Check out my poster here!
At the end of the Spring 2024 semester, I attended the 2024 NACCHO Public Health Law Practitioners Convening in New Orleans, Louisiana. The 2024 theme, "Empowering Public Health Through Law and Policy," provided an opportunity to celebrate public health attorneys and policy practitioners in public health law and policy, and to build a sense of community. The Public Health Law Practitioners Convening offers professionals from state, local, tribal, and territorial jurisdictions a unique opportunity to learn, collaborate, develop, and share promising practices while addressing existing and emerging issues as a community. What sets this event apart is its intimate setting, fostering meaningful networking and community-building opportunities within the realm of public health law and policy. I was excited to participate in a smaller and more community-oriented meeting, and to learn more about the ways that public health work intersects closely with law and policy.
My poster, entitled “Structural Determinants of Health for Pregnant People in California: A Baseline Analysis of the GROWell Randomized Controlled Trial” was one of the only posters to be presented by a student outside of the CDC Public Health Law Fellows program! The poster presentation was from my undergraduate honors thesis, which I completed with the Health Equity Across the Lifespan Lab and the Perinatal Origins of Disparities Center at the University of California, Davis (Principal Investigator: Dr. Leigh Ann Simmons). The goal of the randomized controlled trial was to send nutrition-related text messages to pregnant people with elevated BMIs to improve their diet throughout pregnancy, and I conducted a cross-sectional analysis at the beginning of the study (baseline) to determine which demographic factors were associated with diet quality. I was excited to share the results of my analysis, which showed that for pregnant people without college degrees, living in a Low Income or Low Access census tract is associated with lower diet quality. While I was proud to display a map that I had created in my Geographic Information Systems (GIS) class this semester, I most enjoyed sharing my thoughts on structural racism and structural solutions during the poster session, including multiple strategies to make nutritious food affordable and accessible to pregnant people as a life course approach.
A few sessions from the conference that specifically stood out to me included a Health in All Policies case-study workshop and a session on reparations as public health which featured 3 panelists from the Bay Area and Sacramento. Because this conference was smaller, I was able to introduce myself to the speakers and network with folks from California-based policy organizations. Built-in networking and reception time also allowed for additional professional development and introductions – I was excited to find a few Berkeley alums and even an online MPH student! During the plenary sessions, I learned about the huge separation between regulatory bodies like the EPA, and local health jurisdictions like the city of New Orleans, and all of the ways in which these two levels of public health practice do not work together and often impede each other’s work – definitely a challenge as the federal policy and Supreme Court landscape becomes more and more polarized. In Louisiana, for example, the state government is actively opposed to regulating the oil, gas, and chemical industries that are polluting the waterways and the air in the state, disproportionately affecting Black communities. The New Orleans Health Department has to fight against its state government to protect public and environmental health – something we are privileged to avoid in California, for the most part. I left the conference with increased respect for public health practitioners who continue to advocate for health equity in hostile environments.
Finally, the conference was scheduled at the beginning of May, during the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. It was an amazing experience to visit the sights in New Orleans because there was jazz coming from everywhere in the city: City Park, the jazz halls, Bourbon Street in the French Quarter, hotel lobbies, and even the airport! Some of my favorite adventures were eating beignets, exploring the Garden District, and a sunset steamboat cruise on the Mississippi River. It was also very meaningful for me to visit Tulane University, where my father immigrated from India to complete his master’s degree and the main reason I was born in the United States. I hope to visit New Orleans again soon for Mardi Gras!
I’d like to extend my appreciation to the Center of Excellence in MCAH for supporting my conference attendance during the busy end of the school year!
