Inauguration of the Establishment of Public Health Club at the University High School by the School of Public Health-University of Memphis

September 9, 2023 - Under the RE-AIM Public Health Inclusivity, Diversity, Equity, Accessibility and Sustainability (IDEAS) through the Lens of the Youth Initiative, the University of Memphis School of Public Health (SPH) led by the Dean of SPH, Dr. Ashish Joshi today led a Team to inaugurate the establishment of a Public Health Club, at the University High School, Memphis. The University High School, Memphis will be the model school and its members, the brand ambassadors of this Public Health initiative and the team seeks to extend this locally, nationally, and globally. Dr. Joshi explained that this ground-breaking initiative by the University of Memphis School of Public Health aims to instil Leadership and Educational Advancement among youth to solve Public Health (LEAP) challenges of the 21st century. 

A team of experts and researchers will work with youth to ideate out-of-the-box solutions to address public health challenges that are common can be addressed by young people across diverse local and global settings. 

Interacting with the students, some key challenges they raised and discussed were the effects of misinformation on youth mental health and well-being, obesity, and COVID-19. These discussions were supported by Ms. Lauren Beaupre, the Coordinator of College & Career Planning at University High School, Dr. Ashish Joshi, and Dr. Stella Lartey, Assistant Professor of Health Economics-SPH. In agreement with the students, Dr Joshi noted that the rapid digitization of societies is affecting how digital natives—young people—are exposed to, seeking and action on information that affect their health, especially online. He intimated that the initiative will work with the youth to co-design and co-create materials that seek to “Mitigating infodemics and building healthier information environments for young people” and such processes and materials will be scaled up locally, nationally and globally. The founding members which included five students lauded the initiative that it recognises that youth have a vital role to play in developing and building robust public interventions and initiative in their communities as well as supporting that to develop lifetime skills for prudent decision making. 

To commence activities after the inauguration, the SPH is working with the Administration and the Coordinator of College & Career Planning, Ms. Lauren Beaupre to define the required administrative processes, actions, and next steps for the function of the Public Health Club at the University High School, Memphis. As part of the initiative, students will participate in many planned activities including a one-week workshop titled “Mitigating infodemics and building healthier information environments for young people”. The outcome of this workshop is to co-design and co-create a curriculum with the Public Health Ambassadors. The workshop will be led by world renounced leaders in mitigating infodemics, also know as misinformation- Tina Purnat, Elisabeth Wilhem, and another guest (TBA). Detail announcement for the SPH Dean’s Office will be out soon.