Andrea Fenaughty Interview; Region X (7/22/16)
1. Identification:
-What is your name? Andrea Fenaughty
-Where were you born? Bridgeport, CT
-Where did you grow up? CT & FL
-Profession currently: Chronic Disease
Epidemiologist
-Region working in right now: Alaska
-State living in right now: Alaska
2. Why are
you interested in public health and how did you get into the field of public
health?
My background is applied social psychology. My
training and research focus was always on issues that related to the public’s
health, such as HIV infection. After working as part of a research team on HIV
risk behavior at the University of Alaska Anchorage for a number of years, I
came over to the state to use my analytical skills to work on injury
prevention, and chronic disease prevention. My very first project was to do a
large analysis of injury disparities in mortality and hospital discharge.
3. What is
health equity to you?
That
everyone has an equal opportunity to obtain and maintain optimal health.
4. What are
some challenges (that still persist) within the field of health equity in
public health?
People
really struggle with figuring out how to incorporate the concepts of health
equity into programming decisions. I think the measurement piece is solid—the
people I work with certainly understand the value of identifying disparities
and health inequities. But if the root cause of those is poverty or another
social determinant of health, that feel outside the scope of what people’s
skills and expertise is.
5. Why do
you think those challenges still persist?
I think
the issue I described above is a large, complex one. Until there is a solid set
of best practices that people can see their role in, progress will be slow.
6. What models
within your workforce have worked to encourage health equity?
I
started a small cross-program working group in our Section, with the modest
goals of increasing awareness of the issues related to health equity and
increasing our sharing of information related to how we see health equity in
our work. We incorporated the CO framework into a health equity training we
developed, tailoring examples to work our Section was actually doing. This
training was modified for the Alaska Division of Public Health.
7. At the
beginning of your career, what were some root causes for health inequities and
health disparities? How has those changed (or not at all) following the end of
your career?
Well my career hasn’t ended yet, so I can’t
say. I think because I was focused on different health issues earlier in my
career, some of the root causes were a bit different. Root causes for health
inequities in HIV risk in drug using women were associated with race and power.
Root causes of inequities in many of the chronic disease risk factors we
monitor appear to be related to education and poverty. Race also, but that is
probably more a marker of other determinants.
