I was honored to be selected to present my research at the 2024 Association of Maternal, Child, and Adolescent Health Program Annual Conference, which was held in Oakland, CA. The 5-day conference experience was enriching and reiterated my commitment to maternal and infant health. Through workshops, speaker panels, group lunches, and dancing to AfroBeats with all of the conference attendees, I made long-standing connections with other attendees, while learning so much from those around me.
Being that it was my first opportunity to speak about my work during graduate school, I was initially nervous to be presenting alongside so many MCAH professionals, scholars, and changemakers. I was fortunate enough that I was supported by the rest of my UC Berkeley MCAH cohort through these nerves, as they were all able to attend the conference as well and volunteer. Although I have presented my research at various opportunities in the past, I have yet to be as inspired as I was at AMCHP. I left with new ideas for the next steps in my research, connections who were willing to support me in data collection and analysis, and the confidence to publish my work.
The research I presented was from my undergraduate honors thesis, which I completed at UC Berkeley through the Rausser College of Natural Resources from 2022-2023. The title of my poster was “Utilizing CalEnviroScreen to Evaluate Risk for Long Term Poor Health Outcomes in California Children from Prenatal Air Pollution Exposure”. My project aimed to use CalEnviroscreen data to evaluate the risk for low birth weight infants based on indicators of air pollution exposure. Early in my research, I recognized that risk was much more strongly associated with race, and therefore it was important to highlight how structural racism has resulted in disparities in birth outcomes in California. I mapped the low birth weight data onto a redlining map of LA county and found that the areas that were historically redlined were associated with higher rates of infants being born with low birth weight, as well as higher proportions of Black individuals. Overall, my poster highlighted the use of quantitative data to support evidence of the longstanding impacts of “race-neutral” policies that have resulted in a multitude of health disparities for people of color. Research grounded in quantitative data should also aim to recognize how racism may impact the trends we see. I am grateful for the opportunity to have been able to share my work at AMCHP, and hopefully to have inspired individuals to take a structural racism approach to their work as well.
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. In addition to presenting at AMCHP, I will be completing the AMCHP Graduate Student Epidemiology Program for my summer practicum, both of which would not have been possible without their support.
If you are interested in connecting further or learning more about my research, please connect with me on LinkedIn!
