 Marsha,
Program Director, School Health Connection,
Coordinated School Health Program of Metropolitan New Orleans, Louisiana Public Health Institute
UM SPH Degree: M.P.H. 1983, Health Management and Policy
What professional steps led to your current position?
I started in hospitals, focusing on strategic planning. One of my specialties was primary care expansion strategies to stabilize hospital market share. My next professional experience was directing a primary care association, which was an excellent opportunity to learn public health policy. This led to my directing an urban initiative to reduce infant mortality which involved employing coalition building and collaborative strategies between agencies.
Describe your job. What is a typical day like?
I am currently directing a program to re-establish and expand school- based health centers in the New Orleans Metropolitan area. The program is being run through the Louisiana Public Health Institute and is funded by the Kellogg Foundation. School health involves a unique partnership with public education and the medical community. Post-Katrina has created an environment characterized by a paucity of health care providers, a chaotic school recovery environment, and a total re-alignment of prior assumptions. Much of my time is spent brokering relationships with new post-Katrina players, leveraging funding, and trying to develop consensus about how to move forward. In the past year, we have developed seven new school-based health center facilities. Our goal is to develop up to seven more within the next year.
How did your Michigan education prepare you for the responsibilities/pressures of your job?
The Michigan School of Public Health did an excellent job of providing a foundation for approaching my work. Population health has to focus on interventions that impact the largest number of people at the least cost. Health policy, primary prevention, public health economics, communications, and biostatistics are some of the tools of the trade that prepare us to be effective. The other significant part of the UM experience are the exceptional faculty whose experiences infuse the classroom experience with engaging instruction, and the opportunity to interacting with the students who also seek this type of experience.
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