Dr. Whitney Smith Rice

Assistant Professor, BSHES

April 28, 2023

Why did you choose Public Health?  

For me, the choice of public health as a field had a lot to do with an interest in contributing to just the improvement of conditions for people, particularly, the most marginalized of people, and having an understanding that people’s health is such a critical foundation to their overall experience in life, their wellness, and real ability to thrive. I certainly had a growing understanding of some of the persistent disparities that people experience in terms of health across several factors and thought that being in public health was an important way to be able to do something about that. 

What was your MPH experience like? 

I did my MPH here at Rollins, and then I did my DrPH at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). I first got exposure to maternal and child health (MCH) as an MPH student. I was already doing some internships in public health, and those experiences were reproductive health-related. I took a course in MCH epidemiology that set a great foundation in data sources and methods, and because of that, when I went on to a doctoral program, I was really interested in programs that had an MCH program, concentration, or emphasis. And so, I ended up going to UAB because at the time they had a Maternal and Child Health Center of Excellence. I was a trainee there in my doctoral program. I gained such critical and important experiences at a center like the one we have here at Emory. 

How do you compare your MPH experience to your experience as a faculty member? 

While I was an MCH trainee, I had opportunities to contribute to evaluations of local health department initiatives, to the reporting for the state health department, and then the experiences of contributing to research activities within the school. And with each experience, I was working with a faculty member. But the exposure that I got at that time, I think, gave me a great sense of what different MCH career options could be, and where I might want to go next upon, you know, finishing the degree program. I learned what skills I liked and didn’t like using, and my trainee experiences gave me the opportunity to observe, be involved to some degree, and practice outside the traditional academic sense. I feel like I got to do a lot within our state and local health agencies as well as engage with community-based groups as well. And for me, that engagement really informed my collaborative approach. Partnership-based approaches still involve elements of traditional research, but the perspectives of and relevance to those partners are critical pieces of how I ground my work. I also try to make sure that the folks in training and at various career stages are also, hopefully, getting exposure to collaborative partnerships in public health with diverse perspectives. 

In your research on sexual and reproductive health stigma, why do you choose to use mixed methods? 

Oh, my gosh, that’s such a great question! I think it has a lot to do with the richness of information, and the data that we learn from mixed methods. It’s just so important to not lose critical insights about people’s lived experiences when we are only looking at one form of data. And so, I think having mixed methods allows for a fuller picture, in terms of what the numbers mean, and gives some qualitative perspective to that. And then, on the flip side, sometimes we can understand much more about what the patterns are using quantitative methods to inform our understanding of maybe where we want to do qualitative data collection. Similarly, using quantitative methods may help us get an understanding of whether a qualitative experience is happening for a larger group or multiple groups. In terms of stigma, specifically, I think it becomes important when we’re talking about experiences that pertain to populations and groups who have been historically stigmatized. It can be so important for folks with that lived experience, and for us, to be able to make sure that we are not leaving anyone out and understanding the experiences of stigmatized and particularly marginalized groups. Quantitative data gives us the ability to really see whether there is a representation of those groups. Then, qualitative data gives us some insight into those lived experiences with richer information that also allows folks to be heard. Both methods have important contributions. 

How does your background and lived experience strengthen the Center of Excellence? 

I do have experience as a trainee in a Maternal and Child Health Center of Excellence, and granted, it was not at Emory, but I certainly have insights on different types of training that contributed quite a lot to where I am in my career now. I have been able to experience working with a lot of other researchers and non-academic collaborators whose expertise is relevant to the work that student trainees are often interested in. And so, I think, those perspectives have helped me make connections and let me help trainees make connections, think through what the potentials are, career possibilities, and their next steps, as well. 

Then the other parts I bring to the table are my lived experiences as someone who is a minority, or from a minoritized population group that is not well represented, well, very underrepresented in terms of academics. My leadership, I feel, brings a different perspective that may be useful in conversations about training needs having been a student in public health and MCH before, and one of few students of color – especially at a doctoral level. With that background now in a faculty role, I think, regardless of what trainees choose for their career route or destination, there’s a lot to help navigate. Lastly, I also bring with me the experience of being a person who lives with a chronic condition. I know what it’s like to navigate through healthcare systems as someone who has different medical needs than most. 

In my experience as a researcher and as someone in public health, some of the crises we are in in the south and Georgia specifically in terms of maternal mortality, for example, are crises that disproportionately affect folks who have chronic conditions in addition to disproportionately affecting people of color. I cannot divorce my work from that lived experience. I think it just brings a level of sensitivity to the work.  

What have you learned from your students in the last three years since the start of the pandemic? 

Oh, my goodness. I think there are many things we have gained from this experience, in terms of having different ways of working virtually with each other, especially. In the past three years, I have learned a lot about ensuring that, based on my experience as a trainee, the folks that I work with, and students that I work with, have the best that whatever I am bringing to the table can allow for their success. And so, bringing a lot of flexibility into the ways that we work has been received well. I’ve learned a lot from the ways in which students have been clear and open with me about the ways the last couple of years have challenged their ability to engage in the same ways they would have prior to the experience of this pandemic. And yet, still, have exceeded even their own expectations. 

Sometimes what is needed is to create circumstances where people can do their best work and excel the most, both in their personal and academic life. Flexibility and checking-in with the ability for openness to understand and try to provide what students most want to see. So, nowadays, I focus on creating more and more opportunities for folks to be able to share when they are stuck with their work, or career advancement, and need a little input that could truly make a big difference in their experience. To try to make a difference there, I’ve just tried to essentially have a lot of flexibility, create a lot of space, and be a resource for a variety of things. I think that can be helpful in a climate like this, where we live with a lot of doubt and crises in public health that can bring up more uncertainty and anxiety. I think my role is just to help cultivate an environment for people to navigate through that. And, of course, that looks very different, sometimes, depending on who is involved, but I’ve just been really enjoying the fact that we’ve, like, all forged through these last couple of years together, and people are doing such wonderful things at Rollins and beyond.