Julia presenting her poster on Maternal Health Communication
I was honored to return to the Association of Maternal, Child, and Adolescent Health Program (AMCHP) Annual Conference this Spring in Washington, D.C.. After participating in the AMCHP Graduate Student Epidemiology Program (GSEP) this summer, I was invited to present my work from my summer internship at the Connecticut Department of Public Health (CT DPH) Maternal, Child Health (MCH) Epidemiology Unit. Attending the conference for 3 days, I learned from professionals through workshops and speaker panels and was able to connect with my peers and supervisors from the GSEP program.
Traveling to D.C. for the conference was an exciting opportunity and my first time traveling outside of California for a conference. Exploring the D.C. area, I visited the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum and National Gallery of Art, and grabbed some delicious food from Union Terminal Market.
View of the Washington Monument
I was inspired by the incredible work done by my peers while at AMCHP, and felt excited about continuing our project at CT DPH. Speaking to other state health departments who are pursuing similar work, they shared their ideas on next steps, while I was also able to contribute our findings.
The project I presented is from my work with CT DPH, that began when I was placed there for my internship during my summer practicum in 2024 through AMCHP GSEP. The title of my poster was “An Equity-Centered Approach to Maternal Health Communication":
Recommendations from Connecticut Community Based Organizations”, which I co-authored along with my preceptors Dr. Kasia Baca and Jennifer Morin. Our work aimed to develop a guidebook for maternal health data sharing targeted to state health departments. We conducted a mixed-method study to conduct a community-based participatory research project where we surveyed and interviewed community stakeholders to learn about needs around data sharing. Our poster highlighted the key findings from the study, sharing that stakeholders felt data sharing can be inaccessible, irrelevant, and harmful. Key suggestions for improvement were to design with care, consider language, and to design targeted approaches. I am grateful for the opportunity to have been able to share my work at AMCHP, and learn from state departments who have done similar work, while hopefully inspiring those who have not.
Julia and Indira D'Souza ('25) standing in front of the Conference Schedule
I was graciously supported by Berkeley Public Health, the MCAH Program, and the Center of Excellence in my attendance at the conference, and would like to thank them for affording me the opportunity to share my work. I would also like to thank AMCHP for inviting me to present at the conference.
If you are interested in connecting further or learning more about my research, please connect with me on linkedin!