Parent Child Health Elective

Advisor: Dr. Natalie Joseph, napierre@bu.edu

Student Leadership:

• Ciara Cullen, cpcullen@bu.edu
• Eileen Howard, echoward@bu.edu
• Eva Gaufberg, erg41@bu.edu
• Rithik Reddy, rcreddy@bu.edu

Mission:

• This enrichment activity focuses on fostering education about parental and child healthcare, with an emphasis on the social determinants of health. We hope to bridge the gap in pediatric and parental health education in preclinical years by hosting speakers with expertise in topics such as contraception, substance use during pregnancy, nutrition, early childhood development, postpartum depression, etc. We hope that participation in this enrichment activity will increase students’ exposure and interest in pediatrics and women’s health, with a focus on factors external to those assessed solely in a clinical setting.

Goals:

• To increase knowledge of parental and child health topics
• To foster greater interest in the fields of pediatrics and OB/GYN
• To address and increase students’ awareness of social determinants of health that affect pregnancy and early child development