Students and faculty from the University of South Florida’s College of Public Health (COPH) made a strong impression with their ideas about the future at the 2026 Florida Public Health Association Educational Conference in Orlando, which featured the theme “Committing to Excellence Through Collaborations and Continuity.”
The association (FPHA) exists to enhance public health awareness and practice to benefit professionals, students and statewide infrastructure through advocacy, education and collaboration.
Myai Hoang (Photo courtesy of Hoang)
Myai Hoang, an MSPH epidemiology student and graduate research assistant at the Lawton and Rhea Chiles Center, won the Most Innovative Poster Award for her presentation “From Lived Experience to Policy Change: Advancing Maternal Health Advocacy.’’ She examined Florida’s Medicaid landscape, including the lack of Medicaid expansion and potential negative maternal health impacts associated with funding reductions.
Her poster focused on the role of community health workers and how their collaboration with doulas, midwives and other maternal and child health workers help communicate broader health needs to policymakers.
“Communities deserve a seat at the policy table, and this poster centers on bridging the gap between lived experience and policy by improving health policy literacy and advocacy capacity,’’ she said.
Emma Underwood, MPH (Photo courtesy of Underwood)
Emma Underwood, a PhD candidate in global communicable disease, was part of a student keynote panel that discussed the impact of COPH’s research and initiatives. Her topic, "Beyond the Classroom: Navigating your Public Health Journey," described student involvement in research, leadership, mentorship, networking and engagement within the community.
She said the conference experience empowered “early career students who will be the future of the public health field.’’
Destiny Cruz, MPH, MSW (Photo courtesy of Cruz)
Destiny Cruz, a PhD student in community and family health, presented a poster called “Strengthening Statewide Overdose Prevention Through Enhanced Evaluation, Data Integration and Collaborative Implementation: Florida Overdose to Action.’’ She worked with COPH faculty Drs. Jennifer Marshall and Amanda Elmore on her research.
“I wanted to emphasize the crucial role of data and evaluation in enhancing overdose prevention efforts across Florida,’’ Cruz said. “Presenting our evaluation work also gave me an opportunity to grow as a researcher and communicator.’’
“Being able to discuss our work with a diverse public health audience and receive feedback helped me think more deeply about how to communicate findings and translate them into meaningful public health action.’’
Faculty presentations included “Turning Data into Action: Driving Equitable, Adaptive Public Health Responses” by Dr. Xonjenese Jacobs, director of COPH’s Florida Covering Kids & Families; and “Adverse Childhood Experiences and Mental Health Access Disparities in Florida,’’ by Dr. Abraham Salinas-Miranda, assistant professor and director of the COPH’s James and Jennifer Harrell Center for the Study of Family Violence.