Health Policy Research Scholars

On Day 3 of our 2024 Summer Institute, three groups of scholars spent the afternoon volunteering at several local non-profits in Baltimore, such as Art with a Heart and the 6th Branch! Others volunteered virtually for United Way, Helping Up Mission, & Vote Forward. Through these local organizations, scholars were able to... ➡️ Support lesson materials preparation for Art with a Heart’s art classes ➡️ Help The 6th Branch with weeding, harvesting, planting, and trash clean-up in the Johnston Square neighborhood ➡️ Make bookmarks for children who are in the United Way reading program ➡️ Organize Helping Up Mission's kits for those experiencing housing insecurity in the Baltimore community ➡️ Write letters to voters to help increase voter turnout through Vote Forward

The 2024 Health Policy Research Scholars Summer Institute brought sooo many focused students together with sooo many leaders in public health policy from around the world... I've never seen anything like it. Crazy energy. There's just no way to say enough about Keshia Pollack Porter and her incredible team at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health for the #CultureofHealth they've built with this program over the years. #RWJF #GoodTrouble https://lnkd.in/ezsF3BRd

Wha a great way to end our Health Policy Research Scholars summer leadership institute, attending AcademyHealth conference. We learned about pressing health services and research topics, research methodologies, connected with mentors, supported each others presentations, and most importantly, created and shared lots of joyful moments as we look towards changing the status quo. So grateful to the HPRS team for making these experiences possible.

Spent last week in Baltimore for my first ever Health Policy Research Scholars summer institute! What a privilege it was to just be in community with one another. So much to reflect on, but I am feeling ready to apply this new knowledge in my personal and professional life. Onward and upward!

What a great way to start off my week by presenting my research at the #ARM24 conference. Thanks to the Health Policy Research Scholars for supporting my doctoral journey and thank you to the University at Buffalo department of community health and health behavior for helping me to grow as a researcher. 🧑🏻🏫

Health Policy Research Scholars’ Summer Institute was just over a week ago and I'm still reflecting on what a beautiful, necessary, productive, AND healing space it was! Honestly, without this type of program and their undying support to students, I don't know how I would've made it this far into my PhD Program... Actually, I don't think I would've made it very far at all because the doctoral journey can be grueling, long, lonely, and almost near impossible for some to do alone! I'm so thankful for our lessons in community-oriented research, policy driven practices, and mindful leadership that continue to emphasize not only my values as a human being, but also the principles in how I will choose to conduct myself professionally. HPRS has been pivotal in providing me the tools and community to understand the type of leader I want to become! A big-BIG thank you to my cohort (Shout out cohort 6! Aisha Fletcher, Calaia S. Jackson, MPSA, Julián Ponce, MPH, Woodjerry Louis, and Maurryce Starks photographed at the Orioles Games!) and all the other infamous scholars I've met through HPRS along the way for showing me how love and passion can truly guide us through our work (like Hayden Dawes, PhD, LCSW, LCAS and his mother, who are also photographed!). Also, big thank you to the NPC with HPRS, especially Jessica Harrington, who continues to drop thought-leading gems that not only evokes deep reflection and emotion in me, but also somehow invigorates me with newfound energy! My gratitude to you all and this experience because it is immense and more than words can express.

The past two weeks were an absolute whirlwind! First, I spent the week at Summer Institute with my Health Policy Research Scholars community working on our policy communication skills, leadership development, and resilience for the coming year. Then, I attended AcademyHealth's Annual Research Meeting where I presented research I did with OPEN on Ohio women's access to health care in the post-Dobbs era. Finally, to round it all out, I spent a couple days with my family in Leelanau County, MI to celebrate Independence Day and take a much needed break.

I am profoundly grateful for an entire week dedicated to learning how to align research with policy, grounded in my personal values and strengths, while in community with brilliant & inspiring individuals committed to uncovering and challenging inequitable & oppressive systems. There’s still much more to do, but I remain hopeful (& strategic!), and envision significant and transformative changes not just for population health and public policy, but also for academia. Keep an eye on these Health Policy Research Scholars —big and exciting shifts are on the horizon! Special thanks to the #HPRS NPC team - you 👏🏻 all 👏🏻 make 👏🏻 it 👏🏻 happen 👏🏻 & in the most thoughtful & life-giving ways! Keshia Pollack Porter Gregory Powers Amanda Williams Alyssa Berrios, M.Ed. Shannon Frattaroli Attia Goheer Jessica Harrington

Thrilled to announce that I have officially completed my PhD in Counseling, Clinical, and School Psychology. 🎉 In addition, I have completed my pre-doctoral internship at Ann & Robert H Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago and a leadership program with the Health Policy Research Scholars. It has been an honor and a privilege to work with the families, children, and colleagues that I have come across throughout this journey. I am grateful for my community of mentors and peers who have poured into me and believed in my abilities, experiences, and dreams. I am especially grateful to my familia who has supported my educational leaps with so much love. A special thanks to some of organizations and people who have shaped my journey. Thank you to the Health Policy Research Scholars, Jill Sharkey, Erin Dowdy, Alison Cerezo, Miya Barnett, Jon Goodwin, Vedette Gavin, Attia Goheer, and Kelly Lowry. I truly could not be where I am today without these folks. ¡Mil gracias! I am excited to return to my home state of Arizona to work as a post-doctoral pediatric psychology fellow at Phoenix Children's and continue to provide clinical care to Spanish-speaking and diverse families, while also maintaining a research portfolio in implementation and evaluation research. As always, I am happy to help/ support others throughout their own journeys in academia. Please feel free to reach out. ¡Si se pudo! 😊