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Dr. Michelle Burcin |
Dr. Shana Morrell |
Career Corner: Public Health Jobs in a New World
We are now living through one of the most important public health events in history. We cannot think of public health without thinking of Covid-19. What does this mean for public health careers now and in the coming months? We want to highlight several options for public health professionals and new public health graduates.
Right now, the public health workforce needs more professionals who can work in different sectors and more people who understand health education and contact tracing. A simple search into current openings will unveil several openings that are related to slowing down Covid-19. Openings for contact tracers can be found at the state health departments and non-profits such as the CDC Foundation.
Future work in public health will remain closely tied to the public health Essential Services. Newly revised 10 Essential Public Health Services were recently unveiled which focus on health equity, languages, population health, the public health capacity to partner with others, and advocacy. Applying the updated Essential Services to public health career possibilities means looking across different sectors and getting back to the roots of public health. This means working directly in communities, understanding population-level data, and the impact of public health work on human lives.
Our current world has become an unfamiliar place, but one in which public health is all around us and is more visible than ever before… preventive measures, ongoing data updates, and the intersection of politics with public health. It could be said that there is no better time to be getting a public health education from a CEPH-accredited institution. It is a great time to be in the Walden MPH program!
Questions? Contact Albert Terrillion at albert.terrillion@mail.waldenu.edu
Covid-19 Vaccines
Dr. Schroeder and Dr. Niko Tsatsos are Walden instructors and scientists in the Molecular Diagnostics and Medical Device sectors. They are contributing this two part series on COVID-19 testing and vaccines.
Please note the following correction: The summer newsletter article featuring Diagnosing Covid-19 was contributed by Dr. Tsatsos. In the summer newsletter Dr. Tsatsos provided his perspective on diagnostic testing in the United States including screening for the molecular markers of SARS-CoV-2, to determine if a person has an active infection and the testing of blood for SARS-CoV-2 antibodies to determine whether a person has previously been infected.
Below, Dr. Schroeder provides her perspective on COVID-19 vaccines.
Q: How do vaccines work?
Vaccination works by priming the immune system against a specific pathogen. Active vaccinations introduce a weakened or inactive organism to imitate an infection but not cause serious disease. The body’s immune system mounts an attack against the organism that includes the activation of B and T lymphocytes over a period of several days to a few weeks. This initial attack serves to activate B cells that produce antibodies against and T cells that directly attack the specific pathogen. Once the infection is eliminated, memory B and T cells remain in an activated state. If and when the organism infects again, the memory B and T cells produce an effective response within hours rather than days to weeks. This results in the person experiencing either no or very minor infection symptoms rather than the full course of disease.
Q: What is the current status of a vaccine against SARS-CoV-2?
There are currently close to 200 different vaccines in various stages of development including all phases of clinical trials. In fact, one of the current hurdles is competing against other companies to find enough healthy subjects to enroll in each trial and therefore, some are focusing on states where COVID-19 cases are rapidly rising such as Arizona, Florida and Texas. While there is still much uncertainty as to when a vaccine will actually be available, most experts agree that it will be early to mid-2021.
Q: What is a human challenge trial?
In a human challenge trial, healthy people are vaccinated with the vaccine being studied and then are purposefully infected with SARS-2-CoV rather than waiting for them to become infected with the virus naturally. There is still much debate about this given that those that may fall critically ill is still relatively unpredictable and there is currently no treatment available.
Q: How many people have to be vaccinated?
Herd immunity occurs when the virus runs out of hosts that can propagate more virus. Viruses need a living host with the cells and machinery to make more viruses and keep the infectious cycle going. When enough people have antibodies that can stop the virus from its infectious cycle, the virus will run out of places to go and eventually die off. To obtain herd immunity, it is thought that at least 60 - 70% of the population needs to have immunity (e.g. antibodies) against the virus, either through infection and recovery from the virus or vaccination. Today, we still do not know exactly how many people have been infected or are currently infected as there have been limitations in testing capacity. In addition, an estimated 25% of those that have been infected were asymptomatic carriers that likely do not know their current or previous infection status.
For further reading:
Corum, J, Wee, S-l, and C Zimmer. Coronavirus Vaccine Tracker (18 September 2020). https://www.nytimes.com/ interactive/2020/science/coronavirus-vaccine-tracker.html
For further questions about this two part series, reach out to Dr. Tania Schroeder at tania.schroeder@mail.waldenu.edu or Dr. Niko Tsatsos at nikolas.tsatsos@mail.waldenu.edu.
MPH Student Advisory Council
Walden University’s School of Health Sciences is currently recruiting for new members of the Master of Public Health Student Advisory Council (MPH SAC). This Council serves as a liaison between the MPH student body and the MPH program and was established as a mechanism for the program leadership to receive feedback from its students. The Council is made up of 8-12 current MPH students and the MPH Academic Program Director and is a fantastic way to gain leadership experience.
Students interested in serving on this prestigious committee should email Dr. Michelle Burcin, Academic Program Director at michelle.burcin@mail.waldenu.edu to learn more.
Dr. Edward Irobi Speaks about Biostatistics
Dr. Edward Irobi talks about how biostatistics and SPSS Skills played a role in his public health career.
Dr. Edward Irobi is a graduate of the Walden MPH program and the Walden PhD in Public Health program. He resides in Georgia and currently holds the position of Chief, Public Health Service/Environmental Engineering Services in the United States Air Force. He teaches SPSS and Biostatistics courses in the MPH program and mentors public health doctoral students.
In 2009 when I was first introduced to biostatistics and SPSS in the MPH program at Walden University, little did I know how my understanding and applications of these skills would sharpen and redirect my career path in public health. During my early background in biomedical laboratory sciences, with a research focus in molecular genetics and x-ray crystallography, I felt that I was lacking in skill with applied biostatistics or SPSS. After completing the MPH, I transitioned into the doctoral program specializing in epidemiology. In order to focus on population health and the relationship with medical science, I gained further understanding of how using the correct analytical tool could answer some crucial public health questions. The data drives the research.
After distinguishing myself in the advanced statistical and quantitative analysis courses as a Walden doctoral student I was recruited by Walden University Academic Skill Center as a graduate assistant to mentor doctoral students in advanced biostatistics and SPSS. This paved the way for me to further develop my own skills and opened up new opportunities. The experiences and skills I acquired as a graduate assistant were instrumental in being hired as a contributing faculty member in the MPH program after I graduated with my PhD and in gaining opportunities to teach biostatistics and research methods at other institutions.
Having a good understanding of biostatistics and statistical software like SPSS has made me more competitive in my career as an instructor and as a public health practitioner. These analytical skills gradually transferred into my public health career as an epidemiologist. As my career blossomed and I developed more teaching experience, this opened further opportunities to mentor doctoral students with their dissertation research. Over the years, my research and analytical skills in biostatistics and SPSS have continued to grow while I have continued seeking these challenging opportunities to improve and to mentor others.
In my time spent as a graduate student, a graduate assistant, an instructor, and a public health practitioner, it has become very apparent that understanding the importance of these analytical skills motivated me to spend more time advancing my knowledge of biostatistics, SPSS, and other statistical software. This in turn gave me the confidence to seek more advanced opportunities in my career path.
As an MPH student, you may have wondered how the biostatistics and SPSS courses will apply to you or if learning these skills is worthwhile. Understanding and applying biostatistics and analytical software packages such as SPSS can be an important tool for you to be able to stand out in an interview and to have a successful public health practitioner career. These skills are always going to be foundational and important despite the ever-evolving public health challenges.
Dr. Edward Irobi
Dr. Irobi can be reached at edward.irobi2@mail.waldenu.edu.
Useful Student Resources
- The Academic Experiences COVID-19 website contains up-to-date information on how COVID-19 is impacting Walden.
- Look here to see how COVID-19 is impacting Field Experiences.
- The Walden University Library remains an excellent resource and our librarians are still working at serving you every day through building library skills, webinars, and through Ask a Librarian. In addition, the library staff included a link to the COVID-19 Updates and Information website that includes the most up to date information from the CDC and WHO.
- The Writing Center is there to help you with your writing needs. This might include helping you with paper reviews, asking questions during a live chat, or just general instructional modules.
- Career Services can be a great resource to help you develop a resume or refine other job skills when you are ready to go back to work. If you are temporarily out of work because of COVID-19, they can also help you explore career options, figure out ways to market your qualifications, and find job opportunities.
- Walden’s Disabilities Services is a great resource for students that need assistance with accessibility. But did you know they also offer mental health support including free confidential counseling support to help with family issues (like being quarantined together for weeks), or managing stress from major life changes?
- While your instructors may be able to offer you some limited extra time to complete your work if you reach out to them with a valid reason and a plan, if you find yourself needing more than a 30-day extension to complete your work, you should contact your Student Success Advisor.
Meet Recent MPH Graduate Henock Assefa
Henock Assefa is a CDC Foundation Field Employee assigned to the Department of Public Health for the city of Worcester as a Disease Investigator and Contact Tracing Coordinator.
Q: How did you obtain this position?
I got a lead for a job opportunity from an email that originated at Walden University. The email stated that the CDC Foundation is hiring new MPH graduates to assist the contact tracing effort for COVID-19. Despite being discouraged by past attempts with other organizations to acquire a job during a pandemic, I gave it a go, and here I am.
Q: What attracted you to the field of public health?
Public health is big, it is broad and it can be applied in every aspect of our lives. It can be used to protect the environment, our day to day lives in cities, the safety of the foods we eat, and our general wellbeing. It also has a massive application that can be used to help many rather than just a few. Vaccinations programs, narcotic prevention programs, pediatric nutrition dispensary programs, disease preventions, and contact tracing are all examples of public health functions designed to help society as a whole. Its approach is very scientific but public health also requires a human touch. These are the few things that attracted me to choose a public health degree.
Q: Tell us about your daily work routine.
Can you describe a typical workday? My typical workday consists of allocating workloads to contact tracers and investigating the outbreak of COVID-19 in the city. I am also in charge of overseeing their work and answering any questions related to contact tracing. The goal of my team is to identify and contain all COVID-19 related cases for Worcester and surrounding counties. Presently, I am in charge of ten people, but that number is going up to 20. The return of university students means more COVID-19 cases. I am there to prevent and control the spread of the disease, both in schools and the general population.
Q: What do you enjoy most about your position and what, if anything, surprised you?
Worcester is the second-largest city in New England. It is a melting pot that represents America. Getting the chance to observe society at its best in the worst of times is a privilege only a few can experience. This job allows me to do that. I may speak to people who lost loved ones, to those that recovered after many weeks of battling COVID, or to those who barely got affected by the illness. In short, it is a job that touches you to the core and brings out the human in you. That is something I value about my position.
Q: What advice do you have for new MPH students?
My advice to MPH students is don't give up. You are important and you are going to do many things that will change people's lives. The nights spent writing papers while feeding the kids or while at work will pay off. You are on the right track. My journey just started and I am riding high. No matter what, there is a brighter day and you will get there before you know it.
Q: What words of wisdom do you have for MPH students who are about to graduate?
My advice to MPH students that are about to graduate is to start the application process while doing your practicum. Choose a good practicum site and make connections. Don’t give up if you can’t land a job at your practicum site. You will have many disappointing job interviews and many promising once, but know that you will land on one sooner than you think. Don't rule out contract positions either. Consider them as a road to high places. Have confidence in your knowledge and make sure to sell yourself for who you are. You have a master's degree in public health and no one can take that away from you. You belong to 13% of the US population that holds a degree that is higher than a BS. Use it to make a difference both for you and society as a whole.