Volume 3.2 | April 1, 2019
Southern Illinois University School of Medicine's Population Science and Policy (PSP) is excited to bring you The Pioneer Pulse, a monthly supplement to our larger quarterly newsletter, The Pioneer .
PSP and Public Health
The first week of April marks National Public Health Week , an important time to recognize the contributions of public health and highlight issues that are important to improving our country’s health. Public health professionals work to promote and protect the health of people and the communities where they live, work and play. Similarly, population health focuses on interrelated conditions and factors that influence the health of populations over a lifetime, identifies systematic variations in patterns of occurrence and applies that knowledge to implement policies and actions to improve health outcomes. The two disciplines are naturally complementary and often work together to create holistic health improvements.

Public health includes infectious disease prevention and eradication, monitoring environmental factors like water quality and air pollution from a health perspective or working with policymakers to address various health issues. Public health is often defined by the projects and actions addressed by a local or state department of public health.

The essential work of public health professionals saves money, improves quality of life, helps children thrive and reduces human suffering. Furthermore, public health and population health professionals work toward a shared goal of improving health outcomes on various levels. Public health professionals can be found in many different fields, including first responders, restaurant inspectors, scientists and researchers, nutritionists, community planners, social workers, epidemiologists, public health physicians and nurses, occupational health and safety professionals, public policymakers, sanitarians and others.

The Department of Population Science and Policy often partners with large and small departments of public health and many members of our faculty and staff hold a master’s degree in public health. This month's Spotlight features the extensive relationship between public health and population health.
Spotlight on Public Health Professionals
Learn how public health training impacts the Department of Population Science and Policy's work. We asked our MPH faculty and staff to illustrate the importance of public health education. Read more below:
Division Chief, Epidemiology and Biostatistics

"My education in public health directly contributes to my ability to understand the nature of health and disease across populations, and also devise methods to explore disparities and interventions. By using principles of public health, I can design methods to address adverse health (e.g., cancer, sexually transmitted infection) and evaluate their effectiveness."
Research Project Specialist


"My public health background has had a tremendous impact on my work at PSP. I have experienced firsthand the direct link between the courses I took while completing my MPH and my clinical research. I hope to continue to apply the knowledge and skills that I have gained throughout my public health career to the work that I do here at PSP."
Assistant Instructor



"In my first public health job post graduate school, I assisted communities as they implemented innovative policy, systems and environmental changes in rural South Carolina to improve health outcomes. At PSP, I get to continue this work, but now I am a member of the research team that collects the data that informs community-driven solutions for rural communities."
Research Assistant Professor


"I believe my education and training make me a good fit for this department. I am an independent health services researcher and hope to be a NIH-funded cancer disparities researcher to continue the work I have done and the work I wish to perform in the future."
Research Project Specialist

"My public health background allows me to approach different research topics or programs from a community standpoint, taking into consideration how communities engage with and are affected by the health systems available. I use public health as an approach to solving community concerns."
Research Project Specialist


"My public health background and concentration in epidemiology has helped mold my understanding of the data gathering and analysis process. The opportunities given to me by PSP have helped me hone my skill set and turn my academic career into a professional calling."
Partner in Public Health
PSP partners with several public health agencies across our service region. The Jackson County Health Department (JCHD) has been an important PSP partner and advocate. JCHD is located in the Illinois Delta Region in the southernmost part of the state and faces some of the state's most significant health challenges.

“The Jackson County Health Department works with the Department of Population Science and Policy on research of mutual interest and benefit. Dr. Jenkins has done a fabulous job working with JCHD on the ETHIC grant, also known as the Delta Rural Health Study, through which we are learning a great deal about the social networks and epidemiology of bloodborne pathogen and STD transmission among illicit drug using persons in southern Illinois. This project provides us with some of the best information about the multitude of drugs being used and builds a bridge to other services people in the study and their networks need and could use that we could provide through the health department or our community partners. The grant writing, scientific, and project management expertise provided by PSP faculty and staff are greatly appreciated by those of us in ‘applied practice’, who often are pulled in many different directions and under the whims of politics and budgetary constraints as we try to meet the public health needs of a growingly needy, economically challenged population. We value this partnership and look forward to even more opportunities to work together. Thank you, PSP!”
- Sarah L. Patrick, MPH, PhD
Administrator, Jackson County Health Department
PSP Hosts Advisory Board Meeting
The Department of Population Science and Policy recently had the honor of hosting its Advisory Board members for an inaugural in-person meeting in Springfield. After an introductory dinner with SIU SOM Dean Kruse and leaders from the School of Medicine and PSP, advisory board members spent the following day learning about the Department’s projects, goals and operations. Thought-provoking prompts encouraged conversation and break-out sessions allowed board members to meet with PSP team members in a small group setting.

“PSP’s inaugural Advisory Board includes nationally-renowned industry, academic and community leaders from Illinois and throughout the country,” said PSP Chair Dr. Sameer Vohra . “The first in-person meeting sparked excellent conversation and our board offered valuable guidance and expertise for the future of our Department. We’re now exploring how to implement those recommendations to achieve our big-picture goals.”
Conference Connections
PSP's presentations, posters, lectures and panel discussions are an essential aspect of sharing our work within academic and healthcare communities. Attending conferences allows us to make valuable connections with others in the field and learn best practices to better inform our interventions as we work to close disparities and improve population health.

Some highlights include:


  • PSP Post-Doctoral Fellow Anne Scheer will present “Community Supported Innovation Incubators: A Case Study of Two Elementary Schools Creating Trauma Informed Learning Environments” at the American Educational Research Association meeting in Toronto on April 5. She will also participate in a roundtable titled “Learning Obsolescence: Urban School Discipline in the Making and Management of Illiberal Subjects.” 

  • PSP Chair Dr. Sameer Vohra and PSP Post-Doctoral Fellow Anne Scheer's poster, “Rural Children’s Perspectives on Nutrition and Fitness: A Qualitative Study on the Culture and Meaning of Food,” will be displayed at the Pediatric Academic Societies’ 2019 meeting on April 27 in Baltimore.
Population Science and Policy faculty and staff are routinely invited to speak at local, statewide and national events. If you are interested in learning more about our Department or would like to have a member of the Department attend or speak at your local event, please contact us a t psp@siumed.edu .
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