Author: mwestfall6uclaedu

Western Partners Trainee Spotlight: Georgia Brown & Nicole Thelan

This blog post highlights the work and experiences of two funded MCH trainees from Oregon Health and Sciences University (OHSU), Georgia Brown (left) and Nicole Thelan (right).

Georgia is a 1st year trainee at OHSU in Portland, Oregon. She is currently completing her Masters of Science degree in Human Nutrition in combination with her dietetic internship at OHSU School of Medicine, with a thesis focus in fatty acid oxidation disorders. She received her Bachelor of Science in Nutrition at Arizona State University in 2016. Georgia has a variety of interests including inborn errors of metabolism, disorder eating in adolescents and adult women, behavioral health and food insecurity.

From Georgia: “During the Winter 2019 term at OHSU I took a Maternal Infant Child nutrition course, which emphasizes the growth and development of a fetus during pregnancy up until young adulthood. In this time, I completed two presentations which included a focus on adolescent girls and body image with the use of social media, and another on pregnancy in bariatric surgery patients. Both presentations provided unique opportunities for learning about two distinct populations, all while still learning about maternal and child health. I felt these in-depth presentations afforded me the opportunity to continue building off my MCH competencies while exploring topics of interest to me, including disordered eating behaviors and pregnancy.”

Nicole is a 1st year trainee at OHSU and is finishing up her second year of her Master of Science in Human Nutrition. Nicole obtained her Bachelor of Science in Nutrition at Seattle Pacific University where she participated in the Community Kitchen program. This program aims to provide affordable meals to community members while teaching meal planning and cooking skills. As part of her graduate experience, Nicole spent 4 weeks interning at the Multnomah County WIC department and 2 weeks rotating in the Pediatric Metabolic Clinic at OHSU. Nicole’s nutrition related interests include gastrointestinal disorders, community nutrition, public policy and food insecurity.

Highlights of MCH Nutrition Traineeship

As MCH trainees, we have had the pleasure of immersing ourselves in a variety of maternal and child nutrition related opportunities, including attending weekly Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Related Disabilities (LEND) seminars which is a traineeship that provides graduate level interdisciplinary training and education. This traineeship focuses heavily on interdisciplinary work among a multitude of disciplines including Registered Dietitians, Speech Language Pathologists, Audiologists, Psychologists etc. with the goal of improving health outcomes in infants, children, and adolescents with disabilities. As attendees we were able to observe seminars with guest lecturers from both providers and patients/families, along with participating in a healthy discussion on how we can improve the health care experience for families. This opportunity has provided the unique experience of working specifically with families and children with disabilities, providing exposure and training on how to work with this commonly underserved population.

We also had the opportunity to attend the Western MCH Nutrition Leadership Network conference in February. The conference afforded us the chance to listen to the activities and accomplishments of the other trainees in our network and enhance our understanding of policy, system and environment concepts. We both walked away with a significantly deeper grasp of how to incorporate these ideas into our future practice as dietitians. Furthermore, the conference included a full day of education on building and further cultivating our leadership and communication skills — both of which will be key as they will allow us to go forward and make a meaningful difference in the lives of women and children, and really all people we work with.

We are currently working with the Multnomah County WIC office to develop a continuing education presentation for their providers. After hearing from the providers regarding a list of topics they would be interested in, we chose to focus on fad dieting for mothers and children. We plan to present on a range of diets including the ketogenic diet, veganism/vegetarianism, and the gluten free diet. Our goal is provide education the providers may apply in their practice and to help them answer questions they may receive from families about the practicality of these various diets for young children and pregnant or lactating mothers. Finally, we will be providing some online educational materials for the OHSU Hemophilia clinic and will specifically be focusing on topics families may find useful or interesting.

Western Partners Trainee Spotlight: Alicia Yang

Alicia is a 2nd year Master of Public Health candidate at the University of Washington, Seattle. She holds a degree in Food and Nutritional Sciences from Seattle Pacific University and completed her dietetic internship at Golden Gate Dietetic Internship. She worked in outpatient care and nutrition research as a registered dietitian before returning to school. Her interests include the intersection between social determinants of health and the public sector, and their impact on women’s health and nutrition. 

Highlights of the MCH Nutrition Conference 2019 in Washington, DC

Overview

The MCH Nutrition Conference was a fortuitous opportunity to connect faces to many names and voices I had seen in e-mails and heard on Zoom calls. Many I had met at the Nutrition Leadership Network Conference in February (a networking conference of the MCH grantees and trainees in 13 Western states). However, this weekend in Washington D.C. had a different purpose. In addition to meeting each other and giving updates of our programs, trainees participated in cultural competency and policy trainings.

We started our day with updates on a federal, regional, state and program updates. In short:

• Federal: Update and Q&A with Michael Warren and Lauren Raskin Ramos from the Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB).
• Regional: Obesity Enhancements led by University of Minnesota (Jamie Stang) and University of California, Los Angeles (Leslie Cunningham-Sabo)
• Regional Leadership Programs
• Emerging New Leaders in PH Nutrition
• Western MCH Nutrition Leadership Network
• Association of State Public Health Nutritionists: Children’s Healthy Weight Coalition
• Trainee Peer Mentoring Network Update

Thoughts on Cultural Competency: Reflection on a Training from Tawara Goode

After lunch, we received valuable training from Tawara Goode, MA director of Georgetown University’s National Center for Cultural Competence. Her training on cultural competency noted the multiple dimensions of culture that “affects how we work, parent, love, marry, understand health, mental health, wellness, illness, disability and end of life.” As public health practitioners and professionals we are responsible for not only understanding how organizational cultural affects us, but also doing the work to recognize and seek understanding of the multiple cultural identities of the persons and populations we serve. Further, these individuals and populations interact with multiple systems at once. The convergence of multiple cultural contexts is illustrated below.

I asked Dr. Goode about the connection between cultural competency and equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI), which I hear more often now than the former. (UW Seattle has a clear EDI initiative and the School of Public Health recently created.) She distinguished that they are acutely different. EDI, when it is clearly and specifically defined, aim to address external factors that negatively influence the diversity of individuals and/or group culture.

I interpreted this to mean that cultural competency is the internal, personal work this is required of us in order to truly address the systemic barriers to equity, diversity and inclusion. Future food for my personal thought: How can I bring cultural competency to the spaces I learn and work in, which are primarily focused on systemic and institutional EDI?

Policy Training: A Vital Component to the Nutrition Profession

Currently, (as of March 2019) only two dietitians work on The Hill, as stated by Alison Hard, MS, RDN, staffer of the House Labor and Education Committee. In the photo above, Ms. Hard (right) speaks with Nancy Chapman, MPH, RDN, who has years of experience advocating for nutrition policy in Washington. Ms. Chapman organized four speakers to give us a glimpse of nutrition policy in the non-profit, immigration policy, and federal government contexts:

• Jen Holcomb, US Advocacy and Outreach Manager for 1,000 Days
• Renato R. Rocha, policy analyst for The Center for Law and Social Policy
• Alison Hard, MS, RD, House Labor and Education Committee
• Robert Rosado, Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry

This was probably my favorite part of our two-day conference, mainly because I have had the least exposure to policy. Renato Rocha discussed how public comments can impact rulings on policy. Specifically, when it was proposed to add WIC to public charge, CLASP rallied several organizations and thousands of public comments to delay the public charge ruling. We discussed how public health practitioners and researchers can best contribute to public comments. Both Renato and Jen agreed a combination of personal stories from the field of how rulings can directly affect (or have already affected) individuals, families and communities in addition to compelling data are most effective.

We learned from Ms. Hard and Mr. Rosado about their roles and the process of writing and passing the Farm Bill as well as their role in education Congresswomen and Congressmen about it. Because so many Congress members are freshman, which requires a substantial amount of their time to educate them and their staffers in order to make informed decisions about the Farm Bill. Following, after a training on how to speak with our Representatives, we went to our respective state Congress members.

Congresswoman Primila Jayapal was on break back in Washington State, so I spoke with Stephanie Kang, her staffer working on health and nutrition issues. Unlike many Legislative Assistants, Stephanie is a fellow for Congressional Progressive Caucus Center. She is a Doctor of Public Health at Harvard University working on the Medicaid for All Bill. Because we are not allowed to advocate under as Title V recipients, my fellow trainee Alyssa Thomas (from Colorado State) and I spoke to Stephanie about the MCH Traineeship in developing nutrition leaders and how we could be a potential resource to Congresswoman Jayapal in the future. We continued to chat about the role of public health in federal policy; Stephanie shared that public health practitioners/students rarely stop in to speak with the Congresswoman or her LAs. She emphasized the need for public health students to experience the operations of developing policy.

The end of Day 2 involved grouping up to discuss and strategize future steps for trainees and grantees. Trainees discussed the future of this blog as well as how to continue to create connections and to make our group more cohesive.

Overall, this conference offered a plethora of information vital to our professions, regardless of the specific job. It was helpful to feel more involved in the traineeship through meeting other trainees, faculty and other grantees face-to-face. I would say it has been a highlight of the traineeship so far and would encourage any future trainee to make it a point to attend.

Western Partners Trainee Spotlight: Alyssa Thomas

Alyssa is a second year MPH student in Nutrition/Dietetics at the Colorado School of Public Health and will begin a dietetic internship in the fall. She completed an undergraduate degree in Psychology at Stanford University and currently works in public health consulting. These experiences, along with that as a MCH nutrition trainee, have all informed her desire to reduce nutrition-related health disparities for underserved mothers and families.

As an MCH trainee this past year, I have had the great experience of supporting a technical assistance project aimed at advancing MCH nutrition initiatives for childhood obesity. This project began in fall of 2018 and works with four teams throughout the Western states. It aims to reduce disparities in obesity by focusing on populations disproportionately affected by the condition: low-income, American Indian/Alaskan Native, and rural women and children. On monthly community of practice calls, the teams discuss healthy eating and active living initiatives they are implementing that include individual, policy, systems, and environmental approaches. By participating in the calls and completing related modules on Systems Approaches for Healthy Communities from the University of Minnesota, I have gained valuable insight into working with communities on interdisciplinary teams to affect system and policy change. This insight will be invaluable in my future career as a public health dietitian.

As a future dietitian, I hope to work with mothers and families in a community setting, with the ultimate goal of helping to reduce disparities in nutritional health. Last month, I had to opportunity to improve skills relevant to this goal at the Western Maternal and Child Health Nutrition Leadership Network Conference. The second day of the conference featured a leadership workshop presented by Dr. Niki Steckler from Oregon Health Sciences University. The workshop included practice in articulating a vision, mapping networks of stakeholders, listening actively, and opening conversations powerfully. These communication and negotiation/conflict resolution skills will help me develop and strengthen coalitions and partnerships once I enter the field.

UCLA Trainee Spotlight: Karen Meacham

Karen is a first year MPH student in Community Health Sciences at UCLA’s Fielding School of Public Health. She received undergraduate degrees in Dietetics and Biology at Texas Woman’s University in Denton, TX, and will be completing her Dietetic Internship through a combined program with UCLA and the Greater Los Angeles VA.  She plans to focus on food insecurity and young child nutrition, especially in those with disabilities.

As an MCH trainee, I serve in a leadership role in our Public Health Nutrition Club. This club allows students from across the spectrum of public health to come together under a common interest of nutrition. One of our main activities is providing food demonstrations around campus. This past fall, we coordinated with the medical school to offer lunchtime demonstrations for their students. We prepared Kale Walnut Quinoa Salad with Honey Dijon Vinaigrette and Apple Chai Energy Balls, made with oats, almond butter, honey, and dried apples. The space we used allowed the attendees to follow along at their own stations as we prepared the recipes. At the end, they had created their own healthy lunch to go!

Our food demonstrations have the aim of promoting healthy eating among students using fresh, local, and seasonal produce. We show students how to use kitchen equipment while providing nutrition information about the foods being prepared. This activity empowers students with new culinary skills while encouraging them to make healthy choices for their meals and snacks. Many of our students face some level of food insecurity, so knowing how to cook simple healthy meals using local, seasonal produce can help them to stretch their food dollars while supporting their own health.