Get to Know the Team: Meet Mira
In the past year, the SCY/PAACT team has grown in many ways. We hope to familiarize partners with who is on the team and what they do -- in the hopes of making SCY/PAACT better conveners for community organizations.
1) Hey Mira! Thanks for taking the time. Let's start with you introducing yourself, and telling us a little bit about yourself and your background?
Mira: Hi! I am a Master of Public Health student at Northwestern University. Currently, I am completing a policy and communications internship at Lurie’s Preventing Alcohol Abuse in Chicago Teens coalition. That means I help out with policy research and with the coalition’s social media outreach. I am from New Jersey and recently graduated from undergrad at Northwestern University in June 2018, where I majored in journalism and global health.
2) You're an MPH student at Northwestern University. How has that experience been? What activities do you participate in?
Mira: It’s been a great experience! I love learning how to do research that improves people’s health in equitable ways. My professors have all done amazing community-based research work, which has helped me be able to see that in my future as well. Outside of class, I mainly participate in research activities with Northwestern professors. I’m working with Dr. Rebecca Seligman on a community-based research project at a mental health clinic in Chicago, working to improve clinical encounters with the large numbers of Mexican American youth they treat. I am also working with Dr. Sera Young to analyze how food insecurity influences adherence to antiretroviral drugs among postpartum women in western Kenya. In this project, we’re looking at how women can be supported to improve their adherence to life-saving medication and thus, improving their lives overall.
3) So you've been interning with PAACT. How long is the internship in total, and how did that come about?
Mira: I actually learned about PAACT after an internship with Midwest Asian Health Association, a public health clinic serving low-income communities in Chinatown and surrounding areas. In that internship last year, I worked with the clinic’s coalition to prevent underage drinking and substance use in McKinley Park and nearby neighborhoods. I helped establish their social media presence, visited different community meetings, and helped schools sign up for the Illinois Youth Survey—which is how I met Linda, PAACT’s project coordinator and my current manager. In my MPH program, we’re encouraged to seek out public health-related internships, and I thought about PAACT immediately. I reached out to Linda, and here I am! I started at PAACT in early October, and will finish at the end of February.
4) What are some of your tasks as an intern? Are you enjoying your internship?
Mira: I’ve learned so much at PAACT! It’s been wonderful working with Dion and Linda on PAACT social media and communication activities. Though I have some social media experience in the past, Dion and Linda have challenged me in the ways I view social media as the voice of an organization. It can be fun (within reason) and serious at the same time—informative and interesting. We’ve done blog posts, Twitter chats, a Facebook live, and content scheduling, and it’s been really fun to learn! At the same time, I am also delving into some policy research. I’ve worked with Leslie Helmcamp to research best practices for how schools can support—instead of punish—students who are using alcohol in school. Many times, these students are struggling with other mental health issues and trauma that go unaddressed in a punitive process. I am also working with Katie Danko to research how Lurie and the state of Illinois can work to tackle the opioid epidemic. It’s such a multifaceted, complex problem that requires coordination across diverse policy, clinical, and community stakeholders, and I feel lucky to be a part of this work.
5) Working in the public health sphere is taxing work. Who are some people that inspire you, or inspired you to want to get involved in an organization like PAACT?
Mira: I’ve learned about the importance of community-based public health work and research through classes at Northwestern, in my undergrad and master’s programs—how oftentimes, change happens because individuals band together and take action together. Rather than specific people, I’m inspired by movements overall: HIV/AIDS activists, the women’s movement to understand and own their own bodies, and the breast cancer movement to research environmental causes of the illness that weren’t being taken seriously by researchers at the time. In Chicago, too, as I meet and learn about community action by coalitions and organizations, I’m inspired by the everyday work that people are doing to improve access to information, resources, and health services that improve people’s lives.
6) You recently wrote an excellent article on holiday drinking habits. How'd you get the idea for that particular topic? What was the thought process behind the blog?
Mira: With the holidays coming up, we’ve been seeing an uptick in encouragements to drink alcohol—the media is writing stories about alcoholic advent calendars, and the best holiday bars, and ads for holiday drinks are everywhere. People want to celebrate, and that celebratory feeling has become associated with overindulging in alcohol. At PAACT, we were talking a lot about how that behavior can influence youth. If teens see adults binge drinking, that works to normalize that behavior among adolescents as well—and that can be dangerous. We’re encouraging parents to talk with their kids about alcohol, early and often, to avoid underage drinking and enjoy their lives as kids.
7) Since posting on Lurie Children's Hospital's blog, it has been picked up by several newspapers. How does that make you feel? Did you expect that kind of reaction from the article?
Mira: I was definitely a little shocked! Lurie has such a wide reach, and when the hospital says something, people listen. I am very proud of the work that PAACT is doing, and am so thankful for the team for helping it reach a wider audience. It’s an important message!
8) When does your internship conclude? What are you next steps academically and professionally?
Mira: My internship finishes at the end of February. After this, I will graduate with an MPH in June, and (hopefully) to a job in policy research. After dipping my foot in the water here at PAACT, I am really interested in doing more research to inform policy alternatives that can improve people’s lives. I would love to head to D.C. to learn more about national-level solutions.
9) Well thank you for taking the time to sit and chat with us. Do you have any parting words for the SCY audience?
Mira: Thank you so much for reading through this! As a member of PAACT’s communications team, I encourage you all to follow our “I Got This!” campaign for more information on how parents and teens can prevent underage drinking. We’re on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram at @IGotThisChicago! See you there. :)
