Many of the CEMCH Scholars attended this year’s meeting of the American Public Health Association (APHA), held in Denver, October 29 – November 2. We will be posting their reflections and highlights this month.
By Lauren Biagioli, BS
For the 2016-2017 year I was selected as an APHA Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Section Student Fellow. Upon landing in Denver, my conference/fellow experience started from the get go! My introduction to the fellows program was an orientation before the conference began and it was the time I finally got to put faces to names. I got to meet the other fellows who all came from different backgrounds, schools and programs. After getting the rundown of the program and its requirements, we were sent off to start networking and conferencing.
As a Student Fellow, I was presented with many opportunities to meet some of the foremost leaders in the MCH field. I got to speak with Dr. Michael Lu, Associate Administrator of the HRSA Maternal and Child Health Bureau, and he even posed for a picture with us at a luncheon where we were honored. Although meeting some of the most influential people in field was an experience I will cherish, it was the connections I made that will allow me to put my education and knowledge to action. As a Student Fellow, I was assigned to a section committee with the intention of working closely with the chairs on current issues. I have the esteemed pleasure of serving on the Gun Violence Prevention committee under some remarkable professionals, to work on policy statements, opinion pieces, and other needed documents.
Although this journey as a Student Fellow has just started, I feel as though I am walking away from the annual meeting in Denver with purpose and with an action plan to work towards change on an issue I care about deeply. I can only hope that this opportunity will bring more positive relationships and open more doors for me as a young professional. I am honored to be an APHA MCH Student Fellow alongside other MCH hopefuls.
Lauren Biagioli is a second-year MPH Student, concentrating in Maternal and Child Health. She plans to graduate in the Fall of 2019 after completing her practicum experience in the Peace Corps. Her interests include policy and advocacy in areas such as child abuse, human sex trafficking, child marriage, victims of child pornography, and juvenile offenders. She also loves tennis, floral arranging, and attempting new recipes.
