Partnerships with Public Health Agencies and Community-Based Organizations

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On April 10, 2025, during a ceremony at the Milken Institute School of Public Health, Cindy deSa, Director of the Maternal and Child Health Bureau at the Virginia Department of Health, was recognized as the Department of Prevention and Community Health's outstanding community partner for 2024. Jerry Franz, Associate Director of the GW Center of Excellence in Maternal and Child Health, presented the award.

Here are some highlights of the excellent training experiences Cindy and her team have provided to our MPH students:

·      Ten students were awarded fellowships through an open, competitive applications process.

·      The Virginia Department of Health selected 10 of our school’s students: six were from the MCH Program, three from Epidemiology, and one from Global Health.

·      The students worked in two groups: one to do interviewing, and the other to do data analysis.  The state-wide needs analysis project began in January 2024 and concluded in December 2024, with our students involved throughout.

·      After the work was completed, Cindy worked with several of our students to prepare research abstracts, which were accepted for presentation at a recent March 2025 meeting of the Association of Maternal and Child Health Programs’ annual meeting, held this year in Washington, DC.

To top it all off, Cindy has extended the Virginia Department of Health’s relationship with our school into 2025, accepting more of our students for ongoing internship and Practicum opportunities.

For these reasons and more, the Department of Prevention and Community Health was pleased and proud to honor Cindy deSa with its Community Partner Award for 2025.

Cindy, congratulations on being recognized for your excellence as a community partner!