One public health major spent part of her spring semester in Richmond as a General Assembly intern to learn more about public health policy, research, and the work that goes into creating laws.
Diana Tagbor, 25, a senior in the Bachelor of Public Health major in the newly created Joint School of Public Health, lived and worked in Richmond as part of the internship program facilitated by Old Dominion University’s Governmental Relations Office. Each spring, selected students work with Virginia state legislators and staff during a full-time, paid internship.
With a minor in Human Services, and research interests in public policy, maternal mortality, the foster system, and how to improve health outcomes for those sometimes marginalized groups, Tagbor says she’s “excited for the internship and to see where it takes me.” She was assigned to work with Del. C.E. Hayes, Jr. of the 91st District, which covers parts of Chesapeake and Portsmouth, and Del. Marcia Price of the 85th District, which covers parts of Newport News.
Tagbor decided to apply for the internship after attending the Virginia Public Health Association’s Annual Conference last fall, to understand more about how legislative policies affect the lives of constituents, with support from her mentor, Dr. Elizabeth Brown, Assistant Professor and Director of the Bachelor of Science in Public Health Program at ODU.
“It’s really important that we take the steps to pass policy, because it may affect someone differently based on their location, access to healthcare, and other factors,” Tagbor said. “For me, it’s important that each individual have access to healthcare and understand how they’re affected.”
The internship also builds on her Public Health coursework, including a paper from writing-intensive course where Tagbor wrote on factors that lead to higher rates of sexually transmitted infections in Black women, and the educational factors that can lead to lowering rates of infection.
“Education is a top forum, and if we’re able to educate people on some of the diseases and sicknesses in the community, and how they contract the disease, then we can try to figure out what we can do for better outcomes,” she said.
For a student, the internship is a hands-on opportunity that allows them to understand that policy, at its simplest form, is a decision to act or not act, Brown said. There is a public health connection when these policies, or decisions, influence the health of people and physical communities (e.g., people who live near a trash dump or people who live in areas infested with gun violence) or social communities (e.g., people who are low income or people living with a chronic condition). We instruct our students to understand that policy, a social determinant of health, is all about public health and influences diverse communities.
Brown said Tagbor is detail-oriented, reliable, and not afraid to ask questions when working on a project, including a research project where Tagbor searched public health jobs on LinkedIn sorted by public health competencies, presenting at the VPHA Annual Conference in Richmond in September 2024 where Tagbor decided to pursue the internship.
“She did a phenomenal job presenting,” Brown said. “She is polite, funny, and genuinely interested in committing to positive social change in the public health space.”
This is the second year in a row a Public Health major has been selected and accepted the internship. Jaden Garvin, a senior Public Health major at the time, was part of the Spring 2024 cohort, which helped him make connections to those in his chosen field of dentistry.