TEC News

TEC News

CTEC Success Story: Investing in the future of public health

Success Stories, TEC News
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Each summer California Tribal Epidemiology Center (CTEC) invites college students and recent graduates to participate in the Summer Research Assistant Program (SRAP). Tribal and Urban Indian Health Programs can participate as host sites for Summer Research Assistants (SRA). The CTEC team serves as mentors for each SRA. This summer’s 2022 SRAP, seven SRAs are working on projects ranging from diabetes prevention, data collection, COVID-19 case data analysis, public health advisory, and accreditation processes.

We met with Chiagoziem Okonkwo, an SRA from the summer of 2021. Chiagoziem worked with the Indian Health Council (IHC) to create a multilevel prevention project to address commercial tobacco-related harms.

 

“I grew up in Nigeria. We are not taught anything at all about the Native American community or culture. It was so interesting to learn about research and the Native community as a whole. I felt like I was a big part of the IHC and what we were doing.”
 
– Chiagoziem Okonkwo

 

Builds Essential Skills

Chiagoziem reflected on the skills she gained during the SRAP. “I would say that the two big takeaways were how to conduct key informant interviews (KIIs) and the concept of community–based participatory research. I realized I would like to start an organization like CTEC in Nigeria. When it comes to communities that have been historically misrepresented in research, the Nigerian community definitely represents that. KIIs were interesting, learning how to conduct them and learning that I like to talk a lot.”

Guides Education and Career Choices

For Chiagoziem, the SRAP introduced the concept of presenting research in film formats. She recalls, “That was the first time I saw something like that, and it made me really interested in film, editing, and cinematography…CTEC played a role. I will
be graduating in June 2024 from UCLA with a Psychology Major with a minor in film.”

Makes a Difference

CTEC supported 22 SRAs from 2017 to 2022. Every SRA has a story about their experience and the difference that the SRAP made. For Chiagoziem, the difference was everything. “It did not happen on purpose, but I think back to the application process… it was the summer of my first year of my undergraduate. I felt unqualified. But being able to work toward it and actually get the SRA encouraged me that I could go after everything that I want. I would never know what the outcome would be… I should always try. That is one skill that I learned from my experience. Keep trying.”

 

Chiagoziem Okonkwo
Chiagoziem Okonkwo
 
Investing in the future of public health
 
Investing in the future of public health

#keeptrying
#buildingcapacity
#internshipsmatter
#goafterwhatyouwant
#publichealthworkforce


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RMTEC Success Story: The School Food Institute

Success Stories, TEC News
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In 2022, the Rocky Mountain Tribal Epidemiology Center (RMTEC) formalized a collaborative partnership with the Chef Ann Foundation, No Kid Hungry, and the Coalition to End Childhood Hunger to bring a comprehensive diabetes prevention approach to the Tribal schools in the RMTEC region. With the help and expertise of these partners, RMTEC aims to transform Tribal school food programs at the local level through diabetes education and training of school food service workers.

The RMTEC School Food Institute sponsors a set of online courses offered by the Chef Ann Foundation that provide professional development and training on successful “scratch-cook” operations in schools, giving school food service professionals the tools and knowledge to make fresh, healthy school meals for its students and staff.

In April 2022, RMTEC staff, along with staff from the Chef Ann Foundation, visited the Blackfeet and Flathead Tribal sites to provide onsite scratch-cook training. The chefs trained school food service staff on making simple, healthy meals with fresh ingredients and served the meals in the schools. Staff also received education and training on using locally available ingredients. It is RMTEC’s hope to expand these partnerships to include all Tribal sites in the Rocky Mountain region over the next few years.

The School Food InstituteThe School Food Institute


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Completeness of Race and Ethnicity Reporting in Person-Level COVID-19 Surveillance Data, 50 States, April 2020–December 2021

TEC News, TECs in the Media
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Sage Journals

Black, Indigenous, and People of Color have borne a disproportionate incidence of COVID-19 cases in the United States. However, few studies have documented the completeness of race and ethnicity reporting in national COVID-19 surveillance data. The objective of this study was to describe the completeness of race and ethnicity ascertainment in person-level data received by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) through national COVID-19 case surveillance.

Scott Erickson, MPH, Rachael Bokota, MPH, Christine Doroshenko, MPH, Kate Lewandowski, MPH, Kojo Osei, MPH, Kaeli Flannery, MPH, Adrian Dominguez, MPH
March 27, 2023

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The Association Between Resiliency Factors and Suicide Indicators Among American Indian/Alaska Native Middle School Students in New Mexico: A Strength-Based Analysis

TEC News, TECs in the Media
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Sage Journals

Suicide is a leading cause of death among American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) young people aged 10-19 years in the United States, but data collection and reporting in this population are lacking. We examined results of an oversample project in New Mexico to determine the association between resiliency factors and suicide-related behaviors among AI/AN middle school students.

Carolyn Parshall, MPH, Fares Qeadan, PhD, MS, Judith Espinoza, MPH, Kevin English, DrPH
March 27, 2023

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