Michigan Public Health is built on diverse perspectives and community voices. We engage with countless fields and diverse populations, and together we help drive forward the dialogues that guide the future of public health.
Spotlight
Swati Sriram is graduating with a Master of Public Health in Environmental Health Sciences from the University of Michigan School of Public Health. She is a recipient of the National Science Foundation International Global Scholarship. This is her speech, addressing the audience at the annual Michigan Public Health Scholarship and Awards Dinner.
Public health is a field of stories. So we, as public health professionals, have a responsibility to be good storytellers. We teach a class that covers skills we need to be successful health communicators. We chose some of our favorite public health stories from this semester to share with you.
Food allergies are common, and can be life-threatening. When introducing new foods to infants, many believed that delaying the exposure of certain foods may protect infants from allergic reactions, but more recent research points to the opposite.
Malaria, one of the world's oldest diseases, remains a significant public health problem worldwide. A group of University of Michigan School of Public Health students recently developed a digital tool to make existing data on the disease more accessible.
“'Quick! Look out the window, do you see the sun and the sky?'” I hear my sister say. I put down my book, run to my window, and am instantly awed by the red sun and dark, smoky sky. I realize that 'fire season' has begun."
"Growing up in Vietnam, I had never heard of the concept of mental health. But after a traumatic experience traveling home during COVID and being placed in a quarantine camp, my mind fell into a very dark place. There were very limited, if any, therapists or psychiatrists in my home country."
“In my year and a half working at a nursing home, I bonded with many residents while also watching many of them pass. The relationships I formed were very personally impactful, but I realized that we could be doing more to address the systemic issues affecting nursing homes.”
“I stepped into the all-familiar Michigan Medicine hospital. This time, however, my perspective was more than a little bit different. I had wandered these halls just weeks prior—not as a patient, but as a medical student. Now, I entered as an expectant mother.”
“Growing up, I was always the smallest child in the class. Not only was I short, but I was also thin, sometimes surprisingly so. Doctors were always scaring my parents by telling them that I was falling behind the “normal” growth chart and encouraging them to make me eat more.”
A health behavior change researcher outlines five practical steps that can help anyone create effective communications for behavior change and improving public health.