NUHS Student To Present Research from Ghana Trip to APHA
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Dana Madigan is a sixth trimester DC student at
National University of Health Sciences (NUHS) who will be giving a
presentation at the upcoming annual meeting of the American Public
Health Association (APHA) in Washington, D.C., October 29 -
November 2, 2011.
Dana will present information she gathered on a previous trip to
the country of Ghana, where she interviewed hospital workers about
health care access patterns, what they knew about chiropractic
medicine, and if they would be open to chiropractic medical
services.
For the trip to Ghana, Dana had a unique opportunity to travel
with a different non-profit group of medical and public health
professionals, and was the only representative of CAM
(complementary and alternative medicine) providers on the trip. The
group allowed her to conduct the interviews she needed for her
project, and the project was approved by the NUHS Internal Review
Board (IRB) as a research study before she left on the trip.
Dana started the project as part of the Mentored Research
Program supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH)
National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM)
R25
educational grant to NUHS (R25 AT002872). In fact she blogged about her
experience in the program back in 2010.
The program allowed Dana to work with a research mentor at the
University of Illinois Chicago (UIC), Dr. Nadine Peacock, from
start to finish. "The UIC professor helped in designing my
interview and how to interpret the results and then I made the
project my own," explains Dana. "I was able to do the entire
research process from the IRB application to presentation."
"Getting involved in research is an excellent way to propel the
CAM professions forward. Dana was able to propose a research
project, gain IRB approval, conduct the research and publish the
results for an audience extending beyond chiropractic
professionals. Because she was part of the MRP, she also educated
the UIC School of Public Health faculty and students about CAM,
particularly chiropractic, and how CAM is an integral part of
public health. Educating other professions and communicating
research are positive forces the CAM professions need to be
respected equally with other health care providers," noted Dr.
Barbara Sullivan, program manager of the evidence based practice
(EBP) program at NUHS, research mentor and co-investigator of the
R25 grant.
Dana has always been drawn to the field of research. "I was
always the one doing science fair projects in grade school and high
school," she jokes. In fact, Dana said that one of the reasons she
chose to study chiropractic medicine was due to the opportunities
in the field for research. "I found the field very interesting, and
saw that there wasn't a huge body of research on it yet. It seemed
to be an area that would be expanding, and I wanted to be part of
that."
When selecting a chiropractic school, Dana chose NUHS because
she appreciated the many opportunities available for students to get involved in
research, and appreciated the chance to work with other
universities as well. In addition to finishing her chiropractic
degree, and serving as a research assistant at NUHS, Dana is also
finishing her Master of Public Health (MPH) degree at UIC through a
unique, coordinated degree program
between National University and the UIC School of Public Health,
supported by the NCCAM grant.
As part of completing her MPH degree, she will need to complete
a separate capstone project. "I will hopefully do something
else that is also within the global health arena." In fact,
her MPH degree is in the Health Policy and Administration division,
and she has made an application to include a global health
concentration.
In the future, Dana hopes to help shape policy for the CAM
professions in developing nations. "Many countries, such as Ghana,
are currently in the process of developing their health care
systems," she explains. "While a lot of people focus on infectious
disease there, there's also a lot of chronic disease. I would like
to work to lessen the disparities of care in both areas at
once."
"We're very proud to have Dana representing NUHS at the
APHA annual meeting and at UIC in a very vigorous and high-profile
program. We hope Dana serves as a role model for other students,
and encourages participation in research at NUHS," said Dr. Gregory
Cramer, Dean of Research at NUHS and Principal Investigator
(PI) of the R25 grant.
