The dual DNP Executive/MPH dual degree offered through the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health integrates cutting-edge nursing and population health frameworks to prepare nurse leaders to address the most critical public health challenges of our time. This program will positions students to take on national and global health leadership roles that employ systems-level thinking to improve population health and advance health equity.
See how Rosaline Owusu and Melanie Mariano, students in the DNP/MPH program, shape and view their work through both a nursing and public health perspective.
Rosaline Owusu
My DNP/MPH policy project focuses on identifying public policies that address barriers to transitional support for racial and ethnic minority youth on the autism spectrum.
Over the past two decades, the prevalence of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has risen significantly. The CDC estimated that in 2020, 1 in 36 eight-year-old children in the U.S. were diagnosed with ASD, compared to 1 in 150 in 2000. Additionally, the CDC 2020 report also revealed that ASD is now more common among racial and ethnic minority groups than among white children.
As youth on the autism spectrum transition into adulthood, they face significant barriers to accessing postsecondary education, employment, and independent living. These barriers arise due to discontinuing support services mandated by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) once they leave school. These barriers are compounded for racial and ethnic minority youth on the autism spectrum due to systemic racism and structural inequities. Current policies often fail to address these specific challenges, leading to poorer health and social outcomes for these individuals.
My DNP/MPH project focused on effective public policies that address transitional support barriers for youth on the autism spectrum nearing high school graduation and emphasizing “Equity,” a core principle in nursing and public health. Policy solutions from both public health and nursing practice are vital for supporting racial and ethnic minority youth in overcoming challenges related to postsecondary education, employment, and independent living. These initiatives address transitional support service disparities at the population level instead of the individual level, which often fails.
Melanie Mariano
My DNP/MPH project is centered around improving osteoporosis screening in postmenopausal women before they sustain a fracture. Far too often, our health systems react to injuries and illnesses once they are already present and by then it is already too late. However, osteoporosis, like so many other chronic conditions, is not a condition that develops overnight. It is the product of the compounded effects of the social and structural determinants of health across the life course. There needs to be a paradigm shift in the health care system’s priorities to provide proactive care instead of reactive care.
Nurses are excellent at centering people in prevention. As a result, we tend to take an individualized yet zoomed-in approach. As a public health minded nurse and nurse practitioner, I have come to learn that we can advance the health for all populations by utilizing and reframing place, power, and policy for the prevention of chronic health conditions.
For example, in looking at certain fracture risk calculators, it is clear that preservation of power structures, particularly systemic racism and sexism, contribute to the lack of a fracture risk tool that includes historically underrepresented groups in its development. Additionally, we see that women in rural areas tend to have less access to screening, lending to the idea that place plays a role in inequitable rates of screening. Finally, policies such as provision of paid time off to get preventive screenings, equitable reimbursement for screening tests, and revision of training curricula to emphasize preventive care, can be implemented to bolster the rates of osteoporosis screening.