SEEING HEALTH THROUGH A COMMUNITY LENS

Q&A WITH ALEJANDRA ESCOTO (19MPH)

Alejandra Escoto (19MPH) is a program coordinator for the Division of Child and Community Health at the University of Iowa. In this role, she develops and implements Title V programming aimed at improving the health of Iowa’s children and youth with special health care needs. She recently answered a few questions about her path to public health and current job.

What made you choose a career in public health?

When I was an undergraduate student at Iowa, a friend shared a cool research opportunity that they were a part of. I reached out to Dr. Daniel-Ulloa at the College of Public Health (now at the University of Washington) and began working with him on various research projects. Through these research opportunities, I fell in love with public health and the thought processes behind looking at health through a community lens. These experiences during my undergraduate career pushed me to pursue my MPH with an emphasis in community and behavioral health. I continued working on a variety of research projects during this time. Shortly after graduation, I started in my current position.

What does a typical day look like in your current job?

Every day is a bit different, but I typically have meetings with my team to discuss collaboration on the various projects we’re working on. I also sometimes consult with our regional centers across the state about care coordination workflows. I also work with the Title V program manager to write, edit, and manage data for Iowa’s annual Title V block grant application and needs assessment.

What excites you about your job?

Developing and implementing family-centered care for children and youth with special health care needs is very exciting to me. This is a unique population that I feel is often overlooked in the greater public health world, probably due to its need for direct clinical services. Thinking about the systems of care that impact this population uses my public health education and allows me to learn more about how the public health and medical worlds coincide. I feel like I’m always learning something new in my job, and I love producing creative solutions to reach program objectives.

How did your University of Iowa public health education help in your career?

My public health education gave me the framework to think about problems with a systems-level lens. Understanding all the factors that impact health has been important in developing effective programming. I’m also grateful to my mentors throughout my graduate school education that helped develop me as a researcher. This is a unique skill set that I bring to public health practice, and I’ve found that I’m able to transfer these research skills to more practical experiences.

What other activities are you involved in?

I recently helped develop the Division of Child and Community Health’s Health Equity Committee. This was an exciting project to be a part of, and it allowed me to utilize my experiences with health equity-related work and community engagement within my current position.

What advice do you have for students thinking about pursuing a degree in public health?

A piece of advice that I have is to not be afraid of trying new things. The opportunities that I had outside of the classroom allowed me to grow as a public health professional and gave me a lot of the transferable skills needed to become a public health practitioner.