Meet…
26 June 2009
Elana Churchill Plans a Career in Consumer Health Informatics
Elana Churchill, winner of our School's 2009 Kaiser Permanente Endowed Scholarship Award for Medical Librarianship, sees her library science studies as more than a way to learn how to organize and retrieve information. It could help to save lives.
Churchill plans to use her MLIS degree to specialize in the field of consumer health informatics, with a focus on using the Internet to educate specific ethnic groups about medical conditions. “Empowered with information, people can make better choices for themselves and their children, can be confident when they speak with their healthcare providers, and can demand healthy changes within their schools and communities,” said Churchill.
Her volunteer work for the National Organization for Renal Disease, a nonprofit dedicated to preventing kidney disease, diabetes, and high blood pressure, has given Churchill front-line insight into the need for easily accessible and clearly presented medical information for the general public. “A lot of the people have a long list of questions when they come to the health fairs,” said Churchill, who works at health fairs and writes grant proposals for the organization. “This is often their first chance to ask questions of a health care professional.”
Churchill has made a career out of translating complex jargon into plain English. She's worked for more than a decade as a technical writer, most recently creating “help” systems for a Los Angeles-based software company. Her job has also given Churchill insight into presentation ideas, usability studies, and Web 2.0 trends that she puts to use in the classroom and plans to employ in her future career.
Churchill was drawn to library and information studies as a mid-career shift because it can allow her to make a greater contribution to the community than “just selling software” as a technical writer. “I like the impact that librarians can have on their community,” she said. “There are so many different ways you can use the degree.”
Churchill, who plans to graduate in Fall 2010 with a specialization in Web Design and Technology, already has accrued extensive technical skills ranging from fluency with programming languages to databases. But she still found the LIBR 240 course, Information Tools and Technology, to be one of her most valuable classes so far. “What I knew (heading into class) was just a fraction of what there is to know,” said Churchill, who earned her B.S. in business economics from Florida A&M.
The $1,000 Kaiser Permanente scholarship is awarded to SLIS students who are interested in pursuing a career in medical librarianship and health informatics.
It's one of several scholarships and grants that Churchill has earned during her studies at SLIS, including a scholarship from the Medical Library Group of Southern California and Arizona and an Educational Grant from the American Association of University Women. Last year, she also won a grant that allowed her to travel to the Medical Library Association annual conference in Chicago.
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