Travel Awardees at the APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition

Justin Smith shows off his hard work.

Justin Smith

, a master’s student in the department of Health Behavior and Health Education, found the conference to be a great reflection on his time in North Carolina: “It was a validation of my educational experience here at UNC to see so many of the theories, methods, and concepts that I’ve learned in my classes applied in work that I saw presented.”Dionysios Kavalieratos, a doctoral student in the Department of Health Policy and Management who presented a poster exploring issues of alternative and complementary medicine in treatment of undiagnosed diabetes, found that his time at the conference refreshed his passion for public health: “As a young public health researcher, this invaluable experience of presenting my work and connecting with old mentors and future colleagues reaffirms my love of the field.”

For Quynh Nguyen, a doctoral student in the department of Epidemiology, the APHA conference marked her first presentation ever. In addition to her own poster presentation analyzing inequalities in health outcomes among the insured, Quynh attended eight others, including presentations for epidemiology and Healthy People 2020. In meeting and mingling with other students and professionals in the field, Quynh was “happy to find it to be a warm environment.”

Erin Pearson and Adriane Casalotti, both master’s students in the Department of Maternal and Child Health, found great opportunities for further involvement in the field over the five day period. By joining the Adolescent Health committee, Adriane expanded her role during the conference via opportunities to review abstracts and staff the Maternal and Child Health booth in the expo center. Erin Pearson, presenter of a poster entitled Association between intimate partner violence and early marriage in India, found opportunities to expand her global focus: “I was able to talk with others who researched violence in other regions of the world.”

Anu Gomez presents her dissertation.

Presenting the results of her dissertation entitled Adherence to inequitable gender norms and intimate partner violence among Brazilian youth, Anu Gomez left the conference with a number of ideas to strengthen her analysis as well as ideas for her ‘next step’ after graduation. “I met with several prospective employers,” said Anu, “and learned about open positions that I was not previously aware of.”