In this episode, meet the student voices behind From the Front Row and learn a little about their diverse backgrounds and common interest in public health.

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Alexis Clark:

Hello, everyone. Welcome back to From the Front Row, brought to you by the University of Iowa College of Public Health. My name is Alexis Clark. And if this is your first time with us, welcome. We’re a student run podcast that talks about major issues in public health and how they are relevant to anyone both in and outside of the field of public health. Today, we’re going to use this episode to learn a little bit more about our From the Front Row team this year.

Alexis Clark:

Producing a weekly podcast is absolutely a team effort and we are so excited to get to produce great content for you for this 2021-2022 academic for our dedicated listeners. To begin, I’m going to let each of the students introduce themselves, what program track they’re in, and how long they’ve been involved with the podcast. Emma, would you like to start us off?

Emma Meador:

Yes. Thank you. So my name is Emma Meador. I am a second year undergrad to grad MPH candidate in epidemiology. And this is my third year working with the podcast.

Logan Schmidt:

And I’m Logan Schmidt. I am a first year master of health administration student, and this is my first year on the podcast.

Alex Murra:

And I’m Alex Murra. So I am a second year MPH student in epidemiology. And this is my second year on the podcast.

Anya Morozov:

I’m Anya. I’m a first year student in epidemiology in the master of public health program. And this is my first year on the podcast.

Ben Sindt:

Hi, I’m Ben. I’m a first year MPH student in environmental and occupational health program. And this is my first year on the podcast.

Eric Ramos:

Hello, my name’s Eric Ramos. I’m a first year master of health administration student. And I’m also a first year on the podcast.

Radha Velamuri:

I’m Radha Velamuri, and I’m a first year master of public health student in the epidemiology department. I’m also in the undergrad to grad program. This is my first year with the podcast and my first podcast actually. And I’m very excited to work with the podcast crew.

Lexi Fahrion:

Hi, everyone. My name is Lexi Fahrion. I am a second year master’s student in community and behavioral health here at the College of Public Health. And this is my second year being involved with From the Front Row.

Alexis Clark:

So as you can see, we have a very diverse team this year, and then we’re so excited to be doing the podcast this year. So the question for the whole table here, what have you learned about yourself and public health since beginning your time here at the University of Iowa College of Public Health?

Emma Meador:

That is a good question. I would say that I’ve learned public health is constantly changing and growing. Just when we think we might know everything about a certain subject, there’s a bunch of new information and or guidance being updated. I’ve really just learned what an exciting and growing field this is. I was unaware when I came into the field. And then in terms of myself, I’ve definitely learned the importance of collaboration and working with others and making sure that everyone’s voice can be heard.

Logan Schmidt:

What I’ve learned about myself, the healthcare sector has done a fine job with bringing the extrovert out of me. Like Emma said, our colleagues are great resources and collaboration is key in this industry. And then in terms of public health, there are so many opportunities for innovation and part of which is a relationship between public health and medical care to improve overall population health.

Alex Murra:

Yeah. I feel like I have a lot of things since coming to the College of Public Health. For myself personally, I think I have my own personal limits of what I can and cannot do. And I think even that extends to public health in general, because I feel like we can, we want to make all these changes. And sometimes those things really aren’t realistic, unfortunately. So that’s one of the things I’ve learned.

Anya Morozov:

Yeah. Mine is kind of related to that. So since coming to the College of Public Health, I’ve learned a lot about how, just how broad public health and even just epidemiology is, you have infectious disease, chronic disease, injury, social epidemiology. And yeah, you ultimately can’t do everything. So I’m definitely learning a lot every day and learning to be okay with the uncertainty of not knowing exactly where I fit in all of it, but just taking the opportunity to continue to learn about this very exciting and broad field.

Ben Sindt:

I’ve learned a lot about myself this past year. This relates a little bit to before when I started at Iowa. But I’ve lost about 120 pounds this year. And so it just taught myself that daunting tasks are obtainable and how this relates to public health is there’s a lot of daunting tasks out there and you just got to be able to collaborate and work with people. And most things are achievable if you really want them hard enough and make a better difference for everyone and everything.

Eric Ramos:

For me, specifically, being in the health administration program, understanding more of the administrative side, it’s definitely been an eye opener, just understanding just the sheer complexity of the system and how it’s really set up to really provide barriers for people to have access to care.

Eric Ramos:

So for me, it’s really just unlocked a [inaudible 00:05:22] passion for understanding the intricacies of the US healthcare system to really be able to use public health in order to achieve those population health efforts in order to decrease health disparities. So for me, it’s all about just really understanding the complexities in order to break those down for people who need access to care.

Radha Velamuri:

Along those lines, I’ve learned a lot about myself. Everyone’s been, I’m kind of echoing what everyone else has been saying, but I’ve learned a lot about myself in this past year. And I’ve learned a lot about public health through the eyes of the pandemic. I’ve got a background in basic sciences. So Anya, public health is a whole new world to me. My education so far has been about creating a bridge between research, which is basically my whole personality, the bedside and the whole world out there. So I’m really grateful for my education so far at the University of Iowa College of Public Health to really tie all those together.

Lexi Fahrion:

Something I’ve learned about since the beginning of my time here at the University of Iowa, is that I have a ton of interests. And I think a lot of the time college students are really encouraged to narrow down their interests into one field or one specific area. And I don’t think you have to do that. It’s so common for people to work and thrive in so many different sectors now throughout their careers that I think you can have a wide variety of interests and find something that really you’re passionate about.

Lexi Fahrion:

So that’s something I’ve learned about myself. Something I’ve learned about public health since the beginning of my time here is that public health is truly in every single thing that we do, from the roads we drive on to the office chairs that we sit in to the way that we interact with social media. It’s all encompassing and I think that everyone should be at least partially educated in it.

Alexis Clark:

That’s excellent. And I think the College of Public Health is so broad and just seeing everyone’s answer even come together. To know that we’re all working towards something so much greater than all of us is just speaking volumes to what we’re trying to do here at the College of Public Health and in general in the workforce. So some of you have been on the podcast for three years and some are just now starting, but what’s your favorite aspect of the podcast or what do you hope to gain from the podcast during this year?

Emma Meador:

So my favorite aspect of the podcast is definitely just getting to learn about new fields of public health. As an epi student, my classes are primarily biostatistics and pretty much biostatistics. So it’s been so awesome just being able to learn about policy and environmental health and all these different aspects of public health that I wouldn’t get to hear about otherwise.

Logan Schmidt:

I’ll go alongside with Emma, what Emma said again. Just broadening my horizon with what public health actually means. I have a background of biology and chemistry in my undergrad. And looking into MHA programs, this podcast was one that I looked to to be more informed of what public health is in general and insights into fellowships and internships of first and second year students.

Alex Murra:

Yeah I definitely have to echo what both Emma and Logan have said. I think that one of the things I love about this podcast is that it also brings students from different departments. And we all come in with our individual passions and dreams and aspirations and all those things. So I like the fact that I get to learn a lot about things that I maybe never considered before. And then also having the opportunity to talk to experts who are also in this field is really exciting and I love it a lot.

Anya Morozov:

Yeah. Kind of along the same lines, I feel like there really is a lot of wisdom to be gained from listening to the different episodes because you get the perspectives of so many different students and experts. I was actually an avid listener before I joined the College of Public Health. And I found it just really informative. It had a lot of advice and perspective that I still take with me.

Ben Sindt:

I really enjoy how the conversations between [inaudible 00:09:43] and professionals are able to be held at such a leveled playing field. It makes the conversations more attainable for people outside of the organizations who are without knowledge, so.

Eric Ramos:

I think my favorite aspect for the podcast is really the ability to have a platform to be able to discuss such serious and complex issues facing the population. Being able to be a part of that dialogue is really important. [inaudible 00:10:03] most recent episode, just talking about intimate relationship violence, or really just discussing and breaking down those healthcare disparities. I think it’s very important to have those conversation and to be able to distribute to a platform that’s really accessible. So I think that’s why the podcast is really important.

Lexi Fahrion:

My favorite aspect of From the Front Row is the exposure that it gives me to people in all different fields of public health. Like I mentioned earlier, I have so many different interests. So the opportunity to really get to talk to people from all different arenas is super exciting and informative.

Radha Velamuri:

I, for one, love a good story, and there’s so much value in simply listening to people talk and share their stories, whether it be a narrative or just a small clip snippet of their life that they feel has really made them who they are. And there’s so much value that one can gain just from listening to it. And as Alex said, we all come from such different backgrounds and whether someone is a prospective student or a healthcare professional, or an average Joe, I think anyone can gain anything such… I think anyone can gain just a lot of value from listening to a podcast with such a broad platform.

Alexis Clark:

Yeah. And I totally agree with that. And I think it says something because as not all the time does the podcast host know a whole lot about that specific issue. So the fact that as students, we can be learning just alongside listeners while it’s going on, it really is a neat experience that I don’t think very many public health programs offer. Everyone is so bogged down and we’re busy, but let’s take a moment and reflect about what is something you are grateful for. Emma, do you want to start us off?

Emma Meador:

Yeah. Thank you. So something I’m grateful for right now would have to be within the last day or so children five through 11 can now get the vaccine. And that gives me a lot of hope that things can just kind of return more to normalcy. Especially because this will be my last year of college and I’m just excited to be able to maybe have a little bit of a normal senior year.

Logan Schmidt:

I’m looking forward to normalcy as well. I’m going to talk about our program as MHA students. And I’m really thankful for the humble nature of our program. I know there’s other programs out there that kind of foster a more competitive and produce kind of students that might think they know it all.

Logan Schmidt:

But on a daily basis, our classes are so intriguing and in depth that the ideas that come out of it are just humbling over and over again. So we have great faculty and our peers, my peers and my cohort, Eric is one of my cohort peers and the idea of exploration and constant questioning is great. It makes it for a fun learning environment for sure.

Alex Murra:

And so for me, I think I got two things that I’m really grateful for right now. One is the fact that the great British Bake Off is currently on Netflix. Because that is the way that I relax. I, team Giuseppe all the way. But the other thing, and I guess a most serious thing that I’m grateful for actually is similar to Emma and Logan. And that’s just the fact that I do get to study these things every day. With week 11, we are bogged down, I’m tired. And sometimes it’s easy to just be, “Man, I really don’t want to go to class today” or something like that. But just to be able to study these things, to have the privilege to do so as well at a good school is something that I am really grateful for.

Anya Morozov:

Yeah. I would just echo what Alex is saying with just being able to have these opportunities, even though it is stressful, it’s still just amazing and something to really be grateful for. More specifically, I’m really grateful to be part of this podcast now. This was actually a goal of mine coming into the University of Iowa College of Public Health was to be on the podcast. So to have that dream kind of come true now is really awesome.

Ben Sindt:

Iowa City’s actually my hometown and I have a little brother. He was born a week before I moved to Iowa State, six years ago. And it’s just great to be back in town now and actually get to spend time with him and actually get to see him grow up and I got to spend Halloween with him. And he showed me his Wreck It Ralph costume. So it’s a good little de-stressor to hang out with a six year old best friend.

Eric Ramos:

I think kind of just echoing just kind of everybody else is saying, just I’m just really grateful to be here. To be able to experience the education I’m experiencing. Just knowing that my parents didn’t get a bachelor’s degree, didn’t have a chance to go to college. So even a bachelor’s degree, I don’t think they ever imagined that. Or even now a master’s, not even I think I would ever get a master’s. But here I am. So just being able to experience education, being able to absorb it all.

Eric Ramos:

Yes, it’s stressful. There’s those days when just feel like you’re drowning in everything. This week with exams and case competitions. But at the end of the day, I always find myself looking back and just really say, “Wow, I was really stressed about that, but I made it and it was a really great experience.” So just, I think the education, just the opportunity to even be here for me is something I’m really grateful for.

Lexi Fahrion:

And I think what I’m most grateful for right now, just my friends and family. I have a great support system through the pandemic and through grad school, that’s really gotten me through so very glad to have the friends that I do around me.

Radha Velamuri:

Well, I could also echo everyone else and say how grateful I am for my education. But I feel like that’s granted because we’re all so, we’re all really grateful for that. So put a little spin on things. I’m really grateful for the milk tea I had this morning. It was lovely. And it’s, I mean, it’s self-care.

Radha Velamuri:

I feel like we’ve all really learned a lot about ourselves and how to take care of ourselves over the past year or 20 months of non-normalcy. So yeah, I’m grateful that I took the time for myself and got myself a milk tea, bubble tea, actually. Very nice. And that’s, in addition to all the great things that are going on at school and with the great people around me.

Alexis Clark:

That’s excellent. Thank you all for those wonderful answers and thank you all to the consistent listeners we have for the podcast. We know that our reach is expanding much farther than just the College of Public Health. And we see that and we see you. So if you ever have any recommendations on things we could be doing better or episodes you’d like to see please email us at CPH-gradambassador@uiowa.edu. Thank you all so much.