September 9, 2024

Marissa Campbell, a second-year Master of Public Health (MPH) student in the department of Community Health and Prevention with a minor in Maternal and Child Health, completed a Title V Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Block Grant internship over the summer at the New Jersey Department of Health (NJDOH) Division of Family Health Systems (FHS).

The Title V program is a partnership between the federal government and states that supports the health and wellbeing of mothers, children, and families.

“Title V is the primary federal funding source for many MCH programs," explained Renee Davis, MD, MPH, Program Coordinator & Senior Research Associate for Drexel’s Maternal and Child Health Program.

"Every five years, states receiving Title V funding are required to conduct a needs assessment to identify the priority health needs that will guide state and local Title V programming over the next funding cycle. The Title V MCH internship is a wonderful opportunity for MCH trainees to learn more about this process and gain valuable hands-on experience within Title V and state government.,” said Davis.

Marissa’s project involved assisting the NJDOH Title V Team with their 2025 Needs Assessment within the Block Grant process over a span of 10 weeks, specifically within their data and capacity stage to gather secondary data.

During the school year, Marissa serves as president of Drexel's Maternal and Child Health Student Organization.

Learn more about Marissa’s experience:

In your Title V internship, what were your duties?

My duties within this internship involved assisting with and completing different tasks for the NJDOH, specifically, their Title V team. My partner and I completed a variety of major projects:

1. Conducted literature reviews on best practices using trauma-informed care, capacity building, and health equity in previous Title V Block Grant work.
2. Constructed an interview guide and developed questions for key informant interviews with MCH stakeholders.
3. Facilitated 6 key stakeholder interviews/focus-groups with various MCH organization and personnel across the state of New Jersey who are indirectly and directly impacted by the Title V Block Grant.
4. Transcribed the interviews and completed qualitative coding through thematic analysis to identify common trends.
5. Created iterations of a Health Equity Model with an infographic narrative to be disseminated across NJ to help depict key identifiers for Title V Block Grant work.

We also had the opportunity to create 3 sets of quizzes based on community doula training videos to be used and integrated into the certification process for New Jersey’s Community Doula Program.

How did you see your work have an impact?

Consistent positive feedback and gratitude from those who we were completing projects for and being shown how they were impacting the Title V Needs Assessment, as well as other groups we did projects for, was really rewarding and gave a sense that what we were doing had great meaning.

What are you most proud of so far in your public health journey?

I am definitely most proud of my eagerness to go out of my comfort zone and apply for experiences like this internship, and also the connections I made with those in the MCH field inside and out of Dornsife.

What drives you to work in MCH?

The current climate of MCH around the country is in crisis all throughout the field. Being given the privilege to extend my education and have different professional opportunities within MCH, I believe I have a duty to serve and create as much change as I can.

Why did you choose to pursue public health as a career and why Dornsife?

I grew up in a very rural area that lacked accessible and equitable MCH care, so I knew at a young age I wanted to make a difference within this field.

After graduating within a BS in Health Administration, I felt the pull to switch over to public health because I wanted to be personally helping and creating differences in people’s lives, while still focusing on MCH. Dornsife gave me everything I was looking for - esteemed education, different courses of study, and being in a city with endless opportunities!

What are your hopes for your future career?

My passion within MCH definitely lies within birthing people, mothers, and infants receiving affordable, equitable, accessible care before, during, and after birth, so I hope to be able to work within this sector of the field. Overall, though, I just want to create a positive change within MCH post-grad!

Learn more about our Maternal and Child Health Program at Dornsife

Students who are interested in the Title V MCH Block Grant internship program should contact Renee Davis.