire them to have it live up to everything they want it to be,” he says. “It’s a very powerful part of the MPH program.”

To learn more about the SPH Practicum requirement and funding opportunities, click here. If you are an alum interested in hosting an SPH Practicum student, email sphpract@bu.edu. To notify the Career & Practicum Office about open job positions, email sphcareers@bu.edu.

—Jillian McKoy