Q&A with Shraddha 🏫

Welcome to the Invite Health newsletter. These newsletters will contain a roundup of student opportunities related to Canadian healthcare, including jobs, organizations, events, and more! We also highlight and interview students making an impact in Canadian healthcare. 💌

This week, meet Shraddha! 📬

In this newsletter, I reached out to Shraddha, to ask about her experience this summer working as a Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Scholarship in India. Read through our discussion here, to learn about the impactful work that she did!

Q&A with Shraddha, Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Scholar at The George Institute for Global Health (TGI), India 📌

First off, tell us about yourself! What inspired you to enter your current field of study, where do you go to school, and what are your aspirations? What else do you like to do outside of studying? 

Hi, friends! My name is Shraddha, and my pronouns are she/her. I graduated from McMaster University’s Health Sciences program in April of this year. I am now a first-year Master of Public Health (MPH) student in Social and Behavioural Health Sciences (Health Promotion) in the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto. 

As a racialized woman and first-generation immigrant, I have learned both firsthand and from others that human wellbeing is shaped deeply by the systems in which we exist. Moreover, many are hindered from accessing the programs, policies and services intended to promote health. So, although I adore SO much about my program, its emphases on the social determinants of health, social justice, mixed methods research, and community participation first drew me in. 

Moving forward, I hope to help facilitate and document social participation and intersectoral collaboration, with a focus on the wellbeing of marginalized communities and people who have been ‘othered’. I also hope to somehow support climate and environmental work.

In addition to school, I am involved in a few projects broadly focused on public health and health equity. For rest and rejuvenation, I love to read, write prose pieces centered on well-being, cook, play with the beautiful dog in my life, and exist among the trees

What experience are you going to highlight in this newsletter?

I will be sharing my experience surrounding the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Scholarship in Strengthening Health and Social Systems (QES). As part of the QES, I traveled to and stayed in India for a little over 90 days during Summer 2022. There, I interned at the Health Equity Action Lab in The George Institute for Global Health (TGI) India. The QES, valued at $6000 CAD and jointly funded by the McMaster Health Forum and Queen Elizabeth Scholars, helped cover a large portion of the costs of travel, accommodation, and daily living associated with my experience.

The Health Equity Action Lab at TGI India carries out a vast range of health equity-related activities. Through my role as a Queen Elizabeth Scholar and Intern, I was involved in four main projects.

1. I was invited to co-represent TGI India on the Secretariat of SPHERE, a global consortium documenting, implementing, and drawing lessons from social participation for health efforts in various countries. 

2. I helped co-create a historical record of some of the social participation activities in India.

3. I have been part of a team conducting a scoping review intended to inform the development of equitable health policies. 

4. I also participated in and facilitated capacity strengthening activities. For example, I partnered with my fellow QEScholar from McMaster University and one of our colleagues at TGI India to design and facilitate a workshop on Covidence, a review management software. 

To learn more about some of these topics, you can access the webpages linked below!

1. Health equity (YouTube video; 1 minute 12 seconds) 

2. Project website: Social Participation for Health: Engagement, Research, Empowerment (SPHERE) - Visit the ‘Resources’ tab to learn more about social participation for health and UHC! 

3. Project page: Community Action for Health in India (CAHI): from the National Rural Health Mission to Universal Health Coverage

4. Project page: Community Action for Health: Evidence from India 

5. What is a Scoping Review? 

I also delve into much more detail about our projects in this YouTube video! This is the recording of a presentation I delivered at the McMaster Health Forum in November 2022. Here, I detail my QES experience, projects, some of my learnings, as well as practical travel guidance. Other McMaster QEScholar presentations have also been uploaded to this channel—I would highly recommend viewing them to learn more about the QES and the various host countries/organizations McMaster’s QEScholars have interned in!

How did you come across this opportunity?

In 2019, during my first year of undergrad, I conversed with one of my instructors about my interests in policy, equity, and health promotion. They were familiar with the Queen Elizabeth Scholars program hosted through McMaster Health Forum, and encouraged me to apply. I will never be able to thank them enough for guiding me towards an experience that truly changed my life forever, as cliché as that may sound!

I was privileged to learn in a small class, where I found it relatively easy to open up about my hopes and have one-on-one conversations with the facilitator. Recognizing that this isn’t always feasible, I want to share some of the other avenues I have found extremely supportive. It may help to follow organizations such as Public Health Insight and PH SPOT (and, of course, Invite Health!), which regularly share about public health work and opportunities. If you are a student, conversing with upper-year peers or Teaching Assistants (TAs) may also be a possibility. One of my most cherished pastimes is attending virtual or in-person dialogues regarding health, social justice, politics, and everything in between! There are so many wonderful organizations, like the Learning Network, that host free, publicly open events. These events offer space for perspective-taking, introspection, and inspiration, alongside an opportunity to learn about work happening in the field. If there is a topic you hope to learn about or pursue professionally, an online talk or seminar is one possible avenue

What were some of the most notable highlights that you had from the experience? 

First and foremost, the rich, stimulating, and inspiring projects I had the privilege of supporting! While I have so much more learning to do, these experiences have helped me improve my understanding and better appreciate the nuances of community participation, policy, and health equity. Secondly, the Research and Development seminars held weekly at TGI India. In these sessions, TGI staff present their incredible projects. In hearing from them, I learned more about pressing public health topics, including (but not limited to) the links between racism and health, hypertension, women’s health, and the health of urban waste pickers. This QES experience was also an incredibly personal one. It marked my first trip back to India—my first home—since 2008! I got to strengthen my bonds with loved ones, hone my Hindi, learn more about colonialism in India, and reflect deeply on my identity as a first-generation immigrant. Moreover, I had the privilege of experiencing multiple regions within India—Delhi, Odisha, West Bengal, Goa, Gujarat, and Karnataka! Cumulatively, all these experiences made this summer so, so special. My heart feels so full just writing about them.

Did this experience lead you to pursue any other related opportunities? 

I fell in love with the projects I had been involved in at TGI India. As such, when my QES internship came to a close, I didn’t quite feel ready to move on from the work. I shared this with my supervisor, who generously invited me to continue supporting SPHERE. I have since been involved as a remote, part-time consultant.

Where can students go if they want to learn more about this program?

To learn more about the QES, you can visit the QES website! You are also welcome to message me on LinkedIn about really anything—I’ll try to offer what support I can or help connect you with people or resources that you may find more helpful!

Although the application deadline for the last QES program iteration at McMaster has passed, you can apply to the Global Skills Opportunity (GSO) during the 2023-2024 academic year. The GSO is open to all undergraduate students at McMaster who meet the eligibility criteria, though it targets those for whom international experiences have been less accessible. You can learn more about your eligibility here.

If you are not at McMaster, your university may also be offering the QES and/or GSO

Is there anything else that you would like to add for Invite Health readers?

In healthcare, so much of the work we do is deeply linked with social justice. It is also incredibly personal. Over the last few years, my experiences have reinforced the need for ongoing reflection as a student or professional in the field. This includes reflection on my social positionality, the welcoming of feedback on interventions or research I am involved with, my interactions with the various communities I work with, and so much more! With reflection, we can embrace the strengths of our approaches and address what may need changing.

Although reflective practice is important in any and all contexts, my QES experience especially highlighted the need for reflective healthcare practice. I was navigating a place different from the one I was most familiar with, and considering the relationship between my self and that place.

About Invite Health 💌

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