Name: Chidinma (Chichi) Nwankwo
Graduation Year: 2022
Additional or Previous Degrees: B.S in Psychology with minors in Cognitive Neuroscience and Ethics
Briefly describe your current role as a public health practitioner: As a research analyst, I get the opportunity to conduct work impacting the health and well-being of children, youth, and families through a variety of means. My current role allows me to expand on my experience within MCH as my projects involve projects focused on teen pregnancy prevention efforts, family planning, early childhood home visiting, and sexual health.
Why did you choose GW's Milken Institute School of Public Health for your public health education? I chose GW because it was the only program I applied to that had an MCH focused program. I also really enjoyed the flexibility of the program, as I knew I'd like to work while attaining my graduate degree. The fact that majority of the courses were held in the evening helped solidify my desire to attend as this opened up several other opportunities for me in terms of what would help maximize my graduate experience.
What skills from your public health degree do you apply in your work today? I apply various skills from my public health degree today primarily related to research. For example, a good portion of my work as a research analyst consist of data analysis tasks, writing publications, memos, and briefs, conducting literature reviews, evidence reviews, and more.
Tell us about your CE experience: For my CE, I continued my work with the Center for Community Resilience at GWU and conducted a systematic review. My CE was focused on exploring the relationship between neighborhood social cohesion and its protective effects on maternal and child health outcomes. I was able to merge my desire to explore the impact community has on maternal and child health populations.
Tell us about your Practicum experience: I did my practicum with the Center for Community Resilience at GWU. My primary goal was to explore factors that impact immigrant communities. I conducted a thematic analysis on qualitative data via Nvivo, designed a causal loop diagram exploring the relationship between social cohesion and immigrant populations, and created a supplemental literature review report to accompany causal loop diagram. Through this experience I obtained my first in depth experience working with NVivo, and designing causal loop diagrams.
What advice would you give to the next generation of public health practitioners? Be strategic about the opportunities you follow, and think openly about them. You can market almost anything you do as a worthwhile experience! Do not belittle your accomplishments, and ensure you advocate for your wants and needs!