Gillings MPH students honored with 2024 Impact in Practice Awards

October 18, 2024

Three Master of Public Health (MPH) students from the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health have been awarded the 2024 Impact in Practice Award, which recognizes students who made a significant, immediate and direct impact on public health practice during their summer 2024 practicum experience.

This $500 non-service award highlights efforts that exemplify the application of public health training and expertise to improve the health of communities, with a focus on capacity building, community engagement and health equity. Awardees were honored on Sept. 27 during the Gillings School’s annual Practicum Day – the first time in person since before the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The Impact in Practice Awards honor the importance of student practicum work with community organizations and highlight the impactful contributions they make towards public health,” said John Wiesman, DrPH, associate dean for practice at the Gillings School. “The work of these award winners embodies the School’s commitment to practice as an essential part of a comprehensive public health approach.”

The winners include:

Olivia (Liv) Hoynes

Olivia Hoynes

Project: Preparing Volunteer Birth Doulas in a Hospital-Based Program: Designing, Implementing and Evaluating a New Approach to Doula Training

Organization: Birth Partners Volunteer Doula Program

“In my practicum work, I recognized the importance of tailoring the implementation and evaluation approaches we learn in the classroom to fit the real-world applications of organizations and communities. For instance, I learned and applied rapid qualitative analysis skills to improve our responsiveness to organizational needs. I saw that it is fully possible and often essential to employ tailored approaches while still prioritizing the participation of key partners and promoting health equity. I am so grateful for the opportunity to partner with incredible doulas and the program team and learn from their expertise in practice.”

L to R: Dr. John Wiesman, Dr. Nancy Messonnier, Paddy Qiu, Lauren Lansing and Meg Landfried.

Paddy Qiu
Project: Assessing and Mitigating Cervical Cancer Risks: The Impact of Social Determinants and Educational Interventions on HIV-Infected Women in Bali, Indonesia

Organization: Minority Health Research Training Program (MHRT) from the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD)

“Something that I wanted to emphasize during my Practicum Day presentation was that it is not just a question of choice, but what choice you can make given your circumstances. I think that with certain conventions of public health, there tends to be a very prescriptive framing for interventions. Often, it’s framed as: You are doing something bad; we tell you why; and then you can fix it based on our projected regiments. But it’s not nearly that simple.

“While working among women who were both HPV and HIV positive, many had expressed how they wanted to participate in the ‘good’ behaviors and ‘good’ actions, such as HPV vaccines, regular screenings and precancer procedures to prevent the development of cervical cancer. However, many were not afforded those opportunities, either through stigma and, quite often, resource apartheids, such as financial insecurity, childcare burdens and other immediate, material considerations that required urgent attention.

“While thinking about individual praxis of behaviors, we must also consider the systemic inequities that have influenced the choices that we can all make towards our health and wellness. It is not enough to simply identify higher-risk behaviors and demand them to change; we must also integrate and sustain iterative processes that allow folks to make their own choices, rather than prescribe solutions from an ivory tower.”

Lauren Lansing

Project: Evaluating Sexually Transmitted Infection (STI) Screenings Among Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) Clients in Hanoi, Vietnam

Organization: Hanoi Medical University

Congratulations to all our award winners!

Contact the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health communications team at [email protected].