Student Opportunities

Capstone/Practicum

MPH Practicum and/or Capstone Projects: Medication Storage Campaign Formative Work -- July 2019

The current opioid epidemic is exacerbated by a persistent problem: most Americans do not safely store and dispose of their prescription pain medications, as confirmed by our prior survey research. Our team will be completing these activities over the next academic year:

1) review of the peer-reviewed and grey literature to identify existing poison prevention and medication storage and disposal behavior change programs/campaigns, including existing storage solutions and demographic profiles of individuals harmed by unintentional ingestions;
2) talk with representatives of existing or recent programs/campaigns;
3) conduct key informant interviews with parents/caretakers who have had a young person in their family harmed by either intentional or unintentional ingestion of prescription medications;
4) create draft themes, concepts, and messages for a communication campaign; and
5) conduct online focus groups with parents/caretakers of children and teens to critique the themes and concepts. The overall result of this formative work will be a set of 3-4 message themes and concepts, along with draft messages for each.

Have you conducted literature reviews or environmental scans?  Do you have marketing experience or want to gain it?  Have you created ads for Facebook or want to learn how to do so?  Have you run online focus groups or want experience doing so? Have you conducted key informant interviews or want to gain experience doing them? If you have these skills or want to develop them, consider joining our team.  Interested students should send a CV/resume along with a paragraph describing why they are interested in this opportunity to the faculty contact: Eileen McDonald (emcdona1@jhu.edu).

Research Assistant Positions 

Faculty and staff at the Center often have research assistant positions (some of which may be work study positions) available for students. Please contact the faculty or staff member listed with the specific project for more information.

• Road Safety and Injury Prevention Research Assistant
  Assistant will be primarily involved in data management, proposal writing and manuscript preparation for several research projects. Primary duties include literature searches; brief summary reports from the literature with guidance from the investigator; collating and organizing data for research manuscripts; preparing tables, figures and references; formatting research manuscripts for submission to specific journals; performing basic data management and calculations using computerized database and spreadsheet software; reviewing data for accuracy and completeness; and assisting with data cleaning and data quality review and control, as well as maintaining and organizing study files. The pay scale is $16–25 per hour, depending on experience. To apply, contact Johnathon Ehsani and state your interest and qualifications.
• Communications Assistant
  Do you have or want to gain experience with social media postings, media alerts and creating translation and dissemination materials? If so, contact Eileen McDonald to explore this opportunity.
• Child Injury Safety Educator
  Would you like to develop your injury prevention patient education skills? Do you have available time Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m.–5:00 p.m.? If yes, contact Eileen McDonald for more information.

Scholarships and Fellowships

• Nancy A. Robertson Scholarship
  Supports exceptional doctoral students specializing in injury prevention in the Department of Health Policy and Management.
• Susan P. Baker Scholarship 
  Provides support for an outstanding doctoral student at JHSPH who has demonstrated great promise to make significant contributions to the field of injury prevention and control.
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• John F. Finklea Scholarship
  Provides funds to cover tuition, room and board, and travel expenses for the Summer Institute.
• William Haddon Jr. Fellowship
  Provides tuition and stipend support for an outstanding doctoral student in the Department of Health Policy and Management.
• The Richard E. Hoffman, MD, MPH Endowed Scholarship for Injury Prevention
  Supports students interested in studying injury prevention, epidemiology, control, and policy within the Department of Health Policy and Management.

For more information on funding opportunities, contact Jon Vernick. 

Training Grants

• Occupational Injury Epidemiology and Prevention
  Students supported by this training grant take courses in injury epidemiology, occupational safety, quantitative and qualitative research methods, prevention policy, and behavioral and social sciences. Funding from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health  (NIOSH) helps support tuition and stipend for eligible doctoral students.
• Interdisciplinary Fellowship in Violence Research
  The goal of this doctoral and postdoctoral fellowship is to train individuals to study the causes and prevention of violence and its physical, reproductive, mental and social health consequences, along with research on preventive interventions. Students can matriculate through multiple departments in the schools of Public Health, Medicine and Nursing.

For more information on the NIOSH training grant, contact Keshia Pollack Porter.

Internships

• National Center for Injury Prevention and Control - Summer Internship
  Eligibility: JHSPH full- or part-time master’s and doctoral students 
  When: Summer (8 weeks)
  Location: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia

For more information, contact Jon Vernick.