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2007: Student Corner

 
CPHA Health Digest, Vol. 31, No. 3, Autumn 2007
 
Welcome to the inaugural article in the CPHA Health Digest’s new Student Corner! My name is Colleen Davison and I am the current student representative on the CPHA Board of Directors. I have the privilege of being the first of many students lined up to write in this new corner of the Health Digest. This is the space where students and residents will bring forward topics of special interest to those involved in public health training.
 
For my contribution, I wanted to highlight the recent revival CPHA has had with respect to students and some of the ways the Association currently serves public health trainees. With the creation of a specific position on their Board of Directors, CPHA signalled a growing interest in supporting students and residents and in getting public health trainees (and their trainers!) engaged in the work of the organization. Thus far, important strides have been made:
 
  • A Student Talk Force (originally termed a Student Ad Hoc Committee) has been established to advise the Board on student-related issues and take student ideas and projects forward;
  • A travel bursary program was established for full-time students whose abstracts were selected for the annual conference;
  • CPHA students were abstract reviewers for the annual conference and there is now a permanent position for a student on the conference planning committee;
  • Student awards for the conference were offered again this year and awards were also extended for the IUHPE conference in Vancouver;
  • Some special events took place at the annual conference, including:
    • A grant-writing strategies workshop for new researchers in public health,
    • The CPHA Awards Luncheon, and
    • A student breakfast hosted by the conference partners.
  • And now, we have just started a student corner in the CPHA Health Digest!
 
Obviously, we are pleased with the progress thus far and we have many plans for the future! There has been a 19% increase in the number of CPHA student members in the last year. If you are interested in becoming a student or regular member, please check out: http://www.cpha.ca/en/default.aspx.
 
Colleen Davison
PhD Candidate and Trudeau Scholar
University of Calgary