The Public Health Code of Ethics was the focal point of this year’s National Student Meeting, where members of the nation’s largest public health student organization came together at the APHA Annual Meeting.

Students from all education levels and backgrounds gathered for the student meeting, sponsored by the Student Assembly. The event featured presentations on ethics, as well as diversity, equity and inclusion training. Other presentations were given by members of the APHA Public Health Ethics and Public Health Nursing sections.

Kristin Rice attended the meeting for a second consecutive year. She highlighted inclusivity and engagement as the day’s key takeaway.

“Make sure that you get involved,” Rice said. “We have to understand the needs of the community, and we can’t go in with our own needs — (we need to make) sure that what we do is ethical and that we go in really focusing on the needs of the community.”

In June, Rice earned her doctor of health science from Nova Southeastern University. She is an assistant professor at Hampton University in the department of physical therapy and a guest lecturer in the department of pharmacy’s public health minor program.

For Athar Memon, a PhD candidate in health communications at Ohio University, the ethics presentation from APHA’s Public Health Nursing Section was a standout moment.

“It was really amazing,” Memon said. He emphasized that ethics raises crucial questions that strengthen the integrity of public health work.

“Considering individuals or communities and population perspectives is really necessary,” he said. “Sometimes we just ignore the communities and populations (for) the sake of greater good, but we should always consider multi-dimensional approaches or holistic approaches to design our interventions.”

In the future, Memon aspires to work at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or pursue work in academia. “I’m kind of a research freak.” he said. “I love research.”

The presentations were a helpful review for Sydney Price, a master’s of public health student at St. Ambrose University. “I’m in research, so it’s a nice refresher,” Price said. “It’s nice to incorporate some of the things that you learn and that you may not have thought about.”

The National Student Assembly Meeting helped Price solidify future academic endeavors.

“I plan on getting a PhD,” Price said. “I was on the fence about it, but after speaking with a lot of the colleagues I have at work and at conferences like this, I think it’s in my future.”

DEI training

The DEI training workshop was the most meaningful aspect for Chidimma Okoli, an APHA Student Assembly scholarship recipient and PhD candidate at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

“I especially enjoyed the session on diversity, equity, inclusion, mostly because the speakers, they talk about things that I knew before, but then adding their personal experiences just made everything more wholesome,” she said.

This is Okoli’s second time attending the annual meeting. She is looking forward to the opening session. “The energy from last time for the opening session was great and hyped us up for the duration of the conference,” she said.

Attending sessions and engaging with presenters is also on Okoli’s agenda as she contemplates her upcoming dissertation. In the future, she hopes to teach at the collegiate level.

Photo courtesy EZ Event Photography.