Helen grew up in Ames, Iowa. She graduated from Syracuse University in 2008 with a Bachelor of Science in Child and Family Studies and worked as a Lead Teacher at an early childhood education center following graduation. She is a third year dual Medical Doctorate (MD) and Master of Public Health (MPH) student. During her year of MPH training, Helen is working as a Graduate Research Assistant for the Master of Public Health Program. Helen is enjoying learning about all areas of public health and is particularly interested in the fields of pediatrics, maternal and child health and health policy. She serves as Co-President of the Pediatrics Interest Group and as a VP for the American Medical Association-Iowa Medical Society Student Organization at the Carver College of Medicine. She has recently begun volunteering for the Mobile Clinic. Helen enjoys cooking, spin classes, listening to public radio and traveling to visit family and friends around the country. 
Over the last few weeks I have been working with an interdisciplinary group that
included medical students and a physician, a student receiving a Master’s in
Graphic Design and a couple of Iowa alumni who now have their own technology
start-up company in Iowa City called Mazira.
I contributed as a MPH student and also with my undergraduate studies in
Child Development. The project was to
create a website application to enter into a contest called Go Viral to Improve Health held by the Institute of Medicine.
The result, a website called Steps to Grow, I think has the potential to
go far beyond this contest.
As explained on the website, Steps to Grow is a personalized,
interactive timeline that allows parents and caregivers to access important
information about their child’s development and milestones. They can also get timely information from
reputable sources about various childcare topics including vaccinations and
nutrition. The amazing Mazira team has
even taken some of the CDC’s statistics on child health and created interactive
figures specifically for our website.
I am equally excited about the potential for Steps to Grow in the
future. We plan to expand the age range
and hope that it’s use will make some parent’s lives a little easier. We also hope that this may allow for earlier
identification of children who have developmental delays so that they can begin
getting the help they need to be healthy and happy as early as possible. Soon,
parents will be able to add more of their own child’s information to the
timeline such as pictures and videos. Perhaps this could even become something
that will facilitate more effective communication between physicians and
families. For example, a parent might
read their child should be saying a certain number of words by a certain
time. Now that they are aware of that
they can keep a count before their child’s doctor’s appointment. If they are worried their child is not eating
or sleeping the right amount they can check their child’s timeline, then they
are able to link to more information online right away, record the date the
events take place and bring all their questions to the doctor’s office.
I encourage anyone, and especially parents, to check out the website
and the timeline and provide us with your feedback using either the contact us
or guestbook options. I have really
enjoyed stepping out of a single-discipline team to work on this and I think it
has been a real strength to have multiple mind-sets and skillsets contributing
to it.
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