Ebola Working Group receives knowledge translation award
September 14/2015
The Ebola Working Group received the National Collaborating Centres for Public Health Knowledge Translation Graduate Student Award for their efforts in addressing the gap in knowledge and education about Ebola.
Second year MPH candidates Micaela Pereira Bajard, Yamna Ali and Amanda Alberga accepted the award on behalf of the 23-student and four faculty-member working group at the Canadian Public Health Association’s award ceremony on May 26, 2015 in Vancouver.
This was the first year for this particular award, which recognized the knowledge translation efforts of graduate students in public health in Canada. Three additional public health students from across Canada also received the award.
The group helped raise awareness and dispel Ebola myths in the U of T community and beyond through a number of events and activities.
In an Ebola perceptions survey, the Ebola Working Group found that young, North Americans participants were inadequately informed about Ebola and tended to overestimate their personal risk of infection. In response, the group produced a video, Public Perception of Ebola in Toronto that received more than 1,000 YouTube views.
The group also spearhead Ebola equipment delivery to Sierra Leone hospitals through a partnership with Save the Children, organized four lunch and learn sessions with leading global health scholars and hosted Deconstructing Public Health Emergencies: Learning from Ebola, a symposium that drew more than 75 students, faculty, staff and alumni across the U of T community.