Dr. Semaan Reflection

Dr. Semaan Reflection Dr. Semaan works in the STD division at the CDC and she has been there for 21 years. Today, she came to talk to us about safer injection sites (SIFs). She began her presentation by talking about her experience with public health. Her path into public health was straightforward. First, she obtained a Bachelor’s in biology and chemistry. Then, she obtained a Master’s in biology and biostatistics and realized that there is more to public health than just science/math. Thus, she went on to obtain a PhD in health policy and management. When she asked us to introduce ourselves, she wanted us to state what drew us into public health and what we hope to contribute to public health. It was nice to hear all the different perspectives that are in our public health class.
Dr. Semaan then began discussing SIFs. She pointed out that the Kass framework was utilized for the paper in order to cover different aspects of the program (e.g., problem, effectiveness). I did not know there were different frameworks in discussing public health and so, I was glad to have obtained that knowledge from Dr. Semaan. Dr. Semaan continued the discussion on SIFs by indicating that public health issues are complex and involve various sectors (e.g., politics, science, economy); this
Semaan’s presentation topic has nothing to do with my White Paper topic, I was able to draw a few parallels. Public health issues are complex and fracking is not an exception. Fracking involves various aspects like the environment, people, economy, and government. Like SIFs, the problem of fracking on human health is not easy to tackle because of these different aspects. Thus, I need to keep working on a solution that would not cause too much opposition or else, my solution would not get very far like SIFs in the United States. I need to think about costs and benefits, especially since many Americans do not like their tax money going into solutions/programs that do not benefit