Master of Science in Public Health (MSPH) in Global Disease Epidemiology and Control
MSPH Practicum
In addition to completing the requisite coursework, students must gain practical experience in the application of the principles and methods learned through a practicum. Many students will complete their practicums abroad. Students will have the opportunity to work with faculty at field sites across sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and Latin America among others. We also have long-standing collaborations with local research partners in several countries such as Nepal, Peru, Uganda, Bangladesh and several Native American Nations in western US. Faculty and staff also help students find opportunities with other global health organizations.
Practicum Manager
Lisa Folda, MHS '05, is the Practicum and Alumni Partnerships Manager for the Department of International Health. She works closely with faculty, alumni, and employers to establish practicum programs and mentorship experiences for the Department's MSPH students. She facilitates career development and placement strategies to help prepare our students to become successful public health practitioners. Ms. Folda, a Bloomberg School alumna, has a background in both student advising and public health practice. She is dedicated to making meaningful connections that benefit both students in their learning and practicum sites in their important work.
Practicum Examples
| Project title | Brief description | Location |
| Economic Evaluation of MAMA (Mobile Alliance for Maternal Action). | Project includes spending time in Johannesburg, South Africa at the Wits Reproductive Health and HIV Institute to collect program cost data and facilitate estimation of costs associated with increases in utilization/ uptake of services to the health system as a result of MAMA. | South Africa |
| Continuum of Prevention, Care & Treatment (HIV/AIDS with Most at-risk-Populations) | This project is part of a grant from USAID to CARE Cameroon. The overall project aims to reduce HIV and sexually transmitted infections and related morbidity and mortality and ease the impact of HIV on the socioeconomic development of Cameroon. | Cameroon |
| Smokeless tobacco use in Bangladesh | Smokeless tobacco use is extremely prevalent in Southeast Asia and has many of the same health risks as other tobacco products1. The Bangladesh Center for Communication Programs (BCCP) has worked with government and community members to improve tobacco control efforts and establish a culture of research around tobacco. | Bangladesh |
| Malaria | We are doing an ongoing study of vivax and falciparum malaria in Peru in the Amazon. This study is population based and longitudinal. One of the issues with longitudinal studies is that patients fatigue when studied by multiple blood samples. This study will determine in normal individuals the role of Salivary IgA antibody in patients before and after treatment for vivax malaria in relation to serum antibody. | Peru |
| Gems South Africa | Summer practicum project on the development of a first-generation comprehensive patient-centered mHealth system for individuals newly diagnosed with HIV. | South Africa |
| Cookstove Exposure Study | The main project I will be working on is a study related to the cookstove replacement trial, which has already been completed and is in the analysis phase. The objective of my project is to model the relationship between ambient kitchen particulate matter, which was measured in over 2000 households, and personal exposure of mothers and children. | Nepal |
| COPD among Urban and Rural Populations in Uganda: Assessing the Role of Urbanization in Sample Characteristics and Implementation of Care | Assessing risk factors for COPD among Urban and Rural populations in a low and middle income setting. Also assessing new spirometer device (SpiroSense) developed by Hopkins engineering students. My role is to assisting in the management of patient recruitment and field staff in the clinical trial as well as analyzing data from the study. | Uganda |
| Lives Saved Tool (LiST) Implementation, Capacity Building, and mHealth Evaluation Support | The primary focus of this Fellowship is to: 1) Support World Vision (WV) Zambia to build capacity in the use of LiST through training in local offices 2) Help WV Zambia national office staff understand how to use LiST so they can analyse data, synthesize, and incorporate findings in to the 2015 Annual Child Well Being Report 3) Conduct an analysis of projects implemented between FY13-FY15 in local offices | Zambia |
| Lives Saved Tool Implementation / Evaluation of AIM-Health Program | As a Global Health Fellow at World Vision Mauritania, my assignment is to provide support through strengthening health and nutrition design, monitoring and evaluation at 2 the community and national level. I will focus on a qualitative study on AIM-Health’s adherence to WV’s minimum standard for MNCH project models, supporting data collection and analysis for the final evaluation and using LiST to measure the impact of AIM-Health on MNCH. | Mauritania |
| Sustainable Development Goals and Evaluation of PAHO Strategic Plan | The purpose of the project is to gain familiarity with PAHO's databases and applications, to replicate and/or adapt the regional-level methodology in order to define country-level goals for the impact indicators, to present findings of country-level analysis of impact inidcator goals with the Health Analysis Unit, and to conduct country-level evaluation of the SDG indicators pertaining to the health goal | Washington DC |
| Asthma Prevalence and Distance from Roadways | Spatial data analysis on asthma prevalence and distance from roadways | Peru |
| Effects of the 2014/2015 El Niño episode on long-term child growth and the demographic profile of a rural population in Tumbes, Peru | This study aims to explore the effects that El Niño episodes have on growth in young children, and on societal and individual economics and health and well-being. As the ability to predict El Niño events improves, having an accurate understanding of the health effects, socioeconomic effects, and access to resources from El Niño events in this rural Peruvian population can assist in targeting future intervention efforts and aid. | Peru |
| Continuum of Care Innovations for MSM in Burma/Myanmar | This project will use the overarching framework of the HIV Care Cascade to measure and overcome barriers to HIV testing and access to care through a series of three primary innovations for gay men, other men who have sex with men and transgender women (MSM) in Myanmar. These innovations are as follows: HIV self-testing to increase HIV testing uptake; staging of HIV disease for those who are infected through point-of-care (POC) CD4 technology; and training and capacity building of a cadre of peer health navigators for MSM to increase successful health system navigation for MSM in need of ART or engagement in HIV care. | Myanmar |
| Community Assessment in rural Jeremie, Haiti | Friends for Health in Haiti and the Centre de Santé de Gatineau (under the leadership of Dr. Catherine Wolf) wish to perform a census of the surrounding villages in the mountains south of Jeremie, Haiti. Interviewers have been recruited and trained on research ethics and performance of house-by-house surveys. The practicum will involve on-site supervision of the census, including technical support, personnel management, problem solving, and data collection/management. | Haiti |
| WASH and Menstrual Hygiene Program | My overall role will be to support coordination of capacity building activities of four implementing partners (SNV, PIE, RiPPLE, and IDE) and followup activities through monthly meetings and joint field monitoring and to document best practices and lessons learned on the program using qualitative and participatory methods, and identify gaps and propose strategies to fill these gaps |
Ethiopia |
| Financing policies for HIV programs in Turkey | The Global Fund will withdraw support for HIV programs from ineligible countries in Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). The objective of this internship is to develop and implement sustainable financing policies and strategies to combat the spread of HIV after the Global Fund resources have been pulled. | Turkey |
| Rubella containing vaccine | Supporting the work of the introduction of rubella containing vaccine into developing countries | Atlanta |
| Program Evaluation of the Louisiana Child Death Review Program | The student will conduct a program evaluation of the Louisiana Child Death Review (CDR) Program | New Orleans |
| Peace Corp Philippines | I will be a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Philippines working as a Youth Development Facilitator in the Children, Youth and Family Sector. | Philippines |
| Examining Social & Structural Factors associated with HIV-related Risk Behaviors and Prevalence | This project will be estimating the size of key populations with a high level of HIV risk behaviors in Ulaanbataar and other selected sites throughout Mongolia. | Mongolia |
| Cross-border malaria: the contribution of population movement to sustained malaria transmission in Mutasa District, Zimbabwe | For my practicum position, I will spend approximately three months in Honde Valley working with the Zimbabwe program of the Southern African ICEMR. I will work with the field team to travel to households in both the cross-sectional and longitudinal portions of the study. I will assist in active case detection through these visits including assisting in rapid diagnostic testing and testing of temperature and hemoglobin. I will also assist in packaging and cataloging of samples collected during field work for further processing and learn about the analysis of mosquitoes. | Zimbabwe |
| John Snow International’s (JSI) Research and Training Institutes Last Ten Kilometer (L10K) project | My purpose with USAID is to support the institutionalization of Community Based Data for Decision Making (CBDDM) through the re-design and repackaging to make it more user- centered. | Ethiopia |
| mLAKE and EMAI Rakai Cohort sub-studies | The student will be responsible for helping design, test, and implement the mHealth (mobile technologies) components of the proposed studies while working alongside Uganda-based colleagues | Uganda |
| Building an Enabling Envionrment for Vaccines in India (EEVI 2) | 1) Conduct literature reviews to develop technical content area expertise about diarrhea (rota vaccine), and pneumonia (Hib and Sp vaccine), 2) Prepare modeling materials for calculating modelled disease burden and impact estimates 3) Develop and refine SP vaccine evidence-based slide-deck | Baltimore |
| Formulation of Evidence-Based Policy Recommendations for Immunization | 1) Prepare materials for the SAGE meeting, IVB Board meetings, and for the SAGE working groups 2) Develop vaccine position paper for the WHO | Switzerland |
| Rotavirus and HPV vaccine budget impact analyses | WHO Internship in the Department of Immunizations, Vaccines, and Biologicals with a focus on Vaccine Economics. Create budget impact database for rotavirus vaccine, and conduct a global budget impact analysis of HPV vaccine | Switzerland |
| Estimating Effective Vaccination Coverage with Immune Markers | Working at the Immune Marker Study field site, I will be doing a variety of tasks related to enrolment, documentation, sample collection & handling, laboratory testing, data management, and data analysis | Kenya |
| Impact of Immune Changes of Pregnancy on Tuberculosis | India |