MEMORANDUM
TO:
OFFICE OF INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL
DATE:
May 31, 2013
FROM:
RE:
Darryl Brown,
Narrative Report on visit with French Faculty of the EHESP
Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sante Publique (School of Advanced Studies
in Public Health)
The trip provided an opportunity for the Drexel School of Public Health to showcase
its strengths in research and teaching to EHESP colleges in Rennes and Paris. The
venue initially involved meetings at the Rennes campus with faculty and division
chiefs representing the major public health disciplines taught at EHESP. These
meetings were intended to identify synergies between Drexel and EHESP faculty in
areas of epidemiology, biostatistics, healthcare management and public health
practice. A key realization from these discussions was that healthcare research in
the U.S. is aided by relatively unimpeded access to information on race and health
behaviors. In France, these kinds of data area collected systematically via their
universal health care systems, but it is illegal to track this in human subjects
research and equally difficult to obtain from their French healthcare administrative
databases. This realization begged the question of “how then do you address health
disparities.” The response was that a proxy for race and ethnicity is routinely
tracked via country of origin. To this, those of us from Drexel were completely
dumbfounded.
As we discussed each other’s research interests it was clear that a different
academic culture exists between schools of public health here and in French schools.
The difference is that in the U.S. there is a great deal of incentive to encourage
research and scholarship through funded extramural research. To this end, U.S.
faculty can be expected to be relieved of various teaching responsibilities as their
research portfolio grows. Not so in France. Whatever research and scholarship
that is accomplished by faculty of the EHESP must be done without any such
expectations. Hence, extramural research is stymied in many respects. And if not
stymied completely, then certainly the breath of the research that is conducted is
limited. This is where the motivation for the EHESP has to come to reach out to
bigger schools like Columbia, UNC and now Drexel to expand their research
enterprise and expose their doctoral students to higher level research initiatives
and training that we can provide.
This higher level of research and scholarship was the foundation for our attendance
at the annual doctoral symposium in Paris for the second leg of our trip. Each year
the EHESP invites professors and doctoral students from U.S. and European schools
to present their work. Last year, Columbia was invited. This year Drexel and
Maastricht universities were invited. Drexel’s invitation came, in part, because of an
existing relationship between Drs. Shannon Marquez of Drexel and Jeanine Pommier
of EHESP.
The two-day symposium on ‘mixed-method methodologies’ was a vehicle for Drexel
and Maastricht University doctoral students to present their proposed research
work alongside French counterparts; and likewise so, for faculty to present
published work. Faculty provided critiques of both oral presentations and posters.
Ironically, it appeared that our well-intended and constructive critique of the French
students’ talks may not have been well received. I say this in view of the fact that on
Monday Day-1 of the conference, all the French students gave their talks in English.
But on Tuesday, not one of the French students bothered to speak in English. In fact,
many of the EHESP students even displayed PowerPoint slides in French text.
While I think some students probably missed out in this venue, it was made up for
during the downtimes over lunch and dinner. French culture really appreciates the
meal and it was during these times where I think the seeds of research collaboration
were truly planted. My own discussions with EHESP faculty revealed areas of
methodological weaknesses where Drexel faculty can offer expertise. And going
forward, as we formalize a level of partnership, I do believe we’ll see “fruit” from
this productive and very pleasurable trip.
Thank you for the opportunity.
Sincerely,
Darryl Brown, PhD, MPA
Assistant Teaching Professor
Department of Health Management and Policy
Director, DrPH Health Policy and Social Justice