The question is: Can the online communities built up around us - full of activism, viral sensations and cat videos - lead to offline wellness?
Since I was a young child, I always admired and appreciated the concept of health and safety for all people and in every community. With this concept in mind, I knew that going to college was a strategy to fulfill this young girl’s passion. I had the privilege of attending…
ACT I: An Introduction to Theater in Public Health I remember my first big role as the Tree in a live adaptation of The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein. I was upset being cast as a tree stump, but I was so drawn to the story we were telling. We…
Introduction to Sex Discourse in the United States In the United States (US), 95% of the population has sex before marriage. ((Donovan, M. K. (2017). The Looming Threat to Sex Education: A Resurgence of Federal Funding for Abstinence-Only Programs? Guttmacher Policy Review, 20. Retrieved from https://www.guttmacher.org/gpr/2017/03/looming-threat-sex-education-resurgence-federal-funding-abstinence-only-programs)) On average, young people…
As the old adage goes, a person’s identity is shaped by a culmination of their positive and negative experiences. This can range from intimate experiences with family to minute run-ins with strangers. My own growing personal desire to understand public health stems from an eccentric combination of these experiences, and…
Public health is a broad term, encompassing many dynamic fields with complex interactions that affect the well-being of a population. My interests in public health lie mainly within the area of mental health, a crucial component of well-being; while the medical establishment is (generally) placing more importance on mental health,…
Content warning: mental illness, image of gun, reference to suicide. Note: Images are redacted for de-identification purposes. Addressing Mental Illness as a College Student The first time I set up a therapy appointment, I didn’t go. It wasn’t because I changed my mind. I had already spent a few months…
(Or, how to work with animals and get paid for it) First Exposure My first exposure to veterinary medicine as a public health discipline was while working in a high-volume spay and neuter clinic. There, I saw hundreds of feral cats come through our trap-neuter-return (TNR) program and be released…
I was born into a community defined by gender. Where subtle discriminations, sprouted at birth, developed into an intricate system of excuses and dependencies systemically binding women and men alike. Where men are held at such a high standard of masculinity that it is not uncommon for them to turn…
A Shift in Perspective If someone asked me what I felt hopeful about two years ago, it would have been a difficult question for me to answer. Now, the answer is simple. I feel hope that, through the pursuit of health equity, public health can improve the lives of all…
The Early Years You can’t put public health students in a box. But I think it’s safe to say we all share a vision of a healthier future. My vision started to come into focus in the early 2000s. After graduating from college in 2007 with a bachelor’s degree in…
Growing up as Cameroonian Muslim immigrants, my family struggled with the healthcare system because we were low-income and our providers didn’t culturally or linguistically relate to us. Public health is important because of its emphasis on preventative care: fixing a problem before a health condition worsens, an issue widespread in…
