With a commitment to community engagement, the public health graduate student and aspiring physician is spending her summer helping underinsured Rhode Islanders access protective health care.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] - She is a self-professed science lover, but it's difficult to imagine Brown master's degree candidate Petranea Smith holed up in a laboratory - because since June, the public health student has spent countless hours connecting with people and building relationships with community groups.
Through an internship with Clínica Esperanza, Smith has discovered that she deeply enjoys public health education and community engagement - and that she's good at it, too. While managing an immunization station at the Amos House Block Party in South Providence, she had a friendly chat with a homeless attendee about his cat, which ended with him requesting free vaccinations from the clinic's nurse. At another event, she shared information with a mother who was hesitant about vaccinations, allowing her to make an informed decision. A few days later, the woman made an appointment at the clinic.
"I'm a very social person, so I really like meeting people from the community, as well as from different nonprofit organizations, and engaging in a variety of conversations," Smith said. "I get to learn about people's thoughts and feelings about immunizations, which helps me learn about the nuances of vaccine hesitancy and share important health information with them."
Smith studied neuroscience at McGill University in Montreal and said she reveled in the "nitty-gritty" of laboratory research, even when she was isolated in a lab. During the COVID-19 pandemic, which arrived during her sophomore year, she returned to her native Rhode Island and worked as a case investigator with the state's Department of Health, helping to connect under-insured, low-income Spanish speakers to health care resources after they tested positive. This sparked an interest in public health, and through the Health Equity Scholars initiative at the Brown University School of Public Health, she ultimately enrolled in the master of public health degree program's health behaviors track.
As part of her applied practice experience in the Brown MPH program, Smith is working at Clínica Esperanza this summer as a project manager for the organization's new mobile vaccine clinic project. She said the role is an ideal fit for her current research interests.
"I have been able to explore my interests in immigrant health and health disparities in Rhode Island Latinx communities through gaining hands-on exposure working with Clínica Esperanza," Smith said.
