What if as a society we began to focus more on preventing chronic disease rather than treating them after onset? This is the question that has driven my interest in public health. My first true introduction to public health came in an Epidemiology class I took my junior year at Portland State University. It became apparent to me that chronic diseases are now our worlds biggest burden, particularly cardiovascular disease and cancer, and that the health of our world against these diseases begins with prevention. I began my undergraduate career as a Viticulture and Enology major. I loved the idea of spending my days in a vineyard, nurturing grapes to maturity and then creating a final product that was entirely different from its humble beginning. …show more content…
Public health should influence the direction of healthcare and medicine. It is because of this belief I’m passionate about attending a graduate program that emphasizes not only the importance of quantitative methodology, but also the importance of understanding the biology and etiology of disease. Through pursuing my XXXXXX I plan to study the dietary and nutritional determinants of chronic disease prevention. I hope to gain a thorough understanding of chronic diseases as well as the training, skills, and tools required to be successful in asking questions, analyzing problems and researching various solutions. This, in turn, will allow me to contribute to identifying new diagnostic and prognostic indicators for disease, mediators of disease processes, and clinical and population-level …show more content…
I was able to gain insight into how population based research is performed as well as the ways health disparities, social and economic status, and malnutrition contribute to the health of low-income and homeless individuals. As an interviewer I played an integral role in helping CCC develop programs to improve the population health of these individuals and help assist the company in creating an integrated model of care. After the initial surveys were completed, I had the opportunity to continue my training in data management, statistical analysis, and interpretation of results. I worked on cleaning data and analyzing the results of the survey. I authored a report on the research findings with Dr. Lynne Messer to help the agency plan future projects and research. This experience has contributed to my desire to better understand the modifiable lifestyle factors that contribute to the cause of disease, disease distribution, and the measures we can take for control and
What about taking matters into our own hands? Desiderius Erasmus, a 15th century catholic priest and philosopher, said: "Prevention is better than cure". What can WE do to avoid health issues or minimize their impact on our well-being? The purpose of this website is answering the above question. There is a myriad of ways to do just that. And a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single
Seven in ten deaths in the United States, are attributable to chronic disease (“Leading Causes” 1). These diseases are not on account of bacteria or viruses, which could be treated with an appropriate prescription or vaccine. Chronic conditions are developed through unhealthy lifestyles and behaviors such as a lack of exercise, poor nutrition, poor sleeping habits, and substance use (e.g. tobacco). Consequently, seven in ten of every death can be prevented with changes in lifestyle. The CDC states that these conditions, “are among the most common, costly, and preventable of all health problems” (“Chronic Disease” 1). Although these conditions have clear and definite causes (knowing the exact reason and “cure” for them), they are becoming more prevalent rather than domesticated. According to Wu and Green, “Between 2000 and 2030 the number of Americans with chronic conditions will increase by 37 percent, an increase of 46 million people” (1). This increase comes with an increase in health care costs: the CDC reported that the U.S. spent three trillion dollars on health care in 2014 (“Health Expenditures” 1). 86% of these costs was associated with these conditions (“Prevention” 1). Despite there being a range of causes of why patients make these choices, one issue that may be less familiar to others is the lack of knowledge in preventative medicine among health care professionals. Current training standards are not adequately educating or equipping health care professionals
Over the past few decades, deficiencies of essential nutrients have drastically diminished, many infectious diseases have been reduced, and most of the U.S. population can now foresee a long and productive life. In the meantime, rates of chronic diseases hefty portion of which are identified with poor quality diet and physical activity has increased. About half of all American grown-up have one or more preventable, diet-related chronic diseases including cardiovascular disease or type 2 diabetes, and overweight and obesity.
At a young age, I grew an interest for Epidemiology. Coming from a family with a history of obesity and diabetes, I have always been curious and felt the need to understand the cause of global diseases and their burden on society. Throughout my life, I lived in fear that those closest to me would soon pass. Given the opportunity to wake up every day healthy, I feel like it is my responsibility to cure the world of diseases, such as HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis, and obesity. Unaware of what needed to be done to do so, I decided to join the USC Science Technology And Research Program at my high school to get an insight of the science world.
Since I was a child, I have been fascinated by the mechanism of life. The human body is a remarkable masterpiece of evolutionary development, with many diverse systems producing an organism that we can only dream to emulate in a lab; My love of science is just one of my reasons for choosing Public Health. I enjoy a challenge, particularly towards a specific rewarding objective and although public health is a very demanding career, it can be enormously gratifying, highlighted by the many epidemiologists I have spoken to during my experience and on a personal level. I Graduate from Miami Dade College in 2007 with an Associate AA in pre-nursing, then proceed to get another associate from Miami Dade College in 2010 with an AS in Medical Technology passing the board for technologists the same year.
One of the most useful outcomes of studying epidemiology is learning how to evaluate critically the scientific literature (Aschengrau & Seage, 2008). Critical assessment of this literature is an important skill for public health professionals because the findings of epidemiologic research inform so many activities (Aschengrau & Seage, 2008). Munnoch et al. (2008) done epidemiological studies on S.Saintpaul infection occurred in Australia during October 2006 and found that cantaloupe production and processing practices pose a potential public health threat requiring regulatory and community education interventions. Based on main journal article written upon this subject, this article will analyse how epidemiological research has helped us
I am currently pursuing a Bachelor’s of Science in Environmental Health Science. If the opportunity arises, I would apply to work for the United States Public Health Services Commission Corps as an Environmental Health Officer. Barring that, I would purse a Masters in Public Health to allow me to become an Epidemiologist. Prior to earning any degree, I will be interning at the Indian Health Services in South Dakota this semester.
AC, is a painful and debilitating condition affecting 2% - 10% of the population (Neviaser and Hannafin, 2010: Cadogan and Mohammed, 2016). Statistical data indicates a higher prevalence in women (59% - 70%), a mean onset age of 50 - 60 years (Cadogan and Mohammed, 2016). The average condition duration presents for 30.1 months but ranges from 1 - 3.5 years (Hand et al, 2008) placing a considerable burden upon individuals and health care services. The non-dominant arm is slightly more affected then the dominant arm (Hand, Clipsham, Rees and Carr, 2008: Levine, Kashyap, Bak, Ahmad, Blaine, and Bigliani, 2007) and the risk of recurrence on the contralateral side within 5 years of the first occurrence is 6%–17%, recurrence in the
My interest in Public Health materialized after working as an EMT in Manhattan. I have grown accustomed to individual-centric care, as my immediate responsibility must be to my single patient. After just a single summer in a high call volume setting, during which I treated and transported many hundreds of patients, I began to notice patterns of illness. Most notably, I was shocked by the degree to which socioeconomic standing affected the treatment of chronic illness and mental health. When an individual has to rely on emergency services to handle an asthma attack or a psychiatric incident, it represents a failure of the health care system.
I am interested in science that preserves and enhances the community's quality of life through policy reform, technology innovation, research and advocacy. I have recently graduated from Agnes Scott College with a bachelor's degree in Public Health and I am looking forward to a career that works to eliminate health disparities by transforming policy and innovating technology to strategically create social environments where physical and economic conditions allow for enhanced quality of life. My undergraduate curriculum was focused around quantitative research methods, that provided me with a base in utilizing various techniques to measure a population's health, selecting public health measures relevant to the situation, understanding how health data or research can impact policy, collecting data, interpreting as wells analyzing data, determining social determinates of health, and evaluating: burden of disease, epidemiological profile, incidence levels, and prevalence levels within a population. Overall the program prepared me to acknowledge the social and cultural units that configure the world in which I live through inquisitive interaction with social phenomena. I feel that my academic background has made me skilled with the social issues of my time in a way that allows me to not only understand but shape the world in which I live, grow, work,
This video also mentioned that the first signs of the epidemic were not prevalent all over the United States; rather, they were only prevalent in big cities where the gay-lifestyle was prominent, which suggests that the culture of the homosexual community in the early 1980s was related to the risk of AIDS
To solve this mysterious epidemic, the epidemiologists had to use the scientific method. Scientific method is a way to problem solve. The epidemiologists identified the problem, and then, they researched more information to get a good understanding. They developed a hypothesis that the disease was being spread through the air. To learn more about the agent causing Legionnaires’ disease they conducted experiments and were able to identify the agent, and they also identified many of its characteristics. Over the course of doing studies and research, they modified their hypothesis, and threw away some such as the spread of the disease through food and drink. They went back and forth between research, experiment, and patterns to develop their hypothesis.
We have learned in previous weeks how epidemiology is used in determining the diagnosis, prognosis, and clinical treatment of disease. We have learned that different diagnostic tools and tests are used to accurately diagnose a disease because not all tests provide 100% accuracy (Fletcher, Fletcher, & Fletcher, 2014). The goal of epidemiology is to identify the occurrence of diseases to prevent this from spreading. CDC (2012) has identified the different roles or functions of epidemiology in order to achieve its goal and these roles are: "public health surveillance, field investigation, analytic studies, evaluation, linkages, and policy development" (para. 1). Field investigation is about the investigation after receiving a surveillance
Epidemiology is the field of amazement. It is my utmost desire to pursue my Ph.D. in Epidemiology. What if people lived a healthier life, practice preventive medicine, have precautions against the disease or illness. In my life, I always wanted to help the people, in fact, I want to help a large number of people, emphasizing the prevention and primary care rather than curative care, in my opinion, it is more challenging. During my undergraduate course in M.B.B.S (Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery) I Was in contact with many types of patients.
The purpose of this research paper it to deliver a basic understanding of epidemiology and epidemiologic investigations. One essential service of public health is the ability to diagnose and investigate identified health hazards in their communities. Epidemiology is an area of study used to identify those health hazards. Founded by John Snow in 1854, the term epidemiology is defined as the study of distribution and determinants of health, disease, or injury among human populations. Epidemiologic investigations are used to identify the problem of an outbreak and collect necessary data to formulate and test hypotheses. All collected information is scrutinized for additional facts/data to determine what the cause of illness is. Once the cause of illness is identified, control measures can be implemented to prevent future illnesses. Additional information delivered throughout this paper will include a further look at the 10 step approach used in investigations, common hindrances to avoid, ethical issues, America’s perspective, and the burden of disease. This information will provide readers with a universal understanding of epidemiology and the purpose of epidemiologic investigations.