Clearing the Air: Understanding Respiratory Disease
- gphscholars
- Jul 23
- 2 min read
Presenter: Sharanya Ravishanker, Public Health Science, Global Public Health Scholars
For my practicum project, I worked with the Public Health Aerobiology Lab on their project to enhance public health communication by developing an accessible AI chatbot to provide evidence-based responses to users’ questions on respiratory diseases. Despite literature supporting evidence-based practices, preventative measures are rarely employed due to a lack of public awareness and widespread misinformation about the nature of respiratory diseases. Therefore, the public health goals of this project is to allow the general public, organizations, policy makers access to verified research providing evidence-based preventative measures that can assist in making decisions that work to reduce the spread of infectious diseases. My role was to curate a spreadsheet of peer-reviewed research papers and scholarly articles describing various important aspects of respiratory health. Through the process, I learned about the modes of respiratory disease transmission such as Airborne, Direct Deposition, and Contact (Direct and Indirect) routes, as well as preventative measures for each of the types. I also learned how to navigate scholarly databases and how to find and verify different scientific sources. Aside from this practicum project, I have also worked at the PHAB Lab for three semesters assisting in the clinic for their Roommate Flu Study investigating the relationship between ventilation and the rate of transmissions of the Influenza virus. In this position, I conducted clinic visits to collect vital signs and baseline data to support study investigations, enhanced direct-outreach communication skills to recruit participants for the study, and designed educational infographics for public distribution regarding the modes of airborne disease transmission. Working with the lab enhanced my interpersonal skills, teaching me the importance of outreach in epidemiologic studies, as well as how vital it is to form a connection between researchers and study participants.
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