Q&A with Vanessa Akosah, MPH Candidate in Leadership in Practice

What was your background before coming to Gillings and what led you to pursue your MPH?

I completed my undergrad in Dentistry in Ghana and then worked for five years in an underserved town outside of the country’s capital before pursuing my MPH. Aside from clinical dentistry, I also assisted with managing the dental clinic where I worked. In this role, I developed relationships with staff and management, and there were many times when I had to articulate the needs of the patients and staff to management. Most times, I was successful in fighting for our departmental needs, but other times I was not. I questioned what was needed beyond just being a fighter. You can be passionate about many things (God, family, your career), but if you don’t have a certain knowledge, that passion can fizzle. That’s what drove me to begin my MPH, and Leadership in Practice in particular, because the program was in line with what I was looking for in terms of building myself as a person while also building an understanding of the people and environment in which I work. Successfully developing sustainable interventions involves communicating population needs and bridging everyone’s knowledge and passion toward a common goal. I’m learning how to work in a place of leadership to bridge everyone’s interests.

Can you tell us about your summer practicum with Access Dental Care?

I talk about my practicum with a lot of gratitude to God and Gillings. It was a wonderful experience; I gained a family. My summer practicum was in dentistry, but it was a new specialty of dentistry my eyes hadn’t been opened to yet: special care dentistry. I worked with Dr. Milner and his team at Access Dental Care, a non-profit organization that provides mobile dental care to special care populations such as individuals with developmental and intellectual disabilities as well as those living in group or nursing homes. The team started with one van 30 years ago and now has five trucks with 10 dental chairs as well as a fixed clinic. Each van is equipped as a full dental practice, and they can attend to 20-30 people every day. I got to see first-hand care for a very vulnerable population that people do not often consider. Another large part of my practicum was recognizing how oral health care has a great capacity to improve in Southeast North Carolina. I conducted an oral health analysis of four counties in Southeast North Carolina to determine the safety net providers in the region. I spoke with various oral health community partners in education, policy, and in both public and private practice to see what resources are available and to encourage inter-county collaboration and learning. It was very exciting and insightful to speak to all these people and put that report together. I found it very fulfilling to speak with folks who have passion, want to see things improve, and want to learn from other people.

What has been your favorite class so far at UNC and why?

That’s a really hard question. The courses we study in the Leadership in Practice concentration challenge us to consider how to engage communities in the context of various public health issues. We can’t predict how a community will react to our engagement – especially communities that have historically been discriminated against. In one class this semester, “PUBH 785 – Community Governance for Leaders” with Dr. Upshaw, we learn about the different governing systems in which we operate and how to identify which ones are malleable. We consider how everyone approaches an issue with different mental and framing models – and being able to identify those models in relation to interests to translate into actionable steps that everyone desires to contribute to is key. Where there is no desire, we can figure out how to navigate that together! This built upon Dr. Rice’s class “PUBH 781- Community Engagement for Public Health Leadership” from a previous semester.

Dr. Fleming’s course, “PUBH 718- Introduction to Systems and Design Thinking” is another course that is currently challenging in a good way. We look at community engagement and governance from a different perspective: from the lens of all players in the system and not only the population of interest. The course is getting me to think more like an engineer (as a dentist there are some engineering qualities in my brain!) to really just understand the parts of the system. In the first half of the semester, we considered the environment of the systems, the players of the systems, and how players’ mental models and worldviews influence the way they approach challenges within the system. Taking a step back to really understand what is really contributing to the system helps us use all viewpoints before we begin to think of leverage points in designing an intervention that speaks to the issues of each of the players. As a leader I can’t just convene people – I need to speak to issues in a way that acknowledges their viewpoints and needs. We are there to be facilitators, not decision-makers. We are co-designers, co-facilitators, and co-decision-makers – that is public health.

Do you have any advice for new or prospective students?

Be willing to unlearn and learn and relearn. We come in with so much experience as graduate students (from those coming straight from undergrad to executive leaders of corporations!). All of these experiences have impacted your formation and mental models. Be in a place where you are vulnerable to challenge what you already know. Being able to say “I don’t know and I’m willing to learn” is vital to learning well. Be willing to learn! Everyone here is from a different space; everyone has something to offer. Learn, learn, learn! Don’t just hold on to your experiences from before the program. Most of the things we learn greatly from are not taught in the classroom: it’s people, life, happenings good and bad. We don’t stop learning once we are done with grad school – life is continuous learning!

When not studying or working, how do you like to spend your free time?

I love to cook – even though I haven’t done much cooking this semester! I miss a lot of the food from back home, so I search for ingredients to swap out and substitute to replicate local dishes. I’ve also learned to cook some American foods – like lasagna and blueberry muffins!