Public Health Leadership Scholars: Day Five- July 13th, 2018

The Scholars started off their day at the O’Neill House Building, where they were greeted by LDCR Christina Kirby along with the first speaker of the day, LDCR Cody Thornton. After listening to LCDR Thornton, the Scholars traveled over to the Humphrey Building to meet with Mr. Edward Gabriel, the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response. Mr. Gabriel talked about his role in HHS—serving as the principal advisor to ASPR on emergency preparedness and response and recovery activities, programs, and policies. Prior to ASPR, Mr. Gabriel worked for Walt Disney as the Global Crisis Management director, where he provided leadership to medical and emergency operations. In addition, Mr. Gabriel talked to the Scholars about his experiences working as a paramedic in New York City’s EMS where he first developed and saw the need for public health. He then talked to the Scholars in depth about the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) and their contributions to HHS, including the developing technological advancements to counteract bioterrorism and remedy emerging diseases.

The Scholars then traveled back to the O’Neill House Building, where they were greeted by Dr. Cheryl Levine, the next speaker. Dr. Levine talked about at-risk individuals, specifically what it means to be at risk and how many people are at risk in across America’s communities. She highlighted infants, pregnant women, and geriatrics as the most commonly at risk populations. She talked about her division within ASPR and how it focuses on At-Risk, Behavioral Health & Community Resilience (ABC). After concluding with Dr. Levine, the last speaker for the day, CDR Joel Richardson, came in and introduced himself as the Continuity Communications Coordinator/Program Analyst for HHS. Before HHS, he served in the military. He talked to us about how the events of 9/11 and the need for communication specialists in public health were how he got into HHS. He then backtracked and started talking about his experiences as a college student and the adversity he faced to be admitted into a master’s program. He highlighted resilience and persistence as two qualities that helped him succeed. Within his story, he explained to us the importance of not letting failure or the fear of failure be paralyzing, but to just keep moving forward.

After everyone bought their lunch, the Scholars met back at the O'Neill building to eat and get ready for their individual closing presentations. The presentations focused around the Executive Core Qualifications, ECQ’s, that they had learned on day one from Commander Payne and had seen exhibited throughout their speakers. Each Scholar made a couple of slides and discussed one or two ECQ’s that resonated with them and anything else that they learned from this experience. There was a common theme in most, if not all, of the presentations, and that was about not being afraid to take unplanned turns in future endeavors. Personally speaking, one of the Scholars was always under the impression that if a person didn’t start their career young, they wouldn’t be successful in it and that successful people only have one or two careers in their working lives- and by the end of the week, this particular Scholar realized that they were very wrong. There was something reassuring to this Scholar to see so many speakers, who had different careers previous to the one that they were currently in, had still reached success and will continue to grow and be successful. Additionally, listening to fellow Scholars’ reflections on the week gave this particular Scholar some new points of view on how fellow Scholars interpreted the information everyone had received throughout the week. Overall, the presentations were a nice way to bring a closing to their time as Public Health Leadership Scholars.

Once presentations had concluded, it was time for a hotwash, which is just a fun (and shorter) way to discuss the enjoyable parts of this week and anything the Scholars thought could be changed for future cohorts. It was amazing that everyone was comfortable discussing these things to Lieutenant Commander Kirby and the rest of the ASPR group. The Scholars had only known these leaders for a couple of weeks but everyone felt safe and comfortable talking with them, as if the Scholars had known them for so much longer. Next, the Scholars went into a mini photo session and took pictures with the leaders whom they had come to love this week. Then, the Scholars received HOSA certificates and coins from ASPR. These types of coins have significance in the uniformed services, because they are a way to show to which branch an individual belongs. It was an honor to be presented with ASPR coins and become a part of their team.

At this point, the Scholars were done with everything that needed to be done formally, but they weren’t quite ready to leave yet. So, Commander Payne took them all on a small tour of the O’Neill building so they could see some of the features that earned the building a LEED Platinum certification, which means that the building is environmentally friendly. From learning how to the building’s stairs and floors help maintain the temperature to how the energy consumption in the building is conserved, this little tour appealed to the environmental science sides of the Scholars’ nerdy minds. After the tour, the Scholars still were not ready to leave, which led to everyone standing around Commander Payne and Lieutenant Commander Hager while they told stories of the details they’ve had and some ‘secrets’ of D.C. (did you know that many buildings in D.C. are connected via underground tunnels?).  All good things must come to an end, however, and this was where the Scholars ended their day. They really enjoyed ending the day with personal stories in a very casual setting on topics that weren’t really discussed with any of their public health speakers.