DrPH Meetings Kick Off Reflective Autumn

November 1, 2019
Back of student with his hand raised.

Over the last four years, cohorts of Doctor of Public Health (DrPH) students from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health have brough their energy to the Incubator space. The new school year was been no different: DrPH students kicked off their September meeting to set the agenda for the year, considering ways to build a community of “scholars and educators” that will endure, in the vision of GHELI Faculty Director, Professor Sue J. Goldie. They hoped to promote a clearer understanding of the program and its potential in the context of other Harvard programs to generate greater institutional support. Broader goals include building stronger partnerships that expand DrPH placement opportunities in the Boston area in a way that creates a better understanding of this 6-year-old Harvard degree initiative. 

The first meeting, convened by Ta-wei Lin and Cristina Alonso, considered the many ways in which all are invested in advancing the “future of Public Health Leadership,” in which they plan to make their careers, as Bhargav Krishna expressed it. The students were, at once, keenly aware of the trade-offs and sacrifices that it will entail for each of them personally, and the need for institutional support during the process, and even after they obtain their degrees. As is the intent of the program, many will work in the public sector, often in other countries. During an opening exercise, where students reported on “something great” in their current lives, it became clear that many had engaged in extraordinary summer immersion projects. Some of these projects may be shared more fully in future meetings, or iterated at the Harvard Innovation Lab, at Harvard Medical School, and beyond—precisely the sorts of involved, interdisciplinary learning experiences GHELI hopes to advance.

Their second meeting in October picked up on this meta-reflection and focused briefly on the forthcoming American Public Health Association (APHA) this November, where the DrPH coalition—led by several Harvard DrPH students—will host the inaugural DrPH Conference event. During this event, DrPH students and alumni will engage in conversations around the “DrPH identity” and the future of public health and leadership. 

The October meeting focused more tightly on brainstorming ideas to support incoming cohorts of students and for the DrPH alumni weekend in Spring 2020, such as a possible panel on the meaning and vision behind the DrPH degree, or as Brenda Nyachama Onguti expressed it, “defining ourselves.” Students at both meetings were excited at the prospect of using the GHELI creative space in future meetings, and to have Dr. Goldie’s support. They hope to build institutional memory of the program, possibly craft an “oral history” or “survival guide” for the program, and to create “repositories” of shared experience. They may also wish to have a “Writing Oasis” for like-minded graduate students in which to express and build ideas.

A rich beginning to a dynamic year!