Presenter: Anthony Gray, Public Policy & Information Science, Global Public Health Scholars
My practicum project is centered on my internship for the Arthritis Foundation over the summer of 2019. The work I did at my internship varied from working with Customer Relationship Management (CRM) databases, creating complex excel sheets tracking legislation, votes, sponsorships from Arthritis Caucus members, to attending multiple high level hearings in the Senate Health Education Labour and Pensions (HELP) and the House Energy and Commerce Committees on the impact of surprise billing and healthcare costs. My work would be split from working in the field to gather information for our Federal Affairs team and the office to coordinate activities with our regional directors. The ultimate goal of my work was to help those who suffer from arthritis through federal and state government affairs.
Your poster and presentation were very eye opening to how common arthritis is in our country! Why is there a higher prevalence of arthritis among women than men? In addition, why is there a higher prevalence of arthritis in Oregon on the West Coast? I find it terrible that the insurance companies were making people take medications that were less expensive, causing them more pain to see if those worked before the more expensive ones. Did the Safe Step Act pass? If not, when do you think it might be passed? It’s cool how this experience has shaped your future career interests and I look forward to having a positive experience with my practicum as well. -Nandini Persaud
Your presentation provides a lot of compelling arguments with "The painful Truth of Arthritis" slide. I think that this emphasizes the seriousness, and importance of work to help increase funding, and awareness. Personally, I am very likely to get Arthritis because I have had a few knee surgeries, so I am really intrigued in the work that you did, and think that it is very important to help keep these people from getting this disability.
Your poster and presentation were very interesting! The challenges you listed were very clear and informative, and I found it really interesting. With these challenges in mind, how was the Arthritis Foundation still able to fight for their legislative agenda and convince people of its importance? Additionally, how did you decide on your focus, the Arthritis Foundation? It is a very interesting topic that I personally was not well informed about and I found your facts extremely powerful.