Reporting from the Classroom
October 24th, 2009
As this first full term at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health has unraveled, I see how much they were prepping us during summer term. My days have been filled with work, outside activity, caffeine, and a test of how long I can go without sleep and still be productive—similar to what I imagine the days are like for most of the Disruptive Women in Healthcare! Classes this term included biostatistics, evolution of infectious diseases, program planning for health behavior change, health policy I, and public health economics seminar. I chose the more rigorous biostatistics course (and will take others throughout the year) in an effort to become more quantitative and enhance my ability to analyze and conduct cost-effectiveness studies and economic evaluations in particular. The course has its challenges, and there are certainly days when I wonder if I should have taken the other class, fondly known as “baby stats” to fulfill the requirement. Health policy I: the social and economic determinants of health has been my favorite class, because not only have I learned about what the name of the course suggests (and health disparities is of great interest to me) but also how to develop a conceptual framework for a health policy problem and how to write testimony in an effort to get such an issue on a policymaker’s agenda.
In between classes, I have busied myself with all that the MPH program has to offer outside the classroom, as there is no shortage of activity competing for students’ every “free” moment. For instance, I am part of a monthly health disparities journal club and am working with a professor on a book about Taiwan’s national health insurance system. I am also now VP of Communications for Students Promoting HEalthcare REform (SPHERE), an organization spanning the school of public health and school of medicine whose goals are to assure that every person in the United States has the right to affordable, high-quality healthcare and to educate the Hopkins community. So far the organization has had one event this year in which we heard from a panel that included representatives from Kaiser Family Foundation/The Commonwealth Fund, Johns Hopkins faculty, and local news radio, on the state of play in health reform. We will be having other health reform educational events throughout the year and one major advocacy event in the spring. As VP of Communications, I will be promoting events at the school, updating and enhancing our website, and possibly forming partnerships with other similar, local student groups.
I have also been fortunate to hear speakers from CMS Office of the Actuary, AHRQ, MD Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and have given one presentation of my own outside of class. The Health Systems & Policies concentrators meet twice a month to discuss health policy issues and share experiences. Since I worked in account management for a payer prior to the MPH program (and am pretty sure I am the only person in the current MPH class who comes from a payer background) I presented on Health Reform from a Payer perspective, which stirred quite a bit of conversation from peers who are primarily coming from provider and consumer advocacy backgrounds
In addition, although I’ve just begun the MPH program, I cannot believe it is already time to plan for post-grad, which is right around the corner (May 2010). So far, I’ve ordered my Johns Hopkins business cards, started a soft search of organizations and firms involved in health reform, policy, and consulting related to access and affordability of care and quality of care issues. I am also deciding on fellowships and whether to stay in the DC area for a bit or immediately return back to the Philadelphia area, where healthcare spending is among the highest in the nation. I am also considering how to best spend the January break. Options include going to India to do public health work with a group of Hopkins students, trying to get involved with a project locally, or simply taking some time to relax and rejuvenate with loved ones and friends (while the last option may be good for sanity’s sake it could also be a lost opportunity to do meaningful work). I certainly welcome any thoughts or suggestions!
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