Innovation Approaches to Tackle Public Health and Community Challenges: Right-Sizing Problem Statements (On-demand Webinar)

Note: This is a recording of a webinar held on January 19, 2022.

Series Description:  Systems problems, by definition, are complex and can seem impossible to tackle. However, there are tools and innovative approaches that might help public health professionals and partners make progress on these problems. Join us for a 3 part webinar series to learn tools and approaches for tackling large-scale community challenges, from maternal health to opioid overdoses. In the first webinar, we will cover stakeholder mapping and how understanding the whole ecosystem of players can help you decide who to include in co-creating solutions and what communications approaches to use. The second webinar will cover right-sizing your problem so that you can effectively approach and tackle it. Finally, building off the identified parts of the ecosystem, in the third webinar, we’ll journey map the current, as well as the ideal, situation. From there, we can look at the gaps between the two states and ideate possible solutions. These are interactive webinars in which learners will engage with the instructor and other participants.  

Description of Webinar 2 (Right-Sizing Problem Statements): We often approach problems with the aim to solve everything at once. How often do we hear people saying they are passionate about solving big issues like ‘climate change’ or ‘vaccine hesitancy’? The sentiment of this instinct is good, however, we live in a deeply interconnected world full of complex problems. It is never as simple as we want to be. In order to optimize the efficiency of solutions, it’s crucial to strategically narrow down problem statements, which through problem exploration, peer support, and the 5Ws, we will do in this session.

Speaker Information

Meaghan Kennedy
Meaghan’s experience intersects innovation, public health, and social entrepreneurship. After an epidemiology research career at CDC, she founded Orange Sparkle Ball, an innovation and impact consultancy that accelerates initiatives in the private and public sector and works with both domestic and global partners. With an acceleration methodology rooted in design thinking, Orange Sparkle Ball focuses on open innovation, innovation program design, social entrepreneurship and community activation. Meaghan has taught at Georgia Institute of Technology and the Centers for Disease Control andPrevention. She has been a guest reviewer at Georgia Tech since 2007, a judge and mentor for the Global Social Venture Competition and Industrial Design Society of America (IDSA), a mentor for social entrepreneurs and is a frequently invited to speak on innovation and
entrepreneurship.

Sophie Becker
Sophie is a design strategist who joined Orange Sparkle Ball after being a design apprentice at their sister organization, Spark Corps. She is a graduate of Rochester Institute of Technology with a BFA in Industrial Design and a minor in psychology. She focuses on strategy and communications for community networks and public health innovation projects. She has a particular interest in how design and innovation can drive progress addressing in systemic challenges, which a particular interest in housing and health. Previously she has worked as an industrial designer for a startup, a product designer at a traditional design agency, and a graphic designer at a corporate sustainable beauty company.

Liris Berra
Liris Berra is a Public Health Innovation Analyst who joined the Orange Sparkle Ball team through the Rollins Earn and Learn partnership with Rollins School of Public Health. She is a graduate of the University of Miami with a dual BS degree in Public Health and Elementary Education with minors in Psychology and Biology. As part of the Orange Sparkle Ball team, Liris works to develop public health communications, explores the intersection of implementation science, innovation, and design, and analyzes quantitative and qualitative data. Her previous work has been primarily in community-based settings, working as an educator, the social service sector, and with NGOs at the local level. Liris is currently pursuing a Master of Public Health and a certificate in the Social Determinants of Health.

CERTIFICATE:  The course contains two modules: a module to access the webinar and an evaluation module. After accessing both modules, learners will earn a certificate of completion. When the certificate is available, learners will see a Certificate button on their dashboard.

This project is supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) under grant number UB6HP31680, Public Health Training Centers for $4,348,992. This information or content and conclusions are those of the author and should not be construed as the official position or policy of, nor should any endorsements be inferred by HRSA, HHS or the U.S. Government.