Community-Engaged Student Practice Placement

Overview

The Community-Engaged Student Practice Placement program builds sustained, bi-directional collaborations with community organizations via student practice placements. Through this initiative, community partners and students learn from one another. The program also works to increase the capacity of community partners in conducting needs assessments and evaluations. It also supports them in preparing for accreditation and translating evidence to programs and policies.

Goals

  1. Build sustained, bi-directional collaborations between community organizations and Harvard University via student practice placements. These partnerships focus on improving child health, promoting cancer screening and prevention, and addressing emerging public health priorities through policy change.
  2. Support the development of practical skills and community engagement expertise among public health and medical students.
  3. Increase the capacity of community partners to conduct needs assessments and evaluations, prepare for accreditation, and adopt evidence-based programs and policies to promote health and eliminate disparities.

Benefits

Partner Organization Benefits

  • Help identifying and structuring long-term projects suitable for student involvement
  • Support recruitment – submission of opportunity to Harvard Chan jobs, practicum board, and Scholars in Medicine newsletter
  • Facilitate matching between organization and students
  • Introductory webinar and one-on-one coaching for partner organization staff

Student Benefits

  • Alignment of long-term projects to Harvard Chan coursework
  • Support submission of applications to the Rose Service-Learning Fellowship for financial support
  • Training prior to practicum and throughout placement. Topics may include community engagement strategies, coalition building, mixed methods evaluation, and IRB
  • Opportunity for co-presentations with partners at quarterly CAB meetings

ThinkResearch Podcast: Student Practice Placement Initiative

Harvard Catalyst’s ThinkResearch Podcast produced an episode focused on this program. The discussion centered around our goals of translating classroom skills into practice and supporting local community-based work. Listen to podcast episode.

Harvard Medical School: Voices from the Community

In this video, our faculty lead Karen Emmons interviews fourth-year Harvard Medical School student Morgan Sedhev about her work with The Community Builders (TCB), which addresses medical and social needs in Boston housing. They are joined by TCB leaders Elizabeth González Suárez, vice president of community life, and Anne Vinick, director of community life for New England. The video highlights the important work being done to support our neighbors. Watch “Voices from the Community.”

Current Placements

All Harvard University students are eligible to apply for our student practice placements. Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis until positions are filled. Email your cover letter and resume or CV to Rebekka Lee, director of the Harvard Catalyst Community Engagement program at rlee@hsph.harvard.edu. See available placements for summer 2024 below.

PureSpark: Black Women’s Mental Health Equity Internship

Description: PureSpark seeks an intern for summer 2024 to help support evaluation efforts that are consistent with our vision and will demonstrate on impact on Black women. The internship is an opportunity to build a program evaluation skillset and learn firsthand about the unique role PureSpark plays in supporting mental health. The tasks involved include collecting, collating, and analyzing data on the users and providers of PureSpark’s matching program. PureSpark seeks support in designing evaluation tools to assess the success of their matching program, how to improve performance, among other key indicators. There will also be opportunities to engage in activities to support the development of a sustainable data collection infrastructure to track changes over time as well as attend PureSpark’s educational offerings.

Qualifications: 

  • Knowledge of quantitative and qualitative evaluation methods and measures
  • Excellent written and communications skills
  • Ability to work independently
  • Willingness to learn new skills & work as part of a team
  • Demonstrated commitment to racial equity

Time Commitment: 10-20 hours per week

Stipend: Available

Birth Equity and Justice Massachusetts (BEJMA) Outreach and Policy Internship

Description: BEJMA seeks an intern to help expand partnership building and policy efforts that support their vision. The internship is an opportunity to apply communications skills, build policy expertise, and learn firsthand about the unique role BEJMA plays in addressing issues of birthing equity. The communications tasks involved include increasing the visibility and outreach for BEJMA and partners’ work through social media and the creation of a newsletter. They also seek support developing a centralized resource of all current policy initiatives related to birth/reproductive justice. There will be opportunities to engage in weekly meetings with the BEJMA team and attend related events and educational offerings.

Qualifications: 

  • Excellent written communications skills
  • Experience developing social media messaging
  • Ability to work independently
  • Willingness to learn new skills & work as part of a team
  • Demonstrated commitment to racial equity and maternal health
  • Knowledge of state and federal policy processes

Time Commitment: 10-20 hours per week

Stipend: Available

Boston Public Health Commission: Cancer Plan Implementation Internship

Description: The Chronic Disease Prevention and Control Division (CDPCD) supports the mission of the Boston Public Health Commission (BPHC) to protect, preserve and promote the health and well-being of all Boston residents, particularly the most vulnerable. The office seeks an intern to support the BPHC Cancer Plan. An important element of this work is to change the way we message to the communities most at risk of morbidity, mortality, and other poor outcomes related to cancer. The goal of the project is to change behavior and create agency, resulting in more residents choosing to engage in cancer early detection and management activity. The internship is an opportunity to achieve valuable learning experiences in community engagement, project management, multicultural healthcare messaging design, and more. The tasks involve include working with CDPCD staff and the Cancer Advisory Group to engage with BPHC bureaus, divisions, and community-based organizations to establish and strengthen sustainable partnerships as well as implement evidence-based strategies for clinicians to use risk-based cancer screening approaches.

Qualifications: 

  • Interested in and knowledge of cancer prevention strategies
  • Previous Program Planning coursework or practical experience
  • Knowledge of major theories of behavior change
  • Work with high-risk and ethnically diverse populations
  • Experience working with community-based organizations

Time Commitment: 8-10 hours per week

Stipend: Available

Past Student Projects

2023 Student Placements

Elise Hoffman, MPH, Social and Behavioral Sciences
Moulika Hitchens, MPH candidate

Placement: Boston Public Health Commission

Devin Dattolico, MPH candidate, Social and Behavioral Sciences
Placement: Massachusetts Association of Community Health Workers (MACHW)

Nora Abo-Sido MD, MPH candidate, Health Policy and Management
Placement: Boston Public Health Commission

2022 Student Placements

Megan Carney, MPH candidate, Social and Behavioral Sciences
Sanjana Srinivasan, MD candidate
Placement: Massachusetts Department of Public Health

Kaitlin Schroeder, MPH candidate, Social and Behavioral Sciences
Placement: Boston Public Health Commission

Zara Michael, MPH candidate
Ellen Zhang, MD candidate

Placement: Massachusetts Association for Community Health Workers

Laboni Hoque, HMS, MD candidate
Placement: The Community Builders

Naana Nkrumah-Ababio, HSPH, MPH, MD
Placement: Boston Public Health Commission

Karen Kwaning, HSPH, MPH, UCLA, MD candidate
Placement: Boston Children’s Hospital

Carolyn King, HSPH, MPH 
Placement: Boston Children’s Hospital

2021 Student Placements

Alex Gugliuzza, HSPH, MPH
Placement: Boston Public Health Commission  Project: Facilitating Organization Readiness in Meeting Public Health Reaccreditation Standards

Placement: Boston Children’s Hospital
Project: Boston Childcare Support Initiative: Building Provider Capacity and Promoting Early Childhood Health Equity

Meisui Liu, HMS, MD candidate
Placement: Boston Public School
Project: Boston Universal Pre-K Program: Family Engagement Policy

Julia Healey, HSPH, MPH
Placement: Massachusetts Department of Public Health
Project: Health Equity Strategic Planning

2020 Student Placements

Ruhi Nath, HSPH, MPH
Placement: American Heart Association
Project: Leading with Health Equity

Katie Busalacchi, HSPH, MPH
Placement: Boston Children’s Hospital’s Office of Community Health
Project: Strategy Review Practicum

Morgan Sehdev, HMS, MD
Placement: The Community Builders
Project: Senior Health and Housing Practice Placement

Michelle Lee, HSPH, MPH, HMS, MD
Placement: Cambridge Public Health Department
Project: Implementing a Framework for Early Childhood Mental Wellness in Cambridge

2019 Student Placements

Hae In Kim, HSPH, MPH
Placement: Boston Children’s Hospital’s Office of Community Health
Project: Community Health Needs Assessment

Sitara Mahtani, HSPH, MPH
Placement: Cambridge Health Alliance
Project: An Initiative to Expand and Evaluate an Oral Health Promotion Program for Cambridge Children

Jane Carpenter, HSPH, MPH
Placement: Cambridge Public Health Department
Project: Developing a framework for early childhood mental wellness in Cambridge

Erica L. Reaves, HSPH, DrPH
Placement: Framingham Health Department
Project: Healthy Aging