By Susannah Anderson, MPH
This was my second trip to APHA, but again on leaving Boston I felt that I’d missed a great deal more than I took in. Since I’ve attended APHA before, it was easier to make a schedule, and (when it was available) the APHA app was great for keeping track of sessions I wanted to attend. However, I probably shouldn’t have moved around quite so much, trying to catch multiple sessions during the same time slot.
After returning home, though, several things I learned at APHA were immediately applicable to planning for next semester or thinking about my ongoing research. I appreciated listening to researchers whose work I admire that relates specifically to my own research. A session on high school graduation as a public health priority reminded me of some of the reasons I’m working to better understand education as a determinant of health.
Though I tend to bemoan my own poor networking skills, I still managed to have some great conversations and receive advice from researchers, students, and other conference attendees. Other doctoral students encouraged me to seek out funding in places I hadn’t yet considered, and a professor from UAB shared her thoughts on balancing teaching with research. I presented my research early in the morning on the last day of the conference, but because attendance was free to students, I was able to discuss my work with students who were interested in my findings and asked thoughtful questions. I also appreciated hearing the thoughts of other presenters in my section, HIV and Mental Health, as well as from community health workers.
Overall, though there’s no way to attend every interesting session, I left APHA with new ideas about my research and about my future in public health. It’s important to keep in mind how my own work can fill gaps in research and address needs of understudied groups of people. Hearing researchers who are excited about their work is a great antidote to feeling frustrated, and an impetus to keep working.
Susannah Anderson is a PhD candidate in the Department of Global Community Health and Behavioral Sciences. Her research interests center around adolescent health and social determinants of health.
