healthcare management

Danielle Chaplick Named 2024 Convocation Student Speaker

The experienced healthcare consultant studied health communications and promotion while a part-time student at the School of Public Health.

MPH candidate Danielle Chaplick has been selected as the student speaker for the 2024 School of Public Health Convocation on May 18.

Over the past 15 years, Chaplick has held a variety of leadership roles in the healthcare industry, ranging from state government to consulting. She began the Master of Public Health program at SPH in 2020 while working as a vice president at one of the world’s largest insurance brokerage firms. As the leader of the agency’s New England public sector business segment, she helped cities, towns, and school districts obtain and administer sustainable health and welfare programs. Since enrolling at SPH, Chaplick, a part-time student, has gone on to hold two other roles in the industry also focused on expanding benefits programs for public sector employees and developing strategies to improve long-term member outcomes.

Chaplick, who holds a bachelor’s in political science and government from Northeastern University, originally chose to pursue coursework in healthcare management at SPH and took several of the certificate’s core courses. However, while she appreciated that her healthcare management courses broadened her perspective on the healthcare field and allowed her to enhance her existing skillset, she says she ultimately decided to pursue something new and enrolled in the health communication and promotion certificate instead. This allowed her to explore her personal passion for promoting children’s health, she says.

During her practicum, for example, Chaplick conducted focus groups to better understand the increasing use of e-cigarettes among teens on behalf of the Massachusetts Health Council, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that advocates for programs and policies that support a culture of health in the Commonwealth. Using the information she gained from the focus groups, Chaplick then came up with communications strategies for educating both students and parents on the long-term health effects of vaping.

Chaplick also partnered with the Massachusetts Health Council on her Integrative Learning Experience, gauging the prevalence of youth gambling, an emerging public health concern in the state after sports betting was legalized in Massachusetts in 2022. While people under 21 are still prohibited from participating, in a similar vein to underage drinking, children have found ways to circumvent these restrictions, says Chaplick, and with grave consequences—among all addictions, gambling has the highest suicide rate.

“I interviewed a number of children and parents, and it is shocking to see that children as young as age 9 or 10 are so well-versed in the issue,” says Chaplick. “We really have to think, going forward, about what we are teaching kids, what they are exposed to, and how we are going to protect their health and safety.”

Chaplick spoke with SPH about her background in healthcare, her experience as a student, and her plans for her convocation remarks.

What inspired you to pursue an education in public health while working full-time?

I have said since I was quite young, a teenager, that I really want to change healthcare, and over the past 15 years, I have been fortunate to work in government-related roles where I have been able to engage with a lot of a broad-based constituencies on procuring health and welfare programs. I am a consultant, so I work with all different types of employers, both public and private, on the procurement and administration of their benefit programs. I have been able to see the whole healthcare system from many different vantage points, and I have seen the need for more innovation and more thought leadership. All of these opportunities inspired me to want to make a difference in healthcare, and that is what led me to Boston University and the MPH program.

Could you talk about what drew you to the healthcare field growing up? What interests you so much about healthcare?

When I was a young teenager, I was very politically active. I was a young community organizer on a political campaign when I was in high school, a presidential campaign at the time, and through college I continued to be engaged in policy and politics. I was very fortunate to be mentored by leaders on both sides of the aisle, both Democrats and Republicans; I cannot emphasize how grateful I am for those experiences because it led me to be able to understand different perspectives. It is why I am so passionate about healthcare, because most of the people who mentored me on different sides of the aisle were working on very meaningful healthcare policy. What I hope to bring to the world is to be able to help people collaborate, to be able to help people think differently, because I think that is the pathway to change.

How have your studies supported your professional aspirations?

Some of the projects that I have worked on in the classroom—a project with a major healthcare system on evaluating home infusion programs and other programs that focused on value-based care and patient engagement, for example—have most certainly benefited me professionally. My coursework has also enabled me to draw on empirical evidence to understand different types of communication strategies. This is important because, at the end of the day, we are all in this together and we all need to understand these challenges, so being able to communicate with different types of stakeholders and really put it all in perspective has all been extremely valuable.

Did you have a favorite course or professor while you were at SPH?

That is a tough one; I have had some amazing professors. I would say Chris Louis because we met very early on when I was still trying to adjust to the rigor of this program. I had him for the healthcare leadership prerequisite class and he was my academic advisor. He has certainly been a key mentor of mine and I appreciate his support more than he knows.

What is something you hope to share with your classmates in your convocation speech?

The title of the speech is called “Turning Healthcare Upside Down.” I want to talk about my experience over the last 15-plus years and from the academic lens of what I think it means to change healthcare, and hopefully impart some valuable personal wisdom that I have learned along the way, such as the importance of staying on your path, understanding your intentions, and being able to persevere. If there is one thing that I am hoping to leave my classmates with is that there are always inconvenient truths in our field, and we have to be ready to speak up and speak out, especially when it is difficult and it is risky because that is what it is going to take to change healthcare.

If there was one public health challenge that you could wave a magic wand and change overnight, what would that be and why?

That everyone has affordable healthcare, because at the end of the day, no matter what angle you are working toward in the system, the one common denominator we all have is that at some point we are the patient.