SLU Public Health Unscripted

Second year MPH student Liam John chats with friend and host of the podcast, Erinn Miller, about his experience with community work and mutual aid in St. Louis, what passion projects he has been working on during his final year as a public health student at SLU, and his plans to move to Chicago and find community in a new city. This episode, listeners can expect to be left with a calling to get involved with community organizing and find a good cup of coffee while they are at it!

St. Louis native and CPHSJ alum Sam Biver joins the 'Public Health: Unscripted Podcast' to talk about his background in physical education and his myriad of research experiences that led him back to becoming a full time instructor at SLU. Biver leaves listeners with an inspiring message to get involved and take on new challenges that will allow you to grow.

Dr. Ellen Barnidge, CPHSJ faculty member who served as Interim Dean from February 2022 to November 2023 joins the 'Public Health: Unscripted Podcast' to talk about what a Dean is and her experience in the role, how she has seen the college change since her time being a student, and how she approaches career transitions.

Barnidge has been part of the public health family at SLU since 2002, when she began working toward her MPH in behavioral science and epidemiology. She joined the then School of Public Health as a project coordinator in 2005 and joined the faculty in 2010.

Barnidge’s research has focused on food insecurity, especially in a pediatric population. 

Barnidge holds graduate degrees in behavioral science and epidemiology, as well as public health studies from Saint Louis University. She has a B.A. in Psychology from College of Holy Cross.

The College for Public Health and Social Justice's newly appointed Dean, Leslie McClure, Ph.D. joins the 'Public Health: Unscripted Podcast' to introduce herself and give insight into her career in academia, personal interests, and goals for the college in her new leadership role.

Saint Louis University appointed Leslie McClure, Ph.D., as the next permanent dean of SLU’s College for Public Health and Social Justice (CPHSJ), effective Nov. 15.

A clinical trials biostatistician by training, McClure is a federally funded researcher who has focused on understanding health inequities — particularly racial and geographic — and the role that neighborhood and the environment play in them.

In addition to her research, McClure is passionate about increasing diversity in the mathematical sciences and devotes considerable time to mentoring younger scientists. Among other initiatives, she co-leads the faculty development core of Drexel’s Faculty Institutional Recruitment for Sustainable Transformation (FIRST) grant from the National Institutes of Health.

At the national level, McClure is a fellow of the American Statistical Association, the Society for Clinical Trials and the American Heart Association. She also serves as president of the Eastern North American Region of the International Biometric Society (ENAR).

She began her academic career at the University of Alabama at Birmingham in 2004 as an assistant professor of biostatistics and was promoted to full professor in 2013. At UAB, she served as the director of graduate studies and head of the section on research methods and clinical trials.

McClure holds a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from the University of Kansas, a master’s degree in preventive medicine and environmental health from the University of Iowa, and a doctorate in biostatistics from the University of Michigan.

Description:

Rebecca Roesslet joins the Heartland Center podcast to discuss the skills and experience that helped her lead as a Public Health Planning Unit Supervisor during the COVID-19 pandemic. She discusses the various rewarding experiences in public health she’s had over her 20-year career including how she because involved in community engagement. The podcast ends with Roesslet’s predictions for what’s to come in the next 50 years of public health.

Interviewee Bio:

Rebecca Roesslet is the Assistant Director of the Columbia-Boone County Department of Public Health and Human Services and she has worked for the department for nearly 20 years. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Roesslet was promoted to Public Health Planning Unit Supervisor. When the county began to see the impact of COVID-19, she led the department's COVID-19 epidemiology disease containment and contact tracing. Roesslet is an expert in project management, communicable disease investigation, community engagement, survey design and analysis, and qualitative data analysis.

Sarah Crosley, Deputy Director at the Missouri Center for Public Health Excellence chats with host Erinn Miller about the internship application process and making the most out of the experience, what kind of skills students can work on building before they start the career search. Crosley gives some great advice to listeners about what to look for in their first job after graduating and deciding what kind of work environment to seek, what kind of public health practitioner to be, and what kind of life to build.

SLU faculty member Dr. Kimberly Enard and second year MHA student Erika Collins join the Public Health: Unscripted podcast to discuss their experience at the 2023 National Association for Health Services Executives Case Competition, where 31 student teams competed in presenting a solution to a topical health management challenge, network with students and professionals around the nation, and gain invaluable professional development skills.

Dr. Ricardo Wray, CPHSJ professor in the Behavioral Science and Health Equity department, talks about how he got involved in public health communicaitons and his recent sabbatical that focused on mosquito prevention through the use of the MosquitoAlert app. Wray discusses how technology and digital media can be used to address some of the world’s biggest health issues that come as a result of climate change, and why community level public health approaches can help address socioeconomic health inequities. Visit the Missouri Botanical Garden's information page to read more about Mosquito Alert STL.

 SLU Associate Dean of Research, Department of Behavioral Science and Health Equity
 professor, and United States Geospatial Intelligence Foundation Board Member, Dr. Enbal Shacham, joins the Public Health: Unscripted podcast to discuss what geospatial technology is and how it can be used to improve health outcomes in communities across the globe. Shacham gives listeners a first-hand insight into how she got involved in the geospatial industry as a public health researcher and how this technology can be used to help us understand health inequities in the environments where we live, work, and play. Finally, she leaves listeners with encouraging words to get involved with Geospatial Intelligence Systems, and how students can do just that. 

Patrick Murphy, second year Masters of Public Health student joint concentrating in Biosecurity and Disaster Preparedness and Epidemiology, joins host Erinn Miller on the Public Health: Unscripted podcast to discuss his summer internship experience. Murphy spent his summer at the Center for Clinical Excellence within BJC working with the Clinical Information and Analytics team to collect and analyze health data and public reporting. Murphy discusses what it was like building on his data-driven skill-set, leveraging his public health education into a hospital management role, and what it was like working for a major hospital system that has such a large impact on the St. Louis community.