September 2012 On-Campus Visit

The RWJF Nursing and Health Policy Fellows gathered at the UNM College of Nursing on September 26^th for a one day on-campus workshop. The topics included: preparing for a successful comprehensive exam, defining your area of interest as it pertains to comprehensive exams, defining a precis, getting organized for comps and dissertation using Endnotes and preparing for the RWJF Center for Health Policy Fall 2012 Symposium Advancing Equity: (Re-) Emerging Perspectives on Health and Health Policy, scheduled for the following two days. They discussed the key challenges in health equity research with our visiting assistant professor Shana Judge, JD, PhD, and Assistant Professor, Dorinda Welle, PhD. They also reviewed each guest speaker’s research literature and formed concrete questions in anticipation of lively post-panel discussions.

The following morning, the RWJF Nursing Health Policy Fellows and faculty attended the Advancing Equity: (Re-) Emerging Perspectives on Health and Health Policy Symposium hosted by the RWJF Center for Health Policy.

Symposium speakers on the 27^th included:

• Thomas LaVeist, PhD, William C. and Nancy F. Richardson Professor in Health Policy,  Director of the Hopkins Center for Health Disparities Solutions, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
• Edison Tricket, PhD, Professor of Psychology and Chair of the Community and Prevention Research Division in the Psychology Division at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC).
• Sarah Gehlert, PhD, E. Desmond Lee Professor of Racial and Ethnic Diversity at the Brown School and Department of Surgery at Washington University.
• Vanessa Northington Gamble, MD, PhD, University Professor of Medical Humanities at the George Washington University.

Speakers on the 28^th included:

• Ninez Ponce, PhD, MPP, Associate Professor University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) Fielding School of Public Health’s Department of Health Services and Associate Director of UCLA’s Asian American Studies Center.
• Mark Schlesinger, PhD, Professor of Health Policy and fellow of the Institution for Social and Policy Studies at Yale University.
• Aida Giachello, PhD, Professor in the Department of Preventive Medicine, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University.

The Fall Symposium gave us new insights into interdisciplinary models in studying health disparities and reframing policy solutions. We especially appreciated the opportunity to meet the speakers and talk to them informally.