"Be the change you wish to see in the world" has taken on a more powerful meaning for the student members of CHPPD! As scholars, researchers, and professionals in the public health field, we know that numbers never tell the entire story. Currently CHPPD has the largest number of student members of any section in APHA. Why is that? Because CHPPD students have the enthusiasm to lead and produce quality research that is valuable to our communities.

To give you a glimpse of the talent the student members of CHPPD possess, we would like to invite you to our first ever CHPPD Student Session, featured at the APHA Annual Meeting in San Diego. We are very proud of this new addition to the CHPPD Program and are excited to showcase the passion and hard work that our students put into their research projects.

In recognition of their outstanding work, this year’s Student Session, titled Strategies to Improve Community-Based Research, Planning and Services will feature the following students and topics:

• Jennifer S. Mendel: Building Capacity to Evaluate a Unique Program for Maltreated Children in Mississippi: A Community-Academic Partnership
• Sheila Faye LaHousse:
Interacting Community Readiness Assessments into the Translation Research Process
• Erin Elizabeth Kent, MS:
Community Knowledge Project: Círculos de Acción, Círculos de Salud
• Amy Carroll-Scott
: Measuring the Impact of a Community-Based Data Capacity Building Effort in California: Results from the Data & Democracy Statewide Training Initiative
• Angie D. Otiniano, MPH:
Overcoming Language Barriers by Building the Data Capacity of Spanish-Speaking Community Leaders: Evaluation of the Datos y Democracia Statewide California Training Initiative

By honoring those CHPPD students who have submitted the highest-scoring abstracts, we hope to both highlight their accomplishments while encouraging more students to submit their best research and become leaders in the Section. Come see our students in action! The session is Monday, Oct. 27, 12:30 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. at the SDCC, Meeting Room 29A. Also, stop by the CHPPD booth and say hello to our student volunteers!