Presenter: Alexander Sung, Physiology & Neurobiology, Global Public Health Scholars
For my practicum, I interned at the Eastern branch of the Network for Public Health Law,
which is based at the UMD Carey School of Law in Baltimore. I worked remotely for the
duration of this internship. I was drawn to the NPHL due to my father’s position as a lawyer. The stories he would tell my siblings and I about his job made me want to explore the intersection of global public health and law. During the internship, I worked to collect data for several projects. The first was a presentation on resources for public health workers harassed during Covid-19, where I obtained accounts of harassment nationwide. The second project was in conjunction with the Maryland Center of Excellence on Problem Gambling, in which I worked to collect problem gambling information from states in which sports betting was legalized for presentation to the Maryland Sports Betting commission in order to argue for ample resources for problem
gamblers. A minor project I worked on was a list of smoke free housing options in Maryland, which is maintained so that those who are more vulnerable to secondhand smoke have the ability to avoid it. The first project shares the obvious public health connection that it is supporting workers battling against Covid-19 and disgruntled members of the population. The second project is connected to public health in that it is fighting for available resources which may be utilized in order to reduce instances of problem gambling in Maryland. My largest takeaway was the importance of maintaining a strong public health focus to fight any increases in vulnerable populations that may arise, such as from Covid-19 and betting expansions, as well as to prevent backlash to public health policies that are implemented during sudden social shifts.