Title: Three Students Selected to Paricipate In Governing Council Shadow Program
Author:
Section/SPIG: Epidemiology
Issue Date:
In early January, the Epidemiology Section Leadership discussed various ways to encourage student members to become more involved in the Section as well as APHA. Students had run for and lost elections for Governing Council (GC) positions in the past due in part to their lack of experience with GC and the Section. It was decided that students needed experience with GC before they would be viable candidates for future GC positions. To this end, the Leadership developed the Governing Council Shadowing Program. Epidemiology Section student members were encouraged via e-mail and the Section newsletter to submit an application for two positions. These students would “shadow“ other Section members at Governing Council meetings at the 2003 APHA Annual Meeting in San Francisco as well as Epidemiology Section business meetings. Shadows would be involved in discussing resolutions with other Section members at the Business meetings as well as vote proxies as needed. These students would then have first option to run for a slot representing the Epidemiology Section on the Governing Council in 2004.
The selection committee was charged with finding students who were passionate about public health, interested in translating public health research to policy, and wanted to become more involved in the Epidemiology Section and APHA governance. The committee was pleased with the quality of the eight applicants and had difficulty limiting their selection to just two students. After consulting with Section Leadership, it was decided that three students would be selected. All students who submitted applications were notified on July 1st via e-mail as to the final results. The following students were selected.
1. Celestine Buyu is pursing an MPH in Epidemiology at the University of Michigan School of Public Health and anticipates graduating in May 2004. Celestine was born in Kisumu, Kenya and completed a summer externship in Kenya studying malaria epidemiology.
2. Jodi P-Juan Clark, MD, completed her residency in June 2000 at the University of Miami in Florida. She is currently pursuing an MPH with concentrations in epidemiology and health policy at Florida International University and has plans to pursue a DrPH.
3. Arpi Terzian, MPH, is a first year PhD candidate in epidemiology at The Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health. Arpi currently serves as the Epidemiology Student Organization’s student representative to the Hopkins student assembly and is co-leading the student health and human rights organization.
Section leadership extends their warmest congratulations to these students and looks forward to their participation at the upcoming APHA meeting. We extend an invitation to all the applicants as well as any interested students to participate in the business meetings and to visit the epidemiology booth.