Each Fall, Professor Alan Geller teaches the Applied Practice and Integrative Learning Experience (SBS 965 P2) to the second-year cohort of the MPH-HSB-65 program. Over seven weeks, he invites both alums who were once in the shoes of his students, and newly matriculated students to his classes. Geller purposefully invites the alums back so that students who are nearing graduation can learn from them. Sitara Mahtani, MPH ’20 says, “One piece of advice I give to students is the importance of going to office hours and getting to know faculty. I got my current job at Dana-Farber managing a study led by HSPH professors partially because I got to know them during my time as a student… and in general, networking with professors, alums, and other students can lead to career opportunities both directly and indirectly.”
Later in the term, Geller hosts two poster nights where the first year HSB-65s serve as audience members to the students of SBS 965. Each student is given four minutes to present their summer practicum, introducing the organization they worked with, the aims of their project, the main activities they undertook, and any tools or skills they utilized. The audience then has a chance to ask questions. Alyssa Van Groningen (pictured above) presented her poster, Culture Counts: A Cross-Sectional Study of Racism, Cultural Well-Being and Tobacco Use in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Communities in Australia. Other projects ranged from creating new pathways for physicians to refer their sickest incarcerated patients for compassionate care release, to closing gaps in communication to address the maternal mortality rate.
As a facilitator Geller says, “I leave these sessions so inspired by the collective work of our students and their deep commitment to public health practice and service.”
