{"id":15554,"date":"2024-10-08T12:48:08","date_gmt":"2024-10-08T19:48:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nau.edu\/center-health-equity-research\/?p=15554"},"modified":"2024-11-13T13:37:17","modified_gmt":"2024-11-13T20:37:17","slug":"goodluck-and-anastario","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/legacy.nau.edu\/center-community-health-engaged-research\/blog\/goodluck-and-anastario\/","title":{"rendered":"Off to Ole Miss: Diedre\u2019 Goodluck\u2019s MPH experience in toxicological science"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Mike
Mike Anastario (left) and Courtney Roper (right) train Diedre\u2019 Goodluck to assess syringes using a portable x-ray fluorescence device.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Mike Anastario, assistant professor in health sciences, builds capacity for mentorship into his research projects, allowing his student, Diedre\u2019 Goodluck to assist him with lab work at the University of Mississippi. Goodluck (Din\u00e9) is a 2nd year master in public health (MPH) student approaching her education as a way to lead health equity research in her community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Anastario
Anastario presents his research on filtration of injection preparations to JPB-Harvard Environmental Health Fellows during their visit to NAU in June of 2024.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The Center for Community Health and Engaged Research (CHER) celebrates the power of mentorship and the impact of diverse perspectives in advancing public health research. We strive to guide, empower, and equip students throughout their academic careers and into the health equity workforce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anastario\u2019s work in harm reduction for Tribal communities<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Anastario focuses his research on harm reduction strategies for people who inject methamphetamine (meth) in Tribal communities. Native Americans have one of the fastest climbing rates of drug overdose deaths involving stimulants<\/a>. Meth injection is associated with excess disease burdens that may be amplified by exposure to environmental toxicants like metals that contaminate meth injection preparations. Through preliminary work, he\u2019s shown that environmental harm reduction interventions are needed to reduce the injection of metal-contaminated meth injection preparations. As the meth epidemic permeates rural communities, unique challenges highlight the importance of using innovative assessment approaches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anastario tends to go directly to the source, looking and listening for problems that individuals are facing and talking about. He feels he learns more about what communities need by meeting with people face to face and simply asking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAt this point, I\u2019ve formally interviewed over 100 people who inject meth,\u201d he explained. \u201cI\u2019m trying to translate everyday hypotheses that I hear into scientific inquiry.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHow on earth do you come up with your hypotheses?\u201d<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Some of Anastario\u2019s peers have questioned his direct approach, to which he responds, \u201cI just talk to people, and try to convert what they think is happening in their environment to scientific inquiry, and when I look for answers in the literature, sometimes the science just isn\u2019t there.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His approach opens the door for his research questions to evolve, sometimes change drastically, to develop studies in tandem with the desires of the people he\u2019s listening to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This approach ultimately brought him to his current question: how can we develop the science of environmental harm reduction for people who inject meth and other substances?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Goodluck\u2019s path to Anastario\u2019s research<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Goodluck
Goodluck working in Roper’s laboratory at the University of Mississippi.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Goodluck began her MPH program directly after earning her BS in Interdisciplinary Studies – Public Administration at Northern Arizona University (NAU). This allowed her to gain insight on how federal policies directly impact Native Americans \u2013 specifically inequities in health care and social determinants of health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2023, Goodluck was inducted into the Native American Student Webinar Advisory Coalition<\/a> (NASWAC) inaugural cohort of scholars.<\/a> NASWAC is a Center for Native American Cancer Health Equity (C-NACHE) initiative that brings Native students\u2019 voices to the table to develop engaging webinars on emerging cancer health equity research.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joining NASWAC was not Goodluck\u2019s first interaction with CHER; she took a graduate course with Samantha Sabo, CHER associate director and professor in health sciences, that offered a class assignment that created the opportunity to network with Dr. Donald Warne, co-director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Indigenous Health.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the interview, Goodluck asked him if his Indigenous background had influenced his approach to research in public health. His answer inspired and reoriented her:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Goodluck recalls Dr. Warne answering her question by explaining that he was born into it. It wasn\u2019t something that he learned in a textbook. It wasn\u2019t something that he learned in a program. He was born into it\u2013just like she was.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She knew that meant committing her educational journey to her people back home on the Navajo Nation, or even her home community of Coalmine Mesa, AZ. And she could do that by exploring each facet of health equity research, starting with an offer to fly to Mississippi in late July from her mentor, Anastario.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Off to Ole Miss<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Goodluck
Goodluck (right) working in Roper’s (left) laboratory at the University of Mississippi.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Goodluck\u2019 agreed to join Anastario on a week-long trip to the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss) to conduct research work in colleague Courtney Roper\u2019s lab to gain experience in a lab science setting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Roper is an assistant professor of environmental toxicology and assistant research professor in the Research Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences and joins Anastario in The JPB Environmental Health Fellowship Program.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Facilitated by the Health Fellowship Program, Anastario and Roper led the research session together hoping for two outcomes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n