The Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Leadership, Education, and Advancement of undergraduate Pathways (LEAP) Program held its inaugural Spring Summit on Friday, April 8th at the USC Alumni Center. The summit hosted program trainees, staff, faculty, and community partners who engaged in a full day of interdisciplinary learning, networking, and celebrating the success of the MCH LEAP program.
The Spring Summit was introduced by Dr. Thomas Chandler, Dean of the Arnold School of Public Health (ASPH). Dr. Chandler provided remarks on the MCH LEAP program’s successes over the past year and discussed the importance of increasing programs dedicated towards students from underrepresented and diverse backgrounds at the ASPH.
The MCH LEAP program was also honored to host two speakers who are leaders in the maternal and child health field in South Carolina. Dr. Saundra Glover, State Director for Rural Development in South Carolina and Distinguished Professor Emerita and Adjunct Professor in the Department of Health Services Policy and Management in the ASPH, provided summit attendees a lecture on health equity.
Dr. Glover was followed by Dr. Linda J. Bell, Director of the Bureau of Communicable Disease Prevention and Control for the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control. Dr. Bell treated students and guests to a lecture on “Vaccines and Vaccine Preventable Diseases in Women of Childbearing Age”.
All of the summit attendees participated in activities focused on learning more about careers in maternal and child health. Guests assisted in hosting a Career Tables event in which trainees were able to learn from professionals in the field about MCH careers in research, public health, non-profit, and more. The summit was concluded with student trainee presentations on projects that were completed throughout the year. The trainees- Laura-Louise Rice, Ashli Neal, and Stephanie Givens- all provided interesting and thoughtful presentations on various topics in MCH.