Volume 3.7 | October 1, 2019
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Communication and Population Health
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The Department of Population Science and Policy has gained significant momentum since our official launch as an academic medical department in July 2018. Through efforts working with communities to create and implement community interventions, research and published articles and many presentations at local and national conferences and events, PSP is becoming a go-to entity for health disparities in rural areas.
Effective communication is essential as we work to expand our reach and share our successes. It allows us to form the right partnerships, interact with community stakeholders and identify policies that need to be created or changed to create sustainable health improvement. Furthermore, as a new department, Population Science and Policy continues to build a reputation as an expert in rural health disparities.
Our Department communicates on many different platforms. First and foremost, our faculty and staff are our best advocates – and they are constantly in communities, at conferences, and sharing our work with individuals both here in Illinois and across the country. We also offer a robust website, social media (
Facebook
,
Twitter
and
LinkedIn
) and this newsletter. At any moment, there’s a PSP staff member who is ready and willing to chat about how we can work together to improve health in Illinois.
In an effort to make our communication as efficient as possible, we want to know how YOU, our partners, donors, and community members, want to be updated about PSP news and events. So please, let us know below:
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How do you prefer to obtain PSP news?
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Would you prefer more or fewer PSP newsletters?
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PSP Spotlight: Kara Bowlin
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The Department of Population Science and Policy is fortunate to have a multidisciplinary staff to design projects and research to improve population health.
Meet
Kara Bowlin
, PSP’s Director of External Relations, below.
Why did you choose to work at PSP?
I was immediately interested when the Department of Population Science and Policy put out a call for a director of external relations. I formerly served as press secretary for Mayor Slay in the City of St. Louis, where I frequently worked with the public health department and familiarized myself with health messaging for an underserved population.
What do you do now?
I am fortunate to have many different responsibilities. In addition to creating PSP content for its newsletters and website, I also lead the Department’s social media strategy and work with SIU School of Medicine’s marketing and communications team to get PSP’s message to the media. Additionally, I am often the first point of contact with funding entities as I work to identify and connect with potential partners.
What are your goals for PSP?
As PSP is building its reputation throughout Illinois and the United States, I hope to build capacity to expand its reach – and that takes money. We’re working to connect with corporations, health systems, foundations and angel investors to improve health in more communities. (Want to help us make connections? Email me at
kbowlin81@siumed.edu
!)
What’s your favorite thing about working at PSP?
The smart people! I’m inspired by this team, and their great work makes my job easy. As one of very few people in the department without a specific health background, I’m always learning about things that contribute to – or create barriers to – improved health.
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The Department of Population Science and Policy was proud to join with the SIU System on September 12-13 to present a two-day
Veteran's Summit and Resource Fair. The Summit’s first day convened a targeted group of individuals and stakeholders committed to veterans’ issues to connect and collaborate to improve life for veterans. The second day offered a veterans’ resource fair in which veterans were provided educational, medical, dental and legal appointments and referrals free of charge.
"This was the most meaningful event I have participated in during my tenure as interim president," said Dr. Kevin Dorsey, SIU System Interim President. "I am grateful to all who attended and made this possible. The outcomes of the summit will enable this unique population to achieve better health and as a result the entire southern Illinois region will benefit."
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Congrats to PSP faculty and staff on the following published articles:
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Our faculty and staff will be busy in October. First, PSP has three presentations at the
Interdisciplinary Association for Population Health Science (IAPHS) annual conference from October 1-4 in Seattle. Chair
Dr. Vohra and Administrative Director
Heather Whetsell will lead the following three presentations: "The Illinois rural health summit: Creating policy blueprints to improve rural health outcomes," "Building a regional infrastructure to improve rural population health outcomes," and "Rural hospitals as anchoring institutions: Innovating to improve population health outcomes."
Assistant Professor
Anne Scheer will present "I kinda look unhealthy, but I'm not unhealthy - Children's perspectives on health, well-being, and nutrition" at the
2019 Annual School Health Conference in Cincinnati, Ohio, on October 3. She will then travel to Portland, Oregon, to present "If we don't have a lot of food in our bodies then we're not that healthy" at the
Association for Applied and Clinical Sociology's 2019 conference from October 17-19. Finally, Anne will join
Dr. Vohra in New Orleans on October 26 during the
AAP Community Pediatrics Awards for a poster presentation about the same research.
Finally,
Dr. Vohra will participate in a panel about rural health care sustainability at the
Next Steps in Health Reform 2019 conference on October 10-11 at American University Washington College of Law in Washington, DC.
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See what's happening on our social sites:
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