Fellow Spotlight: Lauren Thomann

	Lauren Thomann, MPH ’20 Certificates: Program Management; Maternal and Child Health
	Fellowship Placement: Boston Public Health Commission Boston Healthy Start Initiative/Community Action Network Fellow January 2019-June 2019

Describe your Fellowship

Advocated for the Community Action Network (CAN) – within the Boston Healthy Start Initiative (BHSI) – which aims to reduce racial inequities in infant mortality and poor birth outcomes in Boston through community and policy level changes.  Amongst other things, I coordinated CAN and Preconception Health (PCH) Workgroup meetings, communicated with CAN members regularly, supported staff with meeting content and the implementation of CAN activities for efficient work production, and assisted in facilitating PCH focus groups/interviews and synthesizing the collected data. 

What has been the best part about working with BPHC? 

The Boston Public Health Commission was a great place for me to experience the nuances and challenges that come with working in the public health field, and I’m not sure I could’ve gotten such an authentic and humbling look had I been placed elsewhere.  I also really liked the individuals I got to work with, and met so many great community members.

What has surprised you most about working with BPHC? 

Working at the Boston Public Health Commission, I was most surprised with how passionate so many community members were about participating in the work being done with the CAN. Their willingness to participate with either no compensation or very little compensation was extremely rewarding and solidified how important the work we were doing was.

What has been the most meaningful thing you have learned at BPHC? 

Through my work with the PCH group within the CAN, I was able to take a deep dive into learning more about existing biases, social determinants of health, and racism, as well as actively participate in the creation of a preconception health intervention aimed at affecting the root causes of racial disparities in preconception health in Boston.

Anything else interesting about your summer? 

While finishing up my fellowship at the BPHC, I was also taking the summer course MC705: Safer Sex in the City.  I found the combination of the fellowship and this course so interesting because one focused largely on reproductive health and the other focused mostly on sexual health. It was great to learn about the similarities and differences of each.