UNE in the Maine Public Health Community and Beyond

This month has been a busy one for the Graduate Programs in Public Health at UNE! Various faculty and staff members were in attendance at three different events – two local Maine Public Health conferences, and a national conference in Denver, Colorado.

At each event our program staff noticed a strong trend toward students actively seeking out Public Health programs delivered 100% online. Seems that public sentiment is now beginning to reflect what we have known for a quite some time now – online education is equal to – and in some aspects superior to – an on-ground education.

Starting with the first event of the month and ending with the most recent, the following is a brief overview of each event.

The Maine Public Health Association 2016 Annual Conference:

“Population. Environment. Policy.”

Under the banner hashtag #ThisisPublicHealth, the MPHA annual conference was held at the University of Southern Maine in the Abromson Center Hannaford Lecture Hall in Portland, and included:

• Keynote address by current APHA President Dr. Camara Jones
• Afternoon plenaries featuring speakers from the national Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence and the local experts at Info Inspired
• Eight creative and evidence-based breakout sessions featuring speakers from throughout Maine
• MPHA Sizzle Reel highlighting the public health successes of members and attendees
• First ever public health ambassador program, linking students or those new to the field of public health with seasoned public health professionals

Maine Public Health Association’s Annual Conference is always a bright spot in Maine’s Public Health landscape, consistently bringing education, innovation and inspiration to attendees.

Maine Health Management Coalition & Maine Medical Association Symposium

In conjunction with the office of Institutional Advancement at the University of New England, UNE Online attended the Maine Health Management Coalition & Maine Medical Association Symposium, held in downtown Portland, Maine.

The Symposium was a great opportunity to partner with another arm of the university and foster relationships within the university as well as relationships with the public health community in Maine. UNE staff members had the chance to speak to many of the public health professionals in attendance and make valuable connections.

This year’s Symposium highlighted and explored strategies and actionable tactics that each person can take to help improve health and lower costs in the workplace.

The keynote speaker, David Blumenthal, MD, president of The Commonwealth Fund, shared examples of how organizations around the country are getting more value from their health care dollars, and breakout sessions dived into the details of highlighting individual efforts that organizations in our state can emulate.

There were also presentations on

• Tackling prescription drug abuse – for providers and employers
• Alternative payment arrangements being tested through employer/provider partnerships
• An overview of how MACRA* will impact the payment landscape in our state
  • * MACRA: Medicare Access and CHIP** Reauthorization Act
  • ** CHIP: Children’s Health Insurance Program

The energy around the event was terrific. UNE was able to make several valuable industry connections, and strengthen quite a few already existing relationships. We very much value being active in the Maine Public Health community.

American Public Health Association Annual Meeting:

“Creating the Healthiest Nation: Ensuring the Right to Health”

The APHA Annual Meeting & Expo is the world’s largest public health conference and expo, bringing together more than 12,000 public health practitioners and students from across the U.S. and around the world to network, educate and share experiences. This year APHA was held in Denver, Colorado, and UNE was thrilled to be able to send program staff and faculty to the bustling event to connect with UNE Alumni, potential students, and industry colleagues.

Award-winning, high-achieving students

MPH Student Melanie Rogers and her first place poster

UNE Master of Public Health student Melanie Rogers stopped by the booth with the great news that the poster she co-presented on won first place in the APHA Public Health Nurse section student poster competition!

At APHA and other conferences that have an academic focus, a Poster is a graphic presentation of an author’s research. Authors illustrate their findings by displaying graphs, photos, diagrams and a small amount of text on the poster boards. 

Congratulations Melanie!

MPH graduate Jeremie Laraque-Two Elk also stopped by the booth to connect with our program.

Jeremie Two Elk, UNE MPH Graduate and poster presenter, and Nang Tin Maung, PhD, MPH, Curriculum and Assessment Coordinator at UNE

He was at the conference to present his research poster entitled “Run4Green: Development of an environmental health education mobile game app.”

We love connecting with our students and catching up with them and hearing about their successes!

The theme of this year’s conference reflected on health equity and ensuring the right to health. The keynote address and several education sessions focused on moving toward health equity and valuing all people equally, promoting prevention and zeroing in on the social determinants of health.

APHA is a vibrant and rich event that UNE is glad to be a part of each year. We look forward to seeing our students next year!

If you’re a UNE student or alumni, we’d love to see you out and about at one of these events! Upcoming, we will be attending:

• Unite for Sight, April 22-23
• University of Maine Career Fair, February 1st
• UNE Health Professions Career Fair, February 15

It’s been a busy month for the Public Health Programs at UNE Online. We’re excited to be involved in our vibrant local public health community as well as the on a national scale at larger national public health conferences. If you’d like more information on the Graduate Programs in Public Health at the University of New England, please get in touch with an Enrollment counselor by phone at 1(855) 325-0895 or via email at publichealth@une.edu. We hope to hear from you!