MCHEPI Trainee Spotlight: Kate Yep (’21)

Never in my life would I have expected to pursue a career involving writing code. Even after my first year of classes in the Maternal Child Health Epidemiology (MCHEPI) concentration, I was admittedly insecure about my SAS coding skills. For my Applied Practice Experience (APE), I hoped to work at a health department and analyze data related to a perinatal health topic, since I am fascinated by pregnancy, childbirth, and the unique vulnerabilities this period poses for mothers and infants. My goals were to feel more comfortable in SAS and learn to organize and translate data into an understandable format to support change. I learned that Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) was looking for an intern to help develop a new infant mortality report for the state, and I was excited at the possibility to work on that project. I brought to my interview a sample of an infographic I had created in a class during my first semester at UIC to demonstrate my ability to translate raw data into an interesting and easily understandable format. Amazingly, I was chosen to be the IDPH intern for my summer APE. Little did I know, I would receive the best hands-on experience in epidemiology work at IDPH that I could have imagined.

I joined IDPH’s Office of Women’s Health and Family Services to create an updated infant mortality report for the state. I used the state’s vital records to analyze trends, leading causes of death, and risk factors and risk markers in infant mortality. The final report focuses on racial inequities in infant mortality and includes a special analysis called a Perinatal Periods of Risk. This analysis helps clarify where the greatest disparities in fetal and infant mortality lie between two groups and identifies opportunities for intervention. As the report details, if babies of black women in Illinois had fetal and infant mortality rates that were the same as babies of low-risk white women in Illinois, 212 black fetal and infant deaths would be prevented each year. The analysis goes on to suggest that the greatest opportunity to prevent black fetal/infant deaths and reduce racial disparities is to target preconception health, perinatal care, and social determinants of health for black women. Other strategies to prevent infant death include promoting safe sleep practices, breastfeeding, and injury prevention.

While this topic is heartbreaking, my hope is that this report is helpful to partners throughout Illinois and elsewhere working to improve perinatal health and decrease infant mortality and the racial disparities in infant mortality rates.

To any prospective or current student who may feel intimidated at learning a new skill in the MPH program (as I did with SAS), I would encourage you to push yourself to try. You might be surprised to learn what you like and what you can accomplish with a little effort and support. I am thankful to have had the opportunity to work on this important project under a great mentor, Dr. Amanda Bennett, the CDC Assignee in Maternal and Child Health Epidemiology at IDPH. Throughout my internship, Amanda not only helped me plan and execute my analysis, but she also connected me to many other professionals in the field who are passionate about improving maternal and child health (MCH). I am now more equipped and excited to join the MCH field as an applied epidemiologist after graduation.