The IMSD program at Harvard supports students to take courses and conduct research on a wide range of topics related to the theory and practice of public health.
On top of this academic preparation, we have been supporting various activities for graduate students, as part of the Student Diversity Forum: seminar series in health disparities, career development seminars and a brown bag lunch discussion group. Our goal is also to create a forum here at the School to support our diverse students.
Many of our graduate students have a particular interest in minority health. Research on health disparities has become increasingly popular in recent years. Several faculty members in departments around the school are conducting research on the social, economic, and genetic determinants of health outcomes and healthcare access. They are working closely with local communities in trying to understand the different barriers preventing minority populations from quality healthcare and better health outcomes.
Harvard School of Public Health is strongly committed to promoting research on these issues and attract talented facutly and students from underrepresented minority groups. In fact, we will not see significant reductions in the alarming disparities that presently exist between the health of minority and non-minority groups in the US until more minorities are attracted to careers in public health research and administration, research specific health problems that communities with a higher number of minority population face, and work directly with the communities on solving these issues.
Every month, we organize health disparities research
seminars where we invite speakers from the Boston medical community to
present a case study of their work related to minority health. We are
trying to give students a good introduction to designing research studies
related to health disparities and health issues of minority populations.
We are also interested in the outreach work done by these organizations
in the different communities of the Boston area, hoping to provide networking
opportunities between our students and these different NGOS, health centers,
and research organizations.
Every month, we invite speakers from the Boston medical community to discuss career advice and talk about their own professional experiences with our students. Speakers usually work in fields of interests similar to those the students are pursuing. Other professional seminars are more oriented towards helping students manage their time during their graduate studies, prepare for their exams, decide their thesis topic, and orient them towards post-docs opportunities.
Twice a month, we organize brown bags for our students to be able to give informal feedback about the program and discuss some specific issues with one another and with faculty members. We consider that brownbags are important to create a group and ownership feeling and to enable students to better know and support each other.