In its first summer as a fully fledged school, the Andrew M. and Jane M. Bursky School of Public Health at Washington University in St. Louis hosted a summer program for students to cultivate the next generation of public health leaders. Twenty students — 10 WashU undergrads and 10 MPH students from Bursky Public Health and elsewhere — took part in the eight-week program, which combined mentored public health research or practice with professional development opportunities and social events.
“We’re working to provide as rich an experience as possible for the students,” said Morven McLean, PhD, the associate dean for innovation at Bursky Public Health and a professor of practice at the school. The program was developed by the school’s Office of Innovation, which McLean directs. “We want our students to understand the importance of being part of an interdisciplinary public health environment, to learn from it, and become champions for it.”
Students took part in one of five tracks — planetary health, global health, health communication, health policy or food and agriculture — and they worked on projects ranging from lead contamination in soil to food insecurity to community engagement. The diversity of projects was part of a deliberate effort to encourage students to think beyond traditional disciplinary boundaries and appreciate how public health intersects with many other fields.