Mary Harbert Stromberg

How have you contributed to one of CDC’s priorities through your ASPPH/CDC Fellowship assignment? Explain what you have done that has “made a difference” at CDC and benefitted public health in the United States.

One of the center’s research priorities focused on child abuse and neglect is evaluating the efficacy of programs or strategies that can reduce multiple forms of abuse and neglect. Since the start of my fellowship, I have been working on a review of online parenting programs for parents of teens which are designed to promote positive parenting of teens, increased communication, safe discipline, etc. This review will provide both a bridge to a gap in the data on online parenting programs as well as provide CDC with information on effective ways to mitigate child abuse and neglect among adolescents.

How will your fellowship experience shape your career?

This fellowship has and will shape my future career by not only boosting my resume and garnering valuable experience in the field of public health, but also by giving me the opportunity to explore new subjects and avenues of research that I have not previously been exposed to such as adverse childhood events and parenting interventions.

Describe specifically some of the relationships/partnerships you have built through the fellowship and how those relationships have helped/will help you in your career.

My most significant relationship I have built since starting my fellowship is of course with my mentor who has been both supportive and flexible to allow me the opportunity to tailor the projects I take on to my interests and the skills I hope to gain through this fellowship. Other important relationships have been built include other researchers on my team, one of whom I am assisting on a new project he is developing and the other with our team lead who has been an incredible advocate for me to present at both team meetings and other internal meetings. Lastly, I have been able to get to know other current and previous fellows who have been able to lend me advice as I go through.