Hofstra University’s MPH Culminating Experience: Transformative and Inspirational


Hofstra University’s MPH Culminating Experience: Transformative and Inspirational                  Corinne Kyriacou, PhD, MPH
Three times a year (May, August and December), the MPH Program hosts a Culminating Experience (CE) Symposium to showcase graduating students’ final research and program development projects.  These projects are developed over a 6-12 month period while the student is enrolled in the Culminating Experience course. While in this course, students apply the theory, research design, analytical and writing skills they’ve acquired throughout the program into a research or advocacy project.  Students receive guidance and feedback from MPH faculty and community-based professionals; however, the CE project is directed by the student and determined by their interests and strengths.
Taking a project through the many phases of program development requires students to complete a series of activities. Culminating Experience students complete training in best practices for including human subjects in research; prepare or modify an Institutional Review Board (IRB) proposal to ensure their projects adhere to the highest standards of ethical practice; explore the literature; design and/or select data collection instruments; collect, analyze and interpret data; prepare a research manuscript, report or grant proposal; conduct an oral presentation on findings; and complete a self-assessment. Synthesizing, integrating and applying public health knowledge and skills acquired through coursework and other learning experiences into final projects helps students transition from student to public health practitioner. 
The CE Symposium is one of the most exciting milestones for the students and for the program.  It offers students the opportunity to demonstrate their preparedness for public health practice and it allows the program to operationalize its mission: to educate engaged, committed, socially aware, culturally competent, ethical public health researchers, practitioners, and policy makers to meet society’s needs to promote health and prevent and ameliorate public health problems locally, nationally and globally.
This past May 2018, 12 graduating MPH students presented on their final CE projects in front of an audience of peers, family, friends, faculty, alumni and community members.  The student presentations were organized into four panels. Panel 1- New Strategies for Improving Care included three presentations: A Qualitative Exploration of the Benefits of Equine-assisted Therapy and the Barriers to Accession (Samantha Friedman); Long Island’s OpioId Epidemic: Evidence-based Policy Recommendations and Best Practices (Kerry Meyers); Ambulatory Antibiotic Stewardship: What do our Patients know about Antibiotics? A Pilot Study (Liana Rodriguez). Panel 2- Understanding and Improving the Patient Experience included three presentations: Assessing Quality of Life among Hispanic and African American Patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease enrolled in a Telehealth Disease Management Program (Utsavi Kapadia); Quality of Life Interventions among Uterine Corpus Cancer Survivors: A Systematic Review of the Literature (Amandeep Kaur Sidhu); A Process Evaluation of the Patient Activation program at the Long Island Federally Qualified Health Centers (Marie Sonia Saint Rose-Bienvil).  Panel 3- Improving Oral Health Outcomes included three presentations: Impact of Silver Diamine Fluoride on Operating Room Visit Status among Pediatric Patients with Dental Caries (Dhawal Raj Canchi Dhanraj);  Exploring and Understanding Dental Challenges for Children from Underserved Communities (Stephan L. Joseph); Integration of Oral Health in Primary Care Settings: A Proposal to Implement a Structured Workflow and Checklist (Regina M. Mathai). Panel 4 - Understanding and Addressing Provider Concerns included three presentations: Prehospital Notification for Stroke Patients (Arpita Hazra); Medical Scribes and their Effect on Provider Burnout (Tracey Tran); Provider Barriers to WIC and SNAP Referrals (Margaret Wayne).

On August 23, 2018, another six graduating MPH students presented on their CE projects.  Again, the topics were interesting and diverse: Beyond Books: Assessing Social and Health Needs in Nassau County (Anu Anish and Terry-Ann Montaque); Program Proposal: Addressing Medication Discrepancies Among Elderly Patients in Community Health Centers (Jangho (Jay) Choi); A grant proposal to introduce HPV Provider Training in Metro New York City (Jamila Conliffe); Understanding the link between parental social support and missed child visits (Makeda Green); Bridging the Gap- A Program Proposal to Reduce Maternal & Child Health Disparities in Nassau County (Sumbul Yousafi). 
The range of topics underscore both our students’ creativity and the breadth of the public health field. We couldn’t be more proud of our newly minted MPH alumni who are true scholar-advocates and ready to tackle society’s most challenging public health problems.
 
A picture of all the students presenting their Culminating Experience for Summer 2018 Session with the Faculty 

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