Tag: health education specialist

Winston Uses Career to Promote Public Health and Public Health Education

Riko Dwianto,

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A. Winston
Amanda Winston, an alumna of the UAMS Fay W. Boozman College of Public Health, is the education coordinator for the UAMS HBCU Med Track Program and its SUPER Project at both the University of Arkansas-Pine Bluff and Philander Smith University.

| Amanda Winston, MPH, is adamant about promoting the value of public health and a public health education, to the students she mentors.

Winston, who graduated from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) Fay W. Boozman College of Public Health in the spring of 2020, is the education coordinator for the UAMS HBCU Med Track Program and its SUPER Project at the University of Arkansas- Pine Bluff (UAPB) and Philander Smith University.

“The HBCU Med Track Program allows me to connect with students enrolled at historically Black colleges and universities and also assist them throughout the application process for any UAMS health program they’re interested in,” she said.

“I receive the opportunity to educate students on public health, the components of research and health disparities. My students also conduct public health research that focuses on a specific health disparity. I’m shaping undergraduate students into public health advocates.”

Winston, an alumna of UAPB,

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Ground-breaking research series on health benefits of the arts

Riko Dwianto,

WHO and the Jameel Arts & Health Lab have announced an upcoming Lancet Global Series on the health benefits of the arts.

The research collaboration, which kicked off on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), builds on a 2019 WHO report that presented evidence on the role of the arts in improving health and well-being. The report identifies the contribution that the arts may have in promoting good health and health equity, preventing illness, and treating acute and chronic conditions across the life-course. These activities can range from dance programs for people with Parkinson’s Disease, music therapy for pain management, and drama therapy to support social-emotional development, among many others.

“For too long we have seen Science and the Arts as separate endeavors,” said Sir Jeremy Farrar, Chief Scientist at the WHO. “But these silos were not always so. Through much of human history, the creative interface of different disciplines has been a catalyst for both innovation and healing. So I am delighted that this Jameel Arts & Health Lab – Lancet global series will show the scientific basis of the arts’ role in health with rigor, and help position artists and scientists as necessary partners towards

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Ontario introduces mental health education for students

Riko Dwianto,

The Ontario government announced Monday it will introduce a new mandatory education curriculum for elementary and high school students that aims to increase mental health literacy, in the wake of continued challenges that emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The new curriculum will be introduced for the next school year, and will involve updates to the career studies course that is required for Grade 10 students, as well as mandatory resources for teachers and students on mental health literacy for Grades 7 and 8.

The program was ushered in due to the advocacy of Progressive Conservative MPP Natalie Pierre, who put forward a motion in December around mental health literacy.

At the news conference Monday, she said that her 17-year-old son dying by suicide six years ago was what propelled her to pursue the initiative.

“My son was just like any other student. The day before he died, he took a university campus tour,” said Pierre, through tears. “The night before, he went to a school dance. Anyone seeing him would have observed a normal, healthy teenager. But we know now that was not the case,” she said.

She said in the months and years that followed, others contacted her to

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