Amy McFarland, MPH, UNR '04
MPH Project:
My final project was titled “Creating a Successful Volunteer Program for People Living with HIV/AIDS in Northern Nevada”. I worked with a non-profit organization called Nevada AIDS Foundation. The program that we created was called Hand to Hand, it was meant to create healthier lives for people living with HIV/AIDS by creating social support services. During my project I researched HIV/AIDS statistics, the history, value, reasons, benefits and need for volunteering programs as well as techniques for recruiting, placing, training and supervising volunteers for the program.
Life after the MPH program:
After graduation I started with contract work at the Nevada State Health Division. My first position was in the Bureau of Community Health- HIV/AIDS program. There, I was responsible for developing and implementing a study on the high risk factors and behaviors of inmates. A team was developed consisting of State Health Division and Nevada Correctional Facility professionals. Our team conducted the confidential surveys in every Nevada correctional institution. The purpose of the survey was to assess the incidence of high risk behaviors and sexual assaults among randomly surveyed inmates.
Next I moved on to do work with the Bureau of Alcohol and Drug Abuse. As a Health Program Specialist my main responsibilities were to run a State Epidemiological Workgroup, as well as to create epidemiological profiles and state needs assessments. I was part of the data team so I did a lot of research and worked with a lot of statistics.
My current position as an Education Coordinator is with the University of Nevada, School of Medicine. I have many fun, exciting and challenging responsibilities in this role. I am an assistant course coordinator for a first and second year medical student course called Introduction to Patient Care (IPC). As an assistant course coordinator I get to meet with a large number of primary care community physicians who have volunteered their time to work with our students. They devote one ∏ day a week to precept or teach these students the fundamentals of medicine, such as how to take an efficient history and physical. In turn, I also get to meet with our first and second year medical students to discuss their interests and goals so that I can make a good match between the student and preceptor. In addition, I am a small group facilitator for a course called Clinical Problem Solving (CPS). In this course I am teamed up with an wonderful physician, and we are there to facilitate a group of 8 students through a clinical case. These clinical cases are paper cases that are presented in a progressive disclosure format.
I have also had the freedom to integrate my public health background by developing a Special Qualifications in Service Learning program. This program is a wonderful opportunity to integrate service learning into the medical curriculum as well as forming a strong partnership with the community. Students spend a required amount of time throughout their 4 years with numerous community programs to ultimately understand the role of the community in illness and health, to provide ethical and culturally sensitive care and awareness of the social responsibility as a physician.
Social:
I am happily married to a wonderful man. We have a beautiful, smart and feisty 2 year old daughter and a son due in June of this year. As life changes for everyone with time and with the addition of a family, we still try to enjoy the outdoors, camp, travel and (eventually get back to) golf.