During my summer at Praava Health, I primarily supported the medical services department to improve its data-driven decision-making. A common challenge of similar organizations in developing economies, Praava Health's data management systems have poor interoperability. Moreover, a shortage of data-literate point-of-service staff results in many inaccuracies and missing data points. This makes the task of data-driven decision-making at the back-end management level difficult. My work focused on consolidating scattered data registers, developing standardized protocols to minimize error, and automating large-scale analyses through programming software. Praava Health aims to be a pioneer in digital health in Bangladesh and, as such, must manage a massive amount of digital patient data. Taking the effort to streamline the organization's data processes will allow the company to scale up and handle a rapidly growing patient base.

As a MPH student within the Epidemiology Department of the Columbia Mailman School of Public Health, I have been gaining experience managing large-scale datasets. Although epidemiology focuses more on populations, the skills I've learned while analyzing large datasets translated well to analyzing a health care company's internal data. For example, I learned how to use SAS, a statistical programming software, and was able to directly apply the software to my analyses for Praava. Beyond these data-related competencies, I have also gained valuable experience with respect to my certificate/concentration in global health, which has taught me to appreciate the complex systemic factors that determine health outcomes in low- and middle-income countries. This mindset has helped me adapt to a foreign work environment and approach my work objectively, leaving my preconceived notions of Western health care behind.

Though most of my co-workers were fluent in English, there were multiple occasions that required me to collaborate with colleagues who were not. I learned some strategies for phrasing things to make them easy to understand, and was able to recruit bilingual colleagues to translate for me as necessary. But I gained an appreciation for the nuanced connotations of language when speaking to someone from the same cultural background. Even when speaking to Bangladeshis who were “fluent,” I still felt there was some implicit understanding not being captured on both sides. Another challenge I faced was having to juggle multiple tasks. A common aspect of many startups, Praava requires employees to work on diverse projects that don't necessarily fit their job description. I was no exception: I was doing projects ranging from website content development to diagnostic product market research to sales client visits. This required me to learn organization strategies to keep track of everything. However, it was definitely valuable to gain exposure to so many aspects of running a health care company.

My time at Praava Health helped round out my professional experience, which has primarily been in the public sector. As an undergraduate I worked on publicly funded research projects. Following graduation I worked as an R&D engineer to develop point-of-care diagnostics in the COVID-19 response. And most recently, I interned for the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. What had been lacking was insight from the private sector of public health and health care. As a for-profit healthcare clinic, Praava offered me that insight into how health care is operated from a business perspective. Despite its theoretical commitment to broader public services, the public health field cannot succeed without strong health care systems. And on that front, public-private partnerships and collaboration is essential. I believe my career niche is at this intersection of the public and private sectors, bridging the gaps between two sides which too often work adversarially, rather than collaboratively. As a future public health professional, it is important for me to understand the priorities and incentives of private healthcare in order to foster these collaborations to effect systemic change.